Boulette Golden & Marin L.L.P. partner Jason Boulette will present “Big Data, Part II: Automated Enterprise Decision Making” at UT Law’s CLE Labor & Employment Conference. The presentation will explore the growing use of data analytics in traditional employment decision-making, the potential for using big data to effect positive change, and the legal risks associated with unsophisticated big data decision-making. The speech is scheduled for 1:40 pm on Wednesday, May13th, at the AT&T Conference Center. Additional information>>>

Boulette Golden & Marin L.L.P. partner Mike Golden will present a talk entitled “Getting From Internet to Evidence” at UT Law’s CLE Labor & Employment Conference. The talk, eligible for CLE ethics credit, is scheduled for 4:35 pm on Tuesday, May 12th, at the AT&T Conference Center, and will explore ethical methods of eDiscovery related to social media, the nuts and bolts of admitting social media data into evidence, and strategies for using that evidence on both liability and damages claims. Additional information>>>

Boulette Golden & Marin L.L.P. partner Laura Merritt has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Austin Bar Association/AYLA. The Board position is for a two-year term. Additional information>>>

Boulette Golden & Marin L.L.P. partners Jason Boulette and Michael Marin will present “So You’ve Been Sued” to the 37th Annual UT Corporate Counsel Institute, meeting at the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum May 7th. Additional information>>>

Read More

Boulette Golden & Marin partner Jason Boulette will present “Ethics of Negotiation: The Rules of Disciplinary Procedure, Cicero, and Ethics” to the University of Texas Law CLE Health Law Conference. The presentation is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Four Seasons Hotel, Houston. Read more>>>

Join us for a presentation by Mike Golden, Partner at Boulette Golden & Marin on Monday, April 27th from 5:30 to 7:30pm at Patika Wine.  & Coffee, 2159 S. Lamar. Mike will be answering Employment Law questions we are frequently asked by our friends, such as appropriate interview questions, hiring/firing situations, privacy, and the enforceability of non-compete agreements. Mike will also discuss the ethics of engaging in legal discussions with friends when we don’t have all the facts or expertise in that area. The presentation is approved for 1 hour of CLE (.25 ethics) and will also allow time for networking. Read more>>>

Boulette Golden & Marin L.L.P. partner Jason Boulette will present “Social Media: Internet to Evidence” at the Austin Bar Association’s 2015 Bench Bar Conference at the Austin Country Club. The presentation will be a breakout session scheduled for 10am on Friday April 17th. Additional information>>>

Boulette Golden & Marin L.L.P. partners Jason Boulette and Michael Marin will address the 37th Annual UT Law Corporate Counsel Institute in Houston Thursday, April 16th. Their presentation, entitled “So You’ve Been Sued and There’s TRO” will offer tactical and strategic for handling the situation. Additional information>>>

By Steven Garrett, Associate Attorney, Boulette Golden & Marin L.L.P.

On March 26, 2015 a Federal Court in Wichita Falls, Texas temporarily halted the Department of Labor’s new FMLA rule, described below, pending a full determination on the merits. The temporary stay is the result of a lawsuit filed by the State of Texas and others. Effective March 27, 2015 the DOL had revised their regulations under the Family and Medical Leave Act to define a spouse according to the “place of celebration” instead of “the state of residence.” For example, if a same-sex couple was married in California and then moved to Texas under the “place of celebration” rule, employers in Texas would have to consider the couple legally married for purposes of administering the FMLA. Simply put, eligible employees would have been able to take FMLA leave to care for their same sex spouse with a serious health condition, take qualifying exigency leave due to their same-sex spouse’s covered military service, or take military caregiver leave for their same-sex spouse. The March 26 ruling means that, for now, if an employer grants leave to an employee for one of these purposes, that leave does not count against the employee’s 12-week allotment of FMLA. Stay tuned.