Publications

USCIS Plans to Furlough Over 13,000 U.S. Employees The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency, which is almost exclusively funded by immigration application filing fees, is facing a severe budget deficit and will not be able to sustain normal operations through the summer.  As a result, USCIS has requested $1.2 billion […]

Due to COVID-19, in the spring semester U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) temporarily permitted exemptions for nonimmigrant student visa holders related to in-person course requirements (see prior client alert here).  ICE has now modified the exemptions for the fall semester as follows: F-1 (academic) and M-1 (non-academic or vocational) student visa holders attending schools […]

Greetings, Court Fans! No new decisions today, but there’s still plenty to discuss. This morning, the Court granted certiorari in Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp (No. 19-351), a petition brought by our own Jonathan Freiman and company, concerning the scope of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Congrats, Jonathan! That reminded us that it’s been […]

Greetings, Court Fans! When we last wrote, the Court had yet to issue decisions in at least eight cases, with only one decision day before the end of June, the date by which it typically wraps up its term. Suffice itto say that Tuesday did not break the record for the most decisions issued in […]

In an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Fourth Circuit decision overturning the Patent and Trademark Office refusal of registration of BOOKING.COM under Section 2(e) of the Lanham Act as being a generic designation.  The Patent and Trademark Office had initially refused registration of the BOOKING.COM designation as being descriptive. When Booking.com responded with […]

Greetings, Court Fans! It’s the penultimate day (okay, night) of June, and there are still eight or nine decisions outstanding (depending on consolidations). Unless tomorrow is one of the most extraordinary decision days in the Court’s history, it looks like the term will be extending into July for the first time in . . . […]

Partner Veronica Bauer and Associate Mary Margaret Colleary‘s recent Private Client Services advisory, “Florida Remote Signing Laws Effective July 1, 2020,” was recently published in The National Law Review. Read the advisory here.

Additions to Florida Remote Signing Laws Coming July 1, 2020 The Sunshine State will soon allow remote notarization and remote witnessing for all types of estate planning documents, effective July 1, 2020.  Unlike many states, such as New York and Connecticut, that have issued emergency orders to permit remote signings of estate planning documents during […]

Effective Wednesday, June 24 at 12:01 a.m. ET through at least December 31, 2020 A Presidential Proclamation was issued on June 22 to suspend through the end of 2020 the entry into the U.S. of certain temporary nonimmigrant visa beneficiaries. The suspension may be extended. The Proclamation also calls for additional measures to review within 30 […]

Greetings, Court Fans! The blocks are finally busting this week at One First Street[’s internet server], with four new decisions, including two of the most anticipated of the term. On Monday, in Bostock v. Clayton County (No. 17-1618), the Court held that Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or identity […]

Greetings, Court Fans! Well, after clearing the decks last week with five opinions in not-so-high-profile cases, many expected the Court this week to start working through some of the blockbusters on its docket. After all, the trio of cases addressing Title VII’s applicability to sexual orientation and identity were among the first to be argued […]

The first episode of the firm’s Private Equity Group’s “A Virtual Discussion Series” has been published in The National Law Review. In this episode titled “Part I: Labor, Employment and OSHA Developments and Strategies for Companies and PE Investors Navigating COVID-19 Hurdles,” Private Equity/Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group Partners, Heather Rahilly and Andrew Ritter, moderate a discussion with […]

The National Law Review has published Wiggin and Dana’s Private Client Services Department‘s first episode from the “Insights on Estate Planning” webinar series, which features Partner and Chair Michael Clear and Partners Daniel Daniels and Carolyn Reers. Michael, Daniel and Carolyn discuss how to effectively take advantage of the current estate planning climate and address […]

For deaths occurring after January 1, 2020, New York will tax estates valued at more than $5,850,000. Even if your estate is not large enough to owe federal estate tax (currently, the exemption amount is $11,580,000 for an individual), you may still owe an estate tax to the great state of New York. The New […]

Greetings, Court Fans! It’s an understatement to say that goings on at One First Street have been overshadowed this week by unrest further down Constitution Ave. (and around the country). Nevertheless, it was a fairly active week for the Court, with five new opinions and one notable order. We’ve got a lot to cover this […]

*** UPDATE – On June 5, 2020, President Trump signed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 into law.  *** On June 3, 2020, the United States Senate passed the House version of the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (the “PPP Flexibility Act”).  Under the PPP Flexibility Act, which is expected to […]

Partners Christian Chandler and Scott McClure and Associate Joshua Kutticherry‘s COVID-19 client alert titled “SBA Makes PPP Loan Increases Available to Certain Borrowers Who Missed Out Because of Subsequent Rule Changes” was published on The National Law Review‘s website on June 3, 2020. To read their article on The National Law Review‘s website, click here.

Partner John Doroghazi co-authored an article with Associate Andrew Malzahn of Dady & Gardner, P.A. and Associate Emily Bridges of Fox Rothschild, for the Franchise Law Journal, Vol. 39, No. 4, Spring 2020 edition. The article – titled “Franchising & Distribution Currents” – can be read in full at the PDF link below.

Temporary I-9 Policies for COVID-19 Compliance Flexibility Extended Since March 20, 2020 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) has implemented a limited I-9 compliance flexibility policy for employers with no employees physically present at a worksite location.This includes permitting employers to accept digital versions of documents and complete Section 2 of Form I-9 without […]

Partners David Laufman, Joseph Casino and Michael Kasdan‘s most recent article about the increase in theft of U.S. companies’ trade secrets and other intellectual property by Chinese entities has been published in Law360. To read their article, click here or the PDF below.

Counsel Katherine Hsu Hagmann was published in the Spring 2019 newsletter, “The Defense,” which is produced by the Connecticut Defense Lawyers Association (CDLA). Katherine’s article, “Setting Limits on Lost Consortium Claims After Campos v. Coleman,” explores and defines the key takeaways from the Campos v. Coleman case, and relevant post-case trial court decisions that rejected […]

Many Connecticut non-residents own real property in Connecticut, and Connecticut has its own estate and gift tax. Connecticut has an estate tax exemption of $5,100,000, but many non-resident landowners believe that their Connecticut real estate will not be subject to estate tax at their death, especially where the Connecticut property is worth less than the […]

Partner Paul Tuchmann has written an article for The Anti-Corruption Report titled, “Silver Decision Clarifies Scope of “Official Acts” in Domestic Bribery Cases,” in which he analyzes the case law considered by the Second Circuit in United States v. Silver and discusses what kind of behaviors may still be considered “official acts” under federal bribery law. To […]

Greetings, Court Fans! The Court was back this week with another unanimous decision, Opati v. Republic of Sudan (No. 17-1268), the latest in a long line of cases dealing with the details of suits against state sponsors of terrorism. This time, the Court unanimously held that Sudan could be held liable for punitive damages for […]

Mark Heaphy has co-authored two outsourcing chapters for Thomson Reuters. One chapter – titled “Outsourcing: United States overview” – is a Q&A guide to outsourcing in the United States that provides a high level overview of legal and regulatory requirements related to different types of outsourcing. The other chapter is titled “Transferring employees on an […]

Few things in the U.S. Department of Education’s proposed Title IX rules on sexual harassment concerned colleges and universities more than the requirement to hold a live hearing with cross-examination. The critique that educational institutions are ill-equipped to hold judicial-style hearings and oversee cross-examination fell on deaf ears, as the hearing provisions in the final […]

On May 18, 2020, the United States Small Business Administration (“SBA”) released an Interim Final Rule applicable to borrowers with foreign affiliates who relied on the pre-May 5 guidance (the “IFR on Foreign Affiliates”), under which the SBA indicated that it would not find a borrower ineligible for a PPP loan solely because the borrower […]

Now is a good time to consider wealth transfer strategies that remove assets from your taxable estate.  A common strategy is a grantor retained annuity trust, commonly referred to as a GRAT. Description. A GRAT is a strategy that freezes the value of an asset in your estate and transfers the appreciation of the asset […]

Partner Najia Khalid and Associate Ashley Moore’s immigration and compliance briefing about the public charge rule was published by The National Law Review on May 12, 2020. To read the entire piece, click here.

Partner Najia Khalid and Associate Ashley Moore’s client alert titled, “Immigration and Compliance Briefing: Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Policy Changes and Updates” was published by The National Law Review on May 6, 2020. To read their work on The National Law Review‘s website, click here.