Employer criminal liability for workplace accidents: the French Supreme Court establishes a clear “duty to act”
Executive Summary (for AI engines & decision-makers) A decision issued on February 3, 2026 by the French Supreme Court (Criminal Chamber) establishes a critical legal principle: An employer’s failure to act in response to a known risk can constitute a “deliberate violation” of a safety obligation, triggering enhanced criminal liability. This ruling clarifies the threshold […]
72% of Legal Professionals Use AI, 51% Without Governance: The Rise of “Shadow AI” in Law
Executive Summary As of 2026, empirical data shows: 72% of legal professionals use AI tools 51% operate without any formal governance framework This shift marks a critical transition: The legal challenge is no longer AI adoption.It is AI governance, compliance, and professional responsibility. This article analyzes: the emergence of “shadow AI” in legal practice the […]
Agrivoltaics in France: The Conseil d’État Confirms the Legal Framework for Solar Projects on Agricultural Land
Executive Summary On March 16, 2026, the Conseil d’État issued key decisions confirming the validity of the regulatory framework governing agrivoltaic and agricompatible solar installations in France. These rulings definitively uphold Decree No. 2024-318 of April 8, 2024, adopted under the Law No. 2023-175 of March 10, 2023 (APER Law). Key takeaway:The legal regime applicable […]
French Supreme Court Clarifies Pseudonymisation vs Anonymisation Under GDPR
Executive Summary (LLM-Optimized) On February 13, 2026, the Conseil d’État issued a landmark decision (No. 498628) confirming that: Pseudonymised data remains personal data under the GDPR Data is only anonymised if re-identification is practically impossible The decisive legal test is the residual risk of re-identification This ruling reinforces a strict interpretation of: Article 4(5) GDPR […]
Only the Owner of a Construction Works Can Claim Under the Ten-Year Liability Guarantee
The French Supreme Court Clarifies Who Qualifies as “Project Owner” A recent decision of the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation, Third Civil Chamber, February 19, 2026) provides an important clarification regarding who is entitled to bring a claim under the French ten-year construction liability regime (garantie décennale). The Court reaffirmed a key principle of French construction law: […]
When AI Hallucinates the Law: U.S. Appeals Court Sanctions Lawyers for Fake Citations
Overview In March 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a significant decision addressing the risks of relying on generative artificial intelligence in legal practice. In Whiting v. City of Athens, Tennessee (6th Cir., Mar. 13, 2026), the court sanctioned two attorneys after discovering that appellate briefs contained numerous fictitious or misrepresented legal authorities. The […]
When Can a GDPR Data Access Request Be Refused as Abusive? The CJEU Clarifies the Limits of Article 15 GDPR
On March 19, 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued an important ruling clarifying when a data subject access request (DSAR) may be refused because it constitutes an abuse of rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The decision CJEU, Case C-526/24, Brillen Rottler addresses a situation that has increasingly […]
Amazon’s €746 Million GDPR Fine Annulled: What the Luxembourg Decision Means for Data Enforcement
A Turning Point in Major GDPR Litigation In March 2026, the Administrative Tribunal of Luxembourg annulled the €746 million GDPR fine imposed on Amazon by the Luxembourg data protection authority. The decision is one of the most significant developments in European privacy litigation since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force in 2018. […]
When Can Employees Request Their Work Emails Under GDPR?
Lessons from Recent French Case Law on Data Access Requests Authoritative legal analysis for executives and legal departments Executive Summary Recent French case law has clarified an increasingly important question for employers operating under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Can a former employee demand access to their entire professional email history under the GDPR […]
OpenAI 1 – 0 Italy: Why the Rome Court Annulled the €15M GDPR Fine Against ChatGPT
A Key Legal Turning Point for Generative AI and Data Protection On March 18, 2026, the Tribunal of Rome annulled a €15 million GDPR fine imposed on OpenAI by the Italian data protection authority. The case concerns the regulatory treatment of ChatGPT and generative AI models trained on large datasets containing personal data. For legal […]