Illinois

  • August 31, 2026

    Judge Trims Claims In Insurance Software Trade Secret Case

    A federal judge in Chicago on Monday issued a mixed ruling in a case brought by a company that makes insurance agency management software against a rival that it claims created a fake insurance company to steal trade secrets, dismissing some claims but preserving others for trade secret misappropriation and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

  • August 31, 2026

    Ill. Panel Says E-Monitoring Law Doesn't Bar Pretrial Release

    An Illinois state appeals court has vacated a trial court's decision to keep a teenage murder defendant incarcerated before trial, saying a state law forbidding electronic home monitoring for people convicted of serious crimes does not apply to those released on bond pending trial.

  • August 31, 2026

    States Ask Fed. Circ. To Revive Their Temporary Tariff Claims

    Two dozen states pushed the Federal Circuit on Monday to revive their specific claims against now-expired temporary tariffs while simultaneously pushing the panel to otherwise back the U.S. Court of International Trade's ruling that the tariffs were illegal.

  • August 31, 2026

    Hospital Ex-Exec Pleads Not Guilty To $239M Testing Fraud

    A former Chicago hospital executive who stopped fighting extradition to face fraud, money laundering, embezzlement and several other U.S. criminal charges pled not guilty Monday to prosecutors' accusation that he stole more than $239 million in a COVID-19 testing fraud scheme.

  • August 31, 2026

    Mead Johnson Prevails In 1st Infant Formula MDL Trial

    An Illinois federal jury sided with Mead Johnson on Monday in a lawsuit claiming its infant formula caused a premature baby boy to develop a fatal intestinal disease, rejecting his mother's claims that the company should be held liable for making a defective product and failing to adequately warn doctors of the risks associated with it.

  • August 31, 2026

    Feds Say New USPS Mail-In Ballot Rule Isn't A 'Takeover'

    A new U.S. Postal Service rule compelling states to submit voters' names to the federal government and redesign envelopes in order to have mail-in ballots delivered in November imposes "modest" requirements and is not a "federal takeover of elections," the Trump administration told a Massachusetts federal judge in a weekend filing.

  • August 31, 2026

    Feds' Crackdown Targets Commercial Trucking Fraud

    The Trump administration said Monday it is immediately shutting down 110 commercial driver's license schools for certifying truck drivers who can't read or speak English, and pledged to aggressively prosecute accused "fraudsters" who knowingly put untrained or unskilled truck drivers on American roads.

  • August 28, 2026

    Meta's $17B Child Safety Deal Puts Heat On Congress To Act

    Meta's landmark $17.1 billion settlement of states' claims that it purposely addicted kids to social media mandates many of the safeguards increasingly being required by a growing patchwork of largely contested state child safety laws, boosting not only the profile of these measures but also the push for Congress to enact a more comprehensive fix.

  • August 28, 2026

    'Troubled' 7th Circ. Finds No Harm From Benesch Atty Conflict

    While "troubled" by an ex-Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP partner's decision to take on a client's trade secrets suit while negotiating a move from Benesch to the defendant company's outside counsel, the Seventh Circuit agreed Friday that the displeased client cannot pursue her legal malpractice claim.

  • August 28, 2026

    Mead Johnson, Mom Clash On Formula Risks In Trial Closing

    An Illinois federal jury is set to begin deliberating Monday on a mother's claims that Mead Johnson is liable for her infant son's death, with attorneys making closing remarks Friday in the first test case to be tried among more than 800 consolidated lawsuits linking a deadly bowel condition to premature baby formula.

  • August 28, 2026

    AbbVie 'Concocted' Cancer Drug IP Claims, Biotech Firm Says

    Biotech firms ProfoundBio and Genmab urged a Seattle federal judge Thursday to throw out rival AbbVie's lawsuit accusing two of its former employees of taking trade secrets on cancer therapies to ProfoundBio, arguing AbbVie's claims are time-barred, and the information wasn't a protectable trade secret.

  • August 28, 2026

    Schwab Vendor Exempt From Ill. Biometric Law, 7th Circ. Says

    The Seventh Circuit agreed Friday that a vendor Charles Schwab uses to authenticate customers' voiceprints is exempt from Illinois' biometric privacy law as it refused to revive claims that the vendor illegally collected callers' data.

  • August 28, 2026

    Medical Marijuana Industry Grapples With DEA's New Role

    After years of allowing the state-sanctioned medical marijuana industry to operate without interference, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is stepping in to regulate a drug it once treated exclusively as contraband, but attorneys and regulators say the cannabis industry's interactions with the agency are off to a rocky start.

  • August 27, 2026

    Mass. Judge Halts USPS Mail Ballot Rule Before Midterms

    A Massachusetts federal judge late Thursday temporarily blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing a new rule allowing it to deny delivery of mail-in ballots from voters whose names are not on citizenship lists the Trump administration is compiling ahead of November's midterms.

  • August 27, 2026

    States' Suit Says HHS Terms Threaten Family Planning Dollars

    Twenty-three states launched a lawsuit in Maryland federal court Thursday challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new conditions on federal funding for family planning services that they say would require recipients end support for "gender ideology," abandon diversity programming and drive patients toward parenthood and marriage.

  • August 27, 2026

    Meta Can't Arbitrate Deceptive Ads Suit, 7th Circ. Rules

    Meta Platforms cannot steer a media company's ad deception antitrust claims away from court and into arbitration, the Seventh Circuit ruled on Thursday, saying the case falls outside the agreement Meta is trying to enforce.

  • August 27, 2026

    Clifford Law Says Ex-Client Attempting $1.3M Email Extortion

    Chicago injury firm Clifford Law Offices PC is suing a former client in Illinois state court for allegedly manipulating a partner's 12-year-old email to try extorting $1.3 million from the firm.

  • August 27, 2026

    Mead Johnson Nutrition Head Defends Formula In MDL Trial

    Mead Johnson's head of nutrition testified Thursday in a trial over whether its preterm infant formula led to a newborn's serious and ultimately fatal gut illness, saying she had no reasons to worry about the product's safety but acknowledging it carries a higher risk for the disease than human breast milk.

  • August 27, 2026

    First Financial Corp. Buying First Illinois In $111.3M Deal

    First Financial Corp. has agreed to buy First Illinois Corp., the parent company of Hickory Point Bank and Trust, for about $111.3 million in cash and stock, expanding the Indiana-based bank's presence in central Illinois, the companies said Thursday.

  • August 27, 2026

    Grocers' Microcaptive Valid For Tax Benefits, 7th Circ. Told

    Chicagoland grocery chain owners' in-house insurance arrangement is a valid insurance transaction "and should be respected as such," they told the Seventh Circuit, saying their business should be allowed to claim microcaptive tax benefits to reduce its taxable income.

  • August 27, 2026

    DC Circ. Says Challenges To Pa. Power Plant Orders Can Wait

    A D.C. Circuit panel granted the Trump administration's push to pause consolidated cases challenging orders that blocked a Pennsylvania power plant from retiring while litigation over similar orders involving a Michigan power plant play out.

  • August 26, 2026

    Top Takeaways From Meta's $17B Kid Safety Deal

    A $17.1 billion deal with 29 states and Meta Platforms Inc. that includes reforms to Facebook and Instagram to protect children is seen as a benchmark for other settlements with social media companies as litigation and public pressure mounts over mental health harms to youth.

  • August 26, 2026

    SEC, SBB Resolve Misvalued Funds Case Ahead Of Sept. Trial

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and SBB Research Group LLC told an Illinois federal judge that they've reached a settlement that would resolve the long-running litigation alleging the fund adviser misled investors about the performance of some of the funds it oversaw, and to scrap the planned September trial date.

  • August 26, 2026

    Fla. Judge Trims Claims In Bitcoin ATM Code Theft Suit

    A Florida federal judge allowed most of an Illinois software company's claims of bitcoin ATM source code theft to proceed against its former developer and others, but tossed two counts of conversion after finding the allegations couldn't be sustained. 

  • August 26, 2026

    Ill. Aid-Fixing Trial Delayed As 7th Circ. Review Proceeds

    Students and several elite private universities will have to postpone their trial over an alleged financial aid fixing scheme while the Seventh Circuit reviews expert-related findings that have allowed the case to proceed as a class action, an Illinois federal judge said Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Prepping For White House's Proposed AI Framework

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    The artificial intelligence legislative framework issued by the White House last month reframes the policy landscape, creating a number of near-term developments for companies to track as congressional committees attempt to convert the framework into legislative text, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    State Bars Need To Get Specific About AI Confidentiality

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    Lawyers need to put actual client information into artificial intelligence tools to get their full value, but they cannot confidently do so until state bars offer clear, formal authority on which plan tiers of the three most popular generative AI tools are safe to use when sharing specific client details, says attorney Nick Berk.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Restraint Anchors Constitutional Order

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    Contrasting opinions in two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Trump v. CASA and Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections — demonstrate how the judiciary’s constitutionally entrusted role can easily be preserved or disrupted, and invite renewed attention to the enduring importance of judicial restraint, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Chicago Suits Highlight Struggle Over Piercing Corporate Veil

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    A union's latest lawsuit against the owners of a storied Chicago bar and restaurant that closed in 2023 illustrates how doing business via a limited liability company does not necessarily protect owners' personal assets — but also that obtaining a judgment does not mean that collection is automatic, says James Trail at Ginsberg Jacobs.

  • Ohio Case Reflects States' Aggressive Criminal Antitrust Turn

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    The Ohio Attorney General's Office’s recent bid-rigging indictment of an online auctioneer is the latest signal that states, through attorneys general pursuing more kickback cases and legislators expanding the reach of antitrust laws, are shedding their historical reluctance to wield their criminal antitrust enforcement powers, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Exploring When Fraud Asset Freezes Limit Right To Pick Atty

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    The defendant’s claim in the Seventh Circuit’s pending U.S. v. Shah case that the government restrained his assets until he couldn’t afford his chosen counsel presents a useful case study in how criminal forfeiture procedure interacts with U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Sixth Amendment rights and appealing complex fraud convictions, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

  • Defense Counsel Options Widen As No-Bill Rate Increases

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    Citizens impaneled on grand juries in politically motivated cases who are reasserting their role as a critical check on state power could provide criminal defense attorneys an opportunity to pursue seldom-used preindictment strategies, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • Series

    Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

  • Series

    Pa. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    The first quarter of 2026 brought several consequential developments for Pennsylvania financial institutions, including the state banking department's first assessment overhaul in 10 years, a bill prohibiting interchange fees on card transaction sales taxes and a federal appeals court's upholding of a $52 million enforcement action, say attorneys at Gross McGinley.

  • Madison Capital Action Displays SEC's Emphasis On Process

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent enforcement action against Madison Capital reflects the SEC's view that when market conditions materially change, valuation methodologies must be reassessed in real time, highlighting the importance of internal processes, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Getting The Most Out Of Learning And Development Programs

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Junior associates can better develop the legal, business and interpersonal skills they need for long-term success by approaching their firms’ learning and development programs armed with five tips for getting the most out of these resources, says Lauren Hakala at Reed Smith.

  • Opinion

    AI Presents A Make-Or-Break Moment For Outside Counsel

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    The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence by corporate legal departments is forcing a long-overdue reset of the relationship between inside and outside counsel, and introducing a significant opportunity to shed frustrating inefficiencies and strengthen collaboration for firms willing to embrace the shift, says Intel Chief Legal Officer April Miller Boise.

  • Series

    Watching Hallmark Movies Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    I realize you may be judging me for watching, and actually enjoying, Hallmark Channel movies, but the escapism and storylines actually demonstrate qualities and actions that lead to an efficient, productive and positive legal practice, says Karen Ross at Tucker Ellis.

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