Business of Law

May 08, 2024
In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.
May 08, 2024
NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.
May 08, 2024
ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.
May 08, 2024
Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.
May 08, 2024
Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.
May 08, 2024
Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.
May 08, 2024
Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is boasting a campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.
May 08, 2024
Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.
May 08, 2024
Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.
May 07, 2024
Remote Atty Is No Reason For Mistrial, 10th Circ. Says

In a published opinion Tuesday, a Tenth Circuit panel ruled that the remote court appearance of a plaintiff's attorney who contracted COVID-19 was not grounds to declare a mistrial after a Black utility worker lost his Title VII workplace discrimination case in Kansas, finding that the plaintiff could not show that he was prejudiced by his lead counsel's absence.
May 07, 2024
Florida Judge Delays Trump's Classified Docs Trial Indefinitely

The Florida judge overseeing the criminal case that accuses former President Donald Trump of holding onto classified documents upon leaving office extended indefinitely the planned May 20 start of the trial, citing "myriad and interconnected pretrial" issues regarding the Classified Information Procedures Act, according to a federal court order filed on Tuesday.
May 07, 2024
Atty Dons Muppet Head To Open Sesame Place Race Bias Trial

A federal jury in Philadelphia on Tuesday gazed at the googly eyes and blue fur of an attorney who donned the head of Sesame Street's Grover to tell them that performers wearing the fluorescent bodysuits of other beloved Muppets discriminated against children at a Pennsylvania theme park because of the color of their skin.
May 07, 2024
Prepetition Waivers Sway Invitae Judge On Kirkland Hire

A New Jersey bankruptcy judge approved the retention of Kirkland & Ellis LLP as bankruptcy counsel for debtor Invitae Corp. Tuesday, the same day he approved a $239 million sale of its assets to Labcorp.
May 07, 2024
Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Susman's Brook, Shackelford

Susman Godfrey LLP attorneys Davida Brook and Stephen Shackelford Jr. learned very early on in their working relationship that they needed to trust each other. That concept, they say, has been foundational to their success as defamation attorneys, and those who have worked alongside them say everyone else has reason to trust them, too.
May 07, 2024
Stormy Daniels Tells NY Jury 'Fear' Drove Hush Money Deal

Adult film star Stormy Daniels detailed for a Manhattan jury on Tuesday how a sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006 led to an alleged $130,000 hush money payment in 2016, describing how it was "fear and not money" that led her to make the deal.
May 07, 2024
Northeast Firms Harris Beach, Murtha Cullina To Join Forces

Midsize law firms Harris Beach PLLC and Murtha Cullina LLP on Tuesday announced plans to combine starting next year, creating one firm with a footprint across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and nearby states.
May 07, 2024
Coverage Recap: Day 9 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from day nine.
May 06, 2024
Trump Attys Again Ask 6th Circ. To Reconsider Sanctions

Attorneys who challenged the 2020 presidential election results in Michigan have once again asked the Sixth Circuit to rethink its decision leaving intact a district court's sanctions against them, arguing that new facts and U.S. Supreme Court precedent warrant recalling the appellate court's mandate.
May 06, 2024
13 Judges Boycott Columbia Clerks Over Protest Response

A group of 13 federal judges told Columbia University's president Monday they won't hire students who attend the university or its law school as clerks, calling it an "incubator of bigotry" for its handling of student protests over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a copy of their letter that U.S. District Judge Alan Albright shared with Law360.
May 06, 2024
Trump's NY Jury Sees Paper Trail From Alleged Cover-Up

New York prosecutors began the third week of Donald Trump's criminal trial on Monday with a parade of documents demonstrating in minute detail how the former president allegedly misbranded hush money reimbursements as legal fees after the 2016 election.
May 06, 2024
Workday Defeats In-House Atty's Bias Suit, For Now

A California magistrate judge on Monday dismissed, for now, a lawsuit by a Workday Inc. in-house attorney who accused the company of discriminatory and retaliatory behavior, which included pay inequities and calling the police to conduct an unnecessary wellness check at his house when he was hospitalized.
May 06, 2024
SEC's Grewal Says Self-Reporting Best Bet For No Penalties

Self-reporting is the most important factor that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement staff weigh in determining cooperation credit and whether a firm should face a penalty, SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal said in an interview with Law360.
May 06, 2024
Coverage Recap: Day 8 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from day eight.
May 06, 2024
Berkeley Law Faces Claims Over Anti-Israel Student Protests

A group of Jewish advocacy organizations suing the University of California, Berkeley, and its law school since November for purportedly tolerating antisemitism on campus have amended their complaint to add allegations stemming from recent campus protests, including an allegedly antisemitic campaign against the law school's dean.
May 06, 2024
Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: McKool Smith's Courtney Statfeld

Courtney Statfeld's dad always tells her, "they never see you coming." The McKool Smith principal is one of few female litigators practicing in the male-dominated field of complex financial products, and she has made a conscious decision over the years to be herself — and to let her work speak for itself.

Expert Analysis

5 Gen X Characteristics That Can Boost Legal Leadership

As Generation X attorneys rise to fill top roles in law firms and corporations left by retiring baby boomers, they should embrace generational characteristics that will allow them to become better legal leaders, says Meredith Kahan at Whiteford Taylor.
6 Questions For Boutique Firms Considering Mergers

To prepare for discussions with potential merger partners, boutique law firms should first consider the challenges they hope to address with a merger and the qualities they prioritize in possible partner firms, say Howard Cohl and Ron Nye at Major Lindsey.
5 Tips For Adding Value To Legal Clients' Experience In 2023

Faced with a potential economic downturn this year, attorneys should look to strengthen client relationships now by focusing on key ways to improve the client experience, starting with a check-in call to discuss client needs and priorities for the coming year, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
6 Ways To Avoid Compounding Errors When Practicing Law

For lawyers and law firms, inevitable human error can lead to claims of malpractice or ethical violations, but the key is to avoid exacerbating mistakes by adding communication failures, conflicts of interest or insurance coverage losses, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.
What Will Keep Legal Talent Professionals Up At Night In 2023

Hybrid work environments, high demand for lateral hires and a potential slowdown of the economy defined 2022 in the always-busy marketplace for legal talent, and as BigLaw looks at the year ahead, there are five major sources of concern for the teams charged with securing and retaining that talent, say advisers at Baretz+Brunelle.
The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from the "great resignation" to potential expansion of attorney-client privilege.
Remote Work: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

In 2022, Law360 Expert Analysis writers examined how remote and hybrid work is affecting the legal industry and many areas of law, including employment, cybersecurity, patent venue, immigration and tax.
The Most-Read IP Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

IP Law360 guest experts dug into sanctions on Russia, Elizabeth Holmes' trade secret defense, and other key topics including non-fungible tokens, patent examiner classification and inventor testimony in a busy 2022.
Artificial Intelligence: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This has been a hugely transformative year for artificial intelligence, with rapid advancements in AI capabilities raising a variety of novel legal questions that Law360 Expert Analysis writers explored, including copyright conundrums, murky legal rights and the troubling possibility of deepfake evidence.
Perspectives

The Most-Read Access To Justice Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Law360 guest experts weighed in on a broad slate of emerging access to justice issues last year, ranging from evidence of ineffective counsel to opportunities for nonlawyers to provide legal help and the presumption of innocence.
ESG: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This year, as many companies embraced environmental, social and corporate governance strategies, Law360 Expert Analysis discussions revolved around increasing scrutiny from investors, regulators and state attorneys general, and the influx of anti-ESG bills and litigation.
The Metaverse: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

As the metaverse became a popular destination to explore new business opportunities this year, it raised regulatory questions, with Law360 guest experts discussing risk assessments and compliance procedures across various industries, and NFT issues related to intellectual property, privacy and securities law.
The Most-Read Employment Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This year, issues related to noncompetes, no-poach enforcement and abortion access were among the most popular employment law topics in Law360's Expert Analysis section.
Trial Tips: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Law360 guest experts offered commentary on the high-profile trials of 2022 and highlighted best practices for attorneys, such as key principles for sound closing arguments that win over jurors, strategies to help witnesses stay focused, and how to recognize the most common cognitive distortions that can cripple witnesses' testimony.
The Most-Read Securities Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Ongoing regulatory uncertainty for cryptocurrencies created fertile ground for litigation and enforcement this year, with Law360 Expert Analysis writers discussing a flurry of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission actions that fulfilled the agency's promises of a clampdown.