Public Policy

  • July 30, 2026

    Ease Broadband Buildout To Fuel AI Boom, Lawmakers Urged

    Lawmakers must put an end to delays in broadband deployment and renew a federal cybersecurity statute if they hope to feed the artificial intelligence boom while curtailing safety concerns, U.S. senators heard Thursday.

  • July 30, 2026

    8th Circ. Revives Iowa Vape Restrictions Law

    Iowa can start enforcing a state law that restricts the sale of some e-cigarettes, after the Eighth Circuit on Thursday determined that the policy was not preempted by federal tobacco law and overturned a lower court's ruling that blocked officials from implementing it.

  • July 30, 2026

    Resolution Copper Creates $54M Trust For Ariz., NM Tribes

    Resolution Copper Co. said it established a $54 million trust that will provide annual funding to 11 Indigenous nations that have cultural and ancestral ties to a sacred Arizona worship site that's facing destruction to make way for a multibillion-dollar mining operation.

  • July 30, 2026

    Renters Seek $120M Fee Award In RealPage Rent-Fixing MDL

    Renters in sprawling multidistrict litigation that reached nearly $360 million in preliminary settlements with building owners over their alleged use of RealPage's software to inflate rents asked a Tennessee federal judge to approve $119.9 million in attorney fees, saying they've expended over 100,000 hours on the case.

  • July 30, 2026

    OCC, FDIC Say Ore. Opt-Out Law Threatens Interstate Lending

    Top federal banking regulators have lined up behind the banking industry in a challenge to a new Oregon law aimed at capping interest rates on loans from out-of-state banks, warning in federal court filings that it threatens "confusion" and disruption for interstate lending.

  • July 30, 2026

    DOJ Wants Rethink On Apple's Peek Into Feds' Phone-Buying

    The U.S. Department of Justice has asked a special master to rethink his New Jersey federal court mandate giving Apple a look into how the Pentagon, CIA, State Department and other federal agencies purchase smartphones, arguing that the retired federal judge applied the wrong legal standard in the antitrust case.

  • July 30, 2026

    Conn. Bans Most In-Cell Restraints To Settle Prison Lawsuit

    Connecticut's prisons on Sept. 1 will stop using separate restraints on inmates locked in holding cells, the state's corrections commissioner announced Thursday, settling a lawsuit by disability rights advocates who said the state was inappropriately using shackles to deal with mental illness symptoms.

  • July 30, 2026

    Judge Questions TPS Work Permit Rule's Scope

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday questioned whether the Trump administration was in bounds in enforcing a retroactive cap on work authorization that may impact thousands of immigrant workers, suggesting during a hearing that the directive may have been imposed without adequate notice.

  • July 30, 2026

    FCC Official Calls E-Rate Review 'Long Overdue'

    A top official at the Federal Communications Commission said the agency's review of the E-Rate fund for schools and libraries will be a much-needed reexamination of a 30-year-old telecom program.

  • July 30, 2026

    OECD To Publish Comments On Services Draft In August

    The OECD plans to publish at the end of August the comments it received on draft revisions to transfer pricing guidelines dealing with intragroup services, an official said at a conference Thursday.

  • July 30, 2026

    CH Robinson's $604M Verdict Tests Freight Broker Defenses

    A Dallas County jury's $604 million verdict against C.H. Robinson over a fatal 2021 accident marks one of the first major tests of freight brokers' legal strategies since the U.S. Supreme Court reshaped their liability exposure, creating monumental stakes for the trucking industry's middlemen on how to navigate unpredictable duty-of-care standards and volatile verdicts.

  • July 30, 2026

    The Top Property Insurance Rulings Of The First Half Of 2026

    A California ruling boosting policyholders' prospects in water leak suits and a Texas Supreme Court decision compelling appraisal in a commercial property loss are among the biggest property insurance decisions of the year so far. Law360 has a midyear look at the top property insurance decisions.

  • July 30, 2026

    Colo. Recycling Law Unconstitutional, Trade Association Says

    A national trade association representing wholesale distributors sued Colorado's top environmental regulator Thursday to block enforcement of the state's extended producer responsibility recycling law, arguing the program unconstitutionally delegates regulatory power to a private organization controlled by the state's largest corporations.

  • July 30, 2026

    Squires Grants 6 Patent Petitions, Denies 4 In New Order

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has granted six requests for America Invents Act patent reviews and rejected four in his latest batch of decisions.

  • July 30, 2026

    FAA Proposes Waiving Regs To Get Faster Space Approvals

    The Trump administration said it's proposing a rule to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to waive "unnecessary environmental laws and regulations" for commercial space licenses and permits in a push to accelerate a critical industry.

  • July 30, 2026

    Europe Soccer Group To Boycott FIFA Over Investor Sale Plan

    The soccer federation representing 55 European countries announced Thursday that it will boycott World Cup competition in protest of FIFA's plan to sell billions of dollars in shares of the sport's premier international tournament to private investors.

  • July 30, 2026

    DOJ Debuts Terrorist Removal Court In Afghan Mother's Case

    An Afghan national with legal permanent resident status was accused of plotting an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day in 2024 in the first ever hearing Thursday morning at U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a court that has been unused since it was created in 1996.

  • July 30, 2026

    Trump May Renominate Blanche If GOP Holdouts Block Vote

    With Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., still on the fence about acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation to be attorney general, President Donald Trump said Thursday he might renominate Blanche next year when the two senators are no longer serving in the Senate.

  • July 30, 2026

    Army Asks 4th Circ. To Rethink Boarding School Burial Ruling

    The U.S. Army wants the Fourth Circuit to rethink a decision that says it must return the remains of two Indigenous children from a former Indian boarding school cemetery to a Nebraska tribe, arguing that if not reversed, it will cause confusion, likely spur more litigation and slow repatriation.

  • July 30, 2026

    Judge Keeps New Medicaid 'Frailty' Proof Rule In Place

    A Massachusetts federal judge late Wednesday declined to block the government from requiring medically frail Medicaid recipients to prove they are significantly impaired to avoid a new requirement that they engage in 80 hours of work or volunteering per month or attend school part-time.

  • July 30, 2026

    Denver Worker Didn't Show Firing Over Mayoral Race Support

    A Denver city employee who alleged that she was laid off in retaliation for supporting a mayoral candidate has lost her bid to keep her job, after a federal judge found she failed to show that her political affiliations or her lawsuit played a meaningful role in the layoff decision.

  • July 30, 2026

    DA Says Trump's NY Hush Money Conviction Must Stand

    New York prosecutors told a state appellate court that President Donald Trump's 34-count felony conviction for falsifying business records is "unaffected" by the U.S. Supreme Court's watershed presidential immunity decision and should be upheld.

  • July 30, 2026

    Chinese Truck Beds' Covers Face Possible Triple-Digit Duties

    Chinese truck bed covers manufactured by certain exporters could be hit with triple-digit countervailing duties when exported to the U.S. after the U.S. Department of Commerce found Thursday that the products are subsidized.

  • July 30, 2026

    DOL Chief Nom Sonderling To Get Full Senate Vote

    The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted Thursday in favor of sending acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling's nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote despite Democrats' concerns during a recent hearing about the department's proposed wage and hour rules.

  • July 30, 2026

    Dem Bill Would End Forced Arbitration In Workplace Disputes

    Democratic lawmakers reintroduced a bill Thursday that would eliminate mandatory arbitration agreements in employment contracts and enhance workers' ability to band together to challenge unlawful employment practices.

Expert Analysis

  • Big Issues Linger After Senate Prediction Market Trading Ban

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    Whether the Senate can — or should — extend prediction market trading restrictions beyond itself will test not only the boundaries of insider trading law, but also the structural limits of legislative power in an era where information itself has become a tradable asset, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

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    Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

  • Trump's Psychedelics EO Creates A Regulatory Collision

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    Sponsors pursuing U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for psychedelic drug access must tackle how to generate regulatory-grade safety and efficacy data in controlled trials when President Donald Trump's recent executive order on psychedelics mandates uncontrolled access through Right to Try, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Odette Hauke at Odette Alina.

  • What Model Risk Guidance Update Means For Banks

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    Federal prudential regulators recently issued new model risk management guidance for banks that is designed to reduce prescriptive supervisory expectations and instead focus more on material financial risk, so banking organizations should reassess their model inventories, apply the new materiality framework and update their internal policies, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Recent Benchmarking Suits Highlight DOJ Enforcement Risks

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent settlements with RealPage and Agri Stats inform the level of antitrust risk surrounding the use of benchmarking services and suggest an aggressive enforcement approach, particularly with respect to granular data and nonprice data reporting, say attorneys at Axinn.

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Operational AI Washing: The Section 220 Information Strategy

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    Plaintiffs filing AI washing claims will likely use Section 220 of the Delaware General Corporation Law to obtain internal board records, but 2025 amendments have fundamentally changed the landscape of presuit shareholder document demands in ways that create both risk and opportunity for companies, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • What New PFAS Rule Means For Tracking And Disclosure

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    In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's publication of its rule adding PFHxS-Na to the Toxics Release Inventory, companies should identify this substance in their facilities and supply chains, and prepare for disclosures to both regulators and the public, says Ayodeji Ayolola at Gordon Rees.

  • Ch. 11 Ruling Raises Bar For Avoiding Default Interest

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    Following a New York bankruptcy court's recent decision in 33 Mako, solvent debtors may find it significantly harder to avoid paying contractual default interest to oversecured lenders under Section 506(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 'Skinny Label' Arguments Spotlight Induced Infringement Risk

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    Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma highlight the uncertain boundary between lawful generic competition through so-called skinny labels and induced patent infringement, with potential implications for patent holders’ communication, enforcement and causation strategies across industries, says Anton Hopen at Trenam.

  • What Jury Holdouts Can Teach Trial Lawyers About Strategy

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    Though a hung jury can be a disappointment, a psychological understanding of jury holdouts can help trial lawyers shape their damages arguments and understand leadership and group composition as a function of jury selection, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • 'Mobile' Sources For On-Site Generation May Be A Risky Bet

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering treating large on-site generators used at data centers as mobile rather than stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, a significant policy change that would leave developers that adopt this solution at risk of regulatory reversals, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • AI Investment Advice May Fail Investor Protection Rules

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    Based on an ongoing study of artificial intelligence platforms' investment advice given to retail investors, direct access to AI may not yield recommendations for typical households that are suitable under relevant securities rules, raising new and important issues in the regulation of financial markets, says Bruce Carlin at Rice University.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

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    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

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