Perkins Coie Slams Trump's Executive Order Retaliation

By Lauren Berg

Perkins Coie LLP sued the Trump administration Tuesday over an executive order targeting the firm for its diversity-focused hiring efforts and its representation of certain political figures including former Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, calling the order "an affront to the Constitution" that aims to chill future representation of certain clients.

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NTSB Flags Helicopters Near DCA As 'Intolerable Risk'

By Linda Chiem

The National Transportation Safety Board recommended Tuesday that helicopter flights near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport be permanently restricted following January's deadly midair collision over the Potomac River, saying helicopter traffic in the vicinity of a key airport runway poses an "intolerable risk to aviation safety."

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VA Did Not Pre-Select Awardee For $257M Telehealth Contract

By Daniel Wilson

A Court of Federal Claims judge has rejected a protest over a $256.8 million U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs telehealth program support contract, saying the protester hadn't shown the VA "pre-selected" the awardee before making a formal award decision.

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Software Co. Tells Fed. Circ. It's Owed Over $12.7M In IP Dispute

By Madeline Lyskawa

A software developer pushed back at the federal government's defense of a $12.7 million copyright infringement award on Monday, telling the Federal Circuit that the judgment should be based on the company's actual negotiations with the Defense Health Agency.

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CFPB Says It Will Proceed With Another Military Lending Suit

By Sarah Jarvis

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has told a Texas federal judge it intends to move forward with a Biden-era lawsuit accusing one of the largest U.S. pawn store operators of military lending violations, despite the agency's moves to scrap a bevy of enforcement actions since the Trump administration's policy shake-up.

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Russian Can't Claim Seized $300M Superyacht, Judge Rules

By Craig Clough

A New York federal judge ruled Monday that a Russian billionaire cannot claim ownership of a seized $300 million superyacht, saying the evidence shows he is a "straw" owner of the vessel in a ruling that moved the government closer to selling it at auction.

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Northrop Grumman Mishandled Benefits Plan, Ex-Workers Say

By Rae Ann Varona

Former Northrop Grumman employees on Tuesday lodged a proposed class action accusing the aerospace and defense giant of mishandling an employee retirement plan's assets, telling a Virginia federal court that the company failed to act in the best interest of the plan's beneficiaries by repeatedly prioritizing offsetting employer contributions to the plan.

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Brief

Space Tech Co. Pulls Suit Over Amazon Satellite Contract

By Ryan Harroff

A Swedish space technology firm and an aerospace parts manufacturer it accused of hiking prices and potentially costing it a lucrative Amazon satellite contract have agreed to drop their dispute from Connecticut federal court, according to a joint stipulation from the parties.

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Cos. Should Prepare For Mexican Payments Surveillance Tool

The recent designation of six Mexican cartels as "specially designated global terrorists" will allow the Treasury Department to scrutinize nearly any Mexico-related payment through its Terrorist Finance Tracking Program — a rigorous evaluation for which even sophisticated sanctions compliance programs are not prepared, says Jeremy Paner at Hughes Hubbard.

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Analysis

'Victim Of Its Own Success': The Federalist Society's Shift

By Cara Bayles

The Federalist Society can now boast long-sought victories and point to scores of federal judges appointed from its ranks. But its alliance with President Donald Trump may bring about a reckoning within the conservative legal movement.

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Threats Against Judges 'Top Priority,' Fed. Judiciary Says

By Ryan Boysen

Protecting federal judges is a "top priority" as violent threats spike against a polarized political backdrop, making congressional funding for additional security measures more important than ever, the U.S. Judicial Conference said Tuesday.

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Ex-Google AI Counsel Joins King & Spalding In San Francisco

By Rose Krebs

King & Spalding LLP announced Tuesday that it has hired for its business litigation practice group a former Google in-house attorney who helped steer the tech giant's artificial intelligence regulatory strategy.

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Analysis

Eric Adams Case Dying Slow Death In 'Sovereign' District

By Phillip Bantz

Experts say New York City Mayor Eric Adams' criminal corruption case appears on track to be tossed permanently — a looming development that could signal the end of the fierce independence of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

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1st Circ. Upholds Block On Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order

By Brian Dowling

The First Circuit on Tuesday refused to disturb a Massachusetts federal judge's ruling that blocked the Trump administration's move to end birthright citizenship, rejecting the government's claim that states suing over the policy lacked standing.

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Schulte Roth Establishes Nonequity Partnership Tier

By Anna Sanders

Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP has implemented a nonequity partnership tier this year, appointing 12 income partners in January, a firm spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.  

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Ex-J&J Atty Says She Was Fired For Making Ethics Complaint

By Jake Maher

A former in-house data privacy attorney for Johnson & Johnson has sued the company for discrimination in New Jersey federal court, alleging that she was passed over for a promotion based on her Latina ethnicity and fired for reporting unethical behavior by the attorney who got the job.

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BigLaw Firms Join To Support Del. Corporate Law Changes

By Jeff Montgomery

Twenty-one law firms with Delaware corporate practices have jointly endorsed pending state legislation, S.B. 21, that aims to narrow stockholder avenues for challenging corporate acts and clarify the definition of company controllers.

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Campus Interviews Out Of Favor In Quest For Summer Talent

By Tracey Read

On-campus interviewing — an outdated process that led to just 24% of all offers made by law firms last year for summer associates — is no longer the preferred recruitment method, according to a report released Tuesday.

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Goldstein Wants Look At Testimony On Alleged Obstruction

By Elliot Weld

U.S. Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein asked a Maryland federal judge to let him see grand jury material related to the government's claim that he offered to pay a potential witness cryptocurrency in his tax evasion case.

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Trump's Special Counsel Firing Seems OK, DC Circ. Says

By Braden Campbell

The president appears to have the power to remove the feds' internal unfair firing watchdog because he's the sole head of an agency with executive power, a D.C. Circuit panel said, explaining its decision last week to stay a trial court's reinstatement order.

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Rising Caseloads Call For 71 New Judges: Judicial Conference

By Emily Sawicki

The Judicial Conference of the United States on Tuesday asked Congress to create dozens of new judgeships in districts across the country in an effort to address what it calls a "worsening shortage" of judges amid mounting caseloads, months after then-President Joe Biden vetoed a bill to add 63 new permanent judgeships over partisan concerns.

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