Commercial Contracts

  • April 29, 2026

    Consultant Says Venezuela Work Didn't Require FARA Filing

    The government did not prove that political consultant Esther Nuhfer was operating in bad faith when she worked with former Florida congressman David Rivera under a $50 million contract with a unit of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Nuhfer's attorney said Wednesday in his final pitch to jurors.

  • April 29, 2026

    5th Circ. Calls Firm's Bid To Arbitrate $70M Award 'A Stretch'

    A Fifth Circuit panel seemed dubious of a law firm's argument that a federal court lacked jurisdiction over a claim that it shuffled assets to avoid paying an arbitration award that totaled $70 million, saying Wednesday that the firm's argument was "a stretch."

  • April 29, 2026

    Charcoal Substitute Startup Accused Of Stealing $500K

    A Wyoming-based holding company owned by a Colorado family claimed in state court Tuesday that the owners of a now-defunct facility that produced a charcoal substitute fleeced them out of $500,000 by making false assertions about the business and its financial health.

  • April 29, 2026

    Tech Groups Urge Court To Find AI Training Is Fair Use

    Five technology industry groups have urged a California federal judge overseeing a suit accusing Anthropic of infringing copyrighted music to train the artificial intelligence model Claude to find that such activity falls under the umbrella of fair use. 

  • April 29, 2026

    Subcontractor Says Lockheed Must Pay Up After Contract Ax

    An engineering firm urged a Colorado federal judge to reject Lockheed Martin's attempt to evade claims the company failed to pay for work already performed under an engineering subcontract, saying the judge already rejected the same arguments in another case.

  • April 29, 2026

    Music Cos. Must Share Social Media Deals With DSW

    Several music companies within Warner Music Group that are suing DSW over alleged improper use of their music in social media videos must turn over licensing agreements they have with social media companies, an Ohio federal judge has ordered.

  • April 29, 2026

    3 Federal Circuit Clashes To Watch In May

    The Federal Circuit's May argument slate includes appeals of invalidity decisions and sanctions tied to VLSI Technology's multibillion-dollar chip patent dispute with Intel, as well as Amazon's challenge to a cloud storage patent verdict against it for over half a billion dollars.

  • April 29, 2026

    Lender Seeks Receivership Over $8M Pot Shop Default

    A lender says a pot dispensary across from Fenway Park owes it $8 million and should be placed into receivership, the latest in a series of lawsuits against one of Massachusetts' first social equity cannabis license recipients.

  • April 29, 2026

    Dollar General Can't Kick Tobacco Fee Suit To Arbitration

    Dollar General can't kibosh a proposed class action claiming it unlawfully charged employees who use tobacco nearly $500 more per year for health benefits, with a Tennessee federal judge ruling the company hadn't properly addressed how an exclusion in its arbitration agreement applied to the case.

  • April 29, 2026

    Rambus Being Probed By DOJ Antitrust Unit

    Rambus has received a grand jury subpoena in connection to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, according to an investor filing from the chipmaker and technology company.

  • April 29, 2026

    Atkore To Pay $136.5M To Settle PVC Pipe Antitrust Claims

    Atkore Inc. has struck two deals to end claims against it in sprawling litigation accusing polyvinyl chloride pipe producers of conspiring to fix prices, agreeing to pay $72.5 million to a class of direct purchasers and another $64 million to another class of buyers.

  • April 29, 2026

    5th Circ. Will Rehear Aetna Arbitration Bid In Aramark Suit

    The full Fifth Circuit will reconsider insurance company Aetna's bid to force uniform and food services company Aramark to arbitrate its dispute over employee health benefit claims, staying a panel's ruling from December that had kept proceedings in court.

  • April 29, 2026

    Del. High Court Affirms Dismissal Of FTX Claim Deal Suit

    The Delaware Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's dismissal of a dispute over a failed attempt to purchase a multimillion-dollar claim tied to the collapse of onetime crypto giant FTX Trading Ltd., affirming that the case does not belong in Delaware courts.

  • April 29, 2026

    10,000 Native Okla. Landowners Owed Oil Royalties, Suit Says

    Five Oklahoma tribal members are asking a Federal Claims Court to order the U.S. government to provide a full accounting of oil and gas leasing royalties they say are owed to more than 10,000 Indigenous landowners, arguing it failed to properly manage the funds.

  • April 29, 2026

    Snack Maker Says Liberty Mutual Owes For Failed Build Costs

    The maker of Little Debbie snacks has filed a federal complaint arguing that Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. must make good on construction bonds and cover millions of dollars in damages and legal expenses stemming from a construction company's failure to finish work on a plant in Tennessee.

  • April 29, 2026

    South African Investors Seek $2.3M From Disbarred Ga. Atty

    A group of South African investors who said their escrow funds were stolen by a now-disbarred Georgia lawyer has asked a federal judge to award them over $2.3 million in punitive damages atop the hundreds of thousands of dollars they allegedly lost to the attorney.

  • April 28, 2026

    Duracell Loses Bid To Ax BASF's Lithium Battery Secrets Suit

    Battery-maker Duracell cannot escape chemical company BASF Corp.'s lawsuit accusing it of stealing trade secrets about its lithium battery technology after gaining access to the information through a cooperation agreement, a Delaware federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • April 28, 2026

    Canoo's Ex-Internal Audit Head Settles Insider Trading Claims

    Bankrupt electric vehicle startup Canoo's former senior director of internal audit and controls has agreed to pay roughly $125,900 to settle the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's insider trading allegations against him, according to a final judgment entered Tuesday in Texas federal court.

  • April 28, 2026

    Musk Testifies Altman 'Looting' OpenAI Charity For Own Gain

    Billionaire Elon Musk testified in a California federal jury trial Tuesday that OpenAI executives Sam Altman and Greg Brockman illegally converted OpenAI into a for-profit company after he invested $38 million under the condition the ChatGPT-maker would remain a nonprofit, creating a potential precedent for "looting in every charity in America."

  • April 28, 2026

    Smoke Shop Blames Vape Co. For Raids And Frozen $5M

    Two Texas smoke shop owners claim they suffered police raids, arrests and nearly $5 million of their business funds being frozen, all because one of their vape suppliers, Delta Munchies LLC, sold them products containing illicit levels of THC despite marketing them as legal hemp, according to a lawsuit filed in Texas state court.

  • April 28, 2026

    Islamic Charity Seeks Private Arbitration Of 'Smear Campaign'

    A U.K. Islamic relief charity has urged a New York federal judge to compel to confidential arbitration a lawsuit by a former U.S.-based partner that some of its members founded, claiming it is running a "smear campaign" against the charity due to political pressure from Congress.

  • April 28, 2026

    Parents Fight Phillies Player's MLB Pay Control Suit

    The parents of Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm have hit back against allegations that they mismanaged his finances, telling a Pennsylvania state court that they have taken only prudent steps to protect their son's earnings.

  • April 28, 2026

    SF Lands Deal With Oakland Over Airport Name IP Fight

    San Francisco has struck a deal with the Port of Oakland that ends a trademark infringement suit over Oakland's renaming of its airport that allows the East Bay city to use the name "Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport," the parties announced Tuesday.

  • April 28, 2026

    Citizens Bank Owed $470K After Case Went 'Off The Rails'

    Pittsburgh-area construction firm Marco Contractors Inc. must pay Citizens Bank approximately $470,000 in sanctions to remedy the harm the contractor caused by deleting emails that were key to its claims that the bank should have caught an $8.7 million embezzlement scheme, a Pennsylvania federal court ruled alongside an order tossing the litigation. 

  • April 28, 2026

    Ex-Rep.'s Anti-Maduro Stance Was 'Facade,' Jury Hears

    Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera's public opposition to the regime of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was just a "facade" as he secretly worked on behalf of the government under a $50 million contract with a unit of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, federal prosecutors told jurors on Tuesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Teaching Logic Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Teaching middle and high school students the skills to untangle complicated arguments and identify faulty reasoning has made me reacquaint myself with the defined structure of thought, reminding me why logic should remain foundational in the practice of law, says Tom Barrow at Woods Rogers.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Resilience

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    Resilience is a skill acquired through daily practices that focus on learning from missteps, recovering quickly without internalizing defeat and moving forward with intention, says Nicholas Meza at Quarles & Brady.

  • NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

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    Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Dispatches From Utah's Newest Court

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    While a robust body of law hasn't yet developed since the Utah Business and Chancery Court's founding in October 2024, the number of cases filed there has recently picked up, and its existence illustrates Utah's desire to be top of mind for businesses across the country, says Evan Strassberg at Michael Best.

  • Aerospace And Defense Law: Trends To Follow In 2026

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    Some of the key 2026 developments to watch in aerospace and defense contracting law stem from provisions of this year's National Defense Authorization Act, a push to reform procurement, executive orders that announced Trump administration priorities, the upcoming Artemis space mission and continuing efforts to deploy artificial intelligence, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • 4 Quick Emotional Resets For Lawyers With Conflict Fatigue

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    Though the emotional wear and tear of legal work can trap attorneys in conflict fatigue — leaving them unable to shake off tense interactions or return to a calm baseline — simple therapeutic techniques for resetting the nervous system can help break the cycle, says Chantel Cohen at CWC Coaching & Therapy.

  • 2 Rulings Showcase Fuzzy Limits Of 'Related To' Jurisdiction

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    The Fifth and Ninth Circuits recently handed down decisions, in Sanchez Energy and Sawtelle Partners, respectively, reminding practitioners that bankruptcy court jurisdiction over lingering disputes is not guaranteed, regardless of whether confirmation orders contain specific "retention of jurisdiction" language, says Brian Shaw at Cozen O’Connor.

  • 3 Key Ohio Financial Services Developments From 2025

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    Ohio's banking and financial services sector saw particularly notable developments in 2025, including a significant Ohio Supreme Court decision on creditor disclosure duties to guarantors in Huntington National Bank v. Schneider, and some major proposed changes to the state's Homebuyer Plus program, says Alex Durst at Durst Kerridge.

  • AI Licensing Suit Exhibits Pitfalls Of Vague Contract Terms

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    Fastcase Inc. v. Alexi Technologies, a case in District of Columbia federal court, demonstrates the potential consequences of vaguely drafted contract terms amid unforeseen technological advances, but there is practical guidance parties may employ to mitigate the potential for similar contract disputes, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

  • Series

    Playing Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    An instinct to turn pain into purpose meant frequent trips to the tennis court, where learning to move ahead one point at a time was a lesson that also applied to the steep learning curve of patent prosecution law, says Daniel Henry at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: January Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five rulings from October and November, and identifies practice tips from cases involving consumer fraud, oil and gas leases, toxic torts, and wage and hour issues.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Judicial Use Informs Guardrails

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    U.S. Magistrate Judge Maritza Dominguez Braswell at the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado discusses why having a sense of how generative AI tools behave, where they add value, where they introduce risk and how they are reshaping the practice of law is key for today's judges.

  • Navigating Battery Validation Risk In The EV Supply Chain

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    Vehicle electrification has moved battery system supply chains from a background component into the center of the automotive universe — and for legal teams, battery validation is now a driver of contractual disputes, regulatory exposure and even shareholder litigation, say Samuel Madden at Secretariat Advisors and Vanessa Miller at Foley & Lardner.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: 5 Tips From Ex-SEC Unit Chief

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    My move to private practice has reaffirmed my belief in the value of adaptability, collaboration and strategic thinking — qualities that are essential not only for successful client outcomes, but also for sustained professional satisfaction, says Dabney O’Riordan at Fried Frank.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: How To Start A Law Firm

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    Launching and sustaining a law firm requires skills most law schools don't teach, but every lawyer should understand a few core principles that can make the leap calculated rather than reckless, says Sam Katz at Athlaw.

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