Hello and welcome to the May 2020 edition of Lewis Brisbois'  Transportation Law Update.

In this update, you'll find several timely and insightful articles from our transportation attorneys around the country, covering key issues of major importance to the trucking and transportation industries.

We discuss tactics for defending commercial motor vehicle drivers from "professional driver" standard of care arguments, and look at a recent decision out of Nevada clarifying when a heightened standard applies to common carriers.

We also look at how minority-owned businesses can benefit from the USDOT certification program, and share an interview with an expert accident reconstructionist on how data from vehicle telematics and infotainment systems can be used in distracted driving litigation.

And of course, as our industry has been deeply impacted by COVID-19, we have two articles touching on topics related to the pandemic: one on how transportation litigation will be impacted under the current FMCSA Emergency Declaration, and another article providing some helpful tips for "virtual" mediations during this time of social distancing. Lewis Brisbois has also formed a COVID-19 Response Team to handle the myriad legal issues arising from the current health crisis. Learn more about this team and find legal alerts and other commentary on a wide variety of practice areas at our COVID-19 Response Resource Center.

Before those articles, you can check out a spotlight on one of our long-time transportation partners, David Avakian, from our Las Vegas office. As you'll see, David has a passion for trucks both in and out of the courtroom, especially those of the "monster" variety!

As always, we also share in this update a slate of impressive client wins from transportation trial teams across the firm's nationwide network, as well as information on our 24/7 Rapid Response Team and free CLE webinar series. You can learn more about our outstanding transportation attorneys and the work they do on our Transportation Practice page.

Stay safe and keep on truckin'! 

"Todd's Picks"  - Here are a couple of tunes to keep you company on those long hauls. This edition's song picks shed light on the origin of that phrase, "Keep on Truckin'," starting with the original song and artist from 1936, and a more contemporary version from 1973. Click the song titles below to hear these songs on YouTube.

Originally published May 2020

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.