GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

While many companies are removing diversity language from their public websites, a new survey shows that about half of its respondents do not plan on changing their DEI programs. And the general counsel for the new Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy golf league talked about his love of the sport and the legal work involved in the new venture.

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Interview

Time To Abolish IPO 'Bureaucracy,' Law Professor Says

By Tom Zanki

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's long-established practice of vetting initial public offering filings through back-and-forth comment letters with companies — essentially a screening process intended to rectify faulty disclosures before public dissemination — is a bureaucratic relic that should be done away with, a law professor argues.

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Roundup

Employment Authority: High Court Majority-Bias Case Effects

Law360 Employment Authority covers the biggest employment cases and trends. Catch up this week with how a possible U.S. Supreme Court decision easing the path for plaintiffs belonging to majority groups could create the "perfect storm" for litigation, a look at the cases challenging U.S. Department of Labor rules that are currently on hold after the new Trump administration took office, and how the striking energy is set to continue. 

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Analysis

Trump Admin Cuts Raise Trade Secret Security Concerns

By Ivan Moreno

As the Trump administration reduces the size of the federal government, intellectual property attorneys are expressing concerns about the continued safeguarding of trade secrets that companies are required to disclose to certain agencies.

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Analysis

5 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch In March

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Ninth Circuit will mull Express Scripts and OptumRx's bid to force a public nuisance suit brought by the state of California into federal court, and the Second Circuit will hear from pensioners who say that IBM's use of outdated mortality tables shrank their benefits payouts. Here, Law360 looks at these and other appellate arguments happening in March that should be on benefits lawyers' radar.

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CFPB Endgame Is Just 'Five Men And A Phone,' Filings Allege

By Jon Hill

Current and former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees alleged in D.C. federal court filings that the Trump administration is much more aggressively trying to gut the agency than it has let on, warning it has already damaged vital functions.

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J&J Talc Spinoff Wraps Two-Week Chapter 11 Trial

By Clara Geoghegan

A marathon Chapter 11 trial for Johnson & Johnson's talc liability unit wrapped up Friday, with attorneys defending the $10 billion plan against competing efforts to toss the Texas bankruptcy.

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SEC's Crypto Turn Could Undermine Staff, Dem Member Says

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's sole Democratic member has spoken out against its postelection retreat from prosecuting crypto cases, warning that recent actions like the voluntary dismissal of a lawsuit against Coinbase threaten to undermine the agency's enforcement staff.

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Brief

USPTO Fires Some Probationary Workers, But Not Examiners

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has fired "a small number" of employees that were still on probation, but not patent and trademark examiners, the acting patent commissioner announced.

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CFPB Won't Drop MoneyLion Suit Despite Agency Shake-Up

By Dorothy Atkins

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told a New York federal judge Friday that the agency plans to continue pursuing its lawsuit against MoneyLion Technologies Inc. under Trump-appointed leadership despite uncertainty about the agency's future and the CFPB's recent decisions to drop other actions due to the Trump administration's policy shake-up.

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SEC, Ex-Silvergate CFO Trade Shots Over Enforcement Case

By Hailey Konnath

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday urged a New York federal court not to throw out its claims that the former chief financial officer of defunct crypto-focused bank Silvergate Capital concealed the bank's rocky financial position, saying that the executive is mischaracterizing its claims.

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Beyond Meat Fries Investors' Fast-Food Production Woes Suit

By Lauren Berg

A Los Angeles federal judge has tossed, for good, a reworked investor class action accusing Beyond Meat of concealing major problems with its efforts to scale production on plant-based meat substitutes for fast-food chains like McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut.

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Del. Judge Orders Trial On AMC Stock Swap Coverage Fight

By Jeff Montgomery

A Delaware Superior Court judge ordered a jury trial Friday on an AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. insurer's claim that it never consented to cover part of a $99.3 million settlement with theater chain stockholders who challenged a preferred share conversion and reverse stock split.

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FDIC Can't Nix SVB Trust's Claims Feds Must Turn Over $1.93B

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has tossed a pair of claims from SVB Financial Trust's lawsuit alleging that the FDIC wrongfully took control of $1.93 billion in deposits amid Silicon Valley Bank's collapse, dismissing due process claims for good but allowing the trust to pursue promissory estoppel allegations and so-called turnover claims.

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Align Tech Deal Directs Buyers To A Monopolist, Judge Says

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal judge has soundly rejected Align Technologies Inc.'s proposed $27.5 million antitrust settlement with teeth-aligner buyers, slamming Align as a monopolist and saying that the deal "will direct still more customers to the monopolist."

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8th Circ. Backs Auto Co. Exec's Win In $5M Benefits Suit

By Emmy Freedman

The Eighth Circuit declined Friday to overturn a former chief operating officer's win in his lawsuit accusing an automotive company of reneging on the terms of his deferred compensation plan when he left the firm, saying the company can't rely on nonexistent documents to deny his claim to the funds.

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'Not So': Trump Says Wilcox Firing Case Won't Ax Humphrey's

By Emily Brill

A D.C. federal judge should reject former National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox's claim that the Trump administration is trying to ax landmark U.S. Supreme Court precedent, President Donald Trump and board Chairman Marvin Kaplan argued Friday, saying they only want the decision properly applied.

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Kraft Heinz Beats Ex-R&D Worker's Vaccine Bias Claims

By Lauraann Wood

A former Kraft Heinz research and development manager cannot go to trial over claims the company discriminated against her religious beliefs by rejecting her COVID-19 exemption request, with an Illinois federal judge saying on Friday her concerns were not religious in nature.

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Bioventus Hit With Del. Derivative Suit After NC Class Deal

By Jeff Montgomery

A Bioventus Inc. stockholder sued 15 current and former directors and officers of the medical device venture in Delaware's Court of Chancery to recover for the company tens of millions in losses tied to alleged mismanagement and corporate duty failures over a two year period.

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Greenberg Traurig Adds Former Flag Football League Exec

By Rose Krebs

Greenberg Traurig LLP has hired an attorney with experience as a high-level executive for a sports league and teams, including the American Flag Football League and the Houston Roughnecks, now of the United Football League, to expand its sports law practice.

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Fenwick Adds Longtime Startup Attorney To Insurtech Group

By Elizabeth Daley

A new attorney has joined tech and life sciences firm Fenwick & West LLP in its regulatory practice and insurtech group, the firm announced, saying her extensive experience working in insurance with established companies as well as emerging startups will help it provide "comprehensive regulatory services."

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Chancery Ruling Holds Authorized Share Takeaways For Cos.

The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent ruling in Salama v. Simon resolved statutory ambiguity in favor of boards seeking authorized share increases, and has important implications for litigators presenting extrinsic evidence in support of contract or statutory interpretation arguments, says Robin Wechkin at Sidley.

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What Reuters Ruling Means For AI Fair Use And Copyright

A Delaware federal court's recent decision in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence is not likely to have lasting effect in view of the avalanche of artificial intelligence decisions to come, but the court made two points that will resonate with copyright owners who are disputing technology companies' unlicensed use of copyright-protected materials to train generative AI models, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law Group.

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The Current And Future State Of Bank-Fintech Partnerships

Though the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under President Donald Trump seems likely to cultivate an environment friendlier to the financial services industry, bank-fintech partnerships should stay devoted to proactive compliance and be ready to adapt to regulatory shifts that may intensify scrutiny from enforcers, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

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Drug Kickback Ruling Will Make FCA Liability Harder To Prove

The First Circuit's ruling in U.S. v. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, requiring the government to prove but-for causation to establish False Claims Act liability based on violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, raises the bar for FCA enforcement and deepens a circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court may need to resolve, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

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Analysis

Presidents v. Courts: Lincoln, Trump & Judicial Power Limits

By Jeff Overley

Amid fears of President Donald Trump disobeying judges with impunity, debate has focused on famous instances of officials defying the U.S. Supreme Court. But some of the clearest insights into America's handling of White House disregard for courts exist in relatively obscure cases from the Civil War era, when unprecedented presidential actions provoked extraordinary responses from the judiciary — and underscored the limits of its powers.

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NYC Bar Slams Trump's Order On Covington Attys

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association has joined the chorus of legal groups decrying President Donald Trump's order suspending security clearances held by Covington & Burling LLP attorneys representing former special counsel Jack Smith, calling it an "improper use of government power."

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Ex-Commerce Official To Chair Gibson Dunn Sanctions Group

By James Mills

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP is creating a new sanctions and export enforcement practice group and bringing in a former U.S. Commerce Department official as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office to lead it.

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Ex-White House Cyber Pro Joins Sidley As DC Privacy Partner

By Tracey Read

The former chief of staff at the White House Office of the National Cyber Director has returned to the private sector as a Sidley Austin LLP privacy and cybersecurity practice partner in Washington, the firm said Thursday.

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WH Appeals After Watchdog Chief Is Permanently Reinstalled

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. federal judge ruled Saturday that President Donald Trump's firing of the head of the Office of Special Counsel was illegal, finding that the federal employment watchdog can only be ousted for cause.

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Dems Claim DOJ Atty's 'Quid Pro Quo' Violated Ethics Rules

By Dorothy Atkins

Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee senior members lodged ethics complaints against acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, accusing the recently appointed Bove of violating ethics rules by allegedly pushing prosecutors to drop criminal bribery charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a "quid pro quo" deal with President Donald Trump.

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Group Blasts Judge's Call For Women In Contraception MDL

By Carolina Bolado

A judicial organization dedicated to fighting "leftist lawfare" filed a complaint Thursday against the Florida federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over the hormonal contraceptive drug Depo-Provera, claiming that her comments about women needing to be represented in the MDL leadership show an impermissible bias.

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Roc Nation Aims To Get Out Of Buzbee Conspiracy Suit

By Ryan Boysen

Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter's company Roc Nation has asked a Texas federal court to let it exit a lawsuit that claims Roc Nation conspired to "finance" malpractice suits against attorney Tony Buzbee in retaliation for an abortive lawsuit Buzbee filed accusing the rap star of rape.

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GOP Rep. Reintroduces The JUDGES Act

By Courtney Bublé

The chair of the House Judiciary Committee's courts panel has reintroduced a bill to create 66 new and temporary federal judgeships, which former President Joe Biden vetoed at the end of last year.

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Up Next At High Court: Gun Violence Liability & Nuclear Waste

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return to the bench Monday to consider Mexico's attempt to hold gun manufacturers and distributors liable for cartel-related gun violence and a nuclear waste site dispute that could determine who can challenge future agency actions.

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen the billionaire Zakay brothers, founders of Topland Group, become embroiled in a legal dispute with each other, Unilever sue three major perfume companies over alleged illegal price-fixing, and the publisher of Vogue magazine file an intellectual property suit against Cornucopia Events. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP and Kontnik Cohen LLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court held that cases dismissed voluntarily can later be eligible for special judicial relief and reopening, even if a statute of limitations would typically block the lawsuit.

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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.

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