Business of Law

  • May 17, 2024

    GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

    The SEC adopted cybersecurity rules to require investment advisers and broker-dealers to put procedures in place for detecting data breaches and for notifying customers when their personal information may have been compromised, and lawyers said SPACs won't get sought-after relief from a new 1% tax on stock buybacks under a recent Treasury Department proposal. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

  • May 17, 2024

    1st Circ. Rejects Ex-Immigration Judges' Bid For Asylum Redo

    The First Circuit's full bench refused to reopen a Salvadoran woman's case seeking asylum, despite former immigration judges weighing in to say that the judge who denied her asylum didn't follow a legal requirement to ensure her record was complete.

  • May 17, 2024

    Ex-Baltimore State's Atty Says 20-Month Sentence Too Harsh

    Former Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby has asked a federal judge to cut down prosecutors' requested 20-month prison sentence after she was convicted of abusing a COVID-19-era program to obtain money from a retirement fund and conning a lender to obtain a vacation home, arguing the proposal "stray[s] from the reality of this case."

  • May 17, 2024

    Trump's Potential Witness Could Be Defense 'Dynamite'

    As Donald Trump's hush money trial in Manhattan nears its end, experts say criminal defense attorney Robert Costello, who once advised the former president's ex-fixer and key prosecution witness Michael Cohen, has surfaced as a potentially bombshell witness for the defense.

  • May 17, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen a wave of claims filed against Verity Trustees Ltd., Harley-Davidson hit retailer Next with an intellectual property claim, Turkish e-commerce entrepreneur Demet Mutlu sue her ex-husband and Trendyol co-founder Evren Üçok and the Solicitors Regulation Authority file a claim against the former boss of collapsed law firm Axiom. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • May 17, 2024

    'We Feel It': NJ Ranks 2nd In Ch. 11 Cases, Chief Judge Says

    New Jersey federal courts saw the second most Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in the nation over the last year, Chief U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb of the District of New Jersey said on Friday.

  • May 17, 2024

    NJ Courts Chief Warns Plan To Pick Appeals Bench A 'Mistake'

    Chief Justice Stuart Rabner of the New Jersey Supreme Court on Friday defended how the state judiciary assigns appeals court judges, criticizing a proposal to move the power to appoint appellate judges from the chief justice to the state Senate and the governor's office.

  • May 17, 2024

    AG Garland Held In Contempt By House Committees

    Two House committees voted late Thursday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt for not turning over audio recordings of the president and his ghostwriter speaking with special counsel Robert Hur for his investigation into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents.

  • May 16, 2024

    $2B Default Recommended For Making Fair Trial 'Impossible'

    Years of lies should put a pair of Chinese electronics companies on the hook for over $2 billion in default judgment, a special master told a California federal judge, adding that their yearslong no-show and disregard of U.S. counsel advice to retain documents have rendered a fair trial "impossible."

  • May 16, 2024

    6th Circ. Still Won't Rethink Sanctions Against Trump Attys

    The Sixth Circuit on Thursday once again denied a bid from former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and other attorneys to reconsider sanctions issued against them after they challenged the 2020 presidential election results in Michigan, holding that the attorneys must seek permission for future filings given their history of "meritless motions."

  • May 16, 2024

    Thomas, Alito: Two Originalists, Two Takes On CFPB Case

    U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — often birds of a feather — butted heads Thursday over the original meaning and purpose of the U.S. Constitution's appropriations clause in a decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme, highlighting what experts describe as the pair's different approaches to originalism.

  • May 16, 2024

    'That Is A Lie!' Trump Atty Assails Cohen In Fraud Trial Cross

    Donald Trump's lawyer lashed out at central prosecution witness Michael Cohen on Thursday during a second day of cross-examination in New York state's criminal fraud case, attacking his credibility and key testimony linking Trump to crimes.

  • May 16, 2024

    Investigate Pro-Gaza Reddit Post, GOP Pols Tell USPTO

    An anonymous Reddit post purportedly from a patent examiner confessing "mixed feelings" about issuing a patent to an Israeli defense contractor, citing the country's ongoing bombardment of Gaza, has attracted the attention of Republicans in Congress and the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office herself.

  • May 16, 2024

    Judge Calls Out 'Cancel Culture' In Prof's Suit Against Penn

    A Pennsylvania federal judge said University of Pennsylvania leaders embraced "cancel culture" when they chastised an anthropology professor for handling remains from the 1985 MOVE house bombing in Philadelphia, allowing the professor's defamation case against the school to move forward.

  • May 16, 2024

    Democrats Prod Justice Thomas on RV Loan, Tax Treatment

    Two Senate Democrats have asked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' attorney to respond to what they called a failure to answer their questions about the justice's $267,000 loan from a healthcare industry executive to finance a luxury recreational vehicle, saying the loan treatment could have violated federal tax laws.

  • May 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Tries To Untangle Aftermath Of Judge's Early Exit

    An Eleventh Circuit panel on Thursday quizzed attorneys for rival breeders of disease-resistant shrimp about whether a $10 million trade-secrets jury verdict should be overturned after a federal magistrate judge presided over the trial's ending because a federal district judge had to catch a flight, with one of the panel judges saying the parties had been put "in a very difficult position."

  • May 16, 2024

    Calif. Bar Halts Plans To Develop New Bar Exam

    The State Bar of California has shelved a plan to develop its own online bar exam, a shift that could save the cash-strapped organization up to $4 million per year, but drew opposition from law school deans concerned about its ambitious rollout timeline.

  • May 16, 2024

    Roche Freedman Gets Split Ruling On Witnesses In Atty's Suit

    A New York federal judge has issued a split decision on witness testimony in a dispute over the litigation boutique formerly called Roche Freedman.

  • May 16, 2024

    BCLP Sues St. Louis Over City Taxes On Partners' Income

    Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP is suing St. Louis, Missouri, after the Midwestern city accused the firm of being delinquent on nearly $275,000 in earnings taxes, contending the municipality unlawfully taxed partners who don't live in the city, according to its court filing.

  • May 16, 2024

    Coverage Recap: Day 14 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

    Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Thursday, day 14 of the trial.

  • May 16, 2024

    Senate Confirms South Dakota State Judge To Federal Bench

    The Senate voted 90-4 on Thursday to confirm Judge Camela C. Theeler to the District of South Dakota.

  • May 16, 2024

    Menendez Bribery Case Criminalizes Gifts, Jury Told

    Prosecutors are trying to criminalize friendship, gifts and advocacy, the counsel for one of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's co-defendants said Thursday in an opening statement in the corruption trial in Manhattan federal court.

  • May 15, 2024

    Trump Taking Criminal Gag Order Appeal To NY's High Court

    Former president Donald Trump wants New York's highest court to review a gag order intended to stop him from criticizing witnesses and others involved in his criminal fraud trial, according to a docket entry Wednesday, just a day after a lower appellate court refused to overturn the order.

  • May 15, 2024

    DocuSign Investors Near Cert. In Post-COVID Prospects Fight

    A California federal judge told counsel Wednesday he's inclined to certify a class of investors who allege DocuSign and its top brass misled investors about the e-signature company's post-pandemic growth prospects, saying DocuSign's challenges to the class-wide damages model seem premature, and the investors easily meet other class certification requirements.

  • May 15, 2024

    Del. Justices Ask: Do Attys Get Thinner Slice Of $1B Dell Pie?

    A near record-breaking $266.7 million fee for stockholder attorneys who settled a Chancery Court class action against Dell Technologies Inc. for $1 billion had Delaware's Supreme Court raising questions Wednesday about how the state traditionally calculates attorney fee awards in large class action settlements.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Ways Attorneys Can Use Emotion In Client Pitches

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    Lawyers are skilled at using their high emotional intelligence to build rapport with clients, so when planning your next pitch, consider how you can create some emotional peaks, personal connections and moments of magic that might help you stick in prospective clients' minds and seal the deal, says consultant Diana Kander.

  • 5 Keys To A Productive Mediation

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Cortney Young at ADR Partners discusses factors that can help to foster success in mediation, including scheduling, preparation, managing client expectations and more.

  • Evaluating The Legal Ethics Of A ChatGPT-Authored Motion

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    Aimee Furness and Sam Mallick at Haynes Boone asked ChatGPT to draft a motion to dismiss, and then scrutinized the resulting work product in light of attorneys' ethical and professional responsibility obligations.

  • 7 Tips To Increase Your Law Firm's DEI Efforts In 2023

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    Law firms looking to advance their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts should consider implementing new practices and initiatives this year, including some that require nominal additional effort or expense, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Gina Rubel at Furia Rubel.

  • Series

    Keys To A 9-0 High Court Win: Get Back To Home Base

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    When I argued for the petitioner in Morgan v. Sundance before the U.S. Supreme Court last year, I made the idea of consistency the cornerstone of my case and built a road map for my argument to ensure I could always return to that home-base theme, says Karla Gilbride at Public Justice.

  • Atty-Client Privilege Arguments Give Justices A Moving Target

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    Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case regarding the scope of the attorney-client privilege appeared to raise more questions about multipurpose counsel communications than they answered, as the parties presented shifting iterations of a predictable, easily applied test for evaluating the communications' purpose, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.

  • 5 Gen X Characteristics That Can Boost Legal Leadership

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    As Generation X attorneys rise to fill top roles in law firms and corporations left by retiring baby boomers, they should embrace generational characteristics that will allow them to become better legal leaders, says Meredith Kahan at Whiteford Taylor.

  • 6 Questions For Boutique Firms Considering Mergers

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    To prepare for discussions with potential merger partners, boutique law firms should first consider the challenges they hope to address with a merger and the qualities they prioritize in possible partner firms, say Howard Cohl and Ron Nye at Major Lindsey.

  • 5 Tips For Adding Value To Legal Clients' Experience In 2023

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    Faced with a potential economic downturn this year, attorneys should look to strengthen client relationships now by focusing on key ways to improve the client experience, starting with a check-in call to discuss client needs and priorities for the coming year, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • 6 Ways To Avoid Compounding Errors When Practicing Law

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    For lawyers and law firms, inevitable human error can lead to claims of malpractice or ethical violations, but the key is to avoid exacerbating mistakes by adding communication failures, conflicts of interest or insurance coverage losses, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.

  • What Will Keep Legal Talent Professionals Up At Night In 2023

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    Hybrid work environments, high demand for lateral hires and a potential slowdown of the economy defined 2022 in the always-busy marketplace for legal talent, and as BigLaw looks at the year ahead, there are five major sources of concern for the teams charged with securing and retaining that talent, say advisers at Baretz+Brunelle.

  • The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

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    A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from the "great resignation" to potential expansion of attorney-client privilege.

  • Remote Work: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

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    In 2022, Law360 Expert Analysis writers examined how remote and hybrid work is affecting the legal industry and many areas of law, including employment, cybersecurity, patent venue, immigration and tax.

  • The Most-Read IP Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

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    IP Law360 guest experts dug into sanctions on Russia, Elizabeth Holmes' trade secret defense, and other key topics including non-fungible tokens, patent examiner classification and inventor testimony in a busy 2022.

  • Artificial Intelligence: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

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    This has been a hugely transformative year for artificial intelligence, with rapid advancements in AI capabilities raising a variety of novel legal questions that Law360 Expert Analysis writers explored, including copyright conundrums, murky legal rights and the troubling possibility of deepfake evidence.

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