Social Media, AI, and the Law: Current developments

Gary J. Mennitt | Dechert LLP

Gary J. Mennitt is co-head of Dechert’s International and Insolvency Litigation group. Mr. Mennitt has extensive first chair trial experience and has tried dozens of cases, including three cases in 2020 alone. He concentrates on complex multinational litigation and contentious cross-border matters. He has extensive experience leading creditors’ rights, insolvency and bondholder litigation. His practice is fully integrated with Dechert’s bankruptcy and reorganization group.

In 2020, Mr. Mennitt was one of two litigation partners on a team that achieved a major victory for the LATAM Airlines’ Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors when the bankruptcy court, following a hotly contested evidentiary hearing, refused to approve an insider DIP financing deal resulting in a revised facility which saved the airline – and its creditors – almost half a billion dollars. In 2022, This matter was named the “International Matter of the Year” by the American Bankruptcy Institute.

In April 2019, Mr. Mennitt obtained one of the largest jury verdicts that year in New York’s Supreme Court Commercial Division, a US$171 million judgment in a bondholder trust indenture suit involving an Indonesian issuer. In March 2020, in an unrelated matter, he obtained a complete defense verdict following a trial in the same court in a contested UCC sale process dispute.

Mr. Mennitt represents clients in state and federal trials and appeals throughout the United States in complex matters where much is at stake. He has consistently been ranked as among the top litigators by multiple leading global publications, including Chambers USA, The Legal 500 US, and the New York Law Journal, with The Legal 500 US also noting him as a leader of Dechert’s tier 1 International and Insolvency Litigation team.

In 2021, Mr. Mennitt was awarded the Conspicuous Service Award for his work as an author of Commercial Litigation In NYS Courts (fifth edition) presented by the New York County Lawyer’s Association. Mr. Mennitt frequently writes and lectures on topics in his area of trial practice and was awarded the 2013 President’s Medal of the NYCLA for similar service to the bar as an author concerning commercial litigation. He has written dozens of published articles and book chapters, including chapters on U.S. and global principles of compensatory damages in The Global Damages Review (The Law Reviews 2018), and the litigation chapters of Hedge Funds and the Law (Sweet & Maxwell 2010).

Shmuel Vasser | Dechert LLP

Shmuel Vasser has broad experience in some of the largest and most complex restructurings and reorganizations. Mr. Vasser’s notable engagements include the representation of the consortium of lenders in the threatened collapse of Long Term Capital and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as the designated self-regulatory organization for Refco, LLC.

Mr. Vasser has represented debtors, creditors, lenders, hedge funds, private equity funds and acquirers of distressed assets and securities. He has experience in restructurings, prepackaged cases, debtor in possession financings, assets sales, and litigation and acquisition transactions involving troubled companies. Mr. Vasser’s practice includes bankruptcy issues concerning structured finance transactions; derivative instruments, including swaps, forward contracts, and repurchase agreements; and other sophisticated financial products.

He is routinely involved in providing advice relating to the structuring of innovative transactions and new financial instruments. Mr. Vasser is recognized as a Notable Practitioner for restructuring and insolvency by IFLR1000. He is also recognized by Lawdragon as one of the 500 leading global restructuring and insolvency lawyers. Mr. Vasser was listed as a leading lawyer for his work in bankruptcy in the 2009 edition of The Legal 500 (U.S.), which recognized him for his “intelligent persuasion, cool-head and business savvy.”

In 2016, Mr. Vasser co-led the team awarded the “Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Year (US$1 billion – US$5 billion)” at The M&A Advisor’s 11th Annual Turnaround Awards for its representation of RCS Capital. The restructuring of RCS Capital was also selected by Beard Group’s Turnarounds & Workouts in its annual “Successful Restructurings” round-up for 2016.

Pat Andriola | Dechert LLP

Pat Andriola is an associate in Dechert’s Trials, Investigations, and Securities group. He represents clients in complex commercial disputes before federal and state courts and has litigated cases at both the trial and appellate levels. Mr. Andriola’s experience touches on all parts of the civil litigation process, managing discovery, drafting dispositive motions, deposing, and cross-examining witnesses, and drafting appellate briefing.

Prior to joining Dechert, Mr. Andriola completed a federal clerkship with the Honorable William H. Walls in the District of New Jersey and was a litigation associate at another global law firm. In 2020 and 2021, Mr. Andriola was recognized by Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for his work in commercial litigation. He also received The Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Publico Award in 2018 for his work on behalf of indigent criminal defendants.

I. Service of process using new technologies and social media | 11:00am – 11:20am

• Groundbreaking recent case law opened the door to the use of social media —Twitter, Facebook etc.— and new technology like Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), in effectuating service of legal process. We will examine the circumstances that courts found to justify the use of such alternative means of service, consistent with due process.

II. Ownership of social media | 11:20am – 11:40am

• The explosive growth in the use of social media for commercial advertising, product
  development and customer engagement, including via “influencers,” is well known and those accounts may have significant value. The development of a legal regime designed to address disputes regarding the ownership of these accounts, however, has not been nearly as rapid. We will discuss two bankruptcy court decisions, one very recent, writing on a fairly clean slate and addressing the rights to such accounts.

III. The UCC and Emerging Technologies | 11:40am – 12:00pm

• The Uniform Law Commission and the American Law Institute have recently approved and recommended for enactment amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code to address emerging technologies, like cryptocurrency, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and non-fungible tokens, among others. Market participants, legal practitioners, and other stakeholders should remain alert and keep current on the incorporation of these amendments throughout the United States and their effects on transactional, commercial, and financing practices.

Break | 12:00pm – 12:10pm

IV. Ethical issues – the use of social media and AI by lawyers for legal work and promotion | 12:10pm – 12:40pm

• Every firm and seemingly every lawyer has a web site and social media presence. But what are we allowed to say? Can the lawyer lists clients? Can we list matters, current and former, that we have worked on? | 12:10pm – 12:25pm
• ChatGPT is all the rage and is predicted to significantly overhaul the legal profession. But for now, how you use it can get you sanctioned. We will discuss recent events on the topic | 12:25pm – 12:40pm