Civil Law

Fifth Circuit Says Telework is Not A Presumptively Reasonable Accommodation (US)

Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many employees to temporarily work from home, employers have struggled to bring those remote employees back to the office. Since the return to business as (almost) usual, many employees have asked to extend their flexible teleworking arrangements, sometimes by requesting remote work as a disability accommodation. Those employees would do well to heed a recent Fifth Circuit decision, Hayes v. GStek, Inc., No. 25-30392 (5th Cir. May 8, 2026), which warns that “[t]he COVID … Read the rest

Civil Law

Fifth Circuit Finds Evidence That One of Defendants Attorneys Slept During His Capital Murder Trial Insufficient to Prove Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

It’s often said that the ineffective assistance of counsel test is so tough to satisfy that even evidence that a defendant’s attorney slept during trial is insufficient to satisfy the standard. The latest example is Alvarez v. Guerrero, 2025 WL 3719047 (5th Cir. 2025).

In Alvarez, “Juan Carlos Alvarez was sentenced to death for the murders of Michael Aguirre and Jose Varela.” He later appealed, claiming that one of his two trial counsel slept during trial.

A majority … Read the rest