Criminal Practice

  • September 28, 2026

    9th Circ. Rules Cops' Gunpoint Arrest Constitutional

    A Ninth Circuit panel has ruled that two California police officers who allegedly aimed their guns at a compliant suspect acted reasonably and enjoyed qualified immunity protection from the man's civil rights lawsuit, reversing a district court's finding that they may have used unconstitutional excessive force.

  • September 28, 2026

    The Psych Witness Who Transformed Women's Murder Trials

    Psychologist Lenore Walker pioneered the “battered woman syndrome” theory often used in legal defense and has been testifying in women’s murder trials since the 1970s. The public sympathy for Lindsay Clancy’s postpartum psychosis defense is evidence that her work has paid off.

  • September 28, 2026

    Public Defenders Of Ohio Death Penalty Cases To Get Pay Hike

    The Ohio Supreme Court has announced that public defenders in the state assigned to capital punishment cases will be getting an increase in their hourly rate, in a move that the court said reflects the complexity and cost to defend a client facing the death penalty.

  • September 28, 2026

    Mich. Panel Upholds 55-Year Sentence In Toddler Killing

    A man convicted of killing his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter after subjecting her to weeks of abuse cannot overturn his murder and child abuse convictions or his minimum 55-year prison sentence, a Michigan appeals court ruled, rejecting his challenges to hearsay testimony, juror impartiality and his above-guidelines sentences.

  • September 28, 2026

    7th Circ. Backs DHS Drug Informant's Conviction

    A former confidential informant for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who "went rogue" during a narcotics investigation and began selling drugs on the side cannot have his conviction overturned, the Seventh Circuit ruled, saying evidence found in a warrantless search would have been discovered anyway.

  • September 28, 2026

    Harrah's Casino Dealer Admits To Fixing Craps Games In NC

    A dealer at a Harrah's casino in western North Carolina has copped to fixing craps games by allegedly inputting the wrong numbers to make it look like a winning dice roll, according to a plea agreement filed in federal court.

  • September 28, 2026

    OpenAI Says ChatGPT Not Liable For FSU Shooter's Crimes

    OpenAI and its affiliates are urging a Florida federal court to throw out a suit from a woman alleging that its ChatGPT program encouraged the mass shooting at Florida State University in April 2025, saying it could not have known what the shooter planned and had no duty to warn in a way that could have prevented the shooting.

  • September 25, 2026

    Ex-Soldier Gets 70-Month Sentence For Telecom Hack Scheme

    A Washington federal judge on Friday sentenced a former U.S. Army soldier to 70 months in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution for his role in extorting telecommunication companies by hacking their systems and holding sensitive data hostage for ransom.  

  • September 25, 2026

    Colo. Panel Puts Burden On Defense In Coercion Claims

    An appeals court in Colorado has ruled for the first time that an evidentiary hearing is not always necessary to determine whether statements made to police by third-party codefendants were made voluntarily.

  • September 25, 2026

    Atlantic City's Cannabis 'Point Man' Charged With Bribe Scam

    Prosecutors have charged an Atlantic City, New Jersey, public official and school board member with multiple criminal counts, alleging he helped a cannabis business circumvent five-figure fees as the city's cannabis "point man" in exchange for cash and cannabis bribes and the business owner physically assaulting a critic.

  • September 25, 2026

    Balancing The Scales: Concealed Carry, 'Weird' Arguments

    The Eleventh Circuit ruled that police spotting a gun protruding from a defendant’s pocket wasn’t enough to trigger reasonable suspicion in Florida, a state where concealed carry is treated as presumptively legal, and the Fifth Circuit rejected a “weird” argument from a person convicted of being a felon in possession. Here, Law360 highlights access to justice stories arising from litigation, verdicts and judgments you may have missed.

  • September 25, 2026

    A2J At The High Court: Gun Bans, Voting And Civil Remedies

    From the right to own semiautomatic rifles to the rules governing voter registration, the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court term will see the justices tackle a broad swath of constitutional and access to justice issues.

  • September 25, 2026

    This Courtroom Assumption Preceded A White Collar Manhunt

    After a jury convicted former Connecticut state budget official Konstantinos Diamantis of 21 corruption counts, a federal judge assumed prosecutors would not seek immediate incarceration, asking a question that came to preface an international manhunt now underway.

  • September 25, 2026

    Exonerated Detroit Man's Brady Claims Against Cops Survive

    An exonerated man can continue pursuing civil rights claims against three Detroit police officers accused of withholding evidence about an alleged jailhouse informant program that he says contributed to his wrongful conviction in a 1994 triple homicide, a Michigan federal judge has ruled.

  • September 25, 2026

    Pepsi Sued For Negligence Over Worker's 'Perverted Behavior'

    Pepsi has been sued in Georgia court by parents who say a vending machine worker took photographs and videos of middle and high school girls and then used artificial intelligence to modify those images into child pornography.

  • September 25, 2026

    'Unreasonable' Fee Bid Slashed For Wrongful Conviction Attys

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday awarded the attorneys representing a man in a wrongful conviction case less than half their desired amount for work done in pursuit of those fees, ruling that $135,795 was reasonable compensation.

  • September 25, 2026

    COVID Testing Co.'s Ex-COO Pleads Guilty In $500M Fraud

    The former chief operating officer of a COVID-19 testing company pled guilty in Michigan federal court to a healthcare fraud conspiracy allegedly involving more than $500 million in fraudulent insurance claims for services that were not performed as billed.

  • September 25, 2026

    Acquittal Bid In Okla. Bid-Rigging Conviction Denied

    An Oklahoma federal court has rejected an acquittal bid from a man convicted of participating in an erosion control company's bid-rigging conspiracy that allegedly affected over $100 million in publicly funded transportation construction contracts.

  • September 25, 2026

    Judge Bars 'Inhumane' Conditions At NY ICE Facility

    A New York federal court has ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ensure humane conditions and proper counsel access for noncitizen detainees held at its regional office in lower Manhattan, detailing squalid, unconstitutional conditions there during the summer of 2025.

  • September 25, 2026

    Possible Trial In Comey's '86 47' Case Delayed To 2027

    A federal judge in North Carolina on Friday granted a request from former FBI Director James Comey to delay his formal arraignment on charges related to an allegedly threatening photo of seashells he posted online, saying "the gravity of the charges, pending motions, and the need to provide defense counsel additional time to prepare for trial promote need for continuance."

  • September 25, 2026

    Mass. Man Can Try To Undo Plea Over DA Misstatements

    Massachusetts' intermediate appeals court on Friday gave a man a chance to withdraw his guilty plea to an alleged 1999 rape, citing evidence that a prosecutor gave his plea counsel a misleading summary of the DNA evidence.

  • September 24, 2026

    Ex-Tricolor CEO Says Feds Botched Warrants In Fraud Case

    The former CEO of Tricolor Holdings on Thursday urged a Manhattan federal judge to bar any evidence seized from searches of his communications from being used to support accusations that he deceived lenders and investors about the subprime auto lender's assets before it crashed into bankruptcy with $1 billion in debt, saying federal agents ran roughshod over the Fourth Amendment.

  • September 24, 2026

    Split Texas Court Finds Counsel Failures In Fatal Crash Case

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Thursday vacated the felony murder conviction of a man involved in a deadly police-pursuit crash, saying in a split habeas opinion that his trial counsel was ineffective.

  • September 24, 2026

    Feds Fight Bid To DQ Top LA Prosecutor After 9th Circ. Ruling

    The top federal prosecutor in the Central District of California has asked a district judge to delay following a Ninth Circuit ruling against his Nevada counterpart that would bar him from overseeing criminal cases until the U.S. Supreme Court weighs in.

  • September 24, 2026

    Ill. Justices Mull Closed Arb. For Chicago Police Misconduct

    Illinois Supreme Court justices wrestled Thursday with whether the city of Chicago's history of publicly adjudicating allegations of the most serious police misconduct can establish a statewide public policy requiring open proceedings, while questioning a city police union on why transparency and promoting trust in law enforcement don't justify public attendance.

Expert Analysis

  • Checking For AI Errors Is Now A Two-Way Street

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    A handful of recent federal and state cases demonstrate the importance of checking for errors generated by artificial intelligence not only in your own court submissions, but also your opponent's, as well as when catching opposing counsel's AI mistakes could result in an award for attorney fees, says Tamara Barago at Hollingsworth.

  • Opinion

    Congress Must Bolster Wrongful Conviction Framework

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    The Trump administration's recent decision to abandon its flawed “anti-weaponization” fund should not end the conversation about compensating those wronged by the U.S. justice system, — it should open the door for Congress to build a principled system that strengthens and expands the existing framework, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

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    Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

  • Series

    Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

  • 5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

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    The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

  • 2 'Rocket Dockets' And The Rules That Propel Them

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    The fastest civil trial courts in the country are currently in the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of Florida, and their chief judges provide insights into the court rules that keep them ahead, says Robert Tata at Hunton.

  • Opinion

    Attys Should Aid Clients' AI Use While Safeguarding Privilege

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    Until legislatures enact laws expressly extending privilege to artificial intelligence queries, lawyers should try to shield their clients' case-related use of AI tools by offering them dedicated access on firms' enterprise accounts and utilizing a long-standing privilege precedent, says Joseph Rillotta at Meadows Collier.

  • Your Next Litigation Hold Should Cover AI Chat Logs

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    The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent decision in Fortis Advisors v. Krafton to treat a CEO’s artificial intelligence chats as substantive evidence is being read as a discovery warning to litigators, but there is a second duty-to-preserve lesson that is especially pertinent to in-house counsel, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

  • 'Operation Hard Money' Marks New Phase In Synthetic ID Fraud

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    A recent California mortgage fraud case dubbed "Operation Hard Money" shows synthetic identities are increasingly key to mortgage and money laundering schemes, so lenders would be wise to integrate verification and behavioral monitoring as fraud powered by artificial intelligence creates larger losses and recovery challenges, says Neal Levin at Rimon.

  • Series

    Studying Foreign Languages Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Studying Italian and Japanese has shown me that learning a new language can benefit a legal career in several ways, including by demonstrating the importance of approaching problems from a fresh perspective and the value of practicing patience with colleagues and clients, says Anna King at Genworth Financial.

  • 6th Circ. Ruling Broadest So Far In Wave Of Habeas Decisions

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    The Sixth Circuit’s recent opinion in Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft provides the most developed structural reasoning among rulings in a widening circuit split over mandatory detention after undocumented entry into the U.S., and supplies immigration practitioners a template for due process arguments in favor of habeas relief, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • Opinion

    Murdaugh Reversal Masks Deeper Justice System Issues

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    The South Carolina Supreme Court's recent reversal of Alex Murdaugh's murder conviction leans heavily on improper jury influence by an ex-county clerk of court while underbilling other errors in the case, which are emblematic of larger issues with the justice system, says Barry Edwards at Fair Trial Analysis.

  • Tax Teams Get No Bright-Line Rule From AI Privilege Cases

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    Three recent appellate decisions that considered artificial intelligence in the context of attorney-client privilege protections illustrate that taxpayers and tax practitioners alike must consider the pertinent facts on a case-by-case basis, with particular attention to confidentiality, disclosure risk and system design, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    NY Times Word Puzzles Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Every morning I let The New York Times humble me with word games, which offer a chance to recalibrate my brain before the day's chaos arrives and remind me that a solution — whether to a puzzle or employment law issue — almost always exists once I find the right angle, says Amy Epstein Gluck at Pierson Ferdinand.

  • 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.

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