DoD Mandates Preparation for Climate Change
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 01.18.16
On January 14, 2016, DoD issued Directive 4715.21 (Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience), which establishes a comprehensive framework for agency efforts to (i) address, mitigate, and adapt to climate change risks to U.S. military assets and operations; and (ii) integrate climate change risk considerations into DoD acquisition and mission planning. As described in this post [MAKE THIS A LINK], the DoD Directive does not address several questions that will likely be answered on a piecemeal basis through multiple new or modified regulations, standards, and guidelines, providing the private sector with several opportunities to shape implementation of the directive and to address downstream effects to contracts and corporate policies.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.12.26
DOJ Guidance Backs Away From Disparate Impact Liability
On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a formal opinion concluding that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) existing interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) disparate-impact liability, including the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), are unconstitutional. According to the opinion, EEOC’s prior interpretations contemplate liability based on disproportionately adverse effects alone, without regard to an employer’s likely intent, rather than treating disparate impact as an evidentiary mechanism to “smoke out” intentional discrimination. DOJ found that this approach functions as a “qualified racial-proportionality mandate” that places “a racial thumb on the scales, often requiring employers to evaluate the racial outcomes of their policies, and to make decisions based on (because of) those racial outcomes.” The opinion fulfills one mandate of Executive Order 14281, which rejected disparate-impact liability insofar as it “creates a near insurmountable presumption that unlawful discrimination exists wherever there are any differences in outcomes among different [demographic groups].”
Client Alert | 4 min read | 06.12.26
Auto Dealers: The FTC Is Back in the Driver’s Seat — Warning Letters Signal Renewed Federal Scrutiny
Client Alert | 13 min read | 06.12.26
Client Alert | 4 min read | 06.12.26
