Business of Law

May 23, 2024
Menendez Says Feds Can't Wield Texts About Egyptian Aid

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez told a federal court that the government can't support its corruption case with text messages involving military aid to Egypt and a local businessman accused of bribing the senator, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent excluding past legislative acts as admissible evidence.
May 23, 2024
Ex-Judge Pushed False Narrative On Atty Romance, Firm Says

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones of Texas, who resigned last year after his secret relationship with a Jackson Walker LLP partner was revealed, attempted to head off rumors about the relationship by asking the firm to file a false, partial disclosure in 2022, the firm alleged.
May 23, 2024
No Prison Time For Ex-State's Atty Mosby, Judge Rules

Former Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby avoided prison time on Thursday after she was convicted of lying to make early withdrawals from her city retirement account and on a mortgage application for a Florida vacation home.
May 23, 2024
Ex-Shook Hardy IP Team Joins Boies Schiller In DC

Boies Schiller Flexner has beefed up its intellectual property services in Washington, D.C., with the addition of a trio of attorneys who previously practiced together for nearly a decade at Shook Hardy & Bacon, the firm announced Thursday.
May 23, 2024
BakerHostetler Faces Suit Over Murdaugh Case Work

BakerHostetler and one of its attorneys have been slammed with a lawsuit alleging they instructed an investigative agency to withhold information on the family of Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina attorney serving a life sentence for killing his wife and son, and then refused to pay the agency its related expenses.
May 23, 2024
DC Judge Bars Giuliani From Defaming Ga. Poll Workers

A D.C. federal judge has entered an injunction barring Rudy Giuliani from repeating lies that two Georgia poll workers meddled with the 2020 presidential election, resolving a second lawsuit the election workers launched after securing a $146 million judgment against the former New York City mayor.
May 23, 2024
Stryker Unit And Seyfarth Attys Hit With $275K Sanctions

A Colorado federal judge has imposed $275,000 in sanctions jointly and severally on Stryker-owned Howmedica Osteonics Corp., along with Seyfarth Shaw LLP, for witness coaching and discovery violations in a bitter breach-of-contract dispute, amounting to roughly one-eighth of what plaintiff ORP Surgical LLC had sought.
May 23, 2024
Biden Names Judicial Nominees For 1st, 6th Circuits

President Joe Biden announced four new judicial nominees on Thursday, including picks for the First Circuit and the Sixth Circuit.
May 22, 2024
'Appeal To Heaven' Flag Flew At Alito's Vacation Home: Report

Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday called for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to immediately recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and face censure after The New York Times reported that flags tied to Donald Trump supporters had flown outside two homes owned by the justice in 2021 and again last year.
May 22, 2024
Feds To Extend Plea Offer To Oath Keepers Atty In Jan. 6 Case

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that they plan to extend a plea offer to an attorney for the far-right Oath Keepers group charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, but the specifics of the offer could depend on the U.S. Supreme Court's stance on a federal statute often used to prosecute alleged Capitol rioters.
May 22, 2024
Justices' CFPB Alliance May Save SEC Courts, Not Chevron

A four-justice concurrence to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme last week carries implications for other cases pending before the court that challenge the so-called administrative state, or the permanent cadre of regulatory agencies and career government enforcers who hold sway over vast swaths of American economic life.
May 22, 2024
NY Judicial Nominee Defends Record Amid GOP Criticism

A judicial nominee for a New York federal court stood by her ruling allowing an inmate convicted of sex offenses to transfer from a male to female prison, amid concerns from Republicans that led to some dramatics Wednesday in a congressional hearing room.
May 22, 2024
Spencer Fane Lures In Big-Name 'Misfits' For Patent Group

Spencer Fane LLP has spent the past two years building up what it hopes to be a top-tier intellectual property group, pulling together a "band of misfits" from firms like Fish & Richardson PC and McKool Smith, according to the group's co-leader.
May 22, 2024
200th Lifetime Judge Confirmed Under Biden

The U.S. Senate voted 66-28 on Wednesday to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Angela M. Martinez as U.S. district judge in the District of Arizona, marking the 200th lifetime federal judicial confirmation under President Joe Biden.
May 22, 2024
Texas Attys Get Green Light To Charge Subscription Fees

An opinion recently issued by the Professional Ethics Committee of the State Bar of Texas gives Lone Star State lawyers the go-ahead to offer subscription-based legal services so long as the arrangement doesn't result in the charging of an "unconscionable fee."
May 22, 2024
NC County Sued Over 'Faithful Slaves' Courthouse Monument

A group of residents of North Carolina's Tyrrell County has sued the county's board of commissioners in North Carolina federal court over an allegedly racist monument outside a courthouse that commemorates "faithful slaves" deemed loyal to the Confederacy during the American Civil War.
May 22, 2024
Law360 Names Attys Who Moved Up The Firm Ranks In Q1

A promotion to partner or election to practice group chair means a slew of new responsibilities and also lots of well-deserved recognition. Law360 reveals the list of attorneys whose commitment to legal excellence earned them highly coveted spots in the law firm leadership ranks. Find out if your old legal friends — or rivals — moved up in the fourth quarter of last year.
May 22, 2024
NY Federal Reserve Associate GC Rejoins Covington

A former Covington & Burling LLP associate who left the firm 13 years ago to join the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has returned to work as of counsel, the firm announced Tuesday.
May 22, 2024
DA Willis, Trump Judge, And Justice All Roll To Victory In Ga.

The judge and district attorney at the center of former President Donald Trump's Georgia prosecution easily fended off their electoral challengers Tuesday night, while an abortion-rights candidate for the Peach State's highest court fell well short of the mark.
May 21, 2024
Willis And Judge In Ga. Election Case Win Their Elections

Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, two key figures in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, won their elections Tuesday night.
May 21, 2024
More Classified Docs Were Found After Mar-A-Lago Raid

Additional classified documents were found at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, including in Trump's bedroom, after the FBI's August 2022 search of the Florida property, according to a filing unsealed Tuesday in the criminal case accusing him of mishandling classified documents.
May 21, 2024
High Court Ethics Bill In 'High Consideration,' Schumer Says

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Tuesday that a bill to institute an ethics code for the U.S. Supreme Court was in "high consideration" to come before the full Senate for a vote, following the report last week that an upside-down flag, which has become a symbol for former President Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen, was flown outside Justice Samuel Alito's house after the attack on the U.S. Capitol a month later.
May 21, 2024
Ex-LA DA Sues State Farm Over Gun Incident Legal Fees

Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey sued her insurer in California state court Tuesday, alleging State Farm cost her more than $2.1 million by failing to cover legal fees when she and her late husband were sued because he brandished a gun against protesters at their home.
May 21, 2024
$93M Lipitor Antitrust Deal Sparks Dispute Over Fee Division

Attorneys representing a class of buyers in antitrust litigation against Pfizer over the cholesterol medication Lipitor are squabbling over how to divide up to $31 million in attorney fees before a New Jersey federal judge even approves the total, according to court documents.
May 21, 2024
ABA Faces Racial Bias Complaint Over Diversity Programs

A conservative nonprofit on Tuesday hit the American Bar Association with a Title VI complaint, claiming a handful of "nefarious" ABA-led programs meant to connect minority law school students with judges are "racially discriminatory."

Expert Analysis

The Most-Read IP Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

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

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.
Perspectives

The Most-Read Access To Justice Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Law360 guest experts weighed in on a broad slate of emerging access to justice issues last year, ranging from evidence of ineffective counsel to opportunities for nonlawyers to provide legal help and the presumption of innocence.
ESG: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This year, as many companies embraced environmental, social and corporate governance strategies, Law360 Expert Analysis discussions revolved around increasing scrutiny from investors, regulators and state attorneys general, and the influx of anti-ESG bills and litigation.
The Metaverse: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

As the metaverse became a popular destination to explore new business opportunities this year, it raised regulatory questions, with Law360 guest experts discussing risk assessments and compliance procedures across various industries, and NFT issues related to intellectual property, privacy and securities law.
The Most-Read Employment Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This year, issues related to noncompetes, no-poach enforcement and abortion access were among the most popular employment law topics in Law360's Expert Analysis section.
Trial Tips: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Law360 guest experts offered commentary on the high-profile trials of 2022 and highlighted best practices for attorneys, such as key principles for sound closing arguments that win over jurors, strategies to help witnesses stay focused, and how to recognize the most common cognitive distortions that can cripple witnesses' testimony.
The Most-Read Securities Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Ongoing regulatory uncertainty for cryptocurrencies created fertile ground for litigation and enforcement this year, with Law360 Expert Analysis writers discussing a flurry of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission actions that fulfilled the agency's promises of a clampdown.
What 3 Legal Industry Trends From 2022 Mean For Next Year

Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey & Africa looks back on the year in legal recruiting, including practice areas that saw the most movement, which regions seemed most ripe for new office openings and who was promoted to partner, and makes some look-ahead predictions for 2023.
Learning From This Year's Legal Industry Discrimination Suits

To limit the risk of lawsuits and make the workplace a more welcoming environment for female attorneys, it is important to reflect on lawyers' recent discrimination and sexual harassment claims against law firms and public employers, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.
Roundup

The Future Of Legal Ops

Legal operations professionals discuss the most important demands facing corporate legal departments today, and how companies are changing or are expected to change in order to adapt.
Series

The Future Of Legal Ops: AI Has Important Role To Play

Though the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT has prompted some fears about negative impact on lawyers, artificial intelligence technology can be a powerful tool for legal operations professionals if used effectively to augment their work, say Justin Ben-Asher and Gwendolyn Renigar at Steptoe, and Elizabeth Matthews at TotalEnergies.
4 Proactive Strategies For 'Rocket Docket' Discovery In SDNY

With more than half of Southern District of New York judges now allowing four or fewer months for fact discovery, civil litigators in this aspiring "rocket docket" jurisdiction should prioritize case management methods that make the most of this compressed timeline, say Jaclyn Grodin and Nicholas Cutaia at Goulston & Storrs.
Opinion

Law Schools Must Prep Students To Tackle Gun Violence

Given that Gen Z — the so-called mass shooting generation — is now of law school age, it's time for schools to invest more in courses, clinics and other resources to prepare their students to enter the growing field of gun violence prevention litigation, says Kaivan Shroff at Everytown for Gun Safety.
How In-House Attys Can Manage Cyber Risks Of Mass Layoffs

As mass layoffs expose employers to greater cyber threats, in-house attorneys should include cybersecurity considerations in their preparation for and management of the employee separation process, including in separation agreements and exit interviews, says Foster Sayers at Pramata.