Criminal Practice

  • July 10, 2026

    Over 2,600 Attys, Professionals Urge Blocking Blanche As AG

    More than 2,600 lawyers and legal professionals on Friday urged lawmakers to oppose the nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general, saying Blanche's dismissal of the idea that the U.S. Department of Justice should be independent from the White House and his record as interim attorney general make him unfit for the role.

  • July 10, 2026

    What To Know About New US Atty For Texas' Southern District

    Aaron Reitz, who was previously a top deputy to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and served in the U.S. Department of Justice before a failed bid for state attorney general, is now U.S. attorney for the Lone Star State's Southern District.

  • July 10, 2026

    Brooklyn Legal Aid Provider's Union Sets Strike Deadline

    The union for the Brooklyn Defender Services has voted to authorize a strike if it doesn't reach an agreement with managers by the morning of July 16.

  • July 09, 2026

    Ohio Justices Say Juries Can Sort Out Carbon-Copy Counts

    A divided Ohio Supreme Court held that in cases where a criminal defendant faces multiple carbon-copy charges in an indictment, jury instructions are not required to assign specific unique conduct to each count in order for a jury to convict.

  • July 09, 2026

    Feds Seek Stay In Soldier's Maduro Raid Betting Civil Suit

    Federal prosecutors urged a New York federal judge to halt a civil lawsuit accusing a U.S. Army sergeant of profiting from Polymarket bets he made about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's capture after helping plan the raid, while parallel criminal proceedings play out.

  • July 09, 2026

    Mass. Justices Affirm Posttrial Forensic Exam Of Cellphones

    Massachusetts' highest court said Thursday that a man convicted of murder may seek posttrial access to cellphones to look for potential evidence in support of a new trial, explaining that a 2012 statute expanding access to forensic testing for biological material also applies to digital and electronic evidence.

  • July 09, 2026

    Chicago US Atty Faces Ill. Judge For Discussing Sealed Case

    Chicago's U.S. attorney stood silent for nearly 30 minutes Thursday as an Illinois magistrate judge sternly criticized him for publicly discussing a gang-related kidnapping case before it was officially unsealed, though she stopped short of finding his conduct constituted a deliberate violation of court orders.

  • July 09, 2026

    Gynecologist Who Improperly Reused Devices Gets 20 Years

    A Memphis gynecologist was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday in Tennessee federal court after being convicted in a case where he was accused of repeatedly inserting dirty, single-use medical devices into patients' vaginas for hysteroscopies and submitting reimbursement claims for medically unnecessary procedures. 

  • July 09, 2026

    NJ Justices OK Review Of Accuser's Mental Health Records

    A divided New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a criminal defendant accused of sexually assaulting his niece made the rare showing required to obtain a judge's private review of the alleged victim's mental health records, finding a trial court properly applied the state's heightened discovery standard.

  • July 09, 2026

    5th Circ. Backs Cops In Texas Detainee Death Suit

    The Fifth Circuit has ruled that three police officers were correctly granted qualified immunity from a civil lawsuit alleging they were deliberately indifferent to a man in their custody who died as a result of a mistreated medical emergency.

  • July 09, 2026

    RICO Defendant Says Claims Target Protected Activity

    An attorney named in a business owner's sprawling racketeering suit against his former business partner and numerous alleged co-conspirators has asked a California federal judge to throw out the claims, arguing the lawyer's actions were protected litigation activity and that the business owner lacks standing to sue.

  • July 09, 2026

    4th Circ. Rebuffs Tax Attys' Request To Rethink Convictions

    The Fourth Circuit will not rethink its decision last month affirming the convictions of two St. Louis attorneys accused of engineering a $22 million tax avoidance scheme.

  • July 09, 2026

    Ex-Wis. Judge Appeals Conviction In ICE Obstruction Case

    A former Wisconsin state judge convicted of obstructing immigration authorities trying to arrest a defendant after he appeared in her courtroom lodged an appeal before the Seventh Circuit on Thursday, after avoiding a prison sentence but being fined $5,000.

  • July 08, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Salvadoran Prison Conditions Were Overlooked

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday said an immigration judge failed to consider the possible abuse a man fighting deportation could face in El Salvadoran prisons because of inhumane conditions and human rights abuses.

  • July 08, 2026

    Conn. Justices Grant New Murder Trial Over Bad Jury Warning

    The Connecticut Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a man convicted of shooting his friend in the head inside an abandoned warehouse deserves a new trial because a needed jury instruction wasn't given in his original trial.

  • July 08, 2026

    5th Circ. Bars Appeal In Child Sex Abuse Material Case

    A man who pled guilty to transporting child sex abuse material and was sentenced to 20 years in prison cannot challenge his sentence or a $17,500 restitution order, since he waived his right to appeal, the Fifth Circuit said Tuesday.

  • July 08, 2026

    Former DOE Worker Avoids Prison For Bribery Scheme

    A former U.S. Department of Energy employee who pled guilty to trying to bribe a colleague in exchange for government contracts for his consulting company was sentenced Wednesday to probation in Massachusetts federal court.

  • July 08, 2026

    Mich. Man Says Criticism, Not Crime, Drove Prosecution

    A Michigan man argued Wednesday that suburban Detroit officials launched a criminal stalking investigation within days of his criticism of a city manager to silence his protected speech, urging a federal judge to deny the officials' bid for summary judgment.

  • July 08, 2026

    Mich. Justices Void LSD User's Rape Confession, Order Retrial

    The Michigan Supreme Court has granted a new trial to a man convicted of sexually assaulting his friend while on LSD, saying jurors should not have heard testimony that the defendant confessed while he was still confused and intoxicated.

  • July 08, 2026

    Ill. Feds Fight Discovery, But Not Fees, In ICE Protest Case

    The U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago has agreed that a group of anti-ICE protesters whose criminal case was dismissed when prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury that indicted them came to light is entitled to recover attorney fees, but argued Tuesday that their bid to conduct discovery into any bad faith by the government amounted to a "fishing expedition."

  • July 08, 2026

    1st Circ. Backs Gov't Probe Of Sex Offender's File Sharing

    The First Circuit said a Massachusetts man convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his activity on an anonymous peer-to-peer file-sharing network, affirming a district court's ruling.

  • July 08, 2026

    Nadine Menendez Loses Bid To Delay Prison For Surgery

    A New York federal judge on Wednesday denied Nadine Menendez's request to postpone her prison surrender by more than three months so she could complete breast cancer-related reconstructive surgeries, rejecting the request after a telephone conference with the parties.

  • July 08, 2026

    Wis. Judge Avoids Prison Time In ICE Obstruction Sentence

    A former Wisconsin state judge on Wednesday was fined $5,000 but will not serve prison time for obstructing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest of a defendant in her courtroom by directing him down a private hallway away from agents before he was later captured.

  • July 08, 2026

    Florida Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

    New lawsuits over ChatGPT's role in a mass shooting on a Florida campus and a U.S. Supreme Court case that could upend most criminal trials in Florida are some of the litigation that the state's attorneys will be watching in the second half of 2026. ​​​​​​​Here, Law360 takes a look.

  • July 07, 2026

    DOJ's 2020 Fulton County Election Staff Subpoena Quashed

    A Georgia federal judge Tuesday quashed a U.S. Department of Justice grand jury subpoena for names and other information of those in Fulton County who worked during the 2020 general election, saying it was too late for the DOJ to possibly prosecute anyone for any related election crimes.

Expert Analysis

  • Laptop Farms Highlight Identity Fraud Risks Of Remote Work

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    Two U.S. nationals' recent sentencing in Massachusetts federal court for a scheme that enabled foreign operatives to obtain remote jobs at U.S. companies using stolen identities is a reminder that employers must recalibrate their remote hiring, onboarding and monitoring practices to mitigate evolving cybersecurity and geopolitical risks, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

  • Roundup

    The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

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    This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

  • Fighting The Evidentiary Risks Of Deepfakes In Court

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    Though courts and federal rules are only slowly developing frameworks for assessing digital evidence that could have been created or generated by artificial intelligence, litigators should understand what steps they'll likely need to take to successfully challenge potentially deepfaked exhibits — and fight questions about the authenticity of their own, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • Justices Stand On Statutory Specifics In Cisco And Landor

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    With its June 23 decisions in Cisco Systems Inc. v. Doe and Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety, the U.S. Supreme Court doubled down on the critical point that the statute invoked in a federal claim must authorize a private lawsuit and the remedy sought, says Patrick Judd at Phelps Dunbar.

  • Justices' Concurrences Foretell Fault Line On Appeal Waivers

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled 8-1 in Hunter v. U.S. that appeal waivers that produce a miscarriage of justice are unenforceable, but the decision's concurrences indicate future divisions over whether this exception will be used as a rare safety valve or to police ordinary but troubling plea errors, say attorneys at RJO.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

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    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • 3 Litigation Strategies To Stay Ahead Of Bad Facts

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    A case with damaging facts can still be won if, instead of avoiding the facts, attorneys proactively address them by carefully selecting a strategy of confronting, containing or reframing, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

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    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

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    An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

  • How McDonnell Still Shapes Bribery Defense Strategy

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    The pending federal bribery allegations against Washington, D.C., Council member Trayon White Sr. highlight for defense counsel the importance of overcoming the “official act” requirement established by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McDonnell v. U.S., and juries' critical role in distinguishing between official and unofficial acts, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Opinion

    State Courts Must Be Gatekeepers Of Expert Testimony

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    Based on my experience in the state judiciary, emulating federal courts' role as gatekeepers of expert witness testimony would help state court judges maintain the appearance of impartiality and assist juries, thus enhancing the overall confidence people have in their justice system, says Lorie Gildea at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Series

    Moshing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Entering a mosh pit is much like entering the practice of law — it is difficult, you have to know both the written and unwritten rules, and conduct yourself according to the expectations of each community, says Christopher Deubert at Constangy Brooks.

  • High Court Ruling Casts Doubt On Status-Based Gun Bans

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Hemani demonstrates that the justices are increasingly skeptical of broad theories of categorical disarmament and clarifies that dangerousness cannot simply be presumed from one's status or membership in a statutory category, such as illegal drug use, says Lee Francis at Widener Law.

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