Pratik Shah Named Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer for “Joint Employer” Liability Challenge
Akin Supreme Court & appellate practice head Pratik Shah has been named Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer for securing a major victory on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of business groups challenging a new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule that threatened to dramatically expand “joint employer” liability under the National Labor Relations Act.
Pratik led the Akin team and argued the successful motion for summary judgment before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, which set aside the NLRB’s proposed rule just three days before it went into effect. Read more here.
In a Q&A with Am Law, Pratik discussed the primary argument of the summary judgment. He said, “The rule’s destabilizing consequences are an important part of the story, both because it reflects the real-world practical impacts for our clients and because it is legally relevant to the ‘arbitrary and capricious’ component of our APA challenge.”
Pratik also offered a takeaway for other lawyers from this case: “Be nimble. After our summary judgment motion, the Board’s response newly touted a two-step framework for determining “joint employer” status under the Rule. We were able to formulate a reply brief using the Board’s own framework to our advantage by demonstrating that it was logically incoherent and legally untenable.”
Read the full story on Pratik, here (subscription required).
