Massachusetts

  • August 24, 2026

    Feds Propose New $103K Fee For H-1B Visa Petitions

    The Trump administration proposed a new rule Monday that would impose a roughly $103,000 fee for all H-1B visa petitions subject to government caps, separate from the $100,000 fee President Donald Trump announced last year via executive proclamation.

  • August 24, 2026

    Software Co. Can't Arbitrate Conn. Judicial Branch Dispute

    A Massachusetts software company on Friday lost its bid to force the Connecticut Judicial Branch into private arbitration over claims it was not fully paid for working on a court case management system decades ago, with a panel concluding the state's waiver of sovereign immunity allowed only a Superior Court lawsuit.

  • August 21, 2026

    Real Estate Recap: Retail, Hospitality Leaders Weigh In

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including interviews with real estate attorneys about the latest trends in the retail and hospitality sectors, among others.

  • August 21, 2026

    Balancing The Scales: Diminished Capacity, Sentencing Rules

    The Michigan Supreme Court has overturned 25 years of state precedent by reviving the diminished capacity defense, and the justices in Pennsylvania said the Legislature is out of time to craft new sentencing guidelines for second-degree murder. Here, Law360 highlights access to justice stories arising from litigation, verdicts and judgments you may have missed.

  • August 21, 2026

    Hogan Lovells Helps Advance Gene Therapy For Rare Disease

    Hogan Lovells Cadwalader partner Blake Wilson found himself scrolling through LinkedIn one day, when a post caught his eye that would spark a multiyear pro bono effort and lead to a breakthrough treatment for a rare and fatal disorder affecting children.

  • August 21, 2026

    Mass. Eyes More Time For 'Greenwash' Records Response

    Massachusetts environmental regulators asked a judge for another two weeks to search for potentially responsive records sought by a lawyer representing Exxon Mobil in the state's "greenwashing" lawsuit.

  • August 21, 2026

    The Race Is On To Confirm Trump's Judges By Year-End

    President Donald Trump nominated 11 judges this past week, meaning 19 nominees are now in the pipeline. But how many can the Senate confirm before the end of the year, given that it will mostly be absent and consumed by the midterm election? 

  • August 21, 2026

    Illinois-Led States Win TRO To Block DOT Bid For CDL Data

    A Virginia federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from obtaining a database containing information on 17 million commercial driver's license holders, ruling in favor of 21 states that allege it unlawfully demanded the records for immigration enforcement.

  • August 21, 2026

    Ex-Mass. Cannabis Chair Says Ouster Was Retaliation

    Massachusetts' former top cannabis regulator says efforts to remove her from the role were retaliation by the state treasurer and other officials for flagging alleged conflicts of interest, regulatory violations and fraud.

  • August 21, 2026

    Suno Loses Bid To Dismiss Artists' AI Copyright Claims

    A Massachusetts federal judge has allowed independent recording artists to proceed with copyright claims that AI-music generator Suno Inc. created unauthorized derivative works and bypassed YouTube protections to obtain songs to train its platform.

  • August 21, 2026

    Ex-FBI GC Joins Legal Data Exchange Company Kodex

    A former general counsel of the FBI who also held leadership roles with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has taken a new position as general counsel of Kodex Global, the company announced Friday.

  • August 20, 2026

    Sens. Call On FINRA To Update Rules To Curb Transfer Fraud

    U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., urged the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to boost consumer protections to prevent brokerage fraud through the Automated Customer Account Transfer Service, pointing to "structural weaknesses" in the system they say bad actors are exploiting to drain customers' brokerage accounts.

  • August 20, 2026

    Ex-Immigration Officer To Admit Embezzling $60K From Union

    The former treasurer of a federal workers' union local has agreed to plead guilty to embezzling more than $60,000 to pay for expenses ranging from food and utility bills to dance lessons, the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts announced Thursday.

  • August 20, 2026

    Cannabis Co. Fights Class Status In Tipped Wages Suit

    Cannabis dispensary company Curaleaf Holdings urged an Illinois federal court Tuesday not to allow workers to proceed as a class and collective with their tipped wages claims, saying its tip practices didn't stem from a common corporate policy but rather a patchwork of "legacy practices inherited through serial acquisitions, varying by state, store, manager, and time."

  • August 20, 2026

    Dems Push For Probe Of LNG Tanker Tax Breaks At IRS

    Democratic senators Thursday urged a government watchdog to investigate whether the Internal Revenue Service has determined that liquefied natural gas exporters who use the fuel to propel their tankers can claim an alternative fuel tax credit.

  • August 20, 2026

    Ethics Complaints Barred In Mass. Sheriff's Pot Extortion Trial

    The government cannot use records of past state ethics commission complaints against a Massachusetts sheriff in an extortion trial set to get underway next week, a federal judge said Thursday.

  • August 20, 2026

    AmEx Waived Arbitration By Refusing Fees, 1st Circ. Says

    American Express forfeited its right to insist on arbitration in a proposed class action by merchants challenging the company's swipe-fee rules when it failed to pay its share of the arbitrator's fees, estimated to be $17 million, the First Circuit has ruled.

  • August 19, 2026

    German Entrepreneur's Dad Can't Nix SEC Tab, 1st Circ. Rules

    The First Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a judgment against the father of German billionaire Michael Gastauer, saying the parent "waited too long" to object to a lower court's personal jurisdiction over him as a relief defendant in a case concerning his son's alleged participation in an international pump-and-dump scheme.

  • August 19, 2026

    1st Circ. Says Apellis Disclosures Weren't 'Half-Truths'

    A First Circuit panel on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a securities fraud lawsuit accusing Apellis Pharmaceuticals and some of its top executives of misleading investors about the safety testing of the company's eye drug Syfovre, finding no actionable claim the company told "half-truths" about potential side effects of inflammation that can lead to blindness. 

  • August 19, 2026

    PFAS Turnout Gear Buyer Lawsuits Get Consolidated In Minn.

    Minnesota will be home to firefighter turnout gear PFAS "forever chemical" federal lawsuits filed by municipal purchasers from 14 separate states, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation has decided, consolidating current actions in Montana and California with lawsuits filed in the corporate home state of 3M Co.

  • August 19, 2026

    'Bob's Burgers' Actor Sues Lucid Over 'Lemon' SUV

    Comedian and "Bob's Burgers" star Eugene Mirman has sued California-based electric automaker Lucid in Massachusetts state court for leasing him a "lemon" last year.

  • August 19, 2026

    Paramount Judge Urges Parties To Be 'More Reasonable'

    A California federal judge overseeing the challenge to Paramount Skydance's $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition brought by the Writers Guild of America and state attorneys general urged the parties Wednesday to be "much more reasonable" with discovery disputes, warning that if they aren't, "you will find yourself asked to engage a special master."

  • August 19, 2026

    Nutter Leader Eyes Fla. Growth, AI-Driven Billing Shift

    After overseeing Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP's expansion into New York City, California and Hawaii, co-managing partner Michael Scott is setting his sights on extending the firm's footprint into Florida within the next year and leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to lower clients' bills.

  • August 19, 2026

    Judge May Trim $88M Covidien Hernia Mesh Verdict

    A Massachusetts federal judge said Wednesday she is "likely" to reduce a jury's recent $88 million verdict in a bellwether hernia mesh lawsuit and encouraged lawyers for an Alabama couple and Covidien LP to consider a settlement.

  • August 19, 2026

    Ruling Lets Ethiopia's Protected Status End As Case Proceeds

    A Massachusetts federal court has ruled the Trump administration's termination of Ethiopia's temporary protected status designation can now take effect, though allowing Ethiopian nationals to continue arguing that the administration acted at least partly out of racial animus.

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.

  • 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.

  • What's Missing From Latest Gov't Claims Against Harvard

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    The most interesting thing about the Trump administration’s recent civil rights enforcement efforts targeting Harvard University is its decision not to assert violations of the False Claims Act when given the opportunity, despite signals that its enforcement efforts will include use of the federal FCA, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • 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.

  • State FARA Laws Pose Unique Constitutional Challenges

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    Several states have recently enacted foreign agent registration and disclosure regimes that were modeled after the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but these state laws raise several constitutional questions, including concerns about preemption, speech and petition, and vagueness, says Alexandra Langton at Covington.

  • Determining When Engineered Biologics May Be Patentable

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Regenxbio v. Sarepta, concluding that engineered cells with DNA from different organisms are not patent-ineligible natural phenomena, raises questions surrounding what framework courts will use to evaluate the patent eligibility of engineered biologics moving forward, says Robert Frederickson at Goodwin.

  • 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.

  • Proposed Oracle Act Tests NY's Prediction Markets Clout

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    New York's proposed Oracle Act could if passed force a high-stakes showdown over event contracts in the prediction markets as well as state gambling laws, and legal practitioners should closely monitor litigation, parallel developments in other states, Commodity Futures Trading Commission rulemaking and congressional action, says Linda Goldstein at CM Law.

  • 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.

  • State Carbon Cost Disparities Are Pivotal In Data Center Siting

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    When choosing U.S. data center locations, developers must carefully consider the patchwork of state and regional carbon emission pricing regimes that are layered on top of the federal permitting framework, creating compliance cost differentials that could add up to billions of dollars, say attorneys at Davis Graham.

  • 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.

  • Keys To Federal Carbon Compliance In Data Center Siting

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    Recent statements from the White House and state governors about making data centers pay for their own power infrastructure have underlined the importance of choosing locations, generation technologies and deal structures to optimize carbon, permitting and compliance costs, say attorneys at Davis Graham.

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