Conn. Court Grants New Hearing In Double Homicide

By Elizabeth Daley

A Connecticut man convicted of murdering and robbing two women in 2007 to support a drug habit should have been afforded a hearing concerning his motion to dismiss his attorney before his habeas petition was denied, the state's appellate court announced Friday.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Capital Firm Boss Asks Conn. Justices To Reject $10M Appeal

By Aaron Keller

The co-founder of a capital firm has asked the Connecticut Supreme Court to reject an investment bank's bid to keep a $10.4 million bench trial judgment intact, arguing the state's intermediate appeals court correctly erased the judgment and rightfully earmarked the case for a jury trial.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'What's The Fight About?': Fed Funding Fight Puzzles 9th Circ.

By Craig Clough

Two Ninth Circuit judges appeared confused Friday as to what exactly the Trump administration and some sanctuary cities are arguing over in the government's appeal of a district court's injunction blocking the administration from withholding federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

2nd Circ. Backs Ex-Goldman Exec's 1MDB Conviction

By Phillip Bantz

Former Goldman Sachs managing director Roger Ng's attempt to overturn his conviction in the $6.5 billion 1MDB corruption scheme hit a wall Friday at the Second Circuit, where a panel categorically rejected his multipronged appeal.

Decision attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

2nd Circ. Upholds Toss Of Barclays Investor Case

By Sydney Price

The Second Circuit on Friday affirmed the dismissal of a proposed securities class action accusing Barclays PLC of misleading investors about its internal controls before the bank accidentally oversold billions of dollars' worth of exchange-traded notes, finding the complaint did not allege that the bank's executives acted with fraudulent intent.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Energy Dept. Defends $7.5B Grant Cuts In Political Bias Case

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Department of Energy has urged a federal judge in Washington not to block its termination of energy project grants worth more than $7.5 billion, arguing there is no merit to claims alleging the federal government unconstitutionally targeted funds for Democratic-leaning states.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Energy-Dependent Deals

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including how energy scarcity is affecting data center deals.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Paul Hastings Steers ITT's $4.8B Purchase Of Lone Star's SPX

By Al Barbarino

Paul Hastings is guiding ITT Inc. on an agreement to acquire industrial equipment maker SPX Flow Inc. from Lone Star Funds for $4.775 billion in cash and stock, according to an ITT announcement Friday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

ERISA Recap: 4 Rulings Worth Paying Attention To From Nov.

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Ninth Circuit striking down a class action win for transgender employee health plan participants who said their gender-affirming care denials were discriminatory is just one noteworthy Employee Retirement Income Security Act ruling from November. Here's a recap of that ruling and three others.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

10 Commandments For Agentic AI Tools In The Legal Industry

Though agentic artificial intelligence has demonstrated significant promise for optimizing legal work, it presents numerous risks, so specific ethical obligations should be built into the knowledge base of every agentic AI tool used in the legal industry, says Steven Cordero at Akerman LLP.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Bonus Spotlight

Katten Exceeds Market Bonus Scale, Orrick Matches

By Tracey Read

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has joined a select few law firms that have gone beyond the BigLaw norm for year-end and special bonuses.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Immigration Lawyers Battle Burnout Amid Deportation Surge

By Daniel Connolly

As the Trump administration carries out a mass deportation campaign across the country, immigration attorneys faced with heavy demand and changing norms are feeling the impact of burnout and stress on their practices and emotions, they told Law360.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judges Beat Ethics Suits For Dropping Retirement Post-Trump

By Jake Maher

A Fourth Circuit judge and two district court judges have defeated ethics complaints from a conservative legal organization alleging they improperly reversed their decisions to take senior status after President Donald Trump was elected.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Rosen Law Firm Sanctioned Over 'Frivolous' Investor Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

A Wisconsin federal judge has sanctioned The Rosen Law Firm PA for failing to conduct an adequate investigation before filing a "frivolous" securities complaint against an airline holding company.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Utah Atty Avoids Monetary Sanction For 'Hallucinated' Cases

By Matt Perez

A Utah federal judge handling a trademark infringement matter has sanctioned an attorney for filing court documents with "hallucinated" cases, but instead of issuing a fine, the lawyer was ordered to read all the cases and authorities cited in the opinion and file a summary statement within 30 days.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Supreme Court Halts Immigration Judges' Free Speech Suit

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Fourth Circuit decision reviving a free speech suit from an immigration judges union challenging a policy barring them from speaking publicly about immigration without approval.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Feature

For NY Inmate, Jamaica's Violence Waits Outside Prison Walls

By Rachel Rippetoe

Jamaican-born Eric Tolliver is nearing the end of his 33-year prison sentence in New York, but what waits for him on the other side might be worse: deportation to his home country, where many want him dead.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fla. Court Upholds Atty Disqualification In $1M Estate Dispute

By David Minsky

A Florida state appellate court on Friday affirmed the disqualification of an attorney who abandoned his client and began representing his client's adversaries in a $1 million probate case, finding that he likely violated ethics rules regarding conflicts of interest.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fla. Judge OKs Release Of Epstein Grand Jury Transcripts

By Rae Ann Varona

A Florida federal judge on Friday ordered the release of grand jury transcripts from an investigation of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, citing a newly enacted law that the government said overrides a prohibition on disclosing the documents to the public.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

An SEC panel has asked the agency to adopt regulations that could standardize the way publicly traded companies report details about AI use. Meanwhile, the FCC approved AT&T's $1 billion UScellular deal after AT&T became the latest of the big three mobile carriers to agree to do away with diversity, equity and inclusion policies. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Gupta Wessler LLP and Block & Leviton LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Eleventh Circuit revived a proposed class action against NextEra Energy Inc. that seeks to hold the energy company liable for a share price drop that followed political interference allegations involving a subsidiary.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

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.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »