ALFA International Publications

May 29, 2024
FX’s The Bear is a surprising vehicle for lessons and wisdom applicable to our workplaces. From protecting our own mental health, assisting our employees in hard times, and championing employees’ skills and dreams, we need only look to The Bear for inspiration. The Bear is the story of an award-winning young chef, Carmine “Carmy” Berzatto (played by Jeremy Allen White), who moves back to his ho…
May 29, 2024
THE IMPLICATIONS OF STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS v. HARVARD ET. AL. BEYOND THE CONTEXT OF HIGHER EDUCATION The Decision On July 29, 2023, the United States Supreme Court, in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), held that the admissions programs used by Havard and the University of North Carolina violated the Equal Protection Clause because …
May 29, 2024
What is Artificial Intelligence AI is a machine’s ability to perform the cognitive functions we associate with human minds, such as perceiving, reasoning, learning, interacting with the environment, problem-solving, and even exercising creativity. This is done by taking in a myriad of data, processing it, and learning from the past in order to streamline and improve in the future.[i] You’ve probab…
May 29, 2024
“Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name” (just not everything else about you) Introduction Every retailer, restaurant, and hotel would love to develop the type of customer loyalty embodied in the theme from the long-running show Cheers.  Predictions are Artificial Intelligence (AI)[i] will aid that goal.[ii]  However, surveys reflect customers generally do not trust that the priv…
May 29, 2024
Introduction Employees’ rights to engage in protected and concerted activity in the workplace have expanded in recent months. However, despite the National Labor Relations Board’s attempts to limit employers’ rights to take action, companies are not without recourse. This paper will examine the rights afforded employees under the National Labor Relations Act, including rights to engage in protecte…
May 29, 2024
It has been approximately 12 years since recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado.  There were a handful of early adopters that followed, but recreational marijuana remained the exception.  Until now. From 2020 to 2023, fifteen states legalized recreational marijuana.  Many others have legalized medicinal marijuana.  Currently, thirteen states have recreational marijuana bills at various …
May 29, 2024
Florida Pre-Tort Reform      For many years, Florida's national reputation for litigation has been very poor. Certain "pundits" have colloquially dubbed Florida as a "Judicial "Hellhole" (actually, a trademarked term), due to the excessive litigation, frivolous lawsuits and large jury awards.[i] On January 8, 2019, Governor Ron DeSantis was sworn in as Florida's governor. Florida Supreme Court …
May 1, 2024
Background Employee handbooks and driver qualification lists have long been utilized by the plaintiff’s bar to prove liability against both the driver and the company.  Whether these materials exist or not, they can become a potential source of liability against your client.  For example, if a driver fails to adhere to a specific policy appearing in an employee handbook or a driver qualification l…
May 1, 2024
In this article, we briefly discuss 5 strategies that can be employed to help manage medical expenses in personal injury and product liability cases. The five strategies cover (1) determination of attributable expenses, (2) assessing reasonable & fair market value, (3) examining medical necessity, (4) re-visiting life expectancy, and (5) dealing with medical funding, liens, & letters of pr…
February 29, 2024
Do the words “give up” mean anything to you? Not a thing. As lawyers, we are expected to be prepared in the event that our clients or our board rooms experience adversity, crises and, at times, even existential crises. It is what we have essentially trained for. But what about when our training takes us in an unexpected direction? What about when we face unexpected challenges from the inside? How…