Appellate

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Turn Away Fired Teacher's Prehire Speech Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to review a Massachusetts high school teacher's claim that individuals' speech rights should extend to things they say before being hired to a public job, though Justice Clarence Thomas wrote to express dismay with the First Circuit's approach toward controversial political commentary.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Seek SG's View In $1.2M Roundup Verdict

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the U.S. solicitor general to weigh in on Monsanto's petition challenging a $1.2 million jury award given to a man who claimed that the company's Roundup weed killer caused his cancer.

  • June 30, 2025

    High Court Wants Feds' Input On Parker-Hannifin 401(k) Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court asked for the U.S. solicitor general's take Monday on the Sixth Circuit's decision to revive a proposed class action alleging Parker-Hannifin Corp. mismanaged a 401(k) plan, seeking the government's view on the pleading standard for a claim that investment choices breached fiduciary duties.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices To Review Persecution Standard In Immigration Appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to look at whether the First Circuit was right to give deference to the Board of Immigration Appeals' conclusion that a Salvadoran family failed to show it suffered persecution back home and is therefore ineligible for asylum.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Rebuff American Airlines' Bid To Revive JetBlue Pact

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed American Airlines' bid to revive its codeshare agreement with JetBlue in Boston and New York.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Won't Eye Claim Fed. Circ. Revived Waived Argument

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from a doctor who argued that the Federal Circuit wrongly upheld the rejection of his application for a patent on a COVID-19 treatment by reviving arguments that he claimed the patent office had waived.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Pass On Exxon Mobil $14M Clean Air Act Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an en banc Fifth Circuit opinion that upheld $14.25 million in air pollution fines against Exxon Mobil Corp.

  • June 30, 2025

    Supreme Court Won't Take On CWA Suit Over Wash. Port Regs

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into a dispute between a Washington state port and an environmental group over whether citizen suits seeking to enforce state permitting conditions that go beyond the Clean Water Act can proceed in federal court.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Allow Chinese Co. To Access Micron's Code Records

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Micron Technology Inc.'s efforts to block a Chinese semiconductor maker from accessing paper copies of sensitive source code during patent infringement litigation.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Pass On Free Speech Challenge To Ga. Strip Club Tax

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not review a decision by Georgia's highest court that said a state tax on strip clubs that's used to fund efforts to address child trafficking does not violate the First Amendment.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Won't Review Taxing Of Power Plant On Tribal Land

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a power company's claims that federal law protects a power plant it owns on tribal land in Arizona from property taxes.

  • June 30, 2025

    High Court Takes Up $1B Copyright Fight Over ISPs' Liability

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday granted a petition for certiorari from Cox Communications Inc. that asked the justices to review a Fourth Circuit's conclusion that telecom companies can be liable for copyright infringement for providing an internet connection that leads to music piracy online.

  • June 30, 2025

    High Court To Hear Fight Over Investment Fund Suits

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case that could limit the ability of private parties to assert contract violations against investment funds, with one activist investor accusing several closed-end funds of shutting it out of its voting rights.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Take On Enbridge Pipeline Remand Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review a Sixth Circuit decision that found Enbridge Energy LP missed a statutory deadline to transfer to federal court a lawsuit from Michigan's attorney general seeking to shut down one of the company's pipelines.

  • June 27, 2025

    Paxton Names Morgan Lewis Partner Texas Solicitor General

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP partner William Peterson will serve as Texas' new solicitor general while the state's outgoing solicitor general, Aaron Nielson, will head to the University of Texas School of Law as a tenured professor, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday.

  • June 27, 2025

    Texas Justices OK Methodist Church's Suit Against SMU

    The Texas Supreme Court found the United Methodist Church has the right to sue Southern Methodist University over its attempted split, but in a Friday opinion drew short of saying the university filed false paperwork as part of the breakup.

  • June 27, 2025

    Logging Co. Cleared In $73M Trial Over Firefighter's Death

    A jury cleared R&T Logging of Oregon Inc. of liability Friday in a $73 million trial over the death of a firefighter and EMT in an accident in which an employee of the logging company's trucking partner was driving drunk.

  • June 27, 2025

    Texas Justices Say Paxton Can Keep Jan. 6 Records

    The Texas Supreme Court found that Attorney General Ken Paxton does not have to cough up his communications during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, saying in a Friday opinion only the state's high court may issue orders compelling executive officers to certain actions.

  • June 27, 2025

    Ga. Panel Says Court's Tech Glitch Shouldn't Kill Appeal

    The Georgia Court of Appeals on Friday revived a tenant's appeal of an eviction action, saying the trial court wrongly dismissed the matter when it failed to explain why evidence of a delay caused by the court's electronic filing system did not save the appeal.

  • June 27, 2025

    Ill. High Court Says State Handgun Laws Comply With Bruen

    A split Illinois Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the state's requirement that handgun owners maintain both a concealed weapon permit and a separate Firearm Owner's Identification Card is legal and not preempted by a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • June 27, 2025

    Fed Circ. Passes On VA, Veteran Dispute Over GI Bill Benefits

    A three-judge Federal Circuit panel said it lacked jurisdiction to step into an ongoing GI Bill dispute as a long-serving veteran challenges an education benefits denial that purportedly flies in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down last year.

  • June 27, 2025

    NY Man Wins New Trial Over Jury Instruction Issue

    A man who was convicted of criminal weapons possession for firing a gun on a Brooklyn street was granted a new trial by the New York state appeals court, which found a trial court hadn't explained to the jury that it was sometimes legal to snatch a gun in self-defense.

  • June 27, 2025

    DC Circ. Backs NLRB Ruling In GWU Hospital Bargaining Case

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday upheld a National Labor Relations Board ruling finding George Washington University Hospital bargained in bad faith with a Service Employees International Union local, saying evidence supported the board's conclusion that the hospital did not expect its proposals to lead to an agreement.

  • June 27, 2025

    6th Circ. Vacates Class Cert. In GM Transmission Defect Suit

    The full Sixth Circuit on Friday unraveled class certification for drivers claiming General Motors LLC sold vehicles with defective transmissions that caused the cars to shudder and shake on the road.

  • June 27, 2025

    2nd Circ. Mulls Arguments In NY Atty Grievance Privacy Suit

    A Second Circuit panel has questioned whether a pathway exists to limit the scope of "presumptive public access" to attorney grievance documents in New York, as the panel considers the state's appeal of a federal district court ruling that would make records related to attorney misconduct cases public.

Expert Analysis

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: March Lessons

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    In this month's review of class actions appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses three federal appellate court decisions and identifies practice tips from cases involving antitrust allegations against coupon processing services, consumer fraud and class action settlements.

  • High Court Water Permit Ruling Lacks Specificity

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    The enforcement impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in San Francisco v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may not be significant, because while the ruling makes clear that certain water permit provisions must instruct permittees on how to achieve stated goals, it doesn’t clarify the level of necessary instruction, says Daniel Deeb at ArentFox Schiff.

  • The Central Issues Facing Fed. Circ. In Patent Damages Case

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    The en banc Federal Circuit's pending review of EcoFactor v. Google could reshape how expert damages opinions are argued, and could have ripple effects that limit jury awards, say attorneys at McAndrews Held.

  • Series

    Performing Stand-Up Comedy Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether I’m delivering a punchline on stage or a closing argument in court, balancing stand-up comedy performances and my legal career has demonstrated that the keys to success in both endeavors include reading the room, landing the right timing and making an impact, says attorney Rebecca Palmer.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From SEC To BigLaw

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    As I adjusted to the multifaceted workflow of a BigLaw firm after leaving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, working side by side with new colleagues on complex matters proved the fastest way to build a deep rapport and demonstrate my value, says Jennifer Lee at Jenner & Block.

  • How Fed. Circ. Ruling Complicates Patent Infringement Cases

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    The Federal Circuit's decision last month in Kroy IP Holdings v. Groupon may make defending patent infringement claims more challenging, time-consuming and expensive — but it has also complicated similar patent infringement proceedings involving the same patents and their appeals, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • The Revival Of Badie Arbitration Suits In Consumer Finance

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    Plaintiffs have recently revived a California appellate court's almost 30-year-old decision in Badie v. Bank of America to challenge arbitration requirements under the Federal Arbitration Act, raising issues banks and credit unions in particular should address when amending arbitration provisions, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Making The Case For Rest In The Legal Profession

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    For too long, a culture of overwork has plagued the legal profession, but research shows that attorneys need rest to perform optimally and sustainably, so legal organizations and individuals must implement strategies that allow for restoration, says Marissa Alert at MDA Wellness, Carol Ross-Burnett at CRB Global, and Denise Robinson at The Still Center.

  • 1st Circ. IMessage Ruling Illustrates Wire Fraud Circuit Split

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    The First Circuit’s recent decision that text messages exchanged wholly within Massachusetts but transmitted by the internet count as interstate commerce spotlights a split in how circuits interpret intrastate actions under the federal wire fraud statute, perhaps prompting U.S. Supreme Court review, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 4 Ways Women Attorneys Can Build A Legal Legacy

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    This Women’s History Month, women attorneys should consider what small, day-to-day actions they can take to help leave a lasting impact for future generations, even if it means mentoring one person or taking 10 minutes to make a plan, says Jackie Prester, a former shareholder at Baker Donelson.

  • Justices' Revival Ruling In Bias Suit Exceeds Procedural Issue

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Waetzig v. Halliburton allowed the plaintiff in an age discrimination lawsuit to move to reopen his case after arbitration, but the seemingly straightforward decision on a procedural issue raises complex questions for employment law practitioners, says Christopher Sakauye at Dykema.

  • Cleanup Claim Characterization Key For Timeliness Inquiry

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    The Tenth Circuit's recent ruling in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. NL Industries, determining that ARCO's contribution claim was timely, highlights the importance of accurately characterizing a claim for recoupment of environmental cleanup costs as a cost-recovery action or contribution to avoid dismissal or recharacterization of the claim, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.

  • A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing

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    U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.

  • A Closer Look At Money Laundering Sentencing Issues

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    Federal money laundering cases are on the rise, often involving lengthy prison sentences for defendants who have little to no criminal history, but a closer look at the statistics and case law reveal some potentially valuable arguments that defense attorneys should keep in their arsenal, says Sarah Sulkowski at Gelber & Santillo.

  • Justices Likely To Issue Narrow Ruling In $1.3B Award Dispute

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    After last week's argument in Devas v. Antrix, the Supreme Court appears likely to reverse the holding that minimum contacts are required before a federal court may exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign state and remand the case for further litigation on other important constitutional questions, say attorneys at Cleary. 

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