Public Policy

  • December 09, 2024

    Cops Can Search Car Over Raw Cannabis Odor, Ill. Justices Say

    Illinois police can establish probable cause to search a vehicle based on the smell of raw cannabis alone, the state's highest court has ruled, saying that despite cannabis's legal status in the state, motorists face "stringent" rules when it comes to transporting it in cars.

  • December 09, 2024

    19 Republican AGs Win Order Against DACA Health Coverage

    Nineteen states secured an order on Monday that bars the federal government from requiring them to comply with a regulation that extends federal health coverage to immigrants brought to the U.S. as children without authorization, blocking enforcement of a Biden administration rule.

  • December 09, 2024

    RealPage Says DOJ's Ended Multifamily Rental Criminal Probe

    RealPage said the U.S. Department of Justice had ended a criminal probe into the multifamily rental housing industry's pricing practices, adding that the algorithmic pricing company was never identified as an investigation target.

  • December 09, 2024

    What's Next After Boeing 737 Max Deal Snags On DEI Clause

    A Texas federal judge's recent rejection of Boeing's plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice underscores the increasing vulnerability of corporate and government diversity, equity and inclusion policies, experts say, spelling fresh complications for the embattled American aerospace titan and the legal saga over its 737 Max jets.

  • December 09, 2024

    Biden Proclaims 1st Indian Boarding School A National Monument

    President Joe Biden on Monday issued a proclamation declaring the first Indian boarding school a national monument, saying that giving the Carlisle, Pennsylvania, site the designation will help to ensure that a shameful era of American history is never forgotten or repeated.

  • December 09, 2024

    With Ga. Judge, Biden Names Most Black Women To Bench

    The Senate voted 48-44 on Monday evening to confirm Assistant U.S. Attorney Tiffany R. Johnson as a district judge for the Northern District of Georgia, making her the 40th Black woman confirmed to a lifetime federal judgeship under President Joe Biden.

  • December 09, 2024

    10th Circ. Affirms Nix Of Atty's Racing Expense Deductions

    The Tenth Circuit affirmed Monday the U.S. Tax Court's determination that a Denver personal injury lawyer shouldn't be allowed to deduct about $300,000 for his car racing-related costs as advertising, despite his claims that his races helped him drum up business.

  • December 09, 2024

    Judge Eyes Far Less Trial Time In Meta Case Than FTC Wants

    The Federal Trade Commission likely has to cram much more trial in much less time than it had planned after a D.C. federal judge suggested Monday that the agency's social media monopolization case against Meta Platforms Inc. can't go much past the first week of June 2025.

  • December 09, 2024

    LendingTree Pushes FCC Again To Rework Lead Consent Rule

    Loan marketer LendingTree is making one more effort to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to trim the scope of its lead generation consent rule in hopes of seeing changes before the regulations take effect in January.

  • December 09, 2024

    Amazon Says FTC Lacks Authority To Bring Antitrust Case

    Amazon has told a Washington federal court that the Federal Trade Commission is overstepping its authority by bringing its antitrust case directly in court without pursuing an in-house case targeting the e-commerce giant's treatment of sellers on its platform.

  • December 09, 2024

    2nd Circ. Mulls If DirecTV Has Standing In Retransmission Fight

    The Second Circuit is set to decide whether DirecTV's refusal to ink retransmission deals with two companies that it says were illegally collaborating with Nexstar Media Group means that it doesn't have injury to bring an antitrust suit accusing the companies of trying to fix prices.

  • December 09, 2024

    DC Circ. Unsure Of Wading Into FERC Grid Plan Fight

    D.C. Circuit judges appeared reluctant on Monday to entertain the legality of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's 2023 rejection of a grid operator's plan to manage certain transmission project costs, given that the agency later approved related projects in May.

  • December 09, 2024

    Colo. Litigants Can Use Open Records Law, Justices Rule

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday decided that litigants suing government entities are entitled to use the state's public records law to obtain documents, siding with serial pro se public records attorney Matt Roane in his bid to obtain documents connected to his 2020 lawsuit against a county over alleged open meetings violations.

  • December 09, 2024

    Congress Set To Let FCC Borrow $3B For 'Rip And Replace'

    Lawmakers are considering funding a $3.08 billion shortfall in the program to rid U.S. networks of Chinese-made equipment by letting the Federal Communications Commission borrow the money from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, repaid with spectrum auctions.

  • December 09, 2024

    EPA Finalizes Bans On Two Carcinogenic Chemicals

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a pair of final rules on Monday banning all uses of trichloroethylene and all consumer uses of perchloroethylene, which are cancer-causing chemical solvents used in brake cleaner and adhesive products.

  • December 09, 2024

    Pressure Growing For Biden To Pardon Native Activist

    As President Joe Biden nears the end of his term, calls to pardon a Native American activist serving a life sentence in the 1975 slayings of two FBI agents are again ramping up, with the chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs asking Biden to "right a historic wrong."

  • December 09, 2024

    Ill. Congresswoman Denies Undue Influence From Madigan

    U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski was called to the witness stand Monday in the racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, where she testified that while she received multiple job recommendations from Madigan as a former senior aide to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, those candidates were only hired if they were qualified.

  • December 09, 2024

    16 EU Members Call For Revamped Tobacco Taxation

    The European Commission needs to prioritize an overhaul of the bloc's tobacco taxation rules in the upcoming term, a group of 16 member countries said Monday, arguing that major changes in the industry since the rules last updated have left countries to fend for themselves, fragmenting the tax regime.

  • December 09, 2024

    SEC's Trading And Markets Director Zhu To Leave Agency

    Haoxiang Zhu is stepping down as head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Trading and Markets, the agency announced Monday, leaving the group that oversees orderliness of U.S. markets as leadership continues to change at regulatory bodies following President-elect Donald Trump's election victory.

  • December 09, 2024

    Auto Parts Co., EEOC Strike Deal In Sex Harassment Suit

    An auto parts company will pay $35,000 to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit alleging it ignored a female worker's claims that she was sexually assaulted at a plant and eventually fired her, the agency said Monday.

  • December 09, 2024

    3rd Circ. Judge Unsure Child Care Needs Can Halt Deportation

    The Third Circuit on Monday pondered how it should analyze the effect a Trinidad and Tobago national's deportation would have on his U.S. citizen child, with one judge suggesting that the boy's medical issues may not rise to the level of canceling removal.

  • December 09, 2024

    TikTok Seeks Halt On Sale-Or-Ban Law For High Court Appeal

    TikTok Inc. and its users are pressing the D.C. Circuit to put on hold the implementation of a law that is set to bar the platform from the U.S. market next month while they appeal a ruling backing the measure to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

  • December 09, 2024

    Dems Say GOP Can't Purge Votes Amid Close NC Justice Race

    The North Carolina Democratic Party is looking to prevent Republican candidates who lost their races from invalidating more than 60,000 ballots amid an extremely tight state Supreme Court race, arguing the election protests run afoul of federal law safeguarding citizens' right to vote.

  • December 09, 2024

    Feds Seek 2-Year Sentence In Landmark Crypto Tax Case

    The first person ever criminally charged for failing to report gains from the sale of cryptocurrency by filing false returns should be sentenced to more than two years in prison after he admitted underreporting $4 million in bitcoin proceeds, prosecutors told a Texas federal court.

  • December 09, 2024

    Nadine Menendez Trial Date Set After Jan. 6 Delay Bid Nixed

    The trial of Nadine Menendez on corruption charges is set to start in January, a Manhattan federal judge said Monday, after hearing that a potential defense scheduling conflict over a U.S. Capitol insurrection-related case will likely "evaporate" when Donald Trump takes office.

Expert Analysis

  • NLRB One-Two Punch Curbs Employer Anti-Organizing Tools

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    The National Labor Relations Board’s recent decisions in Siren Retail and Amazon, limiting employer speech about the impact of unionization and outlawing captive audience meetings, severely curtail employers' arsenal of tools to combat an organizing campaign — though this may soon change under a new administration, say attorneys at Benesch.

  • Mitigating Defamation Liability Risks Of AI-Generated Content

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    Until Congress and the courts provide clear guidance about defamation liability stemming from generative artificial intelligence tools, companies should begin building controls to prevent the creation of defamatory content, says Michael Gerrity at Accenture.

  • Key Requirements In New Maryland Pay Transparency Laws

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    Although several jurisdictions now require pay transparency in job advertisements, Maryland's new law is among the broadest in the country, both in terms of what is required and the scope of its applicability, says Sarah Belger at Quarles & Brady.

  • What Trump's Next Term May Mean For Biz Immigration

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    Leonard D'Arrigo at Harris Beach discusses the employment-based immigration policies businesses can potentially expect during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, based on policies enacted during his first administration, statements made during his campaign and proposals in Project 2025.

  • Takeaways From Final Regulations For China Investment Ban

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    ​The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s final rule banning U.S. investment in emerging Chinese technology clarifies some key requirements, includes additional exceptions for covered transactions and attempts to address concerns that the rule will put U.S. businesses at a competitive disadvantage, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Compliance Considerations Of DOJ Data Security Rule

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    Under the U.S. Department of Justice's proposed rule aiming to prevent certain countries' access to bulk U.S. sensitive personal data, companies must ensure their vendor, employment and investment agreements meet strict new data security requirements — or determine whether such contracts are worth the cost of compliance, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • What Higher Education Can Expect From A 2nd Trump Admin

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    The election of Donald Trump for a second presidential term has far-reaching ramifications for colleges and universities — come January, institutions can expect a crackdown on DEI, increased scrutiny of campus protests, a rollback of the Biden administration's Title IX rules and more, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • AI Monitoring And FCRA: Employer Compliance Essentials

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    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission signal determination to treat AI-based workplace surveillance as a potential Fair Credit Reporting Act issue, employers must commit to educating HR and compliance staff on these quickly evolving regulatory expectations, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • How D&O Coverage Can Aid Against Increased AI Scrutiny

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    The recent increase in regulatory enforcement and securities class actions stemming from corporate use of artificial intelligence should prompt companies to ensure that their directors and officers liability insurance coverage is appropriately tailored to AI-related risks, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • When Investigating An Adversary, Be Wary Of Forged Records

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    Warnings against the use of investigators who tout their ability to find an adversary’s private documents generally emphasize the risk of illegal activity and attorney discipline, but a string of recent cases shows an additional danger — investigators might be fabricating records altogether, says Brian Asher at Asher Research.

  • Crypto Cos. Add New Play In Their Offense Against SEC

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    Consensys and Crypto.com have adopted a novel strategy of preempting U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions by moving to crypto-friendly Texas and filing declaratory lawsuits challenging the SEC's jurisdiction to regulate crypto-assets — an aggressive approach that may pay off, say attorneys at Herrick Feinstein.

  • FTC Focus: Zeroing In On Post-Election Labor Markets

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    The presidential election and the push-and-pull of the administrative state's reach are likely to affect the Federal Trade Commission's focus on labor markets, including the tenor of noncompete rule enforcement, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • Opinion

    Why States Should Adopt ABA's 'Duty To Inquire'

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    State bars should codify the American Bar Association's proposed rule on a lawyer's duty to scrutinize each representation as it provides guardrails for lawyers, supports self-regulation of the profession, and helps avert money laundering and other crimes, says Deborah Winokur at Cozen O'Connor.

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