California

  • May 19, 2026

    Alphabet Investors Win Class Cert. In Ad Auction Suit

    A California federal judge certified a class of Alphabet investors accusing Google and CEO Sundar Pichai of misleading the market about whether its digital ad auctions favored Facebook's advertising network, finding common questions outweigh individualized issues.

  • May 19, 2026

    Mentari, InMed Merge In Deal Backed By $290M Funding

    InMed Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday announced plans to merge with migraine prevention drugmaker Mentari Therapeutics Inc. in an all-stock deal that is backed by a $290 million private placement and was guided by three law firms.

  • May 19, 2026

    States Sue Over Student Loan Limits On Professional Degrees

    A coalition of 24 attorneys general and two governors are challenging a rule recently promulgated by the U.S. Department of Education, alleging in a complaint in Maryland federal court Tuesday that it unlawfully limits access to federal student loans for those pursuing professional degree programs.

  • May 19, 2026

    Google Accused Of Bias Against Dad Who Took Baby Leave

    Google's former global sales manager was targeted for taking protected medical leave and baby bonding leave and "treated with a lack of empathy and understanding for needing time off as a single father," he alleged in a discrimination lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

  • May 19, 2026

    Pac-12 Reaches Deal With Mountain West In Exit Fee Suit

    The Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences have settled their federal lawsuit over $55 million in "poaching" fees charged by the Mountain West for luring its member schools away, the leagues have announced.

  • May 19, 2026

    Judge Rejects Feds' Bid To Hold Migrant Kids In Hotels

    A California federal judge on Monday rejected the U.S. government's contention that a prior order limiting its ability to hold migrant minors in hotels applied only to expulsions tied to a public health order put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • May 19, 2026

    Seeborg's Term As Calif. Northern District Chief Judge To End

    Chief District Judge Richard Seeborg is expected to conclude his time as the top judge for the Northern District of California in July, according to a spokesperson for the judiciary, to be succeeded by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

  • May 19, 2026

    Feds Want Chance To Explain College Admissions Data Rush

    The federal government on Tuesday asked a Massachusetts judge for an opportunity to rectify what the judge identified as a problematic lack of explanation for how quickly it unleashed a demand for colleges' admissions data.

  • May 19, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Restores 2 Patent Suits On Same Standing Issue

    The Federal Circuit on Tuesday reinstated a pair of patent infringement suits from patent owners that licensed their intellectual property to other parties, finding that the companies met the minimum constitutional requirements to show they had standing to sue.

  • May 19, 2026

    Winston & Strawn IP Litigator Jumps To Faegre Drinker In SF

    Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP has announced it grew its intellectual property group in San Francisco with a new partner from Winston & Strawn LLP who has a computer engineering background.

  • May 19, 2026

    Brother May Pay Ex-BigLaw Atty's Legal Fees In Insider Case

    A former BigLaw associate charged with orchestrating a sweeping insider trading scheme can have his legal expenses covered by his co-defendant brother if the two waive potential conflicts, a Massachusetts federal magistrate judge said Tuesday.

  • May 19, 2026

    Groq, Doctor Strike Deal To End 'Groq Health' TM Suit

    Silicon Valley chipmaker Groq has reached a settlement to end a trademark infringement case it brought in New York federal court against an endocrinologist with a similarly named company.

  • May 18, 2026

    Pot Co. Fraud Suit Over $13M Tax Debt Ends In Settlement

    Investors have agreed to end a lawsuit against the former CEO of cannabis firm Devi Holdings Inc., claiming the executive and early investors hid over $13 million in unpaid taxes to induce $25.9 million in stock purchases that later became worthless, according to a Florida federal judge's order.

  • May 18, 2026

    Calif. Kicks Off Rulemaking For Social Media Addiction Law

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta is seeking public comment on a new set of proposed regulations for complying with the age determination and parental consent aspects of a looming law that restricts social media platforms from using algorithms to deliver addictive feeds to children.

  • May 18, 2026

    Native, Enviro Groups Challenge Calif. Oil Pipeline Waiver

    California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection granted safety regulation waivers without proper review, allowing Sable Offshore Corp. to restart operations of a Santa Barbara oil pipeline system a decade after a catastrophic oil spill, environmental and Native American organizations said in a suit removed to federal court.

  • May 18, 2026

    BofA Can Arbitrate Overdraft Fee Claims, 9th Circ. Says

    Bank of America can arbitrate proposed class action claims over overdraft fees it charges its business checking account customers instead of fighting the allegations before a judicial referee, the Ninth Circuit has determined.

  • May 18, 2026

    Comic Gets Serious About Mom's Cancer At J&J Talc Trial

    A comedian who testified Monday at a California bellwether trial over claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused three women's deadly ovarian cancer wiped away tears as he talked about his late mother, saying his emotions are "a little unusual" because he spends most of his time trying not to be serious.

  • May 18, 2026

    Judge Lauds Wells Fargo Settlement In 'Fake' Diversity Suit

    A California federal judge has given final approval to a deal between Wells Fargo investors and executives in a derivative suit claiming the bank's leadership failed to address the company's discriminatory lending practices and engaged in "fake" interviews with diverse candidates, calling the assistance fund resulting from the settlement "significant."

  • May 18, 2026

    Fintech Yotta To Pay Calif. $1M Over False FDIC Claims

    California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation has brought two fintech-focused actions, levying a $1 million fine against a partner of collapsed fintech Synapse and separately mandating a bitcoin ATM operator shut down its kiosks in the state.

  • May 18, 2026

    Volvo Inks $197M Emissions Deal With Calif. Regulators

    Volvo Group North America has agreed to pay roughly $197 million to resolve allegations the automaker violated California's emissions and certification standards, according to an announcement made Monday by the California Air Resources Board.

  • May 18, 2026

    P-Funk Founder Sues UMG For $1.1M In Frozen Royalties

    Parliament-Funkadelic frontman George Clinton filed suit Friday in Michigan federal court alleging that music industry giant UMG has illegally withheld more than $1.1 million in royalty payments because of a separate lawsuit pending between Clinton and the estate of Clinton's keyboardist in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

  • May 18, 2026

    Health Co. Wants Kirkland Off IP Case For 'Cardinal Sin'

    A healthcare company suing medical technology company Commure Inc. over alleged trade secret theft has said Kirkland & Ellis LLP should be disqualified from representing Commure because the healthcare company had tried to retain Kirkland prior to filing the suit and shared confidential information before anyone asked who the defendant was going to be.

  • May 18, 2026

    Train Co.'s Claim Construction Dodge Ended IPRs

    Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp.'s attempt to rely on other parties' claim constructions doomed its challenges to Railware Inc. railway traffic control patents, according to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires.

  • May 18, 2026

    Exxon Tells 9th Circ. Calif.'s Plastic Suit Belongs In Fed. Court

    The state of California's claim that Exxon Mobil Corp. is responsible for plastic pollution belongs in federal court, the petroleum giant told a Ninth Circuit panel during a hearing on Monday, arguing that federal courts have admiralty jurisdiction because the litigation targets pollution in navigable waters, among other alleged injuries.

  • May 18, 2026

    Calif. AG Previews Live Nation Remedies At Democratic Forum

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta, one of the state attorneys general of a coalition of states that recently won a jury verdict finding Live Nation illegally established a monopoly over the live music industry, said Monday the next step is a structural overhaul of the conglomerate.

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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