Criminal Practice

  • August 24, 2026

    11th Circ. Says Sudden Snatching Is A Deportable Crime

    The Eleventh Circuit has denied a Trinidad and Tobago native's petition to review a decision deeming him removable for his conviction for robbery by sudden snatching, saying the crime is indeed a deportable offense.

  • August 24, 2026

    Rising Star: Hecker Fink's Jeffrey Then

    Jeffrey Then of Hecker Fink LLP helped secure the dismissal of human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia in one of the country's most closely watched criminal cases and prevailed in his first federal appellate argument on behalf of an incarcerated man's religious freedom claims, earning him a spot among the criminal law attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

  • August 24, 2026

    Dems Seek GAO Review Of Federal Agencies Hacking Americans

    U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement, have requested that the Government Accountability Office conduct a comprehensive review of federal law enforcement agencies' hacking of Americans' electronic devices.

  • August 24, 2026

    Feds Seek Early End To Commodities Firm Bribery Case DPA

    Federal prosecutors have moved to release a Connecticut-based commodities firm from a deferred prosecution agreement nearly four months early, telling a judge Monday that Freepoint Commodities LLC has satisfied its obligations and paid more than $106 million to resolve allegations that it bribed Brazilian government officials.

  • August 21, 2026

    Vandy Law Grad Can Keep Hidden-Evidence Suit Against Attys

    A Connecticut federal judge ruled Friday that a Vanderbilt Law School graduate can continue a suit against the town of Westport and two attorneys who defended him in a criminal case when he was a teen and, he claims, helped cover up critical information — causing him to be incarcerated.

  • August 21, 2026

    Ex-Abercrombie CEO Fit For Sex-Trafficking Trial

    A Brooklyn federal judge found Friday that former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries is mentally fit to stand trial for sex trafficking after a four-month rehabilitation committal.

  • August 21, 2026

    Divided 2nd Circ. Backs DQ Of Acting NDNY US Attorney

    The Second Circuit on Friday upheld a lower court's decision that found the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, John Sarcone III, was unlawfully serving in his position when he obtained grand jury subpoenas of the New York attorney general's office.

  • August 21, 2026

    Colo. Appeals Panel Clarifies Destruction Of Wildlife Statute

    A Colorado Court of Appeals panel Thursday provided clarification on the state's willful destruction of wildlife statute, finding that a hunter who abandoned an animal carcass after collecting only its trophy parts without intending to return violated the law even if they returned at a later date.

  • August 21, 2026

    Calif. Panel Creates Exception To Successive Prosecution Ban

    A California state appeals court panel has upheld the convictions of a man who illegally bought large-capacity magazines, creating a new exception to a rule barring successive prosecutions for multiple related crimes that have already resulted in judgments.

  • August 21, 2026

    Ex-CIA Analyst Loses Bid To Bar FBI Interview In FARA Case

    A former CIA analyst accused of aiding the South Korean government without proper registration can't suppress statements she made to FBI agents in a series of interviews that lasted more than six hours, a New York federal judge has ruled.

  • August 21, 2026

    Balancing The Scales: Diminished Capacity, Sentencing Rules

    The Michigan Supreme Court has overturned 25 years of state precedent by reviving the diminished capacity defense, and the justices in Pennsylvania said the Legislature is out of time to craft new sentencing guidelines for second-degree murder. Here, Law360 highlights access to justice stories arising from litigation, verdicts and judgments you may have missed.

  • August 21, 2026

    Hall Booth Fights Malpractice Discovery Amid Appeal

    Hall Booth Smith PC and two of its attorneys on Friday asked the North Carolina appeals court to pause a legal malpractice suit against it from the court-appointed receiver for two wrongfully convicted brothers awarded millions in an underlying suit, arguing their appeal challenging jurisdiction should be handled first.

  • August 21, 2026

    Ex-Tenn. AUSA Charged With Federal-Official Murder Threats

    A former Tennessee assistant U.S. attorney was indicted on 12 counts of threatening to murder law enforcement officers and members of their immediate family, according to federal prosecutors.

  • August 24, 2026

    CORRECTED: 3rd Circ. Rules Jury Instruction Didn't Trigger New Trial

    In a precedential ruling Friday, the Third Circuit reversed an order granting a man a new trial on drug charges, ruling that while the trial judge should not have told a deadlocked jury that jurors "have to" come up with a verdict, which eventually resulted in the defendant being found guilty, the instruction wasn't "unduly coercive." 

  • August 21, 2026

    Trump Says Pardon Atty Ed Martin Leaving For Midterms

    U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin will be leaving the administration to work on the midterm elections, President Donald Trump announced on Friday.

  • August 21, 2026

    DNA Can Prove Your Innocence — If They Let You Test It

    Since the mid-1980s, DNA testing has exonerated hundreds of wrongfully convicted people and reshaped the criminal justice system. Rodney Reed's decadeslong unsuccessful effort to test the belt prosecutors say he used to kill a woman, however, shows how difficult access to post-conviction DNA testing can be, even for prisoners with credible innocence claims.

  • August 21, 2026

    Fla. Panel Cuts Juvie Sentence Over Double Jeopardy Finding

    A Florida appeals court has ruled that a juvenile must have one of her two resisting arrest charges dropped and be resentenced accordingly, finding that double jeopardy rules bar the second charge because they both stemmed from the same incident.

  • August 21, 2026

    8th Circ. Won't Revisit Cannabis User's Gun Conviction

    The Eighth Circuit on Thursday declined to revisit its decision to preserve a man's conviction for possessing a firearm while being a user of cannabis.

  • August 21, 2026

    Gov't To Take 9th Circ.'s Bar Of Nev. US Atty To High Court

    The U.S. government asked the Ninth Circuit to stay its ruling disqualifying Nevada's top prosecutor from assuming that role without Senate confirmation, saying it plans to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • August 21, 2026

    Judge's Job Bid Sinks Conn. Atty's Homicide Conviction

    Former Cramer & Anderson LLP partner Robert L. Fisher Jr. is entitled to a new manslaughter trial because the presiding judge at his original trial "created an appearance of a lack of impartiality" when he did not disclose to the parties that he had applied for an oversight job with the state prosecutor's office, an appeals court ruled Friday.

  • August 20, 2026

    10th Circ. Backs Immunity In Shooting Of Man Aiming At K-9

    The Tenth Circuit has upheld a grant of qualified immunity to four Colorado police officers who fatally shot a man after he drew a gun on a police dog during an armed standoff, saying a lawsuit filed by his estate failed to show officers clearly violated his constitutional rights.

  • August 20, 2026

    Colo. Panel OKs Suspect's DNA Collection From Trash

    A divided Colorado state appeals court panel Thursday ruled that investigators did not need a warrant to collect a cold-case murder suspect's DNA from garbage he left in a publicly shared dumpster, saying abandoned property is not subject to privacy protections.

  • August 20, 2026

    Mich. Appeals Court Bars Hearing Testimony At Murder Retrial

    A Michigan state appeals court has ruled that testimony provided by witnesses at a hearing where a defendant argued he had ineffective counsel at his murder trial cannot be used in an upcoming new trial, even though the hearing witnesses are not available to testify again.

  • August 20, 2026

    Ex-Michigan Judge To Lead Macomb Conviction Integrity Unit

    Former Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Mary Chrzanowski will step into a new role as the chief of the Macomb County Prosecutor's Conviction Integrity Unit at the end of the month, the county prosecutor's office said Thursday.

  • August 20, 2026

    Staffing Co. Owner Charged In $7M Employment Tax Scheme

    A Philadelphia business owner was charged Thursday with filing false tax returns and failing to pay $7 million in payroll taxes owed to the IRS from his staffing agency, which federal prosecutors say provided companies with workers who were ineligible for employment in the U.S.

Expert Analysis

  • Prisoners' Access To Health Info Should Have No Bars

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    To safeguard against unnecessary deaths in custody, courts and policymakers should clarify that incarcerated individuals’ constitutional right to medical care also includes access to sufficient information about their medical conditions, lifting current restrictions that can lead to crucial information being withheld, says Jaehyun Oh at Jacob Fuchsberg Law.

  • Key False Claims Act Trends From The Last Year

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    The False Claims Act remains a powerful enforcement tool after some record verdicts and settlements in 2025, and while traditional fraud areas remain a priority, new initiatives are raising questions about its expanding application, says Veronica Nannis at Joseph Greenwald.

  • Reel Justice: 'Die My Love' And The Power Of Visuals At Trial

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    The powerful use of imagery to capture the protagonist’s experience of postpartum depression in “Die My Love” reminds attorneys that visuals at trial can persuade jurors more than words alone, so they should strategically wield a new federal evidence rule allowing for illustrative aids, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

  • Series

    Hosting Exchange Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Opening my home to foreign exchange students makes me a better lawyer not just because prioritizing visiting high schoolers forces me to hone my organization and time management skills but also because sharing the study-abroad experience with newcomers and locals reconnects me to my community, says Alison Lippa at Nicolaides Fink.

  • Postconviction Law In 2026: A Recalibration, Not A Revolution

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    As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to issue decisions in several federal postconviction cases in the coming months, the justices appear focused on restoring coherence to a system in which sentencing modification, collateral review and finality increasingly overlap, and success for practitioners will depend on strategic clarity, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • How A 1947 Tugboat Ruling May Shape Work Product In AI Era

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    Rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence test work-product principles first articulated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s nearly 80-year-old Hickman v. Taylor decision, as courts and ethics bodies confront whether disclosure of attorneys’ AI prompts and outputs would reveal their thought processes, say Larry Silver and Sasha Burton at Langsam Stevens.

  • Opinion

    Faulty Legal Assumptions Obscure Police Self-Defense Law

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    As illustrated by the public commentary surrounding the shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an immigration agent, lawyers sometimes have mistaken assumptions about the applicability of self-defense when law enforcement officers deploy deadly force, but the governing legal standard is clear, says Markus Funk at White & Case.

  • Navigating Privilege Law Patchwork In Dual-Purpose Comms

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    Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to resolve a circuit split in In re: Grand Jury, federal courts remain split as to when attorney-client privilege applies to dual-purpose legal and business communications, and understanding the fragmented landscape is essential for managing risks, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Fly-Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Much like skilled attorneys, the best anglers prize preparation, presentation and patience while respecting their adversaries — both human and trout, says Rob Braverman at Braverman Greenspun.

  • 4 Ways GCs Can Manage Growing Service Of Process Volume

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    As automation and arbitration increase the volume of legal filings, in-house counsel must build scalable service of process systems that strengthen corporate governance and manage risk in real time, says Paul Mathews at Corporation Service Co.

  • Series

    The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Forming Measurable Ties

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    Relationship-building should begin as early as possible in a law firm merger, as intentional pathways to bringing people together drive collaboration, positive client response, engagements and growth, says Amie Colby at Troutman.

  • 5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2026 And Beyond

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    2026 will likely be shaped by issues ranging from artificial intelligence regulatory turbulence to potential evidence rule changes, and e-discovery professionals will need to understand how to effectively guide the responsible and defensible adoption of emerging tools, while also ensuring effective safeguards, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Boost Access To Justice

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    Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Samuel A. Thumma writes that generative artificial intelligence tools offer a profound opportunity to enhance access to justice and engender public confidence in courts’ use of technology, and judges can seize this opportunity in five key ways.

  • Opinion

    The Case For Emulating, Not Dividing, The Ninth Circuit

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    Champions for improved judicial administration should reject the unfounded criticisms driving recent Senate proposals to divide the Ninth Circuit and instead seek to replicate the court's unique strengths and successes, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

  • 3 DC Circ. Rulings Signal Shift In Search And Seizure Doctrine

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    A trio of decisions from courts in the District of Columbia Circuit, including a recent order compelling prosecutors to return materials seized from James Comey’s former attorney, makes clear that continued government possession of digital evidence may implicate the Fourth Amendment, says Gregory Rosen at RJO.

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