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As has been the case for several months now, health care legislation has been front and center. However, the DOL has recently issued final regulations impacting health and welfare plans that will become law, and are not up for debate, as are other health care changes. Here's what you need to know.

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If you are currently working with marketing vendors or are in the process of retaining one in the areas of branding/advertising, public relations, business development, social media, blogs, website/graphic design, SEO, events or any number of other functions, it is critical you understand how to maximize this invaluable resource.

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Recognizing a Fifth Amendment privilege for corporations — whether through wholesale abolition of the collective entity doctrine or by recognizing some limited exception for custodians of smaller corporations — would not foreclose meaningful white-collar prosecutions, but it would restore protection of the Fifth Amendment rights of individuals who are sacrificed under the current bright-line rule. Will Justice Gorsuch help in this endeavor?

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On Dec. 16, 2016, the DOL published final regulations on disability benefits claims procedures for any group plans governed by ERISA that provide for disability benefits (the "Final Rule"). This Final Rule applies to any disability claims filed on or after Jan. 1, 2018, and will apply not only to health and welfare plans that provide for disability benefits, but also any qualified retirement plans that may offer disability benefits.

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Cross-border trade and international law regimes are all affected by the Luxembourg Rail Protocol to the Cape Town Convention (the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (the Convention)), which is well known to those experienced in aircraft financing. Like the Hague Securities Convention, the Cape Town Convention was sponsored by UNIDROIT (the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law), an intergovernmental organization whose mission is to harmonize international laws.

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A discussion of a case in which the United States Supreme Court faced a claim by the City of Miami that two banks had violated the federal Fair Housing Act by issuing loans to black and Latino customers on terms less favorable than loans issued to similarly situated customers who were white and non-Latino.

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<b><I>How Lawyers Can Maximize Job Satisfaction</I></b><p>Multiple studies suggest that lawyers are among the least satisfied of all professionals. What many lawyers fail to realize, however, is that satisfaction is not as elusive as it seems. If you are among the majority of attorneys who fall somewhere below 85% on the satisfaction scale, you can do something about it.

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<b><I>Anti-SLAPP Legislation and the Defamation Claim</I></b><p><b><I>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</I></b><p>In last month's newsletter, we began discussion of a defamation claim brought against two attorneys who took to the airwaves to publicize their client's complaints against a hospital and its owner. The defendants in that matter sought redress for what they claimed were untrue, and very unflattering, statements, but the attorneys moved for dismissal of the claims. We continue here with the court's reasons for granting the attorneys' motion.