Trump’s Spring Cleaning – Executive Order Targets Agencies to Improve "Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Accountability"
Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.15.17
On March 13, 2017, the Trump Administration issued an executive order for a “comprehensive plan for reorganizing the executive branch[,]” which, according to its text, “is intended to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the executive branch….” To this end, the Order directs agency heads, within 180 days of the date of the order, to submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget “a proposed plan to reorganize the agency, if appropriate, in order to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of that agency.” The OMB Director, in turn, must “propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies…, components of agencies, and agency programs.” Notably, the OMB Director must “publish a notice in the Federal Register inviting the public to suggest improvements in the organization and functioning of the executive branch,” and must consider such suggestions when formulating the aforementioned plan.
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Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25
Claim construction is a key stage of most patent litigations, where the court must decide the meaning of any disputed terms in the patent claims. Generally, claim terms are given their plain and ordinary meaning except under two circumstances: (1) when the patentee acts as its own lexicographer and sets out a definition for the term; and (2) when the patentee disavows the full scope of the term either in the specification or during prosecution. Thorner v. Sony Comput. Ent. Am. LLC, 669 F.3d 1362, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2012). The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp. highlights that patentees can act as their own lexicographers through consistent, interchangeable usage of terms across the specification, effectively defining terms by implication.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.14.25
Microplastics Update: Regulatory and Litigation Developments in 2025
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.13.25
