Public Policy

  • July 03, 2024

    FCC Says No To Rethink Of $25M Aid Denial For Cell Towers

    The Federal Communications Commission says it's not going to rethink its decision to say no to $25.5 million in aid to build 16 cell towers, because even though it's a group of California school districts that is asking, the funds are earmarked for schools, and it was never explained how the towers would benefit the students or staff.

  • July 03, 2024

    FTC Warns Cos. Over Warranties That Limit Right To Repair

    The Federal Trade Commission is warning a group of air purifier sellers, treadmill makers and gaming tech companies not to scare their customers from using independent dealers to repair their products, saying their use of "warranty void" notices might be in violation of federal right-to-repair laws.

  • July 03, 2024

    California Tribe Sues Over 'Princeology' RICO Scheme

    A California tribe is suing its former council chairwoman and two members of her nonprofit's board of directors, alleging they devised a scheme to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and insurance costs to cover her Prince memorabilia collection and continue to "squat" on its property to block its sale.

  • July 03, 2024

    5 Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch For In July

    Republican state attorneys general will try to convince the Fifth Circuit to knock down a U.S. Department of Labor rule covering how retirement plan managers can consider environmental and social factors when picking investments, while Kellogg workers will challenge class action waivers at the Sixth Circuit. Here are five argument sessions coming up this month that benefits attorneys should keep an eye on.

  • July 03, 2024

    UT Students Join Suit Over Gov. Abbott's Antisemitism Order

    Students at the University of Texas at Austin have joined a group of student organizations suing Gov. Greg Abbott over an executive order prohibiting certain criticisms of Israel at universities, writing in a motion for a preliminary injunction that the groups' First Amendment injuries will "metastasize" when school starts this fall.

  • July 03, 2024

    Wash. Justices Say City RV Camping Ban Is Constitutional

    The Washington Supreme Court upheld a city ordinance on Wednesday banning recreational vehicles and trailers from parking on municipal streets for more than four hours, rejecting a man's argument that the law violated his constitutional travel rights by barring him from living indefinitely in his 23-foot trailer on city property.

  • July 03, 2024

    FCC Denies 'Blanket Amnesty' If Cos. Drop Network Projects

    The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday it will not provide blanket relief from FCC penalties against broadband providers that pull out of rural deployment commitments, but will weigh companies' individual circumstances.

  • July 03, 2024

    Asylum-Seeking Families Split At Border Get $1.3M Deal OK'd

    An Arizona federal judge on Tuesday signed off on a $1.3 million settlement that the federal government reached with families who were separated at the southern border in 2018 amid the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy that prosecuted migrants who entered the U.S. illegally. 

  • July 03, 2024

    No 'Unfettered Discretion' For Zoning Boards: Mich. Justices

    The Michigan Supreme Court has held that conditionally rezoning a property is only valid if the property's proposed use is already allowed under a town's ordinances, instructing a trial court to determine whether a racing dragway is a permitted use under a township's commercial zone.

  • July 03, 2024

    FCC Says Assurance Failed Blind Customer On Accessibility

    T-Mobile unit Assurance made one of its blind customers spend the better part of three years going back and forth with it about getting an accessible device, which it was required to provide under the Federal Communications Commission's rules for the Lifeline subsidy program, the FCC said.

  • July 03, 2024

    Cannabis Cos. To Take Constitutional Challenge To 1st Circ.

    A group of cannabis businesses challenging the federal prohibition on marijuana gave notice of appeal Wednesday to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

  • July 03, 2024

    Judge Trims Retailer's Defenses In Long COVID EEOC Suit

    A Colorado federal judge struck several of an appliance retailer's affirmative defenses Wednesday in a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it wrongfully terminated a worker who asked for more time off to deal with long COVID symptoms.

  • July 03, 2024

    Texas Court Puts FTC's Noncompete Ban On Hold

    A Texas federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Federal Trade Commission from enforcing its rule banning noncompete agreements against tax preparation company Ryan LLC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and suggested the regulation should be shot down.

  • July 03, 2024

    2nd Circ. Backs NY Campaign Finance Laws Favoring Parties

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday rejected a constitutional challenge to New York state campaign finance laws that created a stricter set of rules for candidate-nominating independent bodies than for more established political parties.

  • July 03, 2024

    NC Solicitor General Faces GOP Roadblock To 4th Circ. Bench

    President Joe Biden's selection of North Carolina Solicitor General Ryan Y. Park for a Fourth Circuit seat tops off a distinguished resume that includes a Harvard Law degree and a stint at Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, but he still faces an uphill road to the bench amid pushback from Tar Heel State senators.

  • July 03, 2024

    Contentious Ala. Gender Care Case Partly Paused

    Favoring "judicial efficiency," an Alabama federal court has partially granted the Biden administration's opposed motion to stay a case challenging the state's ban on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews a similar Tennessee ban, though some briefing, including for summary judgment, was permitted to proceed.

  • July 03, 2024

    Solar Biz Says Duty Circumvention Probe Ignored Contractors

    A solar importer urged the trade court to unwind the U.S. Department of Commerce's expansion of duties on Chinese solar products to Cambodian goods, alleging flaws with how the department assessed how much manufacturing occurred in Cambodia. 

  • July 03, 2024

    9th Circ. Says Carjacking Is Not Reason For Removal

    The Ninth Circuit has ruled the 2006 carjacking conviction of a Salvadoran immigrant isn't enough to deport him because carjacking alone "is not a categorical crime of violence" under federal law.

  • July 03, 2024

    Feds Call Delayed Asylum Bid Reasonable Amid Backlogs

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is urging a Florida federal court to rule that it's not unreasonable for one man's asylum application to still be processing after four years and counting in light of the asylum backlogs at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

  • July 03, 2024

    Feds Must Act On Right Whale Protections, Green Groups Say

    Conservation groups are pushing a D.C. federal judge to order the National Marine Fisheries Service to act on a proposal meant to reduce the number of vessels killing and injuring North Atlantic right whales, saying its inaction is helping push the imperiled species toward extinction.

  • July 03, 2024

    Atty's COVID Relief Fraud Case Ends After Diversion Program

    A Georgia federal judge has tossed charges against an attorney over a fraudulent scheme involving federal pandemic-relief business loans, granting on Wednesday the government's motion to dismiss after the attorney completed a pretrial diversion program.

  • July 03, 2024

    Giuliani Creditors Say Conversion Motion 'Just Games'

    A New York bankruptcy judge will hear arguments next week over whether to convert Rudy Giuliani's Chapter 11 to a liquidation, a move his creditors denounced as gamesmanship with the bankruptcy system.

  • July 03, 2024

    FCC Relying On Iffy Broadband Marketing Data, Co-Ops Say

    Rural broadband providers are telling the Federal Communications Commission that more changes are needed for the agency's national broadband maps to accurately determine where federal funding would have the biggest impact in building out network infrastructure in hard-to-reach areas.

  • July 03, 2024

    After Chevron Deference: What Lawyers Need To Know

    This term, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, a precedent established 40 years ago that said when judges could defer to federal agencies' interpretations of law in rulemaking. Here, catch up with Law360's coverage of what is likely to happen next.

  • July 03, 2024

    Berkeley Research Group Hires Aprio Partner

    Berkeley Research Group, the expert services and consulting firm, has hired a new director in its government contracts practice who recently joined the firm in Washington, D.C., according to a recent announcement.

Expert Analysis

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • A Changing Regulatory Landscape For Weight Loss Drugs

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    As drugs originally approved to treat diabetes become increasingly popular for weight loss purposes, federal and state regulators and payors are increasing their focus on how these drugs are prescribed, and industry participants should pay close attention to rapidly evolving compliance requirements, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

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    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Compliance Considerations For New Data Protection Law

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    Sam Castic at Hintze Law discusses how to determine if your organization is covered by the newly enacted Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, the scope of the law's restrictions, and how to go about compliance as its June 23 effective date approaches.

  • Proposed Semiconductor Buy Ban May Rattle Supply Chains

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    The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council's recent proposed rulemaking clarifies plans to ban government purchases of semiconductors from certain Chinese companies, creating uncertainty around how contractors will be able to adjust supply chains that are already burdened and contracted to capacity, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • CFPB Poised To Up The Ante After Supreme Court Victory

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    When the U.S. Supreme Court emphatically ruled last week that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure did not violate the Constitution, the agency boasted that it was "here to stay," signaling that it is moving full steam ahead with its regulatory, enforcement and supervisory agenda, says Jim Sandy at McGlinchey Stafford.

  • Opinion

    NEPA Final Rule Unlikely To Speed Clean Energy Projects

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    A recent final rule from the White House Council on Environmental Quality purports to streamline federal environmental reviews to accelerate the construction of renewable energy infrastructure — but it also expands consideration of climate change and environmental justice, creating vast new opportunities for litigation and delay, says Thomas Prevas at Saul Ewing.

  • Diving Deep Into Sweeping NY Financing Bill — And Its Pitfalls

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    A New York bill seeking to impose state usury limits onto a broader variety of financing arrangements and apply lender licensing requirements to more diverse entities would present near-insurmountable compliance challenges for lenders and retailers, say Kate Fisher and Tom Quinn at Hudson Cook.

  • Opinion

    USPTO's Proposed Disclaimer Rule Would Harm Inventors

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s recently proposed rule on terminal disclaimers will make the patent system less available to inventors and will unfairly favor defendants in litigation, say Stephen Schreiner at Carmichael IP and Sarah Tsou at Omni Bridgeway.

  • What The FTC Report On AG Collabs Means For Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's April report on working with state attorneys general shows collaboration can increase efficiency and consistency in how statutes are interpreted and enforced, which can minimize the likelihood of requests for inconsistent injunctive relief that can create operational problems for businesses, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • New Crypto Reporting Will Require Rigorous Recordkeeping

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    The release of a form for reporting digital asset transactions is a pivotal moment in the Internal Revenue Service's efforts to track cryptocurrency activities that increases oversight by requiring brokers to report investor sales and exchanges, say Shaina Kamen and Max Angel at Holland & Knight.

  • A Comparison Of FDIC, OCC Proposed Merger Approaches

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    Max Bonici and Connor Webb at Venable take a closer look at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's respective bank merger proposals and highlight certain common themes and important differences, in light of regulators continually rethinking their approaches to bank mergers.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Behind Court Challenges To The FTC's Final Noncompete Rule

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent final rule banning noncompetes may not go into effect any time soon amid a couple of Texas federal court challenges seeking to bar the rule's implementation, which will likely see appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, says Michael Elkins at MLE Law.

  • Colo. Lending Law Could Empower State-Chartered Banks

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    Lending programs that rely on rate exportation by state banks should pay close attention to legislative activity and ongoing litigation surrounding Colorado's decision to opt out of rate exportation, which could set a precedent that state-chartered banks have power on par with national banks, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

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