Firm Wire items are announcements made by the firms themselves. The desk confirms that the announcement was published and reproduces its factual content. It does not verify the claims in it, and publication is not an endorsement.
Michael Best said 17 associate attorneys joined during the third quarter of 2026, including 10 through its combination with New York firm Kane Kessler. The firm said the additions span its transactional, litigation, intellectual property and labor and employment practices across six offices.
Michael Best said it published a guide to Colorado’s Artist Company Act for creative founders and investors. The firm’s article examined how the new limited liability company structure separates artistic control from economic participation and addressed governance, financing and intellectual property arrangements for creative ventures.
Michael Best said David Ferguson joined its Los Angeles office as senior counsel in the transactional practice. The firm said he advises nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations, founders and donors, with work spanning corporate governance, tax compliance and the deployment of philanthropic capital.
Michael Best said Amanda Wait, managing partner of its Washington office and antitrust sub-group leader, will speak with FTI Consulting’s Kristy Piccinini in a PLI webinar, Rural Hospitals on the Brink, on October 1 from 1 to 2 p.m. Eastern. The firm said the program will cover federal Medicaid cuts and expiring ACA tax credits, merger and affiliation options and antitrust and regulatory issues, and is eligible for one CLE credit.
Michael Best said it published a guide by Virginia Cronin and Megan Demeny on parental leave and pregnancy-related employment obligations for churches. The firm said the guide separates FMLA employer coverage from employee eligibility, covers the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the PUMP Act and Title VII, notes that the ministerial exception turns on an employee’s actual role rather than title, flags state programs in Minnesota, New York and Illinois, and recommends coordinated policies and supervisor training.
Michael Best said it published an update on the NLRB’s September 23 decision in Lion Elastomers LLC (375 NLRB No. 41), which the firm said restores the Wright Line causation test from General Motors (2020) for discipline over employee outbursts during protected activity and overrules the 2023 Lion Elastomers II standard. The firm said employers should apply conduct rules consistently and document discipline, and flagged handbook rules, election procedures and severance agreements as precedents to watch.
Michael Best said it published an article by partner Daniel S. Jones on dependency risk in supplier agreements. The firm said the article argues that many supplier disputes turn on whether the customer can keep making, repairing, modifying and selling a product if the relationship ends, and recommends licenses that survive termination, rights to use alternate sources, and access to tooling, drawings, software, quality records and transition support rather than ownership of the supplier’s platform.
Michael Best said it published an alert by Ashley Beeson on the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s July 27 opening of ten dockets to update its application filing requirements for energy projects. The firm said the dockets cover generation, transmission, energy storage, natural gas pipelines, substations, abandonment and ownership-interest acquisitions, and that commission staff completeness determinations, public comment and stakeholder participation will shape the revised requirements.