Three defense attorneys in the long-running and tumultuous prosecution of rapper Young Thug hosted a campaign fundraiser in 2022 for the third and latest judge assigned to the case this week, adding yet another potential hiccup to the bench's game of musical chairs.
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Defense Attys Raised Cash For New Judge In Young Thug Trial

By Chart Riggall

Three defense attorneys in the long-running and tumultuous prosecution of rapper Young Thug hosted a campaign fundraiser in 2022 for the third and latest judge assigned to the case this week, adding yet another potential hiccup to the bench's game of musical chairs.

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Analysis

Menendez Appeal Could Make Hay From Bribery Case Law

By Cara Salvatore

Sen. Robert Menendez's planned "aggressive" appeal will almost certainly include broadsides against his novel foreign-agent conviction and attempt to capitalize on the U.S. Supreme Court's proven appetite for bribery cases, experts say.

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Hunter Biden Wants Charges Tossed After Trump Docs Ruling

By Lauren Berg

Hunter Biden on Thursday asked federal judges in Delaware and California to throw out his conviction on felony gun charges and to toss other charges of tax evasion, citing a Florida federal judge's order disqualifying the special prosecutor in Donald Trump's classified documents case.

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Girardi Denied Bid To Delay Client Theft Trial To October

By Adrian Cruz

A California federal judge rejected disgraced lawyer Tom Girardi's motion to have his closely watched wire fraud trial moved to October from its current August start date, determining that he was unable to provide a genuine reason as to why proceedings should be pushed back two months.

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Colo. Judge Ends Voter Intimidation Case Midtrial

By Daniel Ducassi

A Colorado federal judge on Thursday put an abrupt end to a bench trial in a lawsuit accusing members of a 2020 election denier group of illegal voter intimidation, concluding there was not enough evidence to back up the claims brought by voting rights groups.

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GSK, Boehringer Face Jurors Again On Zantac Cancer Claims

By Celeste Bott and Lauraann Wood

GlaxoSmithKline and Boehringer Ingelheim returned to Illinois state court Thursday, where they face separate juries to defend against Zantac users' claims that the drug caused them to develop cancer.

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Sunday Ticket Customers Slam NFL's Bid To Upend $4.7B Win

By Gina Kim

DirecTV Sunday Ticket subscribers opposed the NFL's effort to vacate a $4.7 billion antitrust verdict handed down by California federal jurors last month, arguing on Wednesday the league cannot second-guess the jury's findings and that the plaintiffs actually received far less than what they sought.

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Apple Wants 2 Trials In Masimo Trade Secrets And Patent Row

By Ryan Davis

Apple has told a California federal judge that a November retrial in Masimo's suit against it should only cover claims including trade secrets that led to a mistrial last year after Masimo sought $1.85 billion, and that Masimo's patent claims should be tried later.

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Google Warns Fed. Circ. Panel Backed Manipulating Damages

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit's decision to make Google pay EcoFactor $20 million for infringing a smart thermostat patent clears patent owners to "manufacture a royalty rate" and ignore both market realities and apportionment, Google told the full court in a bid for rehearing.

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Comcast Gets PTAB To Eye Patent Despite EDTX Trial

By Andrew Karpan

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board on Thursday said it will look into a petition by Comcast asking it to invalidate claims in a patent organizing "content on a display device" that is tied to a $338.7 million jury verdict and is being asserted in another case set to go to trial later this year.

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Del. Judge Overrules ViaTech's $34M Jury Win Against Adobe

By Dani Kass

A Delaware federal judge has concluded that Adobe Inc. could not have infringed a ViaTech technologies licensing system patent, and threw out a jury's $33.8 million infringement verdict.

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Pool Co. Wants To Dig Into Rival's Alter Egos For $16M Verdict

By Hayley Fowler

Pool supply company Hayward Industries Inc. is looking to force responses from the alter egos of bankrupt rival Blueworks Corp. regarding their assets, bank accounts and property so that Hayward can collect on its $16 million false advertising and unfair business practices judgment.

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EMPLOYMENT & BENEFITS

Ex-Seattle Port Police Chief Seeks Up To $20M In Firing Trial

By Rachel Riley

The Port of Seattle's former police chief told a Washington state jury on Thursday that $14 million to $20 million from his former employer would be a "reasonable range" of damages for robbing him of his law enforcement career as punishment for complaining about unfairness in workplace misconduct investigations.

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WHITE COLLAR

Ex-BigLaw Atty Gets Nearly 2 Years For Election Crimes

By Chris Villani

A former BigLaw attorney was sentenced to 21 months in prison Thursday after being convicted of campaign finance violations tied to a failed run for U.S. Congress, with a Boston federal judge citing the defendant's legal acumen and experience as a law clerk as evidence he "should have known" better.

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Docs Get Same Hefty Opioid Sentences Despite Top Court Win

By Elliot Weld

Two Alabama doctors accused of unlawfully prescribing patients fentanyl and other opioids failed to shave time off their lengthy prison sentences despite a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that raised the bar for such prosecutions.

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Attorney, Businessman Acquitted Of Crash Report Scheme

By Daniel Connolly

A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday cited insufficient evidence and ordered the cancellation of jury convictions against a lawyer and a medical business owner in an alleged scheme to obtain unreleased police crash reports illegally and use the reports to solicit clients.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

BCLP Seeks Merger Partner As Departures Continue

By Aebra Coe

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP's headcount has declined by more than 20% since the law firm's seminal combination, according to firm data, with a surge of lateral departures this spring and summer. Sources have told Law360 Pulse that firm leaders are currently seeking a merger partner.

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Several State Courts Impacted By Global Tech Outage

By Sarah Martinson

Several state courts have been impacted by a global Microsoft Windows outage Friday morning causing operational challenges and courthouse closures.

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DOJ Seeks Probe Of Conflicts In Ex-Fed. Judge's Cases

By Jack Karp

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked its internal watchdog to look into why federal prosecutors kept quiet about the fact that they allegedly knew now-resigned Alaska federal Judge Joshua Kindred had inappropriate relationships with several attorneys appearing before him, the DOJ confirmed to Law360 Friday.

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NASCAR Names New General Counsel Amid Shake-Up

By Sue Reisinger

NASCAR Holdings' has named a new general counsel and a new deputy general counsel and head of privacy to fill out the team of chief legal officer Amanda Oliver.

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Calif. Bar Backs Creating New Virtual Bar Exam To Cut Costs

By Hailey Konnath

The State Bar of California's Board of Trustees has signed off on plans to negotiate a potentially $8 million, five-year deal with Kaplan North America LLC to replace the Multistate Bar Exam with its own state exam that could be taken remotely, according to a statement issued Friday.

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Kavanaugh Murder-Attempt Suspect Set To Face Trial

By Rae Ann Varona

A man charged with attempting to kill U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has failed to reach a plea deal after nearly two years of negotiations, setting his case up for trial in Maryland federal court, federal prosecutors said Friday.

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2nd Circ. Upholds Ax Of Ex-Ropes & Gray Clerk's Bar Exam Suit

By Ryan Boysen

A former Ropes & Gray LLP attorney who was fired after twice failing the New York bar exam can't sue the state agency that administers the test for failing to accommodate her disabilities, the Second Circuit ruled Friday, finding the agency is protected by sovereign immunity.

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Apple Wants Litigation Funder To Explain Role In Patent Row

By Rose Krebs

Apple Inc. wants a Delaware federal judge to order litigation funder Omni Bridgeway LLC to turn over documents explaining its relationship with Finnish company MPH Technologies Oy and its financial interest in MPH's ongoing patent litigation against Apple in California.

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NYC Bar OKs Attys' Financial Stakes In Alternative Biz Entities

By Andrea Keckley

A new ethics committee report says a New York City lawyer may hold a financial interest in alternative business structures in jurisdictions that let them provide legal services, provided the lawyer is merely a financial investor, not practicing law through the entity.

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Judge Recuses As Tech Firm Slams Dow Chemical's Request

By Ryan Harroff

An Ohio federal judge has recused himself from a trade secrets case brought against Dow Chemical Co. after the technology firm that sued it showed the court a settlement offer without approval that would grant Dow Chemical's recusal motion, which the tech firm said was a "cavalier approach to a drastic remedy."

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Class Seeks $1.5B Settlement In Payday Loan Dispute

By Crystal Owens

A class of borrowers has urged a Virginia federal court to approve what would be the largest settlement ever obtained in a challenge to participants in the tribal lending industry, arguing that the agreement would give significant relief to hundreds of thousands in the form of debt cancellations and cash payments.

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Law Profs Throw Flag On NFL's 'Unconscionable' Arbitration

By David Steele

Allowing the NFL's arbitration system, with commissioner Roger Goodell as the arbitrator, to prevail in Brian Flores' discrimination dispute with the league is "unconscionable" and "egregious," a dozen law professors have told the Second Circuit in an amicus brief supporting the former Miami Dolphins head coach.

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Calif. Firm Beats Rival's Claims In 'Sweet Justice' TM Fight

By Rachel Rippetoe

A California federal court on Thursday nixed a personal injury firm's countersuit against its rival in a battle over the trademark use of the term "Sweet Justice," ruling that the firm's counterclaims are a "mirror-image" of the underlying suit.

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'Texit' Atty Sues State Rep., Judge Over Defamation Fees

By Catherine Marfin

A civil rights attorney who has represented the group behind the "Texit" movement filed a lawsuit against a state representative and court officials in a North Texas county, accusing the group of colluding to run up attorney fees against him in a defamation case connected to the pro-Texas-secession group.

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Colo. Federal Judges Point Out Recent High Turnover

By Daniel Ducassi

Colorado's chief federal judge on Friday observed "there has been a lot of turnover" on the bench in the district over the past several years, noting five out of the seven active district court judges were nominated by President Joe Biden. 

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Blanche Law PLLC and Continental PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Florida federal judge tossed the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his allegedly illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

A kidney care company has asked a federal judge to throw out a former in-house counsel's lawsuit that claims she was fired for raising concerns about violations of federal anti-kickback statutes, and a study showed the world's most extensive public country-by-country tax reporting rules would require 51% of large U.S. multinational corporations to disclose tax arrangements. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen a libel clash between comedian Paul Currie and the Soho Theatre Company over allegations of anti-semitism, technology giant Huawei face a patents claim by Mediatek, Westfield Europe pursue action against Clearpay Finance for contract breaches and tour operating company Carnival hit chartered airline Maleth Aero for significant flight delays. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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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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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Alston & Bird

Ashby & Geddes

Baker Donelson

Baker McKenzie

Banner Witcoff

Bernstein Litowitz

Blake Cassels

Bruce Harvey Law Firm

Bryan Cave

Bunsow De Mory

Clyde & Co

Continental PLLC

Covington & Burling

DAC Beachcroft

DLA Piper

Dalton & Associates PA

Davis Polk

Dentons

Dorsey & Whitney

Eggleston King

Elefterakis Elefterakis

Fieldfisher

Geragos & Geragos

Gibson Dunn

Girardi & Keese

Goldman Ismail

Goulston & Storrs

Gowling WLG

Gregor Wynne

Hahn Loeser

Hausfeld LLP

Haynes & Boone

Hogan Lovells

Hogen Adams

Holland & Knight

Howes Percival

Jo Anne Simon PC

Jones Day

Keker Van Nest & Peters

Keller Postman

Kelly Guzzo

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Knobbe Martens

Langer Grogan

Latham & Watkins

Lathrop GPM

Lightfoot Franklin

Loeb & Loeb

MFR Law Group

Madden & Soto

McCarter & English

McCarthy Tetrault

Mishcon de Reya

Morgan Lewis

Morris Nichols

Morrison Foerster

Munger Tolles

Nelson Mullins

Norton Rose

Osborne Clarke

Parafinczuk Wolf

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Perkins Coie

Pirkey Barber

Quinn Emanuel

Rayburn Cooper

Richards Layton

Robinson Bradshaw

Ropes & Gray

Russ August & Kabat

Rutan & Tucker

Seyfarth Shaw

Shook Hardy

Shumaker Loop

Sidley Austin

Simmons & Simmons

Siri & Glimstad

Spencer Fane

Stein & Vargas

Sullivan & Cromwell

Susman Godfrey

Sweet James LLP

Thompson Hine

Troutman Pepper

Ward Hadaway

Washington & Washington

White & Case

Wigdor LLP

Wilkinson Stekloff

Williams Kastner

WilmerHale

Winston & Strawn

Womble Bond

Wright Hassall

gunnercooke LLP

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AXA SA

Adobe Inc.

Aegon NV

Amazon.com Inc.

American Arbitration Association

Apple Inc.

Aviva SA

Boehringer Ingelheim

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc.

Carnival Corp. & PLC

Chevron Corp.

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Colorado Bar Association

Comcast Corp.

Comerica Inc.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.

Denver Broncos Football Club

Dow Inc.

EMI Group Ltd.

Google LLC

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

Houston Texans

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

Instagram Inc.

Larsen & Toubro Ltd.

Leo Burnett Worldwide Inc.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

LinkedIn Corp.

Loyola University New Orleans

Masimo Corp.

Mercedes-Benz USA LLC

Meta Platforms Inc.

Miami Dolphins

Microsoft Corp.

Morningstar, Inc.

NASDAQ Inc.

NFL Enterprises LLC

Nardello & Co. LLC

Nascar Digital Media LLC

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

National Hockey League

New York City Bar Association

New York Football Giants Inc.

New York University

Omni Bridgeway Ltd.

Panoramic Health

Pfizer Inc.

Purdue Pharma LP

Sanofi

SolarWinds Corp.

Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd.

State Bar of California

Syngenta AG

The DIRECTV Group Inc.

The Seattle Times

The State University of New York

The Tennessee Titans

Twitter Inc.

Union Pacific Corp.

University of Southern California

Valeo Partners LLC

Vodafone Group PLC

Walmart Inc.

Woodruff-Sawyer & Co.

World Economic Forum

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Companies House

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

European Union

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Food and Drug Administration

Georgia Supreme Court

HM Revenue & Customs

International Trade Commission

Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians

New York Attorney General's Office

Port of Seattle

Superior Court of Fulton County

Supreme Court of Nevada

Texas Legislature

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Alabama

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama

World Bank Group

World Health Organization