Illinois

  • April 18, 2025

    Democratic AGs Say Trump Illegally Fired FTC Commissioners

    Attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia filed an amicus brief Friday in D.C. federal court backing two fired Democratic Federal Trade Commission members, writing that President Donald Trump's actions violate federal law prohibiting their removal except for cause. 

  • April 18, 2025

    Suit Says Loyola Enabled Ex-Michigan Coach's Alleged Hack

    A former Loyola University Chicago athlete filed a proposed class action accusing an ex-University of Michigan football coach of orchestrating a years-long cyber sexual assault by hacking into university athletic databases and stealing intimate photos and medical data of over 150,000 students, and asserting that the university and its vendor enabled the breach.

  • April 18, 2025

    Ill. Justices To Weigh Scope Of Standard Pollution Exclusions

    The Illinois Supreme Court will consider whether pollution exclusions in standard-form commercial general liability policies apply to industrial emissions allowed under a regulatory permit, the court said Thursday, agreeing to take up a question certified by the Seventh Circuit.

  • April 18, 2025

    DLA Piper Adds Partner To Investment Funds Practice

    Ropes & Gray LLP partner Matt Posthuma has jumped ship to DLA Piper, where he joins the firm's investment funds practice as a partner in its Chicago office.

  • April 18, 2025

    Capital One's Discover Deal Gets Bank Regulators' Approval

    Capital One on Friday received the last regulatory sign-offs needed for its $35 billion purchase of Discover, putting the megadeal on track to close for the former while also clearing the decks of a more than $1 billion enforcement matter for the latter.

  • April 17, 2025

    Ill. Sen. Planned To Report Red-Light Camera Exec, Jury Hears

    An Illinois state senator accused of taking a bribe to help a red-light camera company testified Thursday that he "didn't have a chance" to report his questionable interactions closer to when they occurred in summer 2019, but he intended to raise his concerns later that fall.

  • April 17, 2025

    Firms Seek Fee Relief Over 'Grossly Unfair' Seresto MDL Snub

    Two New Jersey law firms say they were cut out of their fair share of $4.5 million in attorney fees, awarded as part of a $15 million settlement they helped secure against Bayer and others in a flea collar multidistrict litigation, asking an Illinois federal court to order lead counsel to open their wallets and share the reward.

  • April 17, 2025

    Copyright Office Opines On Harper Lee 7th Circ. Appeal

    The U.S. Copyright Office is lending its opinion in a dispute over who has the rights to authorize stage adaptions of Harper Lee's iconic book "To Kill A Mockingbird," saying in an amicus brief to the Seventh Circuit that the company that once had the rights for the play cannot prevent others from creating new adaptions after the late author terminated those rights.

  • April 17, 2025

    Students Sue DHS In Ill. Over Terminated Records And Visas

    Eight unnamed international students sued President Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Illinois federal court Thursday, saying DHS terminated student and exchange visitor information system records without due process or legal justification, barring them from continuing to study or work and risking their detention and deportation.

  • April 17, 2025

    Co. Seeks 2nd Shot At Asbestos RICO Suit, Citing New Info

    New information supplied by confidential whistleblowers is cause for an Illinois federal court to allow a Los Angeles pipe manufacturer a second chance at pursuing a racketeering case against a Chicago area law firm, the company has argued in a motion to alter or amend the judgment.

  • April 17, 2025

    Insurer Owes No Coverage For Fatal Facade Collapse

    An insurer has no duty to defend a roofing contractor in a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that two individuals died from the collapse of a building facade, an Illinois federal court ruled, finding a prior works exclusion applicable.

  • April 17, 2025

    High Court Sets Arguments Over Birthright Pause

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ordered special oral arguments over President Donald Trump's bid to pause or limit three nationwide court orders prohibiting implementation of his executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, keeping the president's mandate on hold until at least mid-May.

  • April 17, 2025

    Petersen Health Gets Initial OK To Take Votes On Ch. 11 Plan

    A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Thursday provisionally approved skilled nursing facility operator Petersen Health Care's bid to send its Chapter 11 liquidation plan out to creditors for voting, months after the company sold off most of its assets.

  • April 16, 2025

    Accellion Breach Victims Fight Uphill To Get Class Cert.

    A California federal judge Wednesday doubted whether a class of 5 million individuals could be certified on claims that file-sharing software-maker Accellion negligently failed to protect against cyberattacks in light of the high court's TransUnion ruling, adding that it would be a "Herculean task" to determine certain classwide damages.

  • April 16, 2025

    Ill. Sen. Says He Was 'Cautious' With Red-Light Camera Exec

    An Illinois senator accused of accepting a bribe to help a red-light camera company testified Wednesday that he was "cautious" as he observed the company executive consistently repeat himself and seem to have "an answer for everything" in their first meeting.

  • April 16, 2025

    Staffing Co. To Pay $1.5M To End Ill. Bio Privacy Suit

    Staffing and payroll provider DX Enterprises Inc. has reached a $1.52 million deal to end claims that it collected without written consent worker fingerprints that it used to track when laborers punched into and out of a job, with an Illinois federal judge granting final approval.

  • April 16, 2025

    Koch, Chicken Buyers Spar Over $75M Deal Challenge

    Restaurants challenging $75 million in settlements inked in the broiler chicken price-fixing litigation with Koch Foods Inc. and House of Raeford Farms Inc. told the Seventh Circuit the appeal should succeed because it includes more detail than a recently rejected challenge of a smaller deal with Simmons Foods Inc.

  • April 16, 2025

    Energy Dept. Blocked From Cutting School Research Grants

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Energy from capping indirect costs for research grants while the court considers arguments from a group of universities that the policy shift will "devastate" scientific research.

  • April 16, 2025

    CFPB Defends Bid To Undo Redlining Deal

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reiterated Tuesday its bid in Illinois federal court to refund a Chicago-area mortgage lender's redlining settlement, arguing that consumer advocates fighting to keep the deal in place "attack a strawman" and posit "a parade of horribles that have nothing to do with this case."

  • April 16, 2025

    7th Circ. Judge Doubts CTA Worker's Signal Chat Claims

    A Seventh Circuit judge on Wednesday expressed skepticism that a lower court erred in tossing a former Chicago Transit Authority employee's retaliation suit as a sanction for spoiling evidence, saying he changed his story about how electronic phone messages were deleted after a Signal executive said the initial explanation was technologically impossible.

  • April 16, 2025

    More Students Sue Over Scrapped Foreign Student Records

    More than 130 international students accused the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of abruptly and unlawfully terminating digital visa compliance records, saying in a complaint filed in Georgia federal court that the data deletion puts them at risk of arrest, detention and deportation. 

  • April 15, 2025

    7th Circ. Judge Skeptical Amazon Violated Labor Law

    A Seventh Circuit judge on Tuesday pushed a National Labor Relations Board attorney to address why it was a violation of federal labor law for Amazon to tell employees that it can make exceptions to a policy limiting their off-duty access to a Kentucky facility at any time, "when the legal right exists whether the workers are told or not."

  • April 15, 2025

    Ill. Senator Takes Stand To Defend Self On Bribery Charges

    An Illinois senator accused of agreeing to take a bribe from a red-light camera executive testified Tuesday that passing bills is "a numbers game" at the state Capitol, and it requires sorting through some dishonest organizations and lobbyists to obtain the information necessary to vote on them.

  • April 15, 2025

    PepsiCo Sued Over Workers' Unpaid COVID Screenings

    A former machine operator is suing PepsiCo Inc. in Illinois federal court for wage theft, claiming he and others were never paid for the time they spent going through the company's mandatory COVID-19 safety processing that was conducted before each shift.

  • April 15, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Won't Rethink Prior Art Decision In Samsung Row

    The Federal Circuit shot down tech developer Lynk Labs Inc.'s bid for the full appellate court to review when a patent application counts as prior art, cementing a win for patent challenger Samsung in the case.

Expert Analysis

  • Considering Chevron's End Through A State Tax Lens

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    States took the lead in encouraging Chevron's demise, turning away from Chevron-type deference in state tax administration ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, a trend likely to accelerate as courts take a more active role in interpreting tax laws, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Comparing Antitrust Outlooks Amid Google Remedy Review

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    As the U.S. Justice Department mulls potential structural remedies after winning its recent case against Google, increased global scrutiny of Big Tech leaves ex post and ex ante antitrust approaches ripe for evaluation, say Nishant Chadha at the Indian School of Business and Manisha Goel at Pomona College.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • Bitnomial Suit Highlights Crypto Turf War Between SEC, CFTC

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    An outcome favoring Bitnomial in its recent lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could reinforce the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's authority and limit the SEC's reach in the crypto arena, illustrating the need for Congress to delineate boundaries between the agencies, says Tonya Evans at Penn State Dickinson Law.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Ex-Chicago Politician's Case May Further Curb Fraud Theories

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    The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear Thompson v. U.S. to determine whether a statement that is misleading but not false still violates federal law, potentially heralding the court’s largest check yet on prosecutors’ expansive fraud theories, with significant implications for sentencing, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • Amazon Holiday Pay Case Underscores Overtime Challenges

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    The recent Hamilton v. Amazon.com Services LLC decision in the Colorado Supreme Court underscores why employers must always consult applicable state law and regulations — in addition to federal law — when determining how to properly pay employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek, says James Looby at Vedder Price.

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