A few years ago, two lawyers in New York were sanctioned for citing six cases in federal court filings. The problem? The cases didn’t exist. They were generated using ChatGPT, and the lawyers failed to verify their authenticity. It was a cautionary tale about relying too heavily on artificial intelligence.But since then, it’s happened over
Corporate Finance
Chambers USA 2025 Recognizes Nine Coblentz Partners and Four Practices
Nine Coblentz partners and four practices are recognized by Chambers & Partners in the 2025 edition of Chambers USA. Harry O’Brien and Tay Via are listed as leading lawyers in the Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use – California category; Alan Gennis and Danna Kozerski are listed as leading lawyers in the Real Estate – Northern California…
Dickinson Bradshaw Named a Leading Law Firm for 2025 by Chambers USA
Dickinson, Bradshaw, Fowler & Hagen, P.C. has been ranked as one of the top firms in Iowa by Chambers USA in its annual survey, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2025.
Chambers identifies, ranks and differentiates the best legal talent globally using an independent research method that is unmatched in accuracy, depth and quality.
Firms and…
Brazil Says No to Online Law School
By Greg Barnett
Online education has taken off in Brazil. From engineering to business administration, universities across the country now offer a wide range of remote courses, allowing students to earn degrees with little or no classroom time. But when it comes to law school, the government is holding the line.A new federal decree (Decreto Nº 12.456…
Beware of the Fake Brazilian Lawyer
By Greg Barnett
Another scam is sweeping across Brazil, and this time it’s targeting people who think they’re dealing with a lawyer. Known locally as the golpe do falso advogado, the “fake lawyer scam” has grown rapidly in scale since last year.Here’s how it works. Scammers first obtain information from lawsuits that are publicly available online. Then, posing…
Iowa Supreme Court Protects Banks from Parties “Slicing” and “Repackaging” Claims in an Effort to Avoid the Credit Agreement Statute of Frauds
The Iowa Supreme Court, in County Bank v. Shalla, unanimously held that Iowa Code section 535.17 bars negligence and fraud claims against banks. The decision was premised upon the Iowa credit agreement statute of frauds, which provides that a “credit agreement,” including all terms of that agreement, “is not enforceable in contract law by way…
California Assembly Weighs Nation’s Broadest AI-Driven Workplace Surveillance Bill: AB 1221 Raises the Bar, and the Stakes, for Employers
By Mari Clifford and Scott Hall
In a move that could reshape day-to-day people-management practices across the state, the California Legislature is advancing Assembly Bill 1221 (“AB 1221”), a sweeping proposal that would regulate how employers deploy artificial intelligence-enabled monitoring tools and how they handle the torrents of data those tools generate. After clearing two…
Making Better Judgments about Summary Judgment in Securities Class Actions
By Doug Greene
“Securities litigation” isn’t really “litigation” anymore. For the first 15 years of my career, securities class actions that were not dismissed would head into litigation, where we would test class certification, map out our summary judgment motion, and engage in fact discovery designed to establish the facts we needed to prevail on the merits. A…
Stuck in Court for Forty Years
By Greg Barnett
It’s no secret that litigation in Brazil is slow. Even routine disputes can spiral into decades-long sagas thanks to an overburdened court system and seemingly endless appeals. One labor case offers a startling example: a dispute that took more than 40 years to resolve.In 1982, a former bakery manager sued his employer, a supermarket in…
There’s Always This Year? 2025 Legislature Considers CEQA Reforms to Spur Housing
California’s 2025 legislative cycle includes another ambitious package of housing bills as the state continues to look for ways to ease the housing crisis amidst continued political and economic uncertainty. Reforming the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) is a perennial focus among developers and housing advocates, although the state has enacted only narrowly targeted measures…