Massachusetts

  • September 27, 2024

    1st Circ. Drops Bribery, Reinstates Extortion In Casino Case

    The First Circuit on Friday reversed both convictions and acquittals in a high-profile bribery and extortion case involving a Rhode Island architect and a Massachusetts tribal official who had been found guilty of a quid pro quo exchange of pricey gifts related to a valuable design contract on the tribe's $1 billion casino development.

  • September 27, 2024

    Real Estate Recap: Loving Or Leaving The Law Office

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including takeaways from a new survey of BigLaw firms that have either renovated their office or relocated entirely.

  • September 27, 2024

    SEC Says Ex-Chewy Exec Inside Traded On Pet Insurer Deal

    A former executive at pet supply company Chewy agreed Friday to pay more than $35,000 to settle charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that he traded on inside information about the company's plans to announce a deal with a pet insurance company.

  • September 27, 2024

    Head Of 'High-End Brothel' Network In Mass., Va. Pleads Guilty

    A Cambridge, Massachusetts, woman admitted Friday to running a sophisticated network of brothels in greater Boston and northern Virginia that prosecutors have said was patronized by lawyers, politicians, corporate officials and others.

  • September 27, 2024

    'Varsity Blues' Suit Flips The Script On 'Victim' USC

    The University of Southern California could be forced to reveal unseemly details of its admissions process if it can't beat or settle a $75 million suit filed by a private equity executive who blames the school for his being ensnared in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal, experts told Law360.

  • September 27, 2024

    Ex-Mass. State Sen. Says Conviction By All-White Jury Unfair

    A former Massachusetts state senator has said his conviction on pandemic unemployment aid and tax fraud charges should be thrown out in part because the jury was all white.

  • September 27, 2024

    EPA Will Review Wood Stove Emissions Rules To Settle Lawsuit

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed to revisit its emissions standards for residential wood-burning stoves, resolving 10 states' D.C. federal court lawsuit accusing it of slacking on its obligation to do so.

  • September 27, 2024

    Boston-Based Burns & Levinson To Close After Atty Exodus

    Burns & Levinson LLP is dissolving in the coming months after a year in which about half of the firm's attorneys departed and merger talks came up short, the firm confirmed to Law360 Pulse Friday.

  • September 27, 2024

    TelexFree Victims Say Payment Processor Lost Key Emails

    Victims of the multibillion-dollar TelexFree Ponzi scheme said a payment processor's loss of critical emails and other files related to the ploy amounts to a "blatant coverup" to hide evidence that would have otherwise bolstered their case against the company.

  • September 26, 2024

    1st Circ. Won't Disturb Ex-DraftKings Exec's Noncompete

    The First Circuit on Thursday rejected an appeal from a former DraftKings executive looking to undo his noncompete contract, ruling that Massachusetts law — not California law — applies to his agreement with his Boston-based former employer and that an injunction barring him from competing with DraftKings stands.

  • September 26, 2024

    Sen. Warren Presses OCC, Fed For Tighter Leash On NYCB

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., demanded Wednesday that federal regulators slap New York Community Bancorp with a higher minimum capital requirement, calling out what she alleges has been lax oversight of the bank.

  • September 26, 2024

    SEC Fines DraftKings $200K Over CEO's Social Media Blasts

    DraftKings agreed to pay a $200,000 fine to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission administrative charges that the online sports betting platform shared nonpublic sales growth information with some of its investors through its CEO's social media without disclosing the information to all investors, the agency said Thursday.

  • September 26, 2024

    Behavioral Health Exec Pleads Guilty To Medical Billing Fraud

    The chief executive of a behavioral health company on Thursday admitted to directing employees to bill Medicare and Medicaid for extra psychotherapy sessions that never took place.

  • September 26, 2024

    Robinhood Arbitration Pact Not Obvious To Users, Judge Says

    Robinhood Financial LLC cannot show that a user who claims the platform failed to notify him of important developments regarding his investments was made aware of an arbitration clause buried in the company's user agreement, a Massachusetts state court judge said.

  • September 25, 2024

    Mass. Police Officers Sue Over Cost Of Prep For Biased Exam

    A group of Massachusetts police officers say they should be reimbursed for the costs of preparing for 2022 promotional exams that were administered in the midst of a trial where similar tests were ultimately found to be biased against Black and Hispanic officers.

  • September 25, 2024

    Read Tells Mass. Justices Verdict Slip Not Needed To Acquit

    Lawyers for Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman whose high-profile murder case garnered national attention before it ended in a mistrial, told the state's highest court that a retrial is barred by double jeopardy because some jurors revealed afterward that the panel had agreed to acquit — even if no formal verdict was announced.

  • September 25, 2024

    NJ Hemp Restrictions Draw Early Industry Challenge

    A group of companies that manufacture and sell hemp products asked a New Jersey federal court Tuesday to block the enforcement of a new Garden State law restricting and regulating the sale of intoxicating hemp products.

  • September 25, 2024

    Mass. Gov. Nominates New Chief Justice At Appeals Court

    Massachusetts Appeals Court Justice Amy Lyn Blake has been nominated to take over as chief justice of the court, Gov. Maura Healey's office announced Wednesday.

  • September 25, 2024

    Bloggers In EBay Stalking Case Can't Pinpoint Lost Sources

    A Massachusetts couple suing eBay after their blog's critical coverage of the e-commerce giant made them the target of a corporate harassment scheme told a federal judge on Wednesday they aren't able to specifically identify potential sources who were allegedly chilled into silence by the scheme.

  • September 25, 2024

    Prince Lobel Says Rapper Owes $237K For Fraud Defense

    Prince Lobel Tye LLP says Chicago rapper G Herbo owes the Boston firm more than $237,000 for its work on a criminal case alleging he used stolen credit card information for personal luxuries like renting private jets and a Jamaican villa and buying puppies.

  • September 24, 2024

    1st Circ. Affirms Tossing Of IRS Crypto Doc Seizure Case

    A New Hampshire federal court correctly dismissed a bitcoin investor's claim that the IRS violated his privacy and property rights when it seized his records from the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, the First Circuit ruled Tuesday, agreeing that he lacked a reasonable expectation that his account information would be kept private.

  • September 24, 2024

    'Salacious' Keches Spat With Ex-Partner Aired In Court

    A former partner of Keches Law has asked a Massachusetts state court for permission to review the personal injury firm's financial records after he was told his shares in the firm are worthless, accusing another attorney of financial misdeeds.

  • September 24, 2024

    Moderna Execs Hyped Ineffective RSV Vax, Suit Says

    Officers and directors of Moderna misled investors about the efficacy of its RSV vaccine, causing share prices to dive when it was revealed in June to have only about a 50% efficacy rate after 18 months, a new shareholder suit alleges.

  • September 24, 2024

    Harvard Says Alums Can't Sue Over Antisemitism Concerns

    A lawyer for Harvard University told a Boston federal judge on Tuesday that alumni suing the elite school over antisemitism on campus may have sincere concerns about their alma mater, but they lack standing to air those issues in court.

  • September 24, 2024

    Star Witness Against Bankman-Fried Gets 2 Years In FTX Case

    A Manhattan federal judge sentenced former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison to two years in prison Tuesday, crediting her decision to testify against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried but saying the $11.2 billion fraud was too big to warrant a "get out of jail free card."

Expert Analysis

  • What The FTC Report On AG Collabs Means For Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's April report on working with state attorneys general shows collaboration can increase efficiency and consistency in how statutes are interpreted and enforced, which can minimize the likelihood of requests for inconsistent injunctive relief that can create operational problems for businesses, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • When Oral Settlements Reached In Mediation Are Enforceable

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    A recent decision by the New Jersey Appellate Division illustrates the difficulties that may arise in trying to enforce an oral settlement agreement reached in mediation, but adherence to certain practices can improve the likelihood that such an agreement will be binding, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Questions Remain After Mass. Adverse Possession Case

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    A recent Massachusetts Land Court decision, concerning an adverse possession claim on a family company-owned property, leaves open questions about potential applicability to closely held corporations and other ownership types going forward, says Brad Hickey at DarrowEverett.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Cell Therapy Cos. Must Beware Limits Of Patent Safe Harbors

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    Though developers of gene and cell therapy products commonly assume that a legal safe harbor protects them from patent infringement suits, recent case law shows that not all preapproval uses of patented technology are necessarily protected, say Natasha Daughtrey and Joshua Weinger at Goodwin.

  • Why Employers Shouldn't Overreact To Protest Activities

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    Recent decisions from the First Circuit in Kinzer v. Whole Foods and the National Labor Relations Board in Home Depot hold eye-opening takeaways about which employee conduct is protected as "protest activity" and make a case for fighting knee-jerk reactions that could result in costly legal proceedings, says Frank Shuster at Constangy.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year ranging from salvage vehicle titling to rate discrimination based on premium-setting software.

  • Manufacturers Should Pay Attention To 'Right-To-Repair' Laws

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    Oregon’s recently passed "right-to-repair" statute highlights that the R2R movement is not going away, and that manufacturers of all kinds need to be paying attention to the evolving list of R2R statutes in various states and consider participating in the process, says Courtney Sarnow at Culhane.

  • Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert

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    As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

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