Ex-Fox Rothschild Corporate Chief Accuses Firm Of Age Bias

By Jake Maher

The former head of Fox Rothschild LLP's corporate department sued the firm for age discrimination Wednesday in New Jersey state court, saying it slashed his pay to below that of a first-year associate and then forced him out after nearly 30 years of employment there.

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The 'Not-Postings' Of A Delaware Chancery Court Judge

By Leslie A. Pappas

Close observers of Delaware's Court of Chancery have recently gotten a new window into the First State's preeminent court of equity: Delaware Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster, one of seven judges on the court's bench, has recently rejoined LinkedIn.

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Chancery Sweeps Away Most Challenges To Broker's Control

By Jeff Montgomery

Independent insurance distributor BRP Group Inc. has defeated most stockholder challenges to founder preapproval requirements for company actions, according to a Delaware Court of Chancery ruling upholding a consent and defense agreement established after the company was sued.

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Musk Won't Appeal Deposition Order In SEC's Twitter Case

By Hailey Konnath

Elon Musk has agreed to waive his right to appeal a California federal judge's order forcing him to testify again in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit over his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, now known as X, according to a stipulation filed Thursday.

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Black Business Owners Sue Over Impact Of Transparency Act

By Julie Manganis

The Corporate Transparency Act creates unique burdens on businesses owned by people of color, immigrants and other marginalized groups, the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts and several company owners said in the latest legal challenge to the anti-money laundering law.

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Ex-Chicago Mayor Dodges Atty's Lawsuit Over Zoom Tirade

By Lauren Berg

An Illinois judge tossed a lawsuit brought by a former in-house attorney for the Chicago Park District accusing former Mayor Lori Lightfoot of unleashing a profane tirade laced with crude, insulting and defamatory comments during a Zoom call.

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Regulator Says Attys Hit For AI Use Have Themselves To Blame

By Thy Vo

An attorney for Colorado's ethics watchdog said Thursday that recent disciplinary action against lawyers for filing briefs with fake case citations generated by ChatGPT indicates a "lawyer problem" rather than issues with the technology.

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Sen. Dems Call On DOJ To Prevent Price-Fixing In Oil Industry

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., led a group of Senate Democrats in calling on the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday to do everything in its power to prevent and prosecute price-fixing and collusion in the oil industry.

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DOJ's Kanter Says AI Cos. Could Exploit Creators

By Matthew Perlman

The head of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, Jonathan Kanter, said Thursday that a lack of competition between artificial intelligence companies could allow them to exploit writers, artists and other content creators.

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US Steel, Nippon Obtain All Non-US Regulatory Approvals

By Al Barbarino

U.S. Steel Corp. and Nippon Steel Corp. said Thursday they have received all non-U.S. regulatory nods to move ahead with their planned $14.9 billion merger, including from the European Commission and the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority.

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FTC, SEC Urged To Probe UnitedHealth's 'Negligent' Security

By Allison Grande

The chair of the U.S. Senate finance committee on Thursday pressed the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to hold UnitedHealth Group and its top executives liable for "numerous" cybersecurity failings that fueled a debilitating cyberattack on its Change Healthcare unit. 

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'I Don't Need Help Running The Court,' Judge Chides Attys

By Danielle Ferguson

A Michigan state judge on Thursday appeared frustrated with attorneys for MGM and its former law firm arguing over potential conflicts in an underlying case, telling them to stop avoiding his questions and saying he didn't "need help running the court."

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Morgan Stanley Helped Musk's Stealth Twitter Buys, Suit Says​​​​​​​

By Hailey Konnath

Elon Musk and his wealth manager tapped Morgan Stanley to help the Tesla CEO quietly acquire billions of dollars in Twitter securities without tipping off the market before he announced plans to take over the social media company, according to an amended complaint filed in New York federal court.

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Ex-FTX Auditor Must Face SEC's Independence Rules Suit

By Sydney Price

The former auditor of Sam Bankman-Fried's defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX must face the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claims it violated auditor independence rules while collecting $3 million in fees from clients, a Florida federal judge has ruled, finding the agency's allegations establish severe recklessness.

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Brief

Terraform, SEC Reach 'Settlement In Principle' In Crypto Case

By Aislinn Keely

Crypto firm Terraform Labs and its creator Do Kwon appear to have reached an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle remedies after the firm and its founder were held liable for fraud by a Manhattan jury.

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Jury Awards Electric Jet Startup $72M In Boeing IP Case

By Greg Lamm

A Washington federal jury said Thursday that The Boeing Co. should pay Zunum Aero Inc. $72 million for misappropriating the electric jet startup's trade secrets and souring a deal with a potential investor, in an award partially subject to trebling under state law.

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Divided FTC Won't Delay Kroger-Albertsons In-House Case

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission's three Democrats refused Wednesday to delay the agency in-house challenge to Kroger's $24.6 billion purchase of Albertsons, blaming the grocery giants for their scheduling challenges and drawing a sharp dissent from the FTC's two Republicans.

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DOL Says Challenged Provision In DBA Rule Is Lawful

By Irene Spezzamonte

The U.S. Department of Labor pressed a Texas federal court not to halt its final rule regulating prevailing wages under the Davis-Bacon Act, saying that one of the provisions several construction groups are challenging is completely lawful.

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Ex-Citgo Execs Jailed In Venezuela For 5 Years File $400M Suit

By Lauren Berg

Two brothers who both served as Citgo vice presidents filed a $400 million suit in Texas on Thursday accusing their former employer of conspiring with Venezuela's authoritarian government to falsely convict them of financial crimes, resulting in their wrongful imprisonment of nearly five years.

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Ex-Deutsche Bank Trader Gets 3½ Years For Crypto Scheme

By Emilie Ruscoe

A former Deutsche Bank associate has been sentenced to three years and five months in prison after pleading guilty in September to wire fraud and access device fraud in connection with a $1.5 million cryptocurrency investment scheme, Brooklyn federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

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FTC, Novant Ask To Delay In-House Trial On Merger Challenge

By Hayley Fowler

The Federal Trade Commission and Novant Health have asked to postpone an upcoming administrative hearing over the nonprofit's proposed purchase of two North Carolina hospitals, a purchase that regulators are concerned will dampen competition in the region, according to a notice filed in federal court.

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Ill. Made 'Big Concession' In 3M PFAS Suit, 7th Circ. Judge Says

By Celeste Bott

A Seventh Circuit judge observed Thursday that the state of Illinois made a "big concession" in its suit accusing 3M of polluting local waters with toxic "forever chemicals" when the state said 3M could avoid liability if Illinois can't prove contamination came exclusively from a particular facility.

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Autonomy VP Declines To Take Stand As Fraud Trial Nears End

By Bonnie Eslinger

Testimony wrapped Thursday in a California federal criminal trial over claims that former Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch and finance vice president Stephen Chamberlain duped HP into overpaying billions for the British tech company, as Chamberlain opted not to testify in his own defense after Lynch stepped off the witness stand.

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9th Circ. Reopens Mandatory Security Check Wage Fight

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday largely revived a proposed wage class action by a subcontractor who sought to be paid for undergoing mandatory security checks and vehicle inspections at a solar project site, following the California Supreme Court's ruling that found the time to be compensable as "hours worked."

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Target's Surveillance System Violates BIPA, Shoppers Say

By Gina Kim

Target faces a proposed class action in Illinois federal court filed Thursday accusing it of gathering shoppers' biometric data through surveillance systems and other sophisticated technology in its campaign to prevent organized retail theft, while failing to advise it is doing so or obtaining their permission.

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Travelers Loses Dismissal Bid In BIPA Coverage Dispute

By Jennifer Mandato

A New York federal judge declined to trim a software company's lawsuit seeking coverage from a Travelers unit for underlying claims that the company violated the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act, finding the company's declaratory relief and bad faith claims were not duplicative of a breach of contract claim.

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VR Fitness App Ends $353M Antitrust Row With Meta, For Now

By Gina Kim

An app developer that sued Meta, Mark Zuckerberg and others seeking $353 million for alleged antitrust violations after the social media platform reneged on a deal to launch the plaintiff's virtual reality fitness app voluntarily dropped his case, for now, according to a notice filed Wednesday in California federal court.

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Exec Found Liable For 'Shadow Trading' Seeks New Trial

By Sarah Jarvis

A former executive of biopharmaceutical company Medivation Inc. whom a jury found liable for using inside information from his company when he purchased stock in a rival pharmaceutical maker has moved for a new trial in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's novel "shadow trading" case.

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BF Borgers Clients Should Review Compliance, Liability

After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently announced enforcement proceedings against audit firm BF Borgers for fabricating audit documentation for hundreds of public companies, those companies will need to follow special procedures for disclosure and reporting — and may need to prepare for litigation from the plaintiffs bar, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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How Employers, Attorneys Can Respond To Noncompete Ban

As the Federal Trade Commission's recently issued noncompete ban faces ongoing legal challenges, now is a good time for employers to consider whether they want to take a wait-and-see approach before halting use of noncompetes and for practitioners to gain insight into other tools available to protect their clients' business interests, says Jennifer Platzkere Snyder at Dilworth Paxson.

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New TSCA Risk Rule Gives EPA Broad Discretion On Science

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recent final amendments to its framework for evaluating the risks of chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act give it vast discretion over consideration of scientific information, without objective criteria to guide that discretion, say John McGahren and Debra Carfora at Morgan Lewis.

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National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 1

The recently published U.S. Department of Defense space strategy represents a recalibration in agency thinking, signaling that the integration of commercial space capabilities has become a necessity and offering guidance for removing structural, procedural and cultural barriers to commercial-sector collaboration, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.

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Perspectives

Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

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Orrick Leads List Of Top Law Firms For Women, Diversity

By Aebra Coe

Talent strategies firm Seramount released its latest list of the 45 best law firms for women and diversity this week, with the 2024 cohort of winners showing strides over previous years in representation, advancement and benefits for lawyers who are women or from other underrepresented groups.

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Houston Judge's Vast Display Reflects 25 Years On Bench

By Catherine Marfin

Along the hallways leading to U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison's Houston courtroom hang hundreds of notes, photos, thank-you cards and other correspondence, serving as a kind of interactive scrapbook of Judge Ellison's 25 years on the bench.

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Analysis

In Rarity, 1 Party's Judges Gain 100% Control Of Circuit Bench

By Jeff Overley

At the First Circuit, the judges' robes are all black, but the judges are all blue. It's a new and unusual instance of one political party's judicial picks controlling each active seat on a federal appeals court, and the Democratic dominance could prove magnetic for ideologically charged litigation.

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Orrick's $8M Deal To End Data Breach Claims Nears Prelim OK

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated Friday that she'll preliminarily approve Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP's $8 million deal to end putative class claims over a 2023 data breach that purportedly exposed personal information for 638,000 individuals, but said the "very broad" scope of the settlement's release "raised my eyebrows."

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Smith Gambrell Faces Slimmed Data Breach Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A California federal judge has trimmed the claims a proposed class of data breach victims brought against international law firm Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP, leaving the firm to face claims of negligence, invasion of privacy and violation of the California Unfair Competition Law.

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Analysis

Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide

By Katie Buehler

As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.

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Analysis

Del. Chancellor Questions 'Rush' To Amend Corporation Law

By Jeff Montgomery

Weeks before the Delaware State Bar Association sent state lawmakers a draft bill explicitly allowing corporations to broadly cede some governance rights to chosen stockholders, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of Delaware Chancery Court made an unprecedented, direct appeal to think twice.

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Trump Condemns NY Trial As Verdict Echoes In DC

By Rachel Scharf

A day after his conviction on 34 felony counts, former president Donald Trump on Friday attacked the Manhattan jury's verdict in a lengthy speech that mischaracterized multiple elements of the case as the decision reverberated through Washington, D.C.

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Trump's New York Prosecutors Called To House Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, demanded on Friday that Manhattan prosecutors appear for a hearing on June 13 on the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, who was convicted on Thursday of 34 felonies.

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Disbarring Giuliani Would 'Protect The Public,' DC Panel Says

By Alison Knezevich

A Washington, D.C., attorney ethics panel agreed Friday that Rudy Giuliani's role in former President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn Pennsylvania's presidential election in 2020 amounted to misconduct "of the utmost seriousness," and that disbarring him would "protect the public, the courts, and the integrity of the legal profession."

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Texas Judge Opts Not To Recuse And Tosses Chamber Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Texas federal judge has thrown out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's suit seeking to block the Federal Trade Commission from implementing a ban on noncompete clauses because a different plaintiff was first to file, adding he declined to recuse himself because no companies in his stock portfolio were parties in the case.

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Illinois Strengthens Atty Ethics Rules For Harassment, Bias

By Celeste Bott

The Illinois Supreme Court has announced that the state's professional conduct rules for attorneys have been amended to deem the act of engaging in harassment or discrimination as professional misconduct, and not just in the event a court or administrative agency finds that a lawyer violated a law prohibiting such actions.

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DOJ Looks To End A Legacy Of Bias In Sex Assault Cases

By Hannah Albarazi

The U.S. Department of Justice says that legal fallacies and misogynistic stereotypes often lead prosecutors to decline to charge alleged perpetrators of sexual violence, but new guidance from the department is pushing prosecutors to give more credence to victims and see that their claims are more thoroughly investigated.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Brewer Attorneys & Counselors, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and attorneys Eugene Volokh and Alan Morrison lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the National Rifle Association can proceed with certain claims in the gun rights group's lawsuit against a former New York state official.

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The Top In-House Hires Of May

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the last full month of spring included high-profile appointments at Southwest, Hormel and UnitedHealth. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from May.

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Off The Bench: NCAA Transfers Freed, Atty Plays Cards Right

By David Steele

In this week's Off the Bench, the NCAA agrees to more historic rule changes while experts examine its post-House settlement future, and a patent lawyer looks back at his transformation into a poker champion.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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