Public Policy

  • November 13, 2024

    NLRB Outlaws Captive Audience Meetings

    The National Labor Relations Board issued an eagerly awaited decision Wednesday curbing a go-to tactic for employers battling union drives, holding that so-called captive audience meetings violate federal labor law. 

  • November 13, 2024

    Gibson Dunn 'Titan,' Ex-Solicitor General Theodore Olson Dies

    Theodore B. Olson, the founder of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP's appellate and constitutional law practice group and a former U.S. solicitor general, died Wednesday, the law firm announced.

  • November 12, 2024

    Ex-FDIC Head Urges Banks To 'Push Back' Against Examiners

    A former top Trump banking regulator on Tuesday called for bank executives to show "backbone" and push back when they are challenged with bad exam findings from their regulators, urging resistance as an antidote to perceived excesses in bank oversight.

  • November 12, 2024

    Trump Taps Elon Musk To Head New 'Gov't Efficiency' Dept.

    President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a newly created "Department in Government Efficiency" for his administration come January.

  • November 12, 2024

    Idaho Says Any Health Risk Could Be Used To Justify Abortion

    In his opening statement Tuesday in a trial weighing whether Idaho's abortion bans are forcing women to carry dangerous, nonviable pregnancies to term, a state attorney hypothetically quipped that to abortion rights advocates, even stepping on a "rusty nail" could be considered a health risk that could require an abortion.

  • November 12, 2024

    Future of Anti-Deepfake Federal Law Is Murky, Panel Says

    Panelists at a Los Angeles intellectual property conference that included attorneys and representatives of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Copyright Office and Microsoft agreed Tuesday that any federal legislation on deepfake technology must strike the difficult balance of punishing bad actors without stifling innovation.

  • November 12, 2024

    DC Circ. Mulls Legality Of Gag Orders On X Corp. Subpoenas

    A D.C. Circuit panel grappled Tuesday with the federal government's authority to obtain sweeping nondisclosure orders preventing social media companies from notifying users when their accounts are targeted by subpoenas, with X Corp. arguing that such gag orders are illegal.

  • November 12, 2024

    Ga. Judge Tosses Feral Horses Island Enviro Suit

    A Georgia federal judge encouraged the National Park Service to better manage the feral horses of Cumberland Island, even as she dismissed a lawsuit alleging federal and state agencies mistreated the animals and allowed them to trample the habitat, eggs and nests of endangered sea turtles and piping plovers.

  • November 12, 2024

    5th Circ. Won't Reopen CFPB Payday Rule Fight

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday denied a bid from a lender to reopen an industry legal challenge to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's payday loan rule that previously foundered at the U.S. Supreme Court, clearing the way for the rule to take effect.

  • November 12, 2024

    Illinois Judge First Confirmation Of Lame Duck Session

    Kicking off the lame duck session, the Senate voted 51-44 on Tuesday night to confirm April Perry, a senior counsel at GE HealthCare, to the Northern District of Illinois.

  • November 12, 2024

    Trump Pick To Lead EPA Is Loyal, Would Learn On The Job

    President-elect Donald Trump prioritized loyalty and a demonstrated ability to carry out his priorities with his announcement that he intends to nominate a former congressman from New York state to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

  • November 12, 2024

    Trump Gathers Nat'l Security Team For Border, Defense Roles

    President-elect Donald Trump has chosen a slate of loyalists with hawkish approaches toward foreign policy and securing the U.S. border, creating a team of ideologically aligned officials as he seeks to ramp up deportations and end the war in Ukraine. Law360 takes a look at seven of his national security picks and the impact they will have on defense, immigration and foreign relations with rival nations.

  • November 12, 2024

    FTC Doubts It Overstepped On Editing Meta Decree

    The FTC spent its morning mulling whether it overstepped in trying to modify a 2020 consent decree with Facebook to impose new restrictions on the social media titan now known as Meta after finding that the company hadn't been keeping its data privacy promises.

  • November 12, 2024

    Wireless Group Backs Verizon In Fight Over FCC Privacy Fine

    A major wireless industry group has urged the Second Circuit to deep-six the Federal Communications Commission's nearly $47 million fine against Verizon for selling customers' location data, arguing the FCC read its authority to penalize the mobile giant too broadly.

  • November 12, 2024

    Trump Taps Ex-Jones Day Partner For White House Counsel

    President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that William J. McGinley, a former Jones Day partner who worked as assistant to both the president and Cabinet secretary during Trump's first term, will serve as White House counsel during the upcoming term.

  • November 12, 2024

    Fed Bans Ex-Bank Leaders Over Alleged COVID Relief Fraud

    The Federal Reserve Board of Governors announced Tuesday that it has prohibited two former top brass with Nano Banc from future participation in the banking industry, alleging they fraudulently obtained loans and grants through the federal CARES Act.

  • November 12, 2024

    Colo. Justices Pass On School ADA Fight Over Veteran's Dog

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a bid by a state university to review an appellate finding that the school may have pried too deeply with its inquiries into a veteran's service dog and relied on an outdated rationale for seeking additional info.

  • November 12, 2024

    Comerica Sues CFPB To Stop 'Ultra Vires' Benefits Card Probe

    Comerica Bank has sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in a Texas federal court, accusing it of carrying out an overreaching and unlawful investigation into the bank's handling of a government program for distributing federal benefits via debit cards.

  • November 12, 2024

    Don't Let Broadband Maps Overstate Rural Overlap, FCC Told

    Rural telecoms are again urging the Federal Communications Commission to beware of overstated provider overlap in its National Broadband Map when allocating federal deployment funding, arguing that the map should be used as part of a holistic process to determine where money should be spent and not the sole determinant.

  • November 12, 2024

    SEC Quietly Shelves Private Fund Rules After 5th Circ. Loss

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has formally withdrawn rules that would have increased agency oversight of hedge funds and private equity funds after declining to appeal a Fifth Circuit decision that vacated the rules, which would have required fund advisers to disclose detailed information about their operations.

  • November 12, 2024

    Split DC Circ. Says White House Can't Issue NEPA Regs

    A divided D.C. Circuit determined Tuesday that the White House Council on Environmental Quality lacks the authority to issue legally binding regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, finding there is no statutory language showing Congress empowered it to do so.

  • November 12, 2024

    Mich. High Court Snapshot: 3M's PFAS Fight, Detroit Fire Fees

    The Michigan Supreme Court returns to the bench Wednesday in a packed oral argument sitting, including a major case on the viability of state PFAS regulations in a challenge brought by 3M Co.

  • November 12, 2024

    Ex-ComEd Exec Asked If Madigan Hires Truly An 'Exchange'

    Defense attorneys got their chance Tuesday to grill an ex-Commonwealth Edison executive who testified the utility hired people who did little to no work at the behest of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, asking if it truly traded those jobs for Madigan's action on ComEd legislation or if the company was just building goodwill with a key decision-maker.

  • November 12, 2024

    Trump Ally Bannon Seeks Delay Of 'We Build The Wall' Trial

    Former Trump administration strategist Stephen Bannon on Tuesday sought to delay his criminal trial on New York state charges stemming from an alleged scheme to con donors seeking to fund a southern U.S. border wall, two weeks after he wrapped up his federal prison sentence for contempt of Congress.

  • November 12, 2024

    J&J Says HHS Is Thwarting Transparency Of Drug Discounts

    Johnson & Johnson claims the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is thwarting its efforts to crack down on hospitals the company alleges are "reaping immense profits" on reduced-price medications without passing those discounts on to patients, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in D.C. federal court.

Expert Analysis

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How New OCC Priorities Will Affect Bank Compliance

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    With the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recently releasing a new bank supervision plan for fiscal year 2025, all banks, not only those primarily supervised by the OCC, should consider how compliance with its guidelines creates opportunities and challenges, says Andrew Karp at Cadwalader.

  • SEC Rulemaking Radar: The View From Election Day

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seems poised to tackle many of the remaining items on its most recent Regulatory Flexibility Agenda by early 2025, despite the presidential election and the potential for a new chair to be nominated soon, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • What FTC's 'Bitcoin ATM' Report Tells Us About Crypto Scams

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent insights into bitcoin ATM scams highlight the technical evolution of fraudsters, the application of old scams to new technology, and the persistent financial impact on victims, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • A Shift In Control Of Congress May Doom These Enviro Regs

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    If the election leads to a change in control of Congress, lawmakers will likely use the lookback provision of the Congressional Review Act to challenge the Biden administration's late-term regulatory efforts — including recent initiatives on air pollutant source classification, lead pipe removal and hydrofluorocarbon emissions, say attorneys at Jones Walker.

  • How The Presidential Election Will Affect Workplace AI Regs

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    The U.S. has so far adopted a light-handed approach to regulating artificial intelligence in the labor and employment area, but the presidential election is unlikely to have as dramatic of an effect on AI regulations as it may on other labor and employment matters, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Election Could Bring Change In Weather For Offshore Wind

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    Under another Trump administration, the offshore wind sector would encounter substantial headwinds, as Trump's policy track record emphasizes fossil fuel dominance and environmental rollbacks, while a Harris victory would likely further entrench the pro-renewable energy stance taken by the Biden administration, say attorneys at Jones Walker.

  • A Look At Grewal's Record-Breaking Legacy After SEC Exit

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    Gurbir Grewal resigned as director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement last month after more than three years on the job, leaving behind a legacy marked by record numbers of penalties and enforcement actions, as well as mixed results in aggressive lawsuits against major crypto players, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Opinion

    PREVAIL Bill Is Another Misguided Attempt To Restrict PTAB

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    The decade-long campaign against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board — currently focused on the PREVAIL Act that's slated for markup in the Senate — is not really about procedural issues, and it is not aimed at securing more accurate patentability decisions, says Clear IP's Joseph Matal, former acting director at the USPTO.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Insurance Industry Impacts If DOL Fiduciary Rule Is Revived

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    If implemented following an ongoing appeal at the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule expanding the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's definition of "fiduciary" could chill insurance agents’ and brokers' ability to sell annuities, and lead to an increase in breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Boosting Confidence In Pennsylvania's Election System

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    As Election Day nears, Pennsylvania is facing an intense flurry of litigation, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court centered on mail-in and provisional ballots, but the state's election system is robust, and attorneys from all practice areas have an important role to play in ensuring confidence in and access to our election system, says Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie.

  • Takeaways From The IRS' Crypto Doc Summons Win

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    A recent First Circuit decision holding that taxpayers do not have a Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in cryptocurrency transaction records should prompt both taxpayers and exchanges to take stock of past transactions and future plans, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • A Novel Expansion Of Alien Tort Statute In 9th Circ.

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    The Ninth Circuit's Doe v. Cisco rehearing denial allows a new invocation of the Alien Tort Statute to proceed, which could capture the U.S. Supreme Court's attention, and has potentially dramatic consequences for U.S. companies doing business with foreign governments, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

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