Trump Says Immunity Ruling Means Conviction Must Be Axed

By Hailey Konnath

Donald Trump has officially lodged his request for his conviction to be vacated in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision, arguing that prosecutors' evidence in the hush money case rests on official acts he took as president, according to a redacted motion made public Thursday.

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Analysis

'Bridgegate' Defense Offers Road Map For NJ RICO Case

By George Woolston

Counsel for the powerful New Jersey mogul and Democratic operatives facing explosive racketeering charges are likely to justify their actions as just business, experts told Law360, describing defense tactics similar to the ones that absolved defendants in "Bridgegate," New Jersey's most notorious politics-fueled crime in recent history.

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Baldwin Wasn't Only 'Rust' Actor With Live Rounds, Jury Told

By Phillip Bantz

Alec Baldwin's counsel established Thursday during a contentious second day of testimony in the "Rust" trial in New Mexico that he wasn't the only actor unknowingly carrying live ammunition on the film's set before the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer.

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House Fails To Pass Inherent Contempt Resolution For AG

By Courtney Bublé

The House on Thursday failed to pass a Republican-led inherent contempt resolution for Attorney General Merrick Garland in hopes of obtaining audiotapes of President Joe Biden's interviews with special counsel Robert Hur in the classified documents investigation, but the measure's sponsor promised to try again.

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Whispers, Curses As Menendez Trial Inches Toward Jury

By Cara Salvatore

Federal corruption prosecutors wound down their bribery case against Sen. Robert Menendez Thursday with a mixture of dramatic into-the-mic whispering and reliance on the adjective "damn" as they argued that nothing in the tale would make sense without the alchemizing element of crime.

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Texas AG Claims He's About To Be Impeached Again

By Tom Lotshaw

In a social media post about an upcoming Texas House committee meeting, Attorney General Ken Paxton said "weak-kneed" establishment Republicans and Democrats are conspiring on a second impeachment effort to try to remove him from office — a claim the committee chair called "farfetched fantasy."

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Biden Taps Warren Protege, Ex-CFPB Atty For CFTC Seat

By Sydney Price

President Joe Biden on Thursday nominated a senior Office of Management and Budget official and former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau attorney to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to replace one of two current CFTC members who themselves have been nominated for other offices.

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All Grand Jury Witnesses Get Civil Immunity, Colo. Panel Says

By Daniel Ducassi

A Colorado state appeals court held for the first time Thursday that all types of grand jury witnesses have absolute immunity for their testimony, though they don't have sweeping protection for statements made before the proceedings start. 

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Ozy Media CEO Urges Jury To Reject 'Shady' Fraud Case

By Stewart Bishop

Counsel for Carlos Watson on Thursday told a Brooklyn federal jury not to trust prosecutors' "shady" claims that the Ozy Media founder and CEO defrauded lenders and investors by falsely inflating the news and entertainment startup's bottom line.

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Pa. Man Admits To Dick's Sporting Goods Insider Trading

By Elaine Briseño

A Pennsylvania man who netted nearly $825,000 in profits from Dick's Sporting Goods securities has pled guilty to insider trading using tips he obtained from a company employee, according to a Thursday announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Engineering Co. Seeks Coverage Of Deal In $80M Suit

By Jennifer Mandato

An engineering and design firm said its insurer must reimburse it for a settlement reached in an $80 million unfair business practice lawsuit, telling a Nebraska federal court the insurer wrongfully denied coverage, forcing the firm to defend itself.

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Ex-Union Leader Gets 6 Years For Bribery, Embezzlement

By P.J. D'Annunzio

John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, the former business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 in Philadelphia, was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison after being convicted of bribing a city councilman and stealing over $500,000 from the union.

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Colo. Panel Rejects 3rd Party Shields To Anti-Influencing Law

By Sarah Jarvis

A Colorado law criminalizing attempts to influence public servants doesn't require an offender to personally influence the official "by means of deceit," a state appellate panel ruled Thursday, holding for the first time that a person can be liable for engaging in a plan of deception with a third party.

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Judge Warns Fake-Atty Suspect Not To Blow Off Court Dates

By Pete Brush

A convicted fraudster from Long Island pled not guilty Thursday in New York federal court to charges that he earned hefty fees while posing as a lawyer in a scam targeting inmates — and also was warned not to "sick out" of court dates.

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YSL Prosecutors Oppose Judge's Recusal Amid Mistrial Bid

By Kelcey Caulder

Prosecutors on Wednesday argued there is no reason Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville should stop overseeing the ongoing racketeering trial against Atlanta rapper Young Thug and his associates, approximately an hour after the rapper moved for a mistrial.

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Atty's Missteps Conflicted Her At Trial, Mass. Justices Say

By Chris Villani

Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday ruled that a man convicted of murder should get a new trial because his lawyer would have had to deride her own performance during her client's police interview in order to provide the best possible defense.

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2nd Circ. Backs Disbarred Atty's Prison Term For Fraud Plea

By Emilie Ruscoe

A disbarred California attorney can't reverse a Manhattan federal court's 5½-year prison sentence and $5.5 million restitution order that followed his guilty plea to wire fraud for a real estate and venture fraud scheme, the Second Circuit ruled Thursday.

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How Attorneys Can Reduce Bad Behavior At Deposition

To minimize unprofessional behavior by opposing counsel and witnesses, and take charge of the room at deposition, attorneys should lay out some key ground rules at the outset — and be sure to model good behavior themselves, says John Farrell at Fish & Richardson.

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Criminal Enforcement Considerations For Gov't Contractors

Government contractors increasingly exposed to criminal liability risks should establish programs that enable detection and remediation of employee misconduct, consider voluntary disclosure, and be aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of failing to make a mandatory disclosure where the government concludes it was required, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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FBI Raid Signals Growing Criminal Enforcement Of Algorithms

The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division's increased willingness to pursue the use of algorithmic pricing as a potential criminal violation means that companies need to understand the software solutions they employ and stay abreast of antitrust best practices when contracting with providers, say attorneys at Rule Garza.

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Opinion

States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

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Cuomo Beats Retaliation Claims In NY Trooper's Suit

By Gina Kim

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo defeated retaliation claims in a state trooper's lawsuit alleging she was sexually harassed while serving in Cuomo's security detail, after a federal judge said Friday that no employment relationship existed because Cuomo resigned months before his purported threat to seek prosecution of his alleged victims.

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Whistleblower's Attys Get $5.9M After Losing $11.5M Fee Ask

By Dorothy Atkins

A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday awarded a whistleblower's counsel $5.9 million in fees plus $651,845 in costs and expenses after slashing their prior "exorbitant" $11.5 million fee request in May in a decade-old False Claims Act lawsuit alleging Fresenius Medical Care billed Medicare for unnecessary hepatitis tests.

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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 owner of the Lambretta scooter brand Innocenti SA embroiled in a trademark dispute with a property developer, a clash between two art dealers over a collection of tapestries, Telecom Italia pursue a debt claim against a competing telecommunications company, and performing arts trade union Equity hit a casting directory for charging unfair subscription fees on actors. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Ex-Magellan Execs Waive Conflicts Over Past Shared Counsel

By Julie Manganis

Two former Magellan Diagnostics executives charged with conspiring to hide defects in the company's lead testing devices agreed on Friday to waive any potential conflict created by their prior joint representation by a Donnelly Conroy & Gelhaar LLP attorney.

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Brief

Former Colorado Court Workers Settle Sexism Claims

By Daniel Ducassi

The Colorado State Courts Administrator's Office said in a joint notice that it has settled a lawsuit in Denver District Court with two former workers who said they were laid off as part of a broader pattern of gender discrimination against female employees.

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Conn.'s Child Advocate Departs For Top Role At Nonprofit

By Christine DeRosa

The attorney who led Connecticut's Office of the Child Advocate for more than a decade is stepping down this fall to return to a legal nonprofit as its executive director.

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Analysis

Biggest Colorado Decisions Of 2024: A Midyear Report

By Daniel Ducassi

The U.S. Supreme Court's quick reversal of Colorado justices' decision removing former President Donald Trump from the state's ballots and a Boulder County judge's ruling clearing the way for landmark climate litigation about major oil companies rank among the most important decisions affecting Colorado so far this year.

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Paul Weiss Hopes To Stem Exits With New Partner Structure

By Matt Perez

Brad Karp, chairman of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, shared in a podcast published Thursday that the firm has followed a new two-track partnership compensation model as a means to combat retention issues plaguing similar firms.

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Litigation Funding 'Abuses' Targeted By Federal Lawmakers

By Bonnie Eslinger

Federal lawmakers are seeking to put the reins on third-party investors bankrolling litigation, with Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., introducing legislation that would require disclosure of third-party financing deals in civil lawsuits, and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., asking Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday to have the Judicial Conference review the practice.

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Lin Wood Wants Judge Disqualified In Ga. Defamation Case

By Emily Johnson

Controversial retired Georgia attorney L. Lin Wood has asked that a Georgia federal judge be disqualified from presiding over a defamation case he's facing from his former law partners, arguing that the case involved two witnesses from Alston & Bird LLP, where the judge previously worked.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

General counsel at companies involved in environmental litigation scored victories and suffered some setbacks this week, including the dismissal of a Baltimore city suit seeking climate damages as well as Marathon Oil's record-setting $241.5 million Clean Air Act settlement.

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Guo Trial Juror Booted For Googling Fugitive Co-Defendant

By Rachel Scharf

The jury in Chinese dissident Miles Guo's $1 billion fraud and racketeering case was forced to restart its verdict deliberations on Friday after a juror was cut loose for Google-searching Guo's fugitive financial adviser and co-defendant William Je.

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