Business of Law

March 25, 2024
Backstabbing 'Just How Law Firms Work': Sedgwick Judge

A California federal judge told counsel during bench trial openings Monday that the Sedgwick LLP trustee's bid to claw back $1.1 million from two ex-partners isn't a "blame game," and "partners stab each other in the back every day and move on to the next one" — "it's just how law firms work."
March 25, 2024
Sunday Ticket Plaintiffs Rip NFL For 'Privileged' Name Games

The plaintiffs in the antitrust class action against the NFL over its Sunday Ticket broadcast package have accused the league of hiding behind a front-office executive, with an inaccurate job title, to claim that vital documents were privileged and did not need to be disclosed.
March 25, 2024
Plaintiffs' Attys Found Not Violating Soliciting Rules In OT Suit

Current and former employees of a Pennsylvania coal company earned conditional certification and did not violate soliciting rules for a collective action accusing management of violating overtime rules by not compensating time spent attending to gear before and after shifts, a federal judge ruled.
March 25, 2024
Jackson Walker Dismissal Bid Says Atty Lied About Romance

A former Jackson Walker LLP partner at the center of an ethics scandal over her relationship with a then-Texas bankruptcy judge was dishonest when questioned about the romance, the firm said Friday in seeking to escape a federal racketeering lawsuit.
March 25, 2024
Trump Ally Jeffrey Clark Faces Disbarment In DC Hearing

In a case one expert called "the single most significant" in the history of the Washington, D.C., bar, a former U.S. Department of Justice official is set to go before an ethics panel this week to face charges over his role in former President Donald Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020 election.
March 25, 2024
Law Firm Closures Hit Lowest Since 2019 As Premiums Dip

Closures of law firms have fallen to the lowest level since October 2019 as more businesses negotiate their professional indemnity insurance premiums amid a general fall in insurance costs, research published on Monday suggested.
March 25, 2024
Trump Gets Late Reprieve After Failing To Post $465M Bond

A New York appellate panel said Monday that Donald Trump can pause enforcement of the state attorney general's $465 million civil fraud judgment by posting just $175 million while he appeals, after the former president complained that he was unable to secure a bond for the entire amount.
March 25, 2024
FTX Clawbacks Unlikely To Help Bankman-Fried At Sentencing

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried probably won't find much success in arguing for a shorter prison term based on the billions of dollars recovered by the shuttered crypto exchange's bankruptcy estate, experts told Law360 ahead of this week's much-anticipated sentencing hearing.
March 25, 2024
Trump Can't Dismiss Hush Money Case, Trial Set For April

A New York state judge on Monday emphatically denied Donald Trump's motion to dismiss the Manhattan district attorney's hush money case in the wake of a late evidence dump by federal prosecutors, scolding the former president's attorney and setting trial for April 15.
March 22, 2024
In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.
March 22, 2024
Up Next At High Court: Abortion, Jury Trials And Estate Tax

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision expanding access to popular abortion pill mifepristone as well as whether juries should determine a defendants' eligibility for repeat offender enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act and how long federal employees have to appeal adverse employment decisions.
March 22, 2024
Amazon, Apple Say Antitrust Attys Can't Ditch 'Fatal' Class Rep

Amazon and Apple say plaintiffs' counsel in a proposed antitrust suit should be stuck with their class representative, who apparently ghosted his attorneys, arguing the lawyers should have to live with a plaintiff whose purchasing habits undercut the suit's very premise.
March 22, 2024
Push For Camp Lejeune Jury Trials Seen As Long Shot

The legal strategy to secure jury trials in the massive Camp Lejeune water contamination case hangs on a single phrase in a special law stating "nothing" shall impair such trials, but the plaintiffs' gambit is a long shot because Congress didn't go far enough in creating a framework for such trials against the government.
March 22, 2024
Feds, Girardi Agree To Delay Trial More Than 2 Months

Disgraced attorney Tom Girardi's criminal trial could now be pushed back from May to August, after prosecutors and Girardi's defense attorneys filed a mutual request for a few more weeks of preparation in the closely watched case.
March 22, 2024
Calif. Bar Slightly Lowers Atty License Fees Hike Bid To 31%

California's state bar will ask legislators for a $125 increase in its attorney licensing fees, a little less than the $150 hike it was previously considering, the state bar confirmed to Law360 on Friday.
March 22, 2024
Calif. Releases Interim Guidelines On GenAI Use

The state of California on Thursday released interim guidelines for public-sector procurement, uses and training of generative artificial intelligence by state leaders in preparation for all state agencies to consider pilot projects using the technology by July, per Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order issued last year.
March 22, 2024
GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

Federal antitrust prosecutors have added Apple Inc. to the list of Big Tech companies it is suing for anti-competitive behavior; and a law firm general counsel explains how he put guardrails into the firm's AI policy.
March 22, 2024
Trump Election Case Gives Young Ga. Judge 'A World Stage'

As Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee prepares for perhaps the highest profile case he will ever see, legal experts and former state justices told Law360 that the young jurist has the ethics and temperament to not let the politically charged Donald Trump prosecution derail a promising legal career.
March 22, 2024
Ill. Judges End Diversity Rules That Drew Conservative Ire

The Seventh Circuit's chief judge has resolved judicial misconduct complaints targeting allegedly discriminatory standing orders by some Illinois federal judges encouraging younger, female and minority attorneys to handle oral arguments, after two of the judges rescinded their policies in response to the complaints.
March 22, 2024
BigLaw's Shanghai Exodus Continues With Orrick Closure

The list of large, international law firms downsizing in China — and, in particular, shuttering Shanghai offices — continues to grow, with an Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP spokesperson revealing Friday that the firm plans to close its office in the city and has already terminated its lease in Taipei, Taiwan.
March 22, 2024
Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Second Circuit panel rejected what it characterized as a lower court's "new standard" for so-called patent monopolies.
March 22, 2024
In 107K Pro Bono Hours: Hogan Lovells Tackles Racial Justice

Hogan Lovells pledged to dedicate 65,000 pro bono hours to advancing racial justice in June 2020, and, according to a report out this week, the firm's personnel have exceeded that goal by dedicating approximately 107,000 hours through 2023 to causes across the globe aimed at advancing racial justice.
March 22, 2024
Del. Courts Examining 'Colonoscopy'-Like Bylaw Rules

Invasive advance-notice bylaws that some observers say make shareholder board nominations as intrusive as a "colonoscopy" are reviving old questions in Delaware courts about how far boards can go to protect themselves against shareholder activism.
March 22, 2024
DOJ Atty And Magistrate Judge Secure Texas Court Seats

The Senate voted 88-7 on Friday to confirm Ernest Gonzalez, a senior attorney adviser in the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division, Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section, and then 90-8 to confirm U.S. Magistrate Judge Leon Schydlower both to the Western District of Texas.
March 21, 2024
Burford, Sysco Get OK To Swap Bid In Price-Fixing Cases

An Illinois federal judge on Thursday agreed to allow an affiliate of legal investment firm Burford Capital to substitute for food giant Sysco in price-fixing litigation against broiler chicken producers, a ruling that comes a month after a Minnesota federal judge refused to allow the same Burford unit to substitute for Sysco in similar pork and beef price-fixing litigation.

Expert Analysis

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.
What 3 Legal Industry Trends From 2022 Mean For Next Year

Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey & Africa looks back on the year in legal recruiting, including practice areas that saw the most movement, which regions seemed most ripe for new office openings and who was promoted to partner, and makes some look-ahead predictions for 2023.
Learning From This Year's Legal Industry Discrimination Suits

To limit the risk of lawsuits and make the workplace a more welcoming environment for female attorneys, it is important to reflect on lawyers' recent discrimination and sexual harassment claims against law firms and public employers, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.
Roundup

The Future Of Legal Ops

Legal operations professionals discuss the most important demands facing corporate legal departments today, and how companies are changing or are expected to change in order to adapt.
Series

The Future Of Legal Ops: AI Has Important Role To Play

Though the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT has prompted some fears about negative impact on lawyers, artificial intelligence technology can be a powerful tool for legal operations professionals if used effectively to augment their work, say Justin Ben-Asher and Gwendolyn Renigar at Steptoe, and Elizabeth Matthews at TotalEnergies.
4 Proactive Strategies For 'Rocket Docket' Discovery In SDNY

With more than half of Southern District of New York judges now allowing four or fewer months for fact discovery, civil litigators in this aspiring "rocket docket" jurisdiction should prioritize case management methods that make the most of this compressed timeline, say Jaclyn Grodin and Nicholas Cutaia at Goulston & Storrs.
Opinion

Law Schools Must Prep Students To Tackle Gun Violence

Given that Gen Z — the so-called mass shooting generation — is now of law school age, it's time for schools to invest more in courses, clinics and other resources to prepare their students to enter the growing field of gun violence prevention litigation, says Kaivan Shroff at Everytown for Gun Safety.