About Andrew Brandt
Andrew Brandt is an editor on Super Lawyers‘ staff. He serves as the editor for the Illinois, Northern California, Upstate New York, Missouri-Kansas, and Texas magazines, and he additionally writes, fact-checks and proofreads for numerous other Super Lawyers issues (and for the website). He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in English literature and environmental studies, and his byline has appeared in a variety of places, both online and in print.
Articles written by Andrew Brandt
Shifting the Status Quo
Bill Groth on the fight for the right to voteI’ve always been interested in government and politics: I was a history and political science major at Butler, and I ran for political office in 1984, for the Indiana House of Representatives. In 1990, I got involved in a voting rights case involving the districting plan for the Marion County City-County Council. That was the beginning—the origins of my interest in handling voting and election law cases. One that stands out is the 2003 litigation over the city-county council districts in …
How Technology Platforms Are Categorized Shapes Their Regulation
Peter J. Schildkraut, a communications attorney with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer in Washington, DC, explains to Super Lawyers how internet policy continues to evolve even in the absence of Congressional action. The rise of social media platforms like Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter) — as well as other platform businesses and search engines — raised several important public policy questions we’re still grappling with: How do we categorize these entities? Are they technology …
What New Legal Issues Are Media Companies Facing?
I’ve been practicing for 21 years now, all as part of our telecommunications, internet, and media practice. One of the things I’ve been seeing recently—in terms of technology affecting or creating new legal issues—is the transition of content, programs, and other information to the Internet as over-the-top services. Increasing Internet Speeds Has Made Data-Intensive Content More Widely Available Statistically, as of the end of 2017, 94 percent of Americans had access to service speeds …
Change of Heart
Craig Tobin tried the last ‘heart balm’ case in Illinois historyIt was a front-page headline in a November 2014 edition of the New York Post: “Sex, Lies & Stalking at 9/11 Law Firm.” A name partner at a high-powered Manhattan law firm had had an affair with an associate attorney, and now the firm was falling apart. In April 2013, a year and a half earlier, the lawyer’s wife had hired a private investigator to spy on her husband and the associate on a business trip to Chicago. They were caught, and the affair ended. The associate was fired with …
When Mediation May Not Work for Your Legal Dispute
Increasingly, both plaintiffs and defendants are turning to mediation to settle their legal issues. The mediation process can have its advantages for both sides: It’s often cheaper, with mediator’s fees generally being less than litigation costs It’s more private since parties meet in separate rooms or remotely rather than in court It’s less time-consuming than going to court, often concluding in a single day of mediation The parties are the decision-makers, not a judge or arbitrator. …
As of 2019, Alimony Will No Longer Be Tax-Deductible
Due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, as of 2019, alimony payments will no longer be deductible for former spouses that pay it. “For those people who have not completed their divorce in 2018, if there’s going to be spousal support—that’s no longer going to be tax-deductible to the person who pays it, and it will no longer be income that the person who receives it has to report on their tax return,” says David Starks, a family law attorney at McKinley Irvin in Kirkland. “That matters …
What Happens When a Case Is Referred to Mediation in New York?
In the mid-’00s, in the Western District Federal Court in New York, Chief Judge William Skretny set forth a unique mediation program: Civil cases filed within that court are referred to mediation. “Originally, I was opposed to the very early period that the judge insisted that a case be mediated," says Richard F. Griffin, a mediator in Buffalo. "Many cases are going to be too early — you need depositions and other information before the parties are able to evaluate their cases." …
Death and Digital Assets
While the digital age has made most things easier, estate planning isn’t one of them. The opposite, in fact. “It’s not as easy as it used to be,” says Paul Gantner, an estate planning attorney at law firm Amen, Gantner & Capriano in St. Louis. “People used to draft their will or trust, and that was all they needed.” “As the younger generation — who has grown up with a digital footprint — starts to die, [estate planning] will become more of an issue,” adds Melinda Ward, …
A Walk-Through of the Mediation Process
The court system has an adversarial structure. Generally, there is a winner and a loser, and the results of a court order or final decision are unpredictable. The litigation process can also be time-consuming and expensive. Mediation is an alternative to formal court proceedings. Benefits of mediation include time and cost savings, individualized outcomes, and confidentiality. Mediation is useful for a wide range of legal issues, including: Family law matters such as divorce and child custody …
Should I Take Out a Payday Loan?
You should take out a payday loan when you need a short-term loan or emergency cash advance, do not have other lending options, and understand the potential risks of these loans. Payday loans may have hidden fees, exorbitant interest, and a debt cycle of rollover fees. Vulnerable borrowers with a loan default face potential credit damage, wage garnishment, and debt collector harassment. To get out of a financial trap with a predatory lender, debt relief options include bankruptcy filing, …
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