Kevin Martin, partner and co-chair of the appellate litigation practice at Boston’s Goodwin Procter, discusses with Lawyers Weekly’s Kris Olson the recent Zubik v. Burwell decision.

PODCAST: In ‘Zubik,’ Supreme Court punts back to parties

Gov. Charlie Baker recently vetoed $1.2 million in state spending earmarked for implementing early voting in Massachusetts this November under a law his predecessor, Deval Patrick, signed two years ago. 

While the Legislature reportedly will override the governor’s veto and restore the funding, Oren Sellstrom, litigation director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice, tells Lawyers Weekly reporter Kris Olson that this is just one battle in a nationwide war over expanding political participation and combating voting restrictions.

PODCAST: Despite governor’s veto, early voting likely this fall

A little over a year ago, Boston lawyer Andrew Updegrove of Gesmer Updegrove had published his second novel featuring fictional protagonist Frank Adversego, a brilliant if misanthropic cyber security expert, in which Adversego is called upon to investigate whether foreign hackers are helping propel the unlikely presidential bid of a bombastic candidate. In recent weeks, Updegrove has been forced to wonder, “Is life imitating art?”

With Lawyers Weekly reporter Kris Olson, Updegrove discusses how he came up with the plot of “The Lafayette Campaign: A Tale of Deception and Elections” and how, even though it is a work of fiction, the threat of hackers manipulating U.S. polling and election results is all too real – in fact, it may have already occurred.

Has an election hack already happened?

After eight years of work by legislators and others, it appeared as if 2016 might finally be the year reform of non-compete agreements would come to Massachusetts. After all, after months of being mum on the issue, Gov. Charlie Baker expressed a willingness to sign the House version of competing bills on Beacon Hill, and the gaps between that bill and the Senate version did not seem too wide to traverse. Yet, when the clock struck midnight on the legislative session earlier this month, no compromise had been reached between the two houses of the Legislature.

Why did those negotiations fail, and what happens now? Russell Beck of Beck, Reed, Riden in Boston discusses with Lawyers Weekly reporter Kris Olson.

PODCAST: Yet again, non-compete reform fails to cross finish line

On the latest Lawyers Weekly podcast, reporter Kris Olson is joined by Natashia Tidwell, whose practice at Collora in Boston encompasses white-collar-criminal defense, police practices and civil litigation.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri recently approved Tidwell’s selection as a subject-matter expert to help oversee the implementation of a consent decree to reform police and court practices in Ferguson, Missouri, in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. It’s a role similar to one for which Tidwell was selected following an investigation by the Department of Justice into unconstitutional policing practices by the Newark Police Department.

A former Cambridge police officer herself, Tidwell discusses her background and her work in Ferguson and Newark, and also shares some thoughts on some recent Boston Police Department controversies: officers’ reticence to volunteer to wear body cameras and participate in a mediation program to reduce a backlog of minor grievances against officers.

Local attorney tapped for role in overhaul of police practices in Ferguson, Missouri

We’ve all been there and done that: Your cellphone rings while you’re in a meeting. You hit a button to silence the call, the ring stops, and you’re spared the embarrassment of disrupting the meeting. But did you ever wonder who invented that feature?

Steven Bauer, partner and leader of the patent and intellectual property group at Proskauer, knows; he just succeeded in convincing a Delaware jury that Apple had infringed the patent of his client, MobileMedia Ideas LLC, by incorporating the feature into certain models of the iPhone. 

What were the key issues in the trial, and how was the jury swayed? Bauer discusses this and more with Lawyers Weekly reporter Kris Olson.

Taking a bite out of Apple in Delaware

What do an Asian-American rock band based in Portland, Oregon, and a professional football team based in Washington, D.C., have in common?

The answer is names that are arguably offensive, and thus not able to obtain – or in the case of the Redskins, retain – a registered trademark, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Each party is challenging that determination – the band The Slants has already won before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals – and the U.S. Supreme Court may weigh in sometime this term, though it recently rejected the Redskins’ bid to leapfrog the Court of Appeals and have its case considered jointly with that of The Slants.

How might this all play out, and what impact does the uncertainty have on other trademark holders? Carrie Webb Olson, Boston-based chair of the trademark practice at Day Pitney, discusses with Lawyers Weekly reporter Kris Olson.

On Slants and ‘Skins: Supreme Court may tackle ‘offensive’ trademarks

Foley Hoag recently launched a United Nations practice group, the brainchild of Christina Hioureas, who will chair the section. Hioureas brings to her new role both professional experience and a personal mission.

In this Lawyers Weekly podcast, Hioureas discusses with reporter Kris Olson her vision for the new practice group and her prior work, which has included a pair of notable human rights cases involving Somalia and Chile.

Meet the chair of Foley Hoag’s UN practice group

As a deadline looms, calls are mounting for Hillary Clinton's campaign to ​request an audit of election results in key swing states due to perceived irregularities in the vote counts. Those who entertain the possibility that the presidential election might have been hacked point to the previous reported interference by Russian hackers in the election, possibly at the direction of their government, and the opportunity our country's technologically vulnerable system for tabulating votes presents. 

Lawyers Weekly reporter Kris Olson discusses this state of affairs with Andrew Updegrove, a partner in the Boston law firm of Gesmer Updegrove and author of three novels in which the protagonist is a cybersecurity "super sleuth" named Frank Adversego.

Should Clinton call for an audit of election results?

Driverless cars are on their way to the streets of Boston, courtesy of a Cambridge-based company, NuTonomy.

Rosanna Sattler of Posternak, Blankstein ​&​ Lund ​in Boston ​discusses with reporter Kris Olson a few of the legal issues the technology will bring with it, as well as the impact driverless cars will have on the taxi and ride-sharing industries.

Mass. Lawyers Weekly