Expert Analysis

• Law School's Missed Lessons: Intentional Career-Building

  

  A successful legal career is built through intention: understanding expectations, assessing strengths honestly and proactively seeking opportunities to grow and cultivating relationships that support your development, say Erika Drous and Hillary Mann at Morrison Foerster.

• Preparing For Congressional Investigations In A Midterm Year

  

  2026 will be a consequential year for congressional oversight as the upcoming midterm elections may yield bolder investigations and more aggressive state attorneys general coalitions, so companies should consider adopting risk management measures to get ahead of potential changes, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

• Employment Immigration Trends And Challenges For 2026

  

  U.S. companies competing for global talent should brace for a turbulent 2026, with greater compliance burdens, higher costs and the probability of workforce disruptions at every stage of the immigration process, from visa petitions to work authorization renewals, say attorneys at Duane Morris.

• Top 5 Antitrust Issues For In-House Counsel To Watch In 2026

  

  With Trump administration enforcement policy having largely taken shape last year, antitrust issues that in-house counsel should have on the radar range from scrutiny of technology-assisted pricing to the return of merger remedies, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

• 4 Developments That Defined The 2025 Ethics Landscape

  

  The legal profession spent 2025 at the edge of its ethical comfort zone as courts, firms and regulators confronted how fast-moving technologies and new business models collide with long-standing professional duties, signaling that the profession is entering a period of sustained disruption that will continue into 2026, says Hilary Gerzhoy at HWG Law.

• Judges Carry Onus To Screen Expert Opinions Before Juries

  

  Recent Second Circuit arguments in Acetaminophen Products Liability Litigation implied a low bar for judicial gatekeeping of expert testimony, but under amended Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, judges must rigorously scrutinize expert opinions before allowing them to reach juries, says Lee Mickus at Evans Fears.

• How Fractional GCs Can Manage Risks Of Engagement

  

  As more organizations eliminate their in-house legal departments in favor of outsourcing legal work, fractional general counsel roles offer practitioners an engaging and flexible way to practice at a high level, but they can also present legal, ethical and operational risks that must be proactively managed, say attorneys at Boies Schiller.

• How OECD Tax Update Tackles Mobile Workforce Complexity

  

  The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s recently updated model tax convention — a recalibration of international tax principles in response to an increasingly mobile workforce — should prompt companies to reevaluate cross-border operations, transfer pricing policies and tax controversy strategies, say attorneys at Eversheds.

• 7 Strategies To Optimize Impact Of Direct Examination

  

  Direct examination is a make-or-break opportunity to build a witness’s credibility, so attorneys should adopt a few tactics — from asking so-called trust-fall questions to preemptively addressing weaknesses — to drive impact and retention with the fact-finder, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

• Del. Dispatch: Key 2025 Corporate Cases And Trends To Know

  

  The Delaware corporate legal landscape saw notable changes in 2025, spurred by amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law, ubiquitous artificial intelligence fervor, boardroom discussion around DExit, record shareholder activism activity and an arguably more expansive view of potential Caremark liability, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

• Nature Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Nature photography reminds me to focus on what is in front of me and to slow down to achieve success, and, in embracing the value of viewing situations through different lenses, offers skills transferable to the practice of law, says Brian Willett at Saul Ewing.

• Law School's Missed Lessons: Practical Problem Solving

  

  Issue-spotting skills are well honed in law school, but practicing attorneys must also identify clients’ problems and true goals, and then be able to provide solutions, says Mary Kate Hogan at Quarles & Brady.

• How Workforce, Tech Will Affect 2026 Construction Landscape

  

  As the construction industry's center of gravity shifts from traditional commercial work to infrastructure, energy, industrial and data-hosting facilities, the effects of evolving technology and persistent labor shortages are reshaping real estate dealmaking, immigration policy debates and government contracting risk, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.