California

  • September 03, 2026

    Nippon Tells 9th Circ. Not To Revive US Steel Merger Case

    Nippon Steel urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday not to revive a consumer lawsuit challenging its now-completed purchase of U.S. Steel Corp., arguing the district court rightly found the plaintiffs too far removed from the steel market to allege higher prices when buying steel-containing products.

  • September 03, 2026

    Ex-IRL App CEO Says Prosecutors Ignored Ethics Breaches

    The co-founder of defunct social app IRL is fighting fraud charges by claiming that the U.S. attorney's office prosecuting him is conflicted because an attorney who formerly defended IRL in an SEC investigation and is now with the office pushed for him to be charged — and he is disputing prosecutors' denial of impropriety. 

  • September 03, 2026

    Judge Suggests Mail Ballot Rule Too Late For Midterms

    A Massachusetts federal judge appeared poised Thursday to extend her block on the U.S. Postal Service implementing new requirements that would allow the agency to refuse to deliver potentially thousands of mailed ballots this November, suggesting the midterm elections are too close to make such a sweeping change.

  • September 03, 2026

    Former Girardi Keese CFO Drops Appeal Of 5-Year Fraud Term

    The Seventh Circuit has granted onetime Girardi Keese financial chief Christopher Kamon's request to drop the appeal he lodged fighting an Illinois federal judge's order adding five concurrent years onto the 10 he is already serving for his role helping Tom Girardi, the head of the firm, steal millions from plane crash clients who settled cases in Chicago.

  • September 03, 2026

    3 Firms Steer Autonomous Truck Tech Co.'s $800M SPAC Deal

    Autonomous trucking technology company Plus Automation Inc. has agreed to go public through a business combination with Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp. in a deal that values PlusAI at an $800 million pre-money equity value, the companies said Thursday.

  • September 03, 2026

    Boutique Firms Emerge As Trump Admin's 'Achilles' Heel'

    Less fearful of retribution than some of their BigLaw counterparts, small law firms are taking on an outsize role handling cases seen as adversarial to the Trump administration.

  • September 02, 2026

    Split 9th Circ. Curbs Foreign Asset Forfeiture Without Control

    A split Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday held that courts must determine that they have, at the very least, constructive control over a foreign defendant's property to establish jurisdiction in a forfeiture case, pointing to the Fifth Amendment's due process clause.

  • September 02, 2026

    Walmart Says IP Suit Docs Can't Be Used In Malpractice Case

    Walmart has asked an Arkansas federal court to order food tech startup Zest Labs to comply with a protective order from the parties' settled trade secret dispute and block it from disclosing Walmart's confidential information in Zest's malpractice suit against its former attorneys.

  • September 02, 2026

    Alanis Morissette Accuses 'Terrible' Tour Manager Of Extortion

    Rock star Alanis Morissette sued her former tour manager in California federal court Tuesday over claims she was the victim of a "calculated blackmail campaign" in which the manager threatened to falsely report her for drug trafficking unless she paid "massive compensation" and agreed to employ the worker as a tour director for 15 years.

  • September 02, 2026

    Akerman Hires Consumer Protection Law Ace From Steptoe

    Akerman LLP announced on Monday it has welcomed a former Steptoe LLP attorney who brings vast experience helping clients navigate a unique, complicated landscape involving Golden State consumer protection laws and regulations, including matters related to Proposition 65.

  • September 02, 2026

    USPTO Policies Spur Reps To Float Conditions On Fee Power

    Several lawmakers expressed concern at a hearing Wednesday about recent U.S. Patent and Trademark Office policies, including increased denials of patent reviews, and questioned if Congress should respond by putting conditions on the office's power to set its own fees.

  • September 02, 2026

    B. Riley Investors, Alleging Fraud, Seek Class Certification

    A group of investors has moved for class certification in their suit accusing B. Riley Financial Inc. of failing to disclose risks related to its dealings with Brian Kahn, an investment manager who recently pled guilty to securities fraud over his role in the collapse of a $400 million hedge fund.

  • September 02, 2026

    Online Embedders May Like 5th Circ.'s Pivot On Server Test

    The Fifth Circuit last week rejected a 2007 copyright test that publishers have long criticized, but attorneys say the court's replacement may still leave news aggregators and apps that embed third-party content in a strong position while putting more pressure on rights holders to restrict content they don't want embedded elsewhere.

  • September 02, 2026

    PayPal Lets Tech 'Invisibly' Track Venmo Users, Suit Says

    PayPal misled users about third-party tracking technologies embedded in its payment platform Venmo and how their personal information was disclosed to third parties, according to a new suit filed in California federal court.

  • September 02, 2026

    Reggaeton Suit Fails To ID Copyrighted Work, Judge Says

    A California federal judge has reconsidered an earlier ruling on the copyrighted elements of asserted works in a case dealing with the origins of reggaeton music, finding two musicians did not clearly identify what copyrighted work contains allegedly protectable elements.

  • September 02, 2026

    Hims & Hers Investor Sues Over FTC Privacy, Billing Claims

    Telehealth company Hims & Hers Health Inc. was hit with a proposed securities class action accusing it of inflating its share prices by failing to disclose certain practices that led to a suit by the Federal Trade Commission accusing it of sharing customers' sensitive health information with big tech companies and using deceptive billing methods.

  • September 02, 2026

    NOAA Fisheries Lays Out Priorities For Trump Seafood Order

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries division announced several dozen priorities to boost the U.S. seafood industry Wednesday, prompting one environmental group to call it a "depraved laundry list" of ways the Trump administration is willing to sacrifice ocean life.

  • September 02, 2026

    States Sue To Block Medicaid Ban On Youth Gender Care

    Twenty state attorneys general on Wednesday challenged the Trump administration's plan to halt Medicaid funding for minors' gender-affirming care, alleging the move would violate federal law and usurp congressional power over government spending.

  • September 02, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Backs Micron's PTAB Wins Over Netlist

    Micron took home a series of wins at the Federal Circuit on Wednesday in its multifaceted patent battle against Netlist, with the court upholding invalidations of five computer memory patents.

  • September 02, 2026

    Unilever, Gruns Sued Over Gummies Marketed As 'Sugar-Free'

    Unilever United States Inc. and Gruns Nutrition Inc. have been hit with class claims in New Jersey federal court alleging that they falsely labeled a line of gummies as "sugar-free" even though the nutritional supplements are sweetened with allulose, which the four suing consumers say is a sugar under federal regulations.

  • 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

    Calif. Beats DOJ's Challenge To State Trans Athlete Policy

    A California federal judge tossed Monday the government's challenge to Golden State policies allowing transgender students to compete on sports teams that aligned with their gender identity, finding a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling doesn't bar such policies and the government failed to notify the state of its funding restrictions.

  • September 02, 2026

    Clippers Fined $30M As Probe Uncovers Salary Cap Violations

    The NBA unveiled sweeping sanctions against the Los Angeles Clippers Wednesday, including a $30 million fine and a one-year ban for the team's owner, after an investigation uncovered evidence that the team violated the league's salary cap rules by arranging off-court business deals for its star forward, Kawhi Leonard.

  • September 02, 2026

    TabaPay Secures $155M As It Plans To Buy Transact Bank

    Money movement platform TabaPay Inc., advised by Reed Smith LLP, on Wednesday revealed that it has received a $155 million strategic investment from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP-led FTV Capital, while also unveiling plans to acquire Denver-based Transact Bank.

  • September 02, 2026

    Calif. Bill Regulating Atty AI Use Heads To Newsom's Desk

    A bill regulating attorneys' and arbitrators' use of generative artificial intelligence has unanimously passed the California State Legislature and is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Sentencing Tips For Defending Crypto Conspiracy Cases

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    The sentencing of Evan Tangeman to 70 months in federal prison for laundering money in a cryptocurrency conspiracy illustrates that defense attorneys representing clients in multidefendant crypto cases need to understand the mechanics of conspiracy liability, loss attribution and restitution exposure before they reach the sentencing table, says Joseph De Gregorio at Sentencing Advocacy.

  • 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.

  • Nexstar Offers A Cautionary Tale On State-Level Deal Scrutiny

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    State-enforcement challenges to the $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna merger remind legal practitioners that federal approval isn't always sufficient to deliver certainty on closing, integration and timetable assumptions, says Brett Story at Britehorn Securities.

  • How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

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    Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

  • 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.

  • Operational AI Washing: A New Securities Class Action

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    In rising claims of operational AI washing — plaintiffs alleging that artificial intelligence was invoked to explain corporate business decisions in ways that may obscure underlying financial distress — earnings calls, restructuring disclosures and board-level communications will serve as key defense evidence, say attorneys at Akerman.

  • 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.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • 1st Surveillance Pricing Law In Md. Reflects Broader Scrutiny

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    A new law will make Maryland the first state to target data-driven or surveillance-based price manipulation, highlighting increased scrutiny from federal and state enforcement agencies and policymakers as they consider whether new laws are required to regulate dynamic pricing, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Understanding The Insider Trading Gap In Prediction Markets

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    While the first-ever insider trading indictment involving a prediction market — the recent prosecution of a service member involved in the capture of Nicolás Maduro — comprised extreme facts and straightforward legal theories, future cases will test the bounds of insider trading law, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

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