Massachusetts

  • August 22, 2025

    DOJ Investigation Of NY AG Condemned By AGs Of 21 States

    A coalition of 21 attorneys general Friday issued an open letter saying the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating New York Attorney General Letitia James and condemning the probe as political payback for the financial fraud claims she pursued against President Donald Trump and his New York-based businesses.

  • August 22, 2025

    USPTO Allows Discretionary Denials For 3-Year-Old Patents

    A top Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge Friday rejected challenges to GenghisComm Holdings LLC patents issued as recently as 2022, as part of the three discretionary review decisions issued over the last week. 

  • August 22, 2025

    After 41 Years In Prison, Mass. Man Sees Murder Case Nixed

    A man who spent 41 years behind bars for a murder he said he did not commit can now put the long-running case behind him, after prosecutors opted not to try him again for the 1984 killing of his friend in her Massachusetts apartment.

  • August 22, 2025

    Rubin And Rudman Adds Environmental Land Use Law Expert

    Rubin and Rudman LLP has hired a partner to the firm's environmental, land use and zoning practice group whose transactional and regulatory compliance focus will complement the firm's bench of environmental land use law and real estate law experts and litigators.

  • August 22, 2025

    Mass. Hospital, Contractor Sued Over Legionnaires' Death

    The alleged failure by a Massachusetts hospital and its contractor to properly maintain a water system led to the death of an elderly patient in February, according to a suit in state court.

  • August 22, 2025

    1st Circ. Says Muralist Filed Copyright Case Too Late

    The First Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit that a muralist had brought against the organizers of a Massachusetts state fair over promotional videos for the event that used her artwork without crediting her, finding that even though this was the third time she sued, a federal district court was right to declare her latest claims time-barred.

  • August 22, 2025

    Hometap Can't Escape Mass. AG's Consumer Protection Suit

    A Massachusetts judge has rejected arguments from financial startup Hometap that existing consumer protection and debt collection laws do not apply to its "novel" home equity product, denying the company's motion to dismiss a suit brought by the state's attorney general.

  • August 22, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: 401(k) Boost, Eyes On Florida

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney insights into what President Donald Trump's executive order on retirement fund investing means for real estate assets, as well as the biggest issues Florida real estate practitioners are watching in the second half of 2025.

  • August 21, 2025

    1st Circ. Rejects Flyers' $34M Fee Bid In JetBlue-Spirit Case

    Passengers who launched an antitrust challenge to the since-scrapped JetBlue-Spirit Airlines merger are not eligible to collect up to $34 million in legal fees, the First Circuit ruled Thursday, finding that because the deal was blocked in a parallel government case, the passengers are not actually the prevailing parties.

  • August 21, 2025

    Democratic Sen. Urges Trump Admin To Plan For Tariff Refunds

    Senate Small Business Committee ranking member Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., sent a letter Thursday to agency leaders in President Donald Trump's administration requesting the government prepare a tariff refund plan in case federal courts strike down Trump's emergency tariffs.

  • August 21, 2025

    DOJ Gets Backing In Fight Over Public Benefits

    A group that fights to restrict immigration into the U.S. is urging a Rhode Island federal court to let the Trump administration narrow noncitizens' access to programs like Head Start, homeless shelters and food banks, arguing Thursday that a coalition of 20 states is trying to obstruct immigration enforcement and give benefits to "illegal aliens."

  • August 21, 2025

    High Court Allows Trump Admin To Cancel $783M In NIH Grants

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to resume the mass termination of scientific grants, overturning rulings by lower courts that had kept the funds flowing to universities and other recipients. 

  • August 21, 2025

    Mass. Sheriff Pleads Not Guilty To Pot Extortion Scheme

    Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins pled not guilty Thursday in a federal courtroom to charges that he used his position to obtain pre-IPO shares in a cannabis retailer, then a refund when the investment lost money.

  • August 21, 2025

    Minor Leaguers Ask Justices To Kill MLB Antitrust Exemption

    Former players accusing Major League Baseball and its teams of colluding to pay minor leaguers "poverty level" wages are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case and overturn baseball's century-old exemption from antitrust law.

  • August 21, 2025

    Software Startup Catamorphic Settles Wage, OT Class Action

    Software startup Catamorphic has agreed to settle a proposed class action brought by three former sales employees in Massachusetts and California who say the company failed to pay them overtime and engaged in other "widespread, repeated and consistent" violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, a Wednesday court filing says.

  • August 20, 2025

    Judge Grills Feds On Upending 30-Year Noncitizen Benefits

    A Rhode Island federal judge seemed perplexed Wednesday by a government attorney's contention that for nearly 30 years, various administrations across the political spectrum have wrongly interpreted a law the Trump administration now says requires immigration status checks for additional federal benefits.

  • August 20, 2025

    Argent To Shell Out $4.5M To Exit Workers' ESOP Suit

    Argent Trust Co. will pay $4.5 million to exit a class action alleging it approved a sale of undervalued shares in an electrical component company's employee stock ownership plan in a deal to shut the program down, according to a filing in Massachusetts federal court.

  • August 20, 2025

    Receiver Shielded In Senior Home Shutdown, 1st Circ. Says

    A court-appointed receiver for a Massachusetts assisted living facility is shielded by quasi-judicial immunity from claims that it orchestrated a "resident dumping" scheme, the First Circuit said Tuesday, reversing a lower court's decision.

  • August 20, 2025

    Biotech Replimune Faces Derivative Suit Over Trial Claims

    Executives and directors of biotechnology company Replimune Group Inc. face shareholder derivative claims that they concealed issues affecting a clinical trial of one of the company's lead immunotherapy candidates.

  • August 20, 2025

    Property Manager Settles With Mass. AG Over Data Breaches

    One of the largest property management firms in Massachusetts will pay $795,000 to settle allegations by the state attorney general's office that it failed to prevent or address a series of five data breaches between 2019 and 2021.

  • August 20, 2025

    Insurers Say Gov't Misusing FCA To Get Medicare Cost Cap

    Insurers accused of paying brokers to steer customers to their Medicare Advantage plans asked a Massachusetts federal judge to dismiss a False Claims Act lawsuit, saying the government is mischaracterizing legal payments for marketing as kickbacks in an attempt to impose caps it has thus far been unable to obtain.

  • August 19, 2025

    Tufts Student Says Feds Can't Dodge Detention Oversight

    Turkish student Rümeysa Öztürk, who the Trump administration arrested after she co-wrote a pro-Palestinian column in her university's newspaper, told the Second Circuit on Monday that the government's position that she can't challenge her detention via habeas proceedings is unconstitutional.

  • August 19, 2025

    21 AGs Push DEA To Schedule 'Designer Xanax'

    Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and 20 other state attorneys general are urgently asking the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to schedule an unregulated substance known as "designer Xanax" under the Controlled Substances Act, saying it is contributing to overdose deaths and posing a growing threat to public health.

  • August 19, 2025

    Suno Says Indie Artists' AI Copyright Claim A Stretch

    Artifical intelligence music generator Suno on Monday asked a Massachusetts federal judge to trim a proposed class action on behalf of independent musicians, saying the plaintiffs fail to offer any support for their novel claim that the songs generated by the tool are copyright-infringing copies.

  • August 19, 2025

    Nantucket Civil Rights Case Partially Revived On Appeal

    A Massachusetts intermediate-level appeals court ruled Tuesday that "hostile" responses by Nantucket's longtime town manager to a Black resident's comments about a hate crime investigation could reasonably be found by a jury to violate the resident's state civil rights.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.

  • Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

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    Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Consultants Should Be Aware Of DOJ's Potential New Reach

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recent first-of-its-kind settlement with McKinsey & Co. indicates not only the DOJ's more aggressive stance toward businesses' potential criminal wrongdoings, but also the benefits of self-disclosure and cooperation when wrongdoing becomes apparent, says Dom Caamano at Kibler Fowler.

  • Series

    Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.

  • An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

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    As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.

  • Timeline Considerations For Boston's New RE Review Process

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    Boston's newly reimagined large real estate project review process, featuring early community engagement, holds impacts for project timelines that land use counsel must account for when guiding developers through approvals, says David Linhart at Goulston & Storrs.

  • Series

    Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Making The Pitch To Grow Your Company's Legal Team

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    In a compressed economy, convincing the C-suite to invest in additional legal talent can be a herculean task, but a convincing pitch — supported by metrics and cost analyses — may help in-house counsel justify the growth of their team, say Elizabeth Smith and Roger Garceau at Major Lindsey.

  • Data Privacy Landscape After Mass. Justices' Wiretap Ruling

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    In Vita v. New England Baptist Hospital, Massachusetts’ highest court recently ruled that the state’s wiretap law doesn’t prohibit all tracking of website user activity, but major financial and reputational risks remain for businesses that aren't transparent about customer’s web data, says Seth Berman at Nutter.

  • Compliance Lessons From Raytheon's FCPA Settlement

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    A recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act action involving aerospace and defense company Raytheon underscores the importance of risk management related to retaining and overseeing third parties — especially in higher-risk jurisdictions — and the promotion of a companywide culture of compliance, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Ledbetter's Legacy Shines In 2024 Equal Pay Law Updates

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    The federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act turned 15 this year, and its namesake's legacy is likely to endure in 2025 and beyond, as demonstrated by 2024's state- and local-level progress on pay equity, as well as several rulings from federal appellate courts, say attorneys at Fisher Phillips.

  • Using Contracts As Evidence Of Trade Secret Protection

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    Recent federal and U.S. International Trade Commission decisions demonstrate an interesting trend of judges recognizing that contracts and confidentiality provisions can serve as important evidence of the reasonable secrecy measures companies must take to prove the existence of protected trade secrets, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

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    As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • What 2024 Trends In Marketing, Comms Hiring Mean For 2025

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    The state of hiring in legal industry marketing, business development and communications over the past 12 months was marked by a number of trends — from changes in the C-suite to lateral move challenges — providing clues for what’s to come in the year ahead, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Series

    Group Running Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The combination of physical fitness and community connection derived from running with a group of business leaders has, among other things, helped me to stay grounded, improve my communication skills, and develop a deeper empathy for clients and colleagues, says Jessica Shpall Rosen at Greenwald Doherty.

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