Business of Law

  • March 20, 2024

    Husch Blackwell Hires 5 Attorneys From Lewis Brisbois

    Husch Blackwell LLP announced Wednesday it is welcoming a five-attorney litigation team from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP to an expanding Minneapolis office, following Husch Blackwell's addition of a transportation practice leader and others from the same rival early this year.

  • March 20, 2024

    Study Sees Promise For Gen AI Tools In Closing Justice Gap

    Widespread access to generative artificial intelligence tools could help increase access to justice for low-income Americans, according to a new study that found these tools largely boosted productivity for legal aid lawyers.

  • March 20, 2024

    Gas Buyers Want Judge Recused From Shale Cartel Suits

    A would-be class of gasoline buyers pursuing antitrust claims against a string of shale oil producers told a Nevada federal judge on Tuesday that her admitted ownership of stock in Exxon Mobil Corp. required her to recuse herself from presiding over the litigation.

  • March 20, 2024

    ABA Gives Advice To Avoid Atty Conflict Hitting Whole Firm

    An American Bar Association ethics opinion released Wednesday offers new guidance on when a lawyer's conflict of interest after meeting with a prospective client should be considered to impact the whole firm and how lawyers can try to avoid sparking that whole-firm conflict.

  • March 20, 2024

    Stanford Law School Picks Professor As Its Next Dean

    Stanford Law School has looked within for its new dean, tapping a professor and associate vice provost for research for the role.

  • March 20, 2024

    Trump Gets Ga. Court's OK To Appeal Willis DQ Ruling

    Donald Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia election-interference case won permission Wednesday to immediately appeal a ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to remain on the case despite concerns about her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor.

  • March 20, 2024

    Clifford Chance Pulls Offers From Trainees Who Failed Exam

    Clifford Chance LLP has withdrawn offers from U.K. trainees who failed to pass the solicitors' qualifying exam on their first attempt as the new system continues to prove challenging for aspiring lawyers.

  • March 20, 2024

    IRS Withholding Docs On Partnership Audits, Baker Atty Says

    The Internal Revenue Service has not responded to a request for documents pertaining to the agency's scrutiny of large partnerships and should be forced to disclose them, an attorney with Baker McKenzie told a D.C. federal court.

  • March 20, 2024

    Dentons AML Ruling Deals Blow To SRA's Enforcement Plans

    The failure by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to secure a sanction against Dentons over the firm's handling of anti-money laundering checks on a former client is a blow to the regulator's enforcement ambitions which – if upheld – could prompt caution in future prosecutions, lawyers say.

  • March 20, 2024

    Law360 Announces The Members Of Its 2024 Editorial Boards

    Law360 is pleased to announce the formation of its 2024 Editorial Advisory Boards.

  • March 20, 2024

    US Chamber's Litigation Funding Concerns Spur 2 State Laws

    Amid concerns from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about third-party litigation funding, including from potentially hostile foreign entities, state legislatures in Indiana and West Virginia have recently passed bills imposing restrictions on the practice.

  • March 20, 2024

    How BigLaw Vets Are Expanding Trial Boutique Dowd Bennett

    Law360 Pulse recently caught up with James Bennett, co-founder of boutique litigation firm Dowd Bennett LLP, to discuss the firm's expansion this year in Chicago and Dallas.

  • March 19, 2024

    Ex-Lewis Brisbois Atty Sues Firm, Pointing To Racist Emails

    A former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP lawyer filed race and disability discrimination claims against the firm on Tuesday, alleging that he was forced to resign after dealing with medical issues that prompted the firm to take away his cases and wrongfully withhold his pay.

  • March 19, 2024

    Trump Allies Say DC Circ. Gave Partisan Attys 'A Loaded Gun'

    The D.C. Circuit's rejection of former President Donald Trump's purported immunity from indictment will trigger "the complete partisan weaponization of criminal law" and empower officeholders to "clear the field of their political rivals," supporters of the beleaguered ex-president told the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday.

  • March 19, 2024

    Nevada Dem. Says She Can't Support 3rd Circ. Nom.

    U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, on Tuesday became the first Democrat to publicly say she cannot support Adeel Mangi, nominee for the Third Circuit, who would be the first Muslim federal appellate judge, if confirmed.

  • March 19, 2024

    Kirkland Restructuring Ace To Join Hilco Global As Vice Chair

    James H.M. Sprayregen, the founder of Kirkland & Ellis' restructuring practice group and a well-known deal-maker in the corporate restructuring and mergers and acquisitions community, is set to join Hilco Global as a vice chair, the financial services holding company announced Tuesday.

  • March 19, 2024

    Schumer Scolds McConnell For Judge-Shopping Policy Rebuff

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday lauded the Judicial Conference's updated policy on random case assignments to prevent litigants from judge-shopping, saying that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing back against the policy since it'd make it tough for hard-right partisans "to hijack our courts for their purposes."

  • March 20, 2024

    Senate Confirms SEIU General Counsel As 4th Circ. Judge

    The Senate voted 50-47 on Tuesday evening to confirm Nicole Berner, general counsel of the Service Employees International Union, to a Fourth Circuit judgeship.

  • March 19, 2024

    Trump Asks Supreme Court For Absolute Criminal Immunity

    Former President Donald Trump implored the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to find that former presidents are absolutely immune from criminal charges related to official acts, warning the court that its adoption of a fact-specific test could appear as a "gerrymandered ruling tailored to deprive" him alone of immunity.

  • March 20, 2024

    Future Of Judge-Shopping Reform Hazy After Rule Proposal

    The policymaking body for U.S. courts provoked a stir last week when it proposed a rule designed to curb "judge shopping," with observers saying that the policy does address one type of the practice but that it remains to be seen if individual federal district courts will be willing to adopt even that limited reform.

  • March 19, 2024

    Confederate Statue At NC Courthouse Must Stay, Panel Says

    The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that local officials can't get rid of a Confederate statue outside a county courthouse, finding the statue is protected by a state law barring the removal of historic monuments.

  • March 19, 2024

    2 Arbitration Bodies Donate $750K For Diversity Efforts

    Two nonprofits focused on the alternative dispute resolution field — the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution Foundation and the JAMS Foundation — jointly announced on Monday a $750,000 grant to support efforts to increase diversity among arbitrators and mediators.

  • March 19, 2024

    Vicente LLP Sues Recruiter Over Fee Demand In Failed Search

    Vicente LLP is alleging that a Florida-based recruiter wants money for nothing after a failed search for a corporate attorney to join the cannabis law firm, during which one of the two proposed candidates turned out to be someone Vicente already worked with and later hired in a different role.

  • March 19, 2024

    Ex-Lynch Carpenter Atty Hits Firm With Whistleblower Case

    A former associate for Lynch Carpenter LLP has brought a whistleblower suit in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming labor code violations, discrimination, breach of contract and retaliation after allegedly witnessing "multiple instances of unethical conduct that he believed constituted fraud and/or legal malpractice."

  • March 19, 2024

    2nd Circ. Says 'Mandate Rule' Gives Judges Little Leeway

    A district court judge must hold a new trial if there are instructions for one when a case is remanded, the Second Circuit said Tuesday in an order reviving an excessive force case, clarifying lower courts can defy such mandates only in "very limited" circumstances.

Expert Analysis

  • Refining Info Governance As E-Discovery Gets More Complex

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    Courts are increasingly requiring litigants to produce chats and other conversations recorded on business collaboration platforms as evidence, so companies should develop strategies for preserving and organizing such data to timely comply with e-discovery requests and to protect sensitive information, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • Risk Mitigation In Face Of Rising Legal Malpractice Claims

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    As the recent rise in frequency and cost of legal malpractice claims is expected to continue amid global high inflation and economic uncertainty, law firms and insurers would be wise to evaluate key risk areas and consider six steps to minimize exposure, say Nicole Shapiro and Cory Stumpf at Atheria Law.

  • Roundup

    Keys To A 9-0 High Court Win

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    In this Expert Analysis series, advocates who have recently won unanimous rulings from the justices share their argument strategies, the tactics they think may help unify the court, and what other practitioners can learn from their experience. 

  • Series

    Keys To A 9-0 High Court Win: Look For Common Ground

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    When arguing for the petitioner in Golan v. Saada before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, a focus was placed on appealing to multiple judicial philosophies with the aim of not only winning each justice’s vote, but also achieving clear guidance from the court’s opinion, says Karen King at Morvillo Abramowitz.

  • Limiting The Scope Of Representation Is Critical For Lawyers

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    A Mississippi federal court's recent decision in Kee v. Howard L. Nations PC highlights the importance of well-written engagement letters, and shows why it is vital for attorneys to specify exactly which services they intend to supply, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • The Lawyer Personalities That Make Up Joint Interest Groups

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    As multiparty litigation rises and forces competing law firms to work together, George Reede at Zelle looks at the different personalities — from tactful synthesizers to misguided Don Quixotes — that often make up joint representation groups, and how lawyers can overcome the tensions in these and other team settings.

  • How ITC's Junior Atty Program Can Benefit Firms, Clients

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    Victoria Reines and Philip Marsh at Arnold & Porter offer some thoughts on making the U.S. International Trade Commission's Nurturing Excellence in Trial Advocates program work for firms and clients, and discuss the benefits of having a junior attorney present an opening statement.

  • Attys Shouldn't Assume Judicial Critique Is Protected Speech

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    As it becomes more commonplace to see criticism of the judiciary in the media, licensed attorneys are well advised to remember that they may have less freedom than nonlawyers to make protected speech critical of the judiciary, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.

  • Series

    Keys To A 9-0 High Court Win: Practicality Over Perfection

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    When I argued for the petitioner in Wooden v. U.S. last year, I discovered that preparation is key, but so is the right kind of preparation — in giving decisive answers to the U.S. Supreme Court justices' hypothetical questions I was not aiming for perfection, just the best response available, says Allon Kedem at Arnold & Porter.

  • What New Bar Exam Means For Law Students And Schools

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    Stephanie Acosta at UWorld discusses how law students and law schools can start preparing now for the new bar exam launching in 2026, which is expected to emphasize real-world lawyering skills-based tasks over rote memorization.

  • Apple's New Messaging Features Will Complicate E-Discovery

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    Apple's newest mobile operating system allows users to edit and recall messages and recover deleted messages, which could significantly increase the time, burden and expense of processing and analyzing cellphones if messages or their associated metadata become an area of scrutiny in a case, says Jarrett Coco at Nelson Mullins.

  • Law Firm Inclusion Efforts Often Overlook Business Staff

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    Law firms committed to a culture of universal inclusion can take steps to foster a sense of belonging in their business services teams, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Consulting.

  • Retail Ruling Clarifies Attorney Fees For Large Ch. 11 Cases

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    A Virginia federal court’s recent order in the Retail Group bankruptcy matters shines light on the relevant factors for approving fee applications in complex Chapter 11 cases, confirming the importance of making an appropriate factual record to support professional fee applications, say Jason Harbour and Justin Paget at Hunton.

  • An Associate's Guide To Rebounding After A Layoff

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    Law firm associates laid off due to economic conditions can recuperate and move forward by practicing self-care, identifying key skills to leverage during the job search, engaging in self-reflection and more, say Kate Sheikh at Major Lindsey and wellness consultant Jarrett Green.

  • AML Regulation Of Lawyers Is Imminent And Controversial

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    The U.S. House of Representatives' recently passed National Defense Authorization Act subjects lawyers engaged in certain financial-related activities to anti-money laundering regulation under the Bank Secrecy Act, which could pit lawyers against clients in ways harmful to the rule of law and administration of justice, says Jeremy Glicksman at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office in New York.

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