Feds Call Menendez's Wife 'Partner In Crime' As Trial Ends

By Frank G. Runyeon

Federal prosecutors told a Manhattan jury Thursday that Nadine Menendez was former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's "partner in crime," closing out her bribery and public corruption trial by casting her as his "go-between — demanding payment, collecting payment."

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Jenner & Block Fights DOJ Bid To Toss Exec Order Suit

By Ryan Boysen

Jenner & Block LLP on Thursday urged a D.C. federal court to reject the government's bid to dismiss its lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the firm, saying the "legal profession as a whole is watching."

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Ill. Sen. Planned To Report Red-Light Camera Exec, Jury Hears

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois state senator accused of taking a bribe to help a red-light camera company testified Thursday that he "didn't have a chance" to report his questionable interactions closer to when they occurred in summer 2019, but he intended to raise his concerns later that fall.

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3rd Circ. Questions Walmart's Duty To Disclose Opioid Probe

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Third Circuit on Thursday questioned the extent to which Walmart knew of the government's interest in prosecuting it for opioid sales, as it considered a bid by investors to revive class claims alleging the retail chain failed to disclose it was under investigation.

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6th Circ. Says Michigan AG Can Pursue 'False Elector' Case

By Danielle Ferguson

The Sixth Circuit on Thursday affirmed a federal district court's refusal to interfere with a state court case in which Michigan's attorney general accused a former Republican presidential elector candidate of plotting to submit false electoral votes in the wake of the 2020 election.

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Texas Rep. Cuellar Asks To Move Bribery Trial To Home City

By Elliot Weld

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, asked a federal judge in Houston to move their bribery case to the couple's home city of Laredo, saying the current venue has limited connections to the case and will make it more difficult for the representative "to keep up with his public duties."

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Israeli Makes Final Bid To Block US Hacking Extradition

By Ronan Barnard

Lawyers for an Israeli private investigator fighting extradition to face hacking charges in the U.S. urged a London judge Friday to reject diplomatic assurances about conditions at a New York prison, saying that violence was "endemic" there.

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Former FAA Contractor Pleads Guilty In Foreign Agent Case

By Tom Lotshaw

A former Federal Aviation Administration contractor accused of providing solar industry and aviation information to Iran pled guilty Wednesday to conspiring to act and acting as a foreign government agent without giving prior notification to the U.S. attorney general.

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Mich. Defenders Seek $2.3M After Life Sentence Ruling

By Danielle Ferguson

Michigan's appellate defender office told lawmakers Thursday that it would need to hire additional staff to represent more than 300 people whose sentences will need to be reviewed after the state's top court declared that automatic life-without-parole sentences for 19- and 20-year-olds are unconstitutional.

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Ex-Harvard Morgue Manager Takes Plea Over Stolen Remains

By Brian Dowling

Harvard Medical School's former morgue manager plans to plead guilty to one criminal count in a case alleging he stole and sold human remains from cadavers in his care to a network of "oddities" buyers across the country.

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Crypto Casino Owner Gambled With Investor Funds, Feds Say

By Elliot Weld

The founder of a purported cryptocurrency casino was criminally charged with stealing millions of dollars from investors and gambling the funds away at a different online gambling platform and in the stock market.

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Feds Say Estonians Won't Be Deported Before Fraud Sentence

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors told a Washington federal judge Thursday that they had secured approval for "deferred action" from the Department of Homeland Security on potential immigration proceedings against two Estonian men awaiting sentencing for a cryptocurrency fraud scheme.

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Man's Deportation Looms After Tax Evasion Plea Stands

By Kevin Pinner

A Connecticut federal judge denied a man's attempt to vacate his guilty plea for tax evasion, despite accepting that his lawyers had misled him into believing that if he received no prison time he could avoid mandatory detention and likely deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Assessing Market Manipulation Claims In Energy Markets

Today's energy markets are conducive to sudden price changes, breakdowns in pricing linkages and substantial shifts in trading patterns, so it's necessary to take a holistic view when evaluating allegations of market manipulation, say Maximilian Bredendiek, Greg Leonard and Manuel Vasconcelos at Cornerstone Research.

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How Calif., NY Could Fill Consumer Finance Regulatory Void

California and New York have historically taken the lead in consumer financial protection, and both show signs of becoming even more active in this area during the second Trump administration amid an enforcement pullback at the federal level, say attorneys at Sidley.

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Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

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Series

Volunteer Firefighting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While practicing corporate law and firefighting may appear incongruous, the latter benefits my legal career by reminding me of the importance of humility, perspective and education, says Nicholas Passaro at Ford.

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PTAB Judge Heads To Boutique, Citing Return-To-Office Order

By Andrew Karpan

An outgoing Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge based in Austin, Texas, tells Law360 that President Donald Trump's return-to-office order was a "significant factor" in her decision to return to private practice, joining boutique patent firm Smith Baluch LLP as a partner.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Convicted In 1MDB Case Ordered Disbarred In NY

By Craig Clough

A New York appellate court ordered Wednesday that a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney be disbarred due to his felony conviction as part of a sprawling, billion-dollar fraud scandal connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad and Fugees founder Pras Michél.

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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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Sunoco Accused Of Age Bias By Ex-Chief Counsel

By Gina Kim

A former chief counsel for Sunoco LP sued her ex-employer in Texas state court Wednesday, alleging she was denied promotional opportunities and later terminated due to her age, while also accusing the company of replacing attorneys older than 50 with significantly younger attorneys with less experience.

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PI Firm Sues Its Own Expert For Being 'Out Of Touch' At Depo

By Rae Ann Varona

A New Jersey personal injury law firm filed suit in state court against an expert witness it alleges had threatened to withdraw if he didn't receive an advance payment for preparing and attending his deposition, and then turned up to the deposition "confused, disoriented and out of touch."

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Google and its chief legal officer have now lost two major antitrust cases to DOJ prosecutors after a federal judge ruled Thursday the search engine monopolized markets and servers related to display advertising. Meanwhile, a new study shows companies are disclosing their business risks, and how they are trying to mitigate those risks, amid changing tariffs and the uncertainty of the U.S.-China trade war. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Schlichter Bogard LLC and the University of Virginia School of Law Supreme Court Litigation Clinic lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court revived a class action from Cornell University workers who said their retirement plans were saddled with excessive fees.

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Judiciary Faces Security Risks Amid Spending Freeze

By Courtney Bublé

The federal judiciary is warning congressional appropriators that funding shortfalls could threaten courthouse security.

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Judge Nixes Feds' DQ Bid In Migrant Kids Legal Funding Case

By Ryan Boysen

A California federal judge has denied the Trump administration's bid to remove her from a lawsuit challenging funding cuts that prevent attorneys from representing child migrants, ruling her employment at one of the plaintiffs nearly seven years ago doesn't undermine her impartiality.

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Joel Katz, Music Law's Longtime Power Broker, Dies At 80

By Chart Riggall

Joel Katz, the powerful music industry lawyer who co-founded Greenberg Traurig LLP's media and entertainment practice and helped bring the firm to the Atlanta market, has died at the age of 80, Law360 confirmed Friday.

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WilmerHale, Feds Dispute Reach Of Trump Order Against Firm

By Jack Karp

WilmerHale and the U.S. Department of Justice traded salvos in the BigLaw firm's challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting it, with the firm and the government offering "starkly different" versions of what's at stake in the dispute.

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Wis. Sens. Renew Bipartisan Judicial Nomination Commission

By Courtney Bublé

The Republican and Democratic senators from Wisconsin announced Friday they are renewing their bipartisan commission to recommend U.S. attorney and judicial nominees to the president.

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