February 3, 2026 – Seyfarth Shaw LLP has named Suzanna Bonham managing partner of the firm’s Houston office, marking an exciting new chapter for Seyfarth in Texas. Bonham, who joined Seyfarth in 2013, brings more than two decades of leadership experience as a litigator, strategist, and trusted advisor to clients and firm leadership alike. Bonham has built a formidable reputation both in the Houston market and across Texas. She is a…
Quick Hits Noncompliance with New Jersey’s Earned Sick Leave Law’s recordkeeping requirements creates a presumption that an employer failed to provide the earned sick leave required by the law. Vacation/PTO policies relied upon by employers to comply with the ESLL must provide paid leave for all purposes required by the ESLL. Failure to provide earned sick leave constitutes failure to pay wages under NJWHL, subjecting employers to claims for liquidated…
On Feb. 18, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) will hear Aphria Inc. v. Canada Life Assurance Company, et al. The issue before the SCC sits at the intersection of commercial leasing doctrine and mainstream contract law: when a tenant repudiates a commercial lease and vacates, can the landlord “do nothing,” keep the lease alive, and sue for rent as it falls due without any duty to mitigate? We…
The care that women receive following a miscarriage during the second trimester of pregnancy varies according to where in the UK and Ireland the woman is treated, new research shows.The study, led by the University of Aberdeen in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Manchester, University College Cork and University of Birmingham, was funded by Tommy’s, the pregnancy and baby charity, and published in The European Journal of Obstetrics…
The year 2025 has seen significant developments in employment law in Hong Kong. This article provides a quick glance at the major changes introduced during the year and offers insights into anticipated changes as we transition further into 2026. To read more about all the key updates, please click here for the full version of this article. January: Six visa categories move to online-only applications. Click here to read more.…
Quick Hits The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reiterated that a low bar exists for asserting a religious discrimination claim at the pleading stage of a Title VII case. The court held it was not a violation of the ADA for an employer to ask about an employee’s vaccination status. An employee’s vaccination status does not support a “regarded as” disabled claim under the ADA in the…
Our study demonstrates how geography, social organisation, and historical circumstances can preserve ancient genetic patterns in certain regions long after they have become altered elsewhere.Lead author, Associate Researcher Dr Leonidas-Romanos Davranoglou (Oxford University Museum of Natural History)Set among rugged mountains, dramatic coastlines, and distinct stone tower houses, the Mani Peninsula of the Peloponnese, Greece, has long captivated travellers, historians, and writers, most famously, Jules Verne and Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor.…
Around the world, millions of families have suffered forcible separation, through war, trafficking, natural disasters, or socioeconomic crises. In China, family separation is a particularly large-scale and far-reaching problem. Following the enactment of country’s One Child Policy in 1979, many children were abandoned or trafficked and then adopted either domestically or internationally.Reuniting children taken from their parents is a logistical challenge. China has established a DNA biobank dedicated to facilitating…
Transcript Harlan Krumholz: Welcome to Health & Veritas. We have a special bonus podcast today. Our guest is Dr. Robert Wachter who’s here to talk about his new book, A Giant Leap: How AI is Transforming Healthcare and What That Means for Our Future. It’s being published today, and we’re dropping this podcast. We recorded it a little while ago, but we were holding it for this special day. I’m…
By fostering deep integration between leading UK and Japanese teams and their respective programmes, we aim to create a coherent, full-stack architecture and deliver concrete integration outcomes that amplify the value of current national efforts, rather than duplicating foundational developments.Professor David Lucas, Department of Physics, University of OxfordInstead of working through problems step by step, quantum methods can explore many possibilities at the same time, making them much faster at certain…
But American control over Europe growing stronger is a good thing too—it drives up the value of Europe as a territorial base for America to deploy its military in Eurasia. And this means, from a tactical perspective, that the Americans are more likely to force Europe into granting Russia concessions than to throw the continent under the bus of direct military confrontation. Especially since America’s obviously decreasing ability to act…
Quick Hits Washington’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health has moved to amend excavation, trenching, and shoring rules, with a focus on general protection requirements. The proposal would require employers to complete a written work plan for any trench excavation that requires a protective system and require a “competent person” to remain onsite any time trenching and evacuation work is being performed. Washington Department of Labor & Industries is holding…
The problem is that such a strategy requires courage and at least a modicum of wisdom. Alas, there is no certainty that all global elites possess these qualities. The difficulty is that as elements of the new world system develop, the rules of the old one are being erased, disappearing, melting away. Yet here we are talking about a historical process, not a volcanic eruption. All of history is moulded…
Quick Hits Germany’s Federal Labor Court (BAG) ruled that third-division soccer referees are not employees, reversing the Cologne Regional Labor Court’s decision and determining that the legal dispute should be heard in civil courts. The BAG found that the framework agreement and actual constraints on referees did not establish an employer’s right to issue instructions typical of an employment contract, emphasizing the freelance nature of the referees’ work. The decision…
Quick Hits In FY 2025, union election petitions filed by employees decreased to 2,100, marking the lowest number since 2022, yet still surpassing the first two years of the Biden administration. Unions achieved a high win percentage of 81.9 percent in representation elections, though the percentage reflected a slight decline from the previous year. Employer petitions dropped to 237, but employer petitions have been significantly higher since the NLRB’s 2023…
Earlier this month, we analyzed House Bill 2191, the proposed legislation that would significantly expand wage and benefit liability in Washington’s construction industry. On January 28, 2026, lawmakers released a substitute version of the bill (HB 2191‑S) that makes several important changes. Although the substitute preserves the bill’s core objective—expanded accountability for unpaid wages and benefits—it narrows and clarifies key provisions that raised concerns for general contractors and project owners.…
Quick Hits The Maine Department of Labor recently confirmed that benefit distributions will begin on May 1, 2026, for the PFML program. Both employers and employees contribute to the paid family and medical leave fund. Covered workers will be entitled to take twelve weeks of paid time off for family leave, medical leave, leave to deal with the transition of a family member’s military deployment, or leave to stay safe…
Recent media investigations into the practices of medispas, beauty clinics, and other health and wellness services in Ontario underscore the need for healthcare providers and business owners to have robust quality and safety controls in place to ensure the wellbeing of their clients and to minimize regulatory and other legal repercussions. As the health and wellness space becomes increasingly popular, resulting in increased demand for services and new opportunities for…
A byelection has been set for February 26 in the Manchester constituency of Gorton and Denton. This will be a big test for Keir Starmer’s Labour party and a temperature check on the state of multi-party politics in the North. Although Labour won the seat comfortably in 2024, some early polls are already suggesting Reform could win.Byelections are awkward beasts and don’t necessarily follow the usual rules. What makes things…
Introduction: the return of an old logic The capture of Nicolás Maduro by United States forces is not merely another episode in Venezuela’s prolonged crisis. It is a geopolitical event with continental and global implications. It marks the explicit return of military intervention as a legitimate instrument of hemispheric order, the reactivation of the Monroe Doctrine as operational practice, and a visible fracture in the post–Cold War international system. What…
Dr Héloïse Stevance. Credit: Elise Manahan. Recently one of the most prestigious artificial intelligence (AI) conferences (NeurIPS) was caught accepting submissions with hallucinated citations. Not a handful either - over 100 instances. The response form the NeurIPS board is pretty telling of the times we live in: ‘Even if 1.1% of the papers have one or more incorrect references due to the use of LLMs, the content of the papers themselves are…
Quick Hits Maine recently enacted a law requiring employers to notify employees and job applicants about employee surveillance. The law does not apply to cameras used in the workplace for safety and security purposes. The law took effect immediately without the governor’s signature. In recent years, more employers have begun using technology to track employee movements and actions. This may include cameras in the workplace, GPS tracking on phones and…
Professor Philippa Browning, The University of Manchester’s first female physics academic, is retiring this week after more than 40 years of research, teaching and service at the University. Her achievement have also recently been marked by the award of the 2026 Hannes Alfven Medal by the European Physical Society, a prestigious international distinction recognising her “outstanding and innovative work bridging astrophysical and laboratory plasmas using analytical insights and modelling.”Professor Browning joined…
Seyfarth’s Trademark practice earned widespread recognition in the 2026 edition of the World Trademark Review 1000, a guide that spotlights “leading professionals and firms that are deemed outstanding at obtaining, protecting, managing, enforcing and monetising trademarks." "With trademark capabilities spanning over 190 countries, Seyfarth Shaw delivers consistently high-impact results through a collaborative, tech-enabled infrastructure," WTR wrote of the firm. The firm earned high rankings nationally as well as in the…
Quick Hits A jury in federal court recently awarded a former employee $5.5 million in her sexual harassment and retaliation case. A female security guard alleged that her boss sexually harassed and assaulted her, and that the company ended her employment after she complained to the company’s owner. Anti-harassment provisions in federal, state, and local laws may vary in scope and application. Background A former security guard sued C&M Defense…
On Jan.7, 2026, the Ministry of Energy and Mines released a proposal (ERO 026-0019) to bring forward an order in council and Minister’s directive pursuant to Section 25.32 of the Electricity Act, 1998 that would direct the Independent Electricity System Operator’s (IESO) to undertake a competitive procurement process and enter into a procurement contract with a transmitter to develop and construct the Toronto Third Line project with an in-service date…
Four researchers from the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) have been appointed as inaugural Fellows of the Academy for the Mathematical Sciences, a new national body established to bring together the UK’s strongest mathematicians to help solve some of the UK’s biggest challenges. The appointments place Manchester researchers among a cohort of around 100 Fellows drawn from academia, business, industry and government. The Academy’s Fellowship will work collectively to address major national challenges including pandemic preparedness, economic transformation, national security, climate change and the safe…
Howie and Harlan are joined by Mary-Ann Etiebet of the public health organization Vital Strategies to discuss how policy, prevention, and stronger public-health systems can reduce the global burden of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other preventable conditions. Harlan reports on the federal push toward fully autonomous clinical care for heart failure; Howie looks at proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage payments and what they mean for beneficiaries, plans, and taxpayers. Show…
This is the Club’s third annual Russian-Indian conference. Since its inception, it has become a platform for in-depth intellectual exchange, allowing experts to discuss the development of bilateral relations between Russia and India, as well as the broader geopolitical situation. Programme of the Russia-India Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club and the Vivekananda International Foundation “India–Russia in a Changing Global Order: Strategic Autonomy, Security, and Partnership in the 21st…
Quick Hits The NLRB has implemented new case intake procedures requiring charging parties to submit evidence before their unfair labor practice cases are docketed. Under the new procedure, a failure to provide documentation and information supporting a charge within two weeks may lead to the dismissal of the charge. Designed to enhance efficiency in case handling and reduce the existing case backlog, the updated process may result in quicker resolutions…
Watching the developments in the South Caucasus, we see a picture that seems paradoxical by all previous standards of our understanding of the nature of international relations: rather than overcoming political barriers, numerous economic partnerships have adapted to them, entrenching existing fault lines. Since powerful external forces are involved in these partnerships, the regional conflict is projected onto the global level, becoming an element of a larger geopolitical competition. In…
Where does accountability sit for attracting and retaining high-value audiences? Editorial, Marketing, Product, or … somewhere else? Reading time: 2 minutes As search declines, high-value audiences are no longer “acquired”, they are built. This report explores how fragmented accountability across editorial, product and commercial teams slows progress, and why clear leadership, shared priorities and common metrics are now critical to driving habitual, high-value audience growth. Download the full report here.…
Quick Hits Identifying Impacted Contracts: Review contract terms and engage your contracting officer to determine if contracts are affected by the shutdown. Responding to Stop-Work Orders: Stop-work orders typically require immediate compliance. When complying, be sure to document all related communications and actions. Proactive Communication: If no stop-work order is issued, seek written confirmation from your contracting officer on whether to continue work. Mitigation Strategies: Manage financial exposure, communicate with…
A few decades ago, the role of an HR manager was fairly mundane. They were responsible for tasks such as managing payroll, ensuring compliance with labor laws, and organizing the office holiday party.Today, the role of chief human resources officer (CHRO) at large firms has become much more critical. These leaders have moved into the C-suite, often have the ear of the CEO, and are involved in major decisions about…
Quick Hits When an employee is required to be on duty for more than twenty-four hours, the FLSA allows employers to exclude up to eight hours of sleep time from compensable hours. This exclusion applies where: (1) there is an implied or express agreement to the exclusion; (2) the employer provides adequate sleeping facilities; and (3) the employee gets at least five hours of uninterrupted sleep. Nonexempt employees who are…
Synchrotron X-ray Fluorescence imaging works by scanning a sample in front of the intense X-ray beam generated by the synchrotron particle accelerator. The X-rays cause atoms in the sample to emit their own X-rays (X-ray fluorescence), which the scanning system detects. The properties of the fluoresced X-rays are specific to the chemical element they originated from. As such, this technique can be used to identify and map tiny differences in…
Quick Hits To avoid a partial government shutdown, a funding package for the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, Education, Treasury, State, and other agencies must pass the U.S. Senate before January 30, 2026. A government shutdown of these departments would suspend critical immigration functions, including PERM processing, prevailing wage determinations, and Labor Condition Applications. E-Verify would also likely be unavailable, and…
The Academy for the Mathematical Sciences (AcadMathSci), founded in September 2023, brings together academia, education, business, industry, and government from across the UK to provide an authoritative, persuasive, and influential voice for the whole of the mathematical sciences. The Academy’s new Fellowship will bring together the UK’s ‘hidden problem solvers’, whose breadth of experience and depth of expertise will make the Fellowship much greater than the sum of its parts.Working…
Given the direction of world politics and recent events, institutions like the EU and NATO are increasingly losing influence, and if the US were to truly disengage from Europe, the future awaiting European countries could be brighter than imagined, writes Christian Baldi. The author is a participant of the Valdai – New Generation project. As the months pass, the deepening divisions within the Western bloc are becoming increasingly pronounced: American claims on Greenland, tensions between…
Quick Hits OFCCP issued an Information Collection Request on January 2, 2026, seeking to revise questions on its complaint and pre-complaint inquiry forms to align with Executive Order 14173. OFCCP issued a renewed Information Collection Request on January 7, 2026, seeking to extend existing recordkeeping requirements under VEVRAA. On January 20, 2026, an appropriation bill was introduced that proposed to fund OFCCP at $100,976,000 for fiscal year 2026. This appropriation…