Legal trends always change as society evolves.

With a new year, comes new laws and we’ve broken down the most interesting of them all. Some may come as a surprise, while others are more straightforward. Regardless, we’ve put together the ultimate guide for what to look for in law this year.

Keep reading to find out what’s on the docket.

Streaming Laws

Streaming services have taken the world by storm at an exponential rate since they came on the scene. Whether it’s binge-watching or listening to music, copyrighting and licensing are always a factor.

While their dominance is felt every day, streaming services are still a fairly new concept that’s laws continue to get ironed out. Add social media into the fold and it complicates things even further.

Research is continuously done to determine what constitutes a stream and how much of a song can be played on social media. It breaks down even more when looking into which production companies hold the rights to movies and TV shows and which record labels have agreements with them.

There are so many factors when it comes to streaming and it’s something that will be explored for years to come as more streamers continue to pop up.

Employment Discrimination

2020 saw companies making pledges towards equality. Organizations may have had good intentions, but the gestures back-fired tremendously for a lot of places.

Many people, both current and former employees decided to come forward with their discrimination experiences which prompted investigations and restructuring to take place. 2021 will see this momentum continue to rise and both companies and employees will need legal advice.

Healthcare

COVID-19 put millions of people in the hospital and wreaked havoc on the whole world. The coronavirus pandemic quickly became the top priority for healthcare workers but unfortunately, it caused other health emergencies to go neglected.

Patients received poor care and delay of treatments and many lost their lives. The effects left families broken and in search of legal action for medical malpractice.

2021 and beyond will see these suits go to trial, get argued, and settled both in and out of the courtroom.

Freelance Rights

This is a huge issue since over sixty million Americans classify themselves as contracted employees. Currently, there’s a fight to have these workers counted as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The pandemic caused these workers to completely lose their livelihoods with no option for assistance. They’re asking to receive the same rights that their full-time counterparts receive and are currently in negotiations with the Biden Administration.

This legal trend has already put pressure on organizations that thrive off of contract employees and will continue to do so as more workers join the fight.

From Legal Trends to Major Wins

The legal system is always forced to adapt alongside society and with constant innovations being made, there’s no way to predict what will come next.

2020 created a major setup for new legal trends to develop and in 2021 we will see them put into action. Based on our guide, we’re in for unprecedented changes to be made.

Hopefully, we will see these trends turn into wins for those who need them the most!

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