well we have some very interesting trends developing in the area of our insurance defense practice. last year maryland adopted the daubert standard for the admissibility of expert testimony. previously they had relied on the frye standard. daubert is a more exact standard, i would say. so that’s a new trend for us maryland practitioners to get used to in the maryland courts, although we’ve been doing it for years in the federal courts. but just recently now the federal courts have started to consider amendments to the rules of evidence to tighten up some of the elements for applying the daubert standard to the admissibility of expert testimony.

another trend is what we as defense lawyers do to combat reptile tactics. now reptile tactics are arguments that plaintiff’s attorneys make that tend to make the jurors want to protect themselves, to protect their personal interests, and to protect the interests of their community—in other words, putting themselves in the shoes of the victim rather than focusing on just the rights or the wrongs that happen to have occurred in the particular case that they are hearing as jurors.

another trend that we are just starting to face as we conquer the covid pandemic, and hopefully have it come to an end soon, is dealing with the court orders that told the statutes of limitations—in other words, stopped the statutes of limitations from running. those orders are different in every jurisdiction, and for every new case we have to calculate in a different formula what the statute of limitations is.

finally, i would say one of the most significant trends is an outcome of the covid pandemic, and that is i think we’re going to continue to use remote hearings, remote court appearances, remote depositions, and remote mediation using platforms such as Webex or Zoom.