ArticleThe "Vanishing Jury Trial" Is A Real Thing. And There Is Data To Prove It.In my 30-plus years as a trial lawyer, I have had roughly 35 jury trials. And a little over half of them were in the first 10 to 12 years of my career.United StatesLitigation, Mediation & ArbitrationMichael Best
ArticleThe Ministerial Exception: Recent Decisions In Minnesota And WashingtonWhat is the ministerial exception? It's a constitutional doctrine, rooted in the Church Autonomy principle, that protects religious institutions from government interference in their internal governance...United StatesEmployment and HRMichael Best
ArticleWould Front Of Package Food Labels Make You Eat Healthier?In Mexico and other countries, stop-sign-shaped symbols appear on the front of certain food products to indicate these items contain high levels of sugar.MexicoFood, Drugs, Healthcare, Life SciencesMichael Best
ArticleKnowing Why You're Burned Out Is Helpful In Understanding How To Correct It (And How To Prevent It In The Future)Iam familiar with burnout in different ways. In college, I experienced it for the first time toward the end of my second track season.United StatesEmployment and HRMichael Best
ArticleMinnesota Paid Leave Law & IRS Form 8274 (Self-Employed Non-Ministerial Employees)As discussed in my recent post about ministers and the Minnesota Paid Leave Law, self-employed individuals are not covered by the Minnesota...United StatesEmployment and HRMichael Best
ArticleDe-Weaponizing Clean Water Act Section 401On July 1st, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) announced it will soon open a docket and host two listening sessions to receive public input on needed reforms to the Section 401 program of the Clean Water Act (CWA).United StatesEnergy and Natural ResourcesMichael Best
ArticleDOE Grant Compliance Now Front And Center With New Accountability PolicyOn May 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a press release highlighting the DOE's intent to "Identify Wasteful Spending of Taxpayer Dollars."United StatesEnergy and Natural ResourcesMichael Best
ArticleAre You "Cali-sober"?Just over a year ago, my firm merged with a firm in Los Angeles. Since then, I've had a chance to meet a number of our new lawyers and to a person, they have been fantastic.United StatesFood, Drugs, Healthcare, Life SciencesMichael Best
ArticleCalifornia Bill Would Ban Ultra-processed Foods From School Lunch Programs, If They Can Come Up With A Definition.California wants to be the first state in the nation to ban ultra-processed foods in public school lunches. United StatesFood, Drugs, Healthcare, Life SciencesMichael Best
ArticleExpect These Food And Beverage Trends To Compete For Your Attention In 2025.Iread articles about industry "trends" with skepticism. Because I aways ask myself whether what is being written about is actually a trend or is just something that is important to the author...United StatesFood, Drugs, Healthcare, Life SciencesMichael Best
ArticleFood Dyes And Chemicals Are Under Fire. What Will Your Fruit Loops And Skittles Look Like If RFK Jr. Has His Way?Even before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was picked to be the next Health and Human Services secretary by President-elect Donald Trump, food dyes and chemicals...United StatesFood, Drugs, Healthcare, Life SciencesMichael Best
ArticleFoodborne Illness Outbreaks And Recalls Are NOT Evidence The System Is Working, Says Former FDA Deputy Commissioner Of Food PolicyAfew days ago, my wife asked me why it seems like every other day we see another news report of a foodborne illness outbreak and/or product recall.United StatesFood, Drugs, Healthcare, Life SciencesMichael Best
ArticleI Had No Idea That I Am An "Open-Omnivore." Are You One Too?It is hard for an old guy like me to keep up with all the new lingo. A couple months ago, I learned what FOMO means, which everyone tells me I should be embarrassed about.United StatesFood, Drugs, Healthcare, Life SciencesMichael Best
ArticleWisconsin Is One Of Four States Entering Mutual Reliance Agreements With FDA To Enhance Food Safety.Wisconsin, along with California, Florida, and Utah, entered into mutual reliance agreements with FDA last week. These agreements are designed to foster federal and state cooperation and information...United StatesFood, Drugs, Healthcare, Life SciencesMichael Best
ArticleAI Generated Art - Copyright Office Weighs In AgainKent Keirsey, CEO of Invoke, an AI creation platform, submitted a copyright application for his AI-generated art entitled "A Single Piece of American Cheese." The work is completely created by artificial intelligence (AI). United StatesIntellectual PropertyMichael Best
ArticleThomson Reuters Win - What Does This Mean For Copyright & AI?The Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence Inc. case has had some significant movement this week - the judge granted partial summary judgment in favor of Thomson Reuters.United StatesIntellectual PropertyMichael Best
ArticleAI & Rights Of Publicity: Voice Actors Sue Over ClonesAvoice actor's job is to provide narration, voiceovers, or other voice performances for commercials, entertainment or other applications.United StatesTechnologyMichael Best
ArticleSmall Data Poisoning Can Compromise Large AI ModelsAnyone deploying AI in high-stakes environments should pay attention to a recent paper from Anthropic, the Alan Turing Institute, et al.United StatesTechnologyMichael Best
ArticleYou Should Be Looking At Your IT Contracts Differently After CrowdStrike OutageYou've undoubtably heard of and may have been directly affected by the widespread Windows system crash that was apparently caused by a software upgrade released by the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.United StatesTechnologyMichael Best
ArticleThe "Fiscal Cliff" Returns: Democrats Plan To Avoid Shutdown, Debt DefaultOn September 10, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) shared with House Democrats leaders' plan to keep the federal government funded past the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, 2021.United StatesGovernment, Public SectorMichael Best