Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

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Analysis

High Court Ruling May Shake Up CFPB's Litigation Docket

By Jon Hill

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that may come as soon as Thursday could decide the fate of not only the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure but also numerous pending enforcement actions the agency has brought around the country. Here, Law360 surveys what's at stake and where.

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6 States Sue Feds Over New Title IX Gender Identity Rule

By Elaine Briseño

Six state attorneys general have filed suit in Missouri federal court challenging the Biden administration's new interpretation of Title IX that expands LGBTQ+ rights, alleging it is an attempt to recast the law and make it about gender identity.

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Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

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Biden Signs Law To Protect Children From Online Exploitation

By Henrik Nilsson

President Joe Biden has signed into law a bipartisan bill aimed at curbing online child sex exploitation by strengthening requirements for social media companies and other service providers to report abuse to the nation's centralized reporting system.

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ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

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Ethics Panel Says Philly Judge's Political Posts Flouted Rules

By P.J. D'Annunzio

In a case of first impression, Pennsylvania's Court of Judicial Discipline has ruled that a state court judge violated ethics rules by making political comments online that called into question his impartiality.

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NC Court Clerks, Administrators Escape Digital Courts Suit

By Travis Bland

Plaintiffs in a proposed class action have voluntarily dropped North Carolina court administrators and clerks from a lawsuit alleging that flaws in the state's electronic court filing system led to unlawful arrests and longer jail stays.

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Colo. Justice Doubts Auto-Reversal In 'Very Rare' Atty Conflict

By Daniel Ducassi

Colorado's chief justice questioned Wednesday why a man should get to automatically reverse his sexual assault conviction because his lawyer was being simultaneously prosecuted by the same district attorney's office, a situation that the convicted man said is exceedingly rare.

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Boston Man Says He Was Chinese Activist, Not Gov't Spy

By Elliot Weld

A Massachusetts resident denied charges of acting as a Chinese government agent by allegedly reporting pro-democracy activity in the Boston area, arguing that he is merely a local community activist whose political beliefs happen to align with those of the People's Republic of China.

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Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

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Georgia Governor Signs Election Changes Into Law

By Kelcey Caulder

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Tuesday that makes several changes to how Georgia conducts elections, including defining probable causes for removing voters from the state's voter rolls when their eligibility is challenged and allowing voters to be removed from the rolls up until 45 days before an election.

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ND Changes Course In Residents' High Court VRA Dispute

By Crystal Owens

In a move Native American tribes are calling "unconscionable," North Dakota Secretary of State Michael Howe is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate and remand Voting Rights Act litigation, saying the state is unable to defend the basis for which it won the lawsuit.

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Pa. Panel Scrutinizes Missteps In 2020 Election Machine Fracas

By Matthew Santoni

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on Wednesday brought up apparent missteps by both sides of a fight stemming from third-party inspections of a conservative county's voting machines, started by the county commissioners falling in with the hunt for fraud in the 2020 election and the state pushing back.

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New Treasury Rule Amps Up Reporting Burden For Banks

By Jennifer Doherty

The U.S. Department of the Treasury introduced an interim final rule Wednesday that refines and further expands recent increases in reporting requirements, including a new obligation for financial institutions to notify the federal government any time they unblock frozen assets.

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Bill To Undo SEC Crypto Accounting Bulletin Passes House

By Aislinn Keely

Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to overturn the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's controversial cryptocurrency accounting guidance despite protests from Democrats to take a more targeted approach to amend the directive and a White House pledge to veto the bill.

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Digitex Founder Pleads Guilty To Bank Secrecy Act Violation

By Donald Morrison

The founder of Digitex Futures Exchange has pled guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by refusing to implement policies designed to prevent money laundering on his cryptocurrency futures platform.

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Sens. Call For Revamp Of SEC's Nixed Stock Buyback Rules

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should "promptly" reissue disclosure rules vacated by the Fifth Circuit last year so that companies are required to publicly disclose more information on their share repurchase plans, a bipartisan pair of U.S. senators told the agency's leader on Monday.

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DOE Unveils Preliminary National Transmission Corridors List

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Department of Energy unveiled Wednesday a preliminary list of 10 national interest electric transmission corridors as part of its plan to accelerate the development of transmission projects in areas with urgent need for expanded capacity.

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6th Circ. Questions FERC's Moves On Ohio Utility Grid Perk

By Keith Goldberg

A Sixth Circuit panel on Wednesday questioned the role of a rate perk given to transmission companies for choosing to join a regional transmission organization as it weighed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision to yank the incentive for several Ohio utilities while preserving it for others.

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Vape Fluid Co. Urges Justices To Take Up FDA Challenge

By Mike Curley

Lotus Vaping Technologies LLC is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's denial of its application to market bottled flavored e-cigarette fluids, saying the case provides an appropriate vehicle to examine the FDA's policies.

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IP Owners Call For PTAB Amendment Plan To Be Permanent

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has received a series of comments on its plans to formalize a Patent Trial and Appeal Board pilot program to assist patent owners in amending challenged claims, including from groups such as the Intellectual Property Owners Association and the Council for Innovation Promotion.

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Tribes And Groups Urge 9th Circ. To Uphold TikTok Ban Pause

By Crystal Owens

Free speech and internet advocacy groups, as well a Native American nonprofit and two tribes, are urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court's decision that blocks Montana from banning social app TikTok, arguing that First Amendment protections include such media platforms.

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Auto Cos. Brace For EV Battery Compliance Hurdles

By Linda Chiem

New federal regulations aimed at shoring up the domestic electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain give automakers a much-needed two-year cushion to navigate a compliance minefield, and to figure out how to reinvigorate the recent waning consumer demand for electric vehicles.

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Analysis

Upstate NY Cities Aim To Join Rent-Regulated Ranks

By Grace Dixon

After a 2019 tweak to state law allowed localities beyond New York City and its surrounding counties to opt into rent stabilization for the first time since the original legislation was passed in 1974, a smattering of upstate cities have attempted to do just that, to varying degrees of success.

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Colo. Lawmakers OK Historic Structure Tax Credit Extension

By Sanjay Talwani

Colorado's tax credit for rehabilitation of historic structures would be extended and apply to structures as young as 30 years old under legislation approved by the Senate and headed to the governor.

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4th Circ. Says Purpose Of Inmate Labor Affects Classification

By Irene Spezzamonte

The primary purpose of prisoners' work at a Baltimore County recycling plant should determine whether a group of incarcerated people were employees under federal law, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Wednesday, rejecting the county's view that any amount of rehabilitative-oriented work spared it from minimum wage obligations.

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Lyft Driver Asks Calif. Justices To OK Intervening In PAGA Suit

By Craig Clough

An attorney for a Lyft driver who sued the company under the Private Attorneys General Act urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to find her client has standing to intervene in a competing PAGA Lyft case that reached a settlement, saying the deal threatened to "extinguish" her client's rights.

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Mass. Justices May Give Green Light To Tip Ballot Measure

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' high court justices appeared skeptical Wednesday of arguments by a group of restaurant owners seeking to kill a ballot question that, if approved, would gradually raise the minimum wage for tipped workers to the state's $15-per-hour standard.

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Colo. Sheriff Fights State Law That Let His Deputies Unionize

By Emily Brill

A Colorado county sheriff whose staff is unionizing has sued the state over the 2023 law that gave his workers the right to organize, seeking a declaration that the law does not apply to his office.

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Dems Propose Scrapping Title VII Damages Caps

By Grace Elletson

House and Senate Democrats unveiled legislation Wednesday that would eliminate ceilings on the amount of damages workers can receive under federal civil rights law if a jury finds they've been discriminated against, a proposal the lawmakers say would correct outdated limits.

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Apple Judge Skeptical Tech Giant Complying With Epic Order

By Bonnie Eslinger

The California federal judge overseeing Epic's antitrust suit against Apple reacted skeptically Wednesday to an Apple executive's claim that it has fully complied with her order aimed at allowing app developers to send users to outside payment platforms, saying some of Apple's new rules appear to "stifle competition."

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AGs Blast Federal Data Privacy Law's Proposed State Override

By Allison Grande

California joined attorneys general from more than a dozen other states and Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to urge Congress to ensure that proposed federal data privacy legislation sets a "floor, not a ceiling" that would preserve more stringent protections states have enacted and allow them to add new laws to address rapid technological developments. 

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9th Circ. Says Calif. Can Give Gun Buyer Info To Researchers

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday declined to revive a constitutional challenge to a California law requiring the state to provide biographical information about firearm purchasers and those with carry-conceal permits to accredited research institutions studying gun violence, saying the information at issue isn't highly personal and doesn't implicate the right to privacy. 

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NAFTA Tribunal Orders US To Redo Duties On Canadian Wood

By Alyssa Aquino

A panel assembled under the North American Free Trade Agreement ordered the U.S. to redo countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber, rejecting the U.S.' conclusion that Canadian lumber companies hadn't fairly paid Ottawa to harvest lumber on government property.

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Vietnam's Labor Issues Mar Bid For Market Economy Status

By Jennifer Doherty

Representatives from U.S. industry, organized labor, and human rights advocacy urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to reject Vietnam's bid for market economy status Wednesday, denouncing its track record on labor rights.

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Calif. Justices Weigh Striking Anti-Tax Ballot Initiative

By Maria Koklanaris

California Supreme Court justices sought to understand Wednesday if a measure approved for the November ballot that would make it harder to raise taxes would eliminate lawmakers' ability to tax and would illegally revise — rather than amend — the state constitution.

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Texas Wants Catholic Org. Barred For 'Systemic Violations'

By Rae Ann Varona

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday urged a state judge in El Paso County to enjoin Catholic nonprofit Annunciation House Inc. from operating in the state, alleging the organization has been engaging in systemic criminal conduct by illegally harboring noncitizens.

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Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

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Texas Says Asylum Rule Fight Withstands Toss Of La. Suit

By Britain Eakin

Texas is urging a federal judge to preserve its challenge to a Biden administration rule broadening immigration officers' power to expedite asylum applications, saying a recent decision in Louisiana throwing out nearly identical claims has no bearing on its case.

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GOP Bill Aims To Fund Southwestern States' Border Barriers

By Rae Ann Varona

States along the southwestern U.S.-Mexican border looking to build physical barriers or update existing ones could receive federal grants to do so under new legislation from a pair of Republican members of the House of Representatives.

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NY AG Says $6M NRA Verdict Should Stand

By Cara Salvatore

A New York state court should not undo a jury's finding that the National Rifle Association allowed its officers to misappropriate $6.4 million of donor money, the state's attorney general has argued, saying trial evidence abundantly laid out evidence of misconduct and organizational failures.

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Mont. Tribe Says Feds Must Sign Law Enforcement Contract

By Joyce Hanson

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe has accused the U.S. government of failing to provide the tribe with adequate law enforcement services, urging a Montana federal judge to order it to sign a tribal self-determination contract with an annual funding amount of at least $325,829.

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Coordinators Resist Bid To Open 800 MHz Assignments

By Nadia Dreid

The Association of American Railroads is warning the Federal Communications Commission not to accept a proposal from the wireless industry that would remove frequency coordinators' requirement to concur with one another when operating in bands below 800 MHz reserved for business and industrial purposes.

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Alaska Comm. To Pay $5.3M To Settle Bidding Violation Claims

By Sarah Jarvis

Alaska Communications Systems Holding Inc. on Wednesday agreed to pay nearly $5.3 million and implement compliance measures to resolve a Federal Communications Commission investigation into the telecommunications provider's bidding and rate setting processes for rural medical patients.

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In Final Memo, Blumenauer Eyes Path Forward For Cannabis

By Sam Reisman

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., a longtime champion of cannabis reform in Congress who plans to retire this year, is calling marijuana reform a "winning issue" for policymakers and outlined numerous actions both legislators and federal agencies can take to move the issue forward.

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Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

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Skadden Taps SoFi Bank, Shearman Attys For Co-Lead Roles

By Jack Rodgers

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP has hired two new co-leaders of its financial institutions regulatory group to advise banks, financial institutions and other market participants on regulatory and legislative developments, the firm announced Wednesday.

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Are Concessions In FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Rule Enough?

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new policy for laboratory-developed tests included major strategic concessions to help balance patient safety, access and diagnostic innovation, the new rule may well face significant legal challenges in court, say Dominick DiSabatino and Audrey Mercer at Sheppard Mullin.

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8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

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What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule

A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

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How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

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5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

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Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

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Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

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Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

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ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

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Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

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NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

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Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

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