The FTC's sweeping rule banning most non-compete agreements was vacated by the Fifth Circuit in August 2024 before it could take effect, leaving employers and employees back where they started — governed by a patchwork of state laws that range from near-total bans to broad enforcement. Understanding where your state falls on that spectrum, and how state courts are interpreting those rules in the post-FTC-rule environment, is now the essential competence for employment counsel.
Florida HB 837 (signed as SB 236's companion in March 2023) was the most sweeping tort reform Florida had seen in decades — shifting from pure comparative negligence to modified comparative fault with a 51% bar, dramatically changing bad faith standards, and restructuring attorney fee awards in personal injury cases. For Florida personal injury attorneys and their clients, understanding the full scope of these changes is essential to evaluating case viability and settlement dynamics.
California enacted two groundbreaking climate disclosure laws in 2023 — SB 253 (greenhouse gas emissions reporting) and SB 261 (climate-related financial risk disclosure) — that will require tens of thousands of businesses operating in California to produce detailed public disclosures beginning in 2026. The laws apply to both public and private companies meeting revenue thresholds and mark a significant departure from voluntary ESG reporting. Corporate counsel and compliance teams need to understand the deadlines, scope, and third-party assurance requirements.
California AB 333, effective January 1, 2022, narrowed the legal definition of a criminal street gang and changed the elements of gang participation and conspiracy offenses, rendering a large body of pre-2022 gang enhancement convictions legally invalid. The law's retroactive application under California's resentencing framework has generated a wave of petitions — and courts are navigating complex questions about what the prosecution can now prove at retrial. Defense counsel need to understand both the substantive changes and the resentencing procedure.
Temporary Protected Status designations for Haiti, Venezuela, and Ukraine have been among the most legally contested and administratively volatile in the program's history, with federal litigation, changing designation periods, and work authorization gaps affecting hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries. Understanding where each country designation stands, what work authorization documentation is currently valid, and what litigation risks remain is essential for immigration attorneys advising TPS holders.
Texas SB 869, enacted in the 2023 legislative session, expanded parental rights to access school materials, limit certain instructional content, and withdraw children from specific curriculum activities. For family law attorneys advising clients navigating co-parenting disputes or custody orders that involve educational decisions, the new law has created a new category of litigation: disputes between divorced or separated parents about how SB 869 rights may be exercised when parents disagree.
California SB 9, effective January 1, 2022, enabled lot splits and duplex construction on single-family parcels statewide, and California's ADU laws have been steadily expanding allowable unit sizes and streamlining approvals. But financing for ADU construction and SB 9 lot-split transactions has not kept pace with the legal framework — lenders face title, zoning, and underwriting challenges that are slowing the conversion of legal rights into actual housing. Real estate attorneys need to understand the gap between what the law allows and what lenders will fund.
New York's Freelance Isn't Free Act has been extended statewide in 2026. Here's what independent contractors and hiring parties need to know about contract requirements and penalty exposure.
California's 2024 PAGA reform legislation — enacted as SB 92 and AB 2288 — fundamentally restructured the Private Attorneys General Act by bifurcating individual and representative claims, capping penalties in some circumstances, and requiring courts to consider proportionality in penalty awards. For plaintiffs' and defense labor counsel, the new framework changes case valuation, settlement dynamics, and the strategic value of individual arbitration agreements. Here is a practical breakdown of what changed and what it means for pending and future cases.
The Illinois Supreme Court's Cothron decision confirmed that BIPA claims accrue with each scan or transmission. Here's what employers and tech companies need to know about managing exposure.
Texas's homestead exemption is constitutionally protected and unlimited in dollar value — a feature that makes Texas a favored jurisdiction for high-net-worth debtors in bankruptcy planning. But recent federal court decisions have aggressively applied the fraudulent transfer provisions of the Bankruptcy Code to challenge homestead conversions made within ten years of filing, and trustees are winning some of those battles. Bankruptcy attorneys practicing in Texas need to understand both the breadth of the exemption and its limits.
Texas offers some of the most generous bankruptcy exemptions in the country. Understanding homestead, vehicle, and retirement exemptions can mean the difference between keeping and losing key assets.
The New York LLC Transparency Act, effective January 1, 2026, requires New York LLCs and foreign LLCs registered in New York to disclose beneficial ownership information to the New York Department of State — a state-level disclosure obligation that runs parallel to, but is distinct from, the federal Corporate Transparency Act's FinCEN reporting requirements. Small firms need to understand the differences between the two regimes and whether they qualify for any exemptions. This article maps the key distinctions.
Georgia's modified comparative fault system bars recovery when plaintiff fault exceeds 50%. Recent court decisions have clarified how apportionment applies to premises liability claims against property owners.
New York's Grieving Families Act would dramatically expand the categories of damages recoverable in wrongful death actions — adding grief, loss of love and companionship, and expanded eligible claimants — departing from the state's historically restrictive pecuniary loss standard. The legislation passed the legislature twice but has faced gubernatorial resistance and conditional vetoes. As of 2026, a compromise version is advancing, and personal injury attorneys must track exactly what the final bill will and will not cover.