Appellate

  • September 02, 2026

    9th Circ. Denies Funko's Bid To Revisit Investor Dispute

    The Ninth Circuit said Wednesday it would not reconsider its decision to revive a proposed class action accusing Funko Inc. of failing to warn investors about tens of millions of dollars' worth of excess toys the company eventually wrote off.

  • September 02, 2026

    DOJ Says Trump's Jan. 6 Speech Was An Official Act

    The U.S. Department of Justice argued Tuesday that President Donald Trump was carrying out one of his office's "most important functions" when he urged protesters to head to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and "fight like hell," so the D.C. Circuit should deem his speech official conduct.

  • September 02, 2026

    Ga. Panel Weighs Bid To Toss Blood Evidence In Crash Case

    The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday considered whether a trial court should have suppressed blood sample evidence in the case of a man arrested and charged with vehicular homicide after colliding with a church van in Habersham County.

  • September 02, 2026

    NJ Urges Justices To Resolve Kalshi Sports Betting Split

    New Jersey regulators on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to address the newly emerged circuit split around prediction market regulation, filing a long-awaited petition that challenged a Third Circuit decision blocking the state from pursuing Kalshi's sports event contracts as unlicensed bets.

  • September 02, 2026

    Proskauer Hires Goodwin Procter's Supreme Court Co-Head

    Proskauer Rose LLP has added the former co-head of Goodwin Procter LLP's Supreme Court practice as the co-head of its compensation and benefits litigation practice, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • September 02, 2026

    Hall Booth Can't Pause NC Malpractice Claims, Court Told

    A court-appointed receiver has blasted Hall Booth Smith PC's bid in the North Carolina state appeals court to pause legal malpractice claims against the firm related to a wrongful conviction judgment, calling the move "nothing but a collateral attack" in state court on a federal order appointing the receiver.

  • September 02, 2026

    10th Circ. Overturns School's Win In Title IX Abuse Liability Suit

    The Tenth Circuit has revived three women's claims that their former university mishandled their allegations of sexual assault and harassment by their basketball coach's husband, finding a New Mexico federal court too narrowly construed Title IX precedent when it found the school had no control over the man.

  • September 02, 2026

    1st Circ. Says Son's Asthma Not Enough To Stop Removal

    The First Circuit has refused to reverse a removal order for a Salvadoran citizen, finding that providing asthma medication for his 17-year-old son is not an exceptional hardship that could halt the process.

  • September 02, 2026

    5th Circ. Presses ATF On Out-Of-State Handgun Sales

    A Fifth Circuit panel pressed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to explain the scope of a law barring citizens from purchasing handguns outside their state of residence, asking Wednesday what problems the government would face from the law's revocation.

  • September 02, 2026

    Fla. Panel Nixes $1M Child Support Life Insurance Order

    A Florida appellate panel on Wednesday reversed a decision requiring a father to have a $1 million life insurance policy to protect child support payments, finding a lower court did not determine if he could afford the policy.

  • September 02, 2026

    2nd Circ. Faults NLRB's Dress Code Test In Starbucks Appeal

    The Second Circuit faulted the test the National Labor Relations Board applies to neutral dress codes that restrict workers' displays of union insignia, tossing Wednesday a ruling that Starbucks illegally barred workers at a Manhattan shop from wearing pro-union shirts. 

  • September 02, 2026

    11th Circ. Axes Ethics Complaint Over Fla. Judge's Israel Book

    The Eleventh Circuit's chief judge has dismissed an ethics complaint against a Florida federal judge, finding the district judge's alleged actions promoting his book about Israel, including appearances from his judicial chambers, didn't violate the judicial ethics code.

  • September 02, 2026

    Manslaughter Verdict Vacated Over DNA Analysts' Testimony

    Massachusetts' intermediate appellate court on Wednesday vacated a 2023 manslaughter conviction due to the prosecution's reliance on substitute DNA analysts whose testimony was based on the work of another crime lab staffer.

  • September 02, 2026

    DOL Backs Aramark Bid To Avoid Aetna ERISA Suit Arbitration

    The U.S. Department of Labor backed Aramark's attempt to keep in court its allegations that Aetna cost the company millions by mismanaging health benefit claims, telling the full Fifth Circuit that a panel correctly held that the case fell under an exception in the arbitration agreement.

  • September 01, 2026

    McLane Model Keeps Drivers Overtime-Exempt, 9th Circ. Says

    A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday affirmed a lower court's ruling that truck drivers behind a proposed class action against food distributor McLane Foodservice Inc. are exempt from overtime pay, holding that the employees engaged in interstate commerce despite driving only in California.

  • September 01, 2026

    Copyright Chief Says Cook Ruling Bolsters Firing Challenge

    The U.S. Copyright Office's Shira Perlmutter has asked the D.C. Circuit to reverse a federal judge's refusal to block her firing by the Trump administration, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision protecting Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook undercuts the lower court's reason for denying her preliminary relief.

  • September 01, 2026

    Mass. Justices Uphold Plea Despite Police Corruption Claims

    The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has affirmed the denial of a man's request to withdraw his guilty pleas to the murders of two women, saying he failed to show on appeal that serious Boston Police Department corruption in a related murder investigation tainted his own case.

  • September 01, 2026

    Securitas Can't Arbitrate Wage Class Action, Wash. Panel Says

    A former Securitas worker's proposed wage-and-hour class action against the guard service will move forward following a Washington appeals panel's ruling Monday that upheld a lower court's rejection of the company's bid to force the ex-employee into arbitration.

  • September 01, 2026

    4th Circ. Told Geofence Warrant Doesn't Meet New Standards

    The Fourth Circuit has been asked to rule that the geofence warrant at the heart of a major U.S. Supreme Court decision clarifying standards for location-data searches did in fact authorize an unconstitutional search in light of the high court's ruling.

  • September 01, 2026

    High Court Should Skip Ruby Tuesday Benefits Suit, SG Says

    The U.S. solicitor general has urged the Supreme Court to decline to consider a suit from former Ruby Tuesday executives alleging Regions Bank inadequately protected their retirement plan benefits that were liquidated in bankruptcy, saying the "idiosyncratic" nature of the dispute makes it a poor candidate for high court review.

  • September 01, 2026

    Toyota Can't Block Expert In Carbon Monoxide Death Suit

    A Georgia appeals court on Tuesday largely upheld rulings allowing a wrongful death and product liability case against Toyota to proceed over a fatal carbon monoxide poisoning linked to a keyless ignition vehicle, but said punitive damages were off the table.

  • September 01, 2026

    DC Circ. Reinstates Bergdahl Court-Martial Conviction

    The D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday that a district court judge lacked jurisdiction to vacate Bowe Bergdahl's 2017 court-martial conviction for desertion, finding that only military appellate courts can directly overturn court-martial judgments and reversing a summary judgment decision that voided the conviction.

  • September 01, 2026

    7th Circ. Backs Removal Order Over Neglect Conviction

    The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday refused to halt a Mexican women's removal order, ruling that her 2012 Wisconsin state misdemeanor conviction for neglecting a child is a deportable offense that makes her ineligible for cancellation of removal.

  • September 01, 2026

    8th Circ. Backs $110M Deal For NAR Broker Fees Suit

    The Eighth Circuit sided against class action settlement objectors Tuesday and affirmed $110.6 million worth of settlements in antitrust class actions alleging the National Association of Realtors and brokerages followed anticompetitive NAR rules that artificially inflated broker commissions.

  • September 01, 2026

    Unified, Industry Orgs. Again Push Justices On PTAB Policies

    Unified Patents, Clearing House Payments subsidiary Askeladden and a series of industry groups have continued pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to accept petitions addressing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's patent review authority, this time in a case brought by Tesla.

Expert Analysis

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: EU's Arb. Defense From Russia

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    The EU's latest package of restrictive measures against Russia marks a significant shift from merely resisting Russian jurisdictional tactics to proactively protecting arbitration and exclusive jurisdiction agreements, elevating the procedural importance of dispute resolution clauses, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn Square.

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Nielsen Appeal Tests Antitrust Limits Of Pricing And Bundling

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    In Cumulus v. Nielsen, the Second Circuit is considering a structural pattern in which a monopolist exploits upstream market power to foreclose downstream competition, which could potentially offer broad insight into how courts will assess exclusionary bundling and pricing defenses under antitrust law, says Luke Hasskamp at Bona Law.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 'Skinny Label' Arguments Spotlight Induced Infringement Risk

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    Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma highlight the uncertain boundary between lawful generic competition through so-called skinny labels and induced patent infringement, with potential implications for patent holders’ communication, enforcement and causation strategies across industries, says Anton Hopen at Trenam.

  • A Framework For Habeas Relief After 5th Circ. Bond Ruling

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    Following the Fifth Circuit’s recent Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision foreclosing statutory bond for detained nonimmigrants not deemed admitted to the U.S., lawyers should adopt a framework that requests habeas relief pursuant to the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • 4th Circ. Ruling Will Rewrite Class Action Litigation Strategies

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    The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Oliver v. Navy Federal Credit Union is the first from a federal circuit court to hold that motions to strike are inappropriate vehicles for challenging class allegations at the pleading stage, invalidating a tactic that had been used for decades, says Jim Francis at Francis Mailman.

  • Startup Founder Disputes Increasingly Turn On Governance

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    Recent Delaware developments suggest that as courts place increasing emphasis on board process, independence and oversight in founder-led startups, the growing intersection of governance, technology risk and investor oversight is accelerating both the emergence and escalation of founder disputes, says mediator Frank Burke.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • Salt-N-Pepa Suit May Shake Up Music Copyright Issue

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    James v. UMG Recordings is a copyright termination rights case that provides an opportunity for the Second Circuit to make concrete choices about grant language, authorship, work-for-hire status and survival of derivative works, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

  • Opinion

    5th Circ.'s Abortion Pill Order Is Shaky On Multiple Grounds

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    The Fifth Circuit's recent order in Louisiana v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, reinstating an in-person dispensing requirement for the abortion medication mifepristone, seems to turn federalism upside-down, and is also questionable for several other reasons, says Gregory Curtner at Curtner Law.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • 5 Takeaways From Justices' Subpoena Fight Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in First Choice v. Davenport fortifies a line of First Amendment associational privacy cases stretching back nearly 70 years, and ensures that organizations subject to government demands for donor information have a meaningful federal forum in which to defend their constitutional rights, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

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    While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

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