The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether a Delaware medical malpractice statute requiring an expert affidavit can apply in federal court, which experts said will give the justices the opportunity to reassess the so-called Erie doctrine and the relationship between state and federal courts.
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Analysis

Justices Seen Resolving Circuit Split Over Med Mal Law

By Y. Peter Kang

The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether a Delaware medical malpractice statute requiring an expert affidavit can apply in federal court, which experts said will give the justices the opportunity to reassess the so-called Erie doctrine and the relationship between state and federal courts.

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Justices To Weigh If Del. Expert Law Applies In Federal Court

By Jonathan Capriel

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review whether federal courts must apply a Delaware state law requiring an expert affidavit for all medical malpractice complaints.

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High Court Will Review Colo.'s Conversion Therapy Ban

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will review a challenge to Colorado's ban on licensed therapists providing conversion therapy to transgender minors, in a case that asks whether the state's law is a permissible regulation of professional conduct or an unconstitutional restriction of speech.

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Supreme Court Vacates Ruling On Nazi-Looted Art Dispute

By Caroline Simson

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated a unanimous Ninth Circuit decision holding that a Spanish museum is not obligated to return a painting that was stolen from a Jewish family by the Nazis, months after California changed its law in response to the dispute.

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FTC Wants Pause On Noncompete Appeals, Pending Decision

By Jared Foretek

The Federal Trade Commission is asking two circuit courts to pause their reviews of its ban on noncompete clauses, saying it needs time to reconsider whether it actually wants to defend the rule.

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11th Circ. Affirms FCC Ownership Ruling, But Scraps Penalty

By Jared Foretek

The Eleventh Circuit upheld a Federal Communications Commission finding that Gray Television broke ownership consolidation rules when it bought a CBS affiliate in Anchorage, Alaska, but vacated a $518,283 penalty against the broadcast company, saying the agency failed to serve Gray proper notice on an "egregiousness" finding.

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GOP Sens. Escalate Fight With ABA Over 'Leftist' Statements

By Courtney Bublé

A group of Senate Republicans are once again going after the American Bar Association, which they claim has become a "leftist" organization, and announced Monday they will disregard ABA ratings on judicial nominees and encouraged the Trump administration and their colleagues to do the same.

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SUPREME COURT

Supreme Court Won't Review FLSA Overtime Exemption

By Irene Spezzamonte

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to consider whether an employer's line of business, rather than a worker's job duties, determines if an employee is exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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High Court Skips Florida Brokerage's Copyright Fee Appeal

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Florida real estate brokerage firm's challenge to lower court decisions denying it attorney fees when another company accusing it of copyright infringement voluntarily dropped the case.

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High Court Turns Down Firefighter's Religious Bias Case

By Amanda Ottaway

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a religious discrimination case from a Christian fire chief who said he was fired for his beliefs, leaving in place a Ninth Circuit decision that sided with the city that employed him as well as a long-standing legal framework that the justices had been asked to reconsider.

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Justices Reject Red-State Bid To End State Climate Torts

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a request from red states to stop climate change torts against fossil fuel companies brought by blue-state governments.

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Ariz. Power Co. Asks Justices To Review Tax On Tribal Plant

By Paul Williams

An energy company asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review Arizona court decisions that said a power plant it owns on tribal land is subject to property taxes, arguing that privately owned improvements located on Native American reservations are exempt from state and local taxes.

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DC CIRCUIT

Trump Asks For Stay Of NLRB Member's Reinstatement

By Tim Ryan

The Trump administration asked the D.C. Circuit on Monday to stay a federal judge's order reinstating fired National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox, saying the order steps on the president's authority to control the workings of the executive branch.

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EPA Says It Wants To Redo Biden-Era Chemical Risk Rule

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday told the D.C. Circuit it wants to reconsider a Biden-era rule that strengthened regulations to assess chemicals' health and environmental risks.

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FEDERAL CIRCUIT

Fed. Circ. Vacates PTAB Decision Partly Axing 4G Patent

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Monday vacated a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision partly invalidating a Sisvel patent that the company says is essential to the 4G standard and has asserted against other businesses in infringement litigation.

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Fed. Circ. Skeptical Of USPTO's Refusal To Register F-Word TM

By Ivan Moreno

A Federal Circuit panel appeared skeptical of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's reasoning for rejecting an application to register the F-word as a mark because of its widespread use, with one judge telling the government's attorney a couple of times during arguments Monday, "I don't understand what you're saying."

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Brief

Fed. Circ. Won't Pause Teva Patent Delisting For Appeal

By Andrea Keckley

The Federal Circuit denied on Friday Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceuticals' bid to keep an injunction ordering it to remove its inhaler patents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Orange Book on hold pending its appeal of the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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SECOND CIRCUIT

2nd Circ. Won't Free Ex-JPMorgan Banker From Industry Ban

By Jessica Corso

The Second Circuit on Monday upheld a lifetime investment advising ban against a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Perella Weinberg Partners investment banker convicted of insider trading, saying that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission presented substantial evidence demonstrating that the ban was appropriate.

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FOURTH CIRCUIT

4th Circ. Reverses $10M Coverage Cap For Aluminum Co.

By Hope Patti

The Fourth Circuit on Monday reversed a lower court's ruling capping an aluminum supplier's total recovery for losses related to a fire at $10 million, saying a molten material endorsement in the company's all-risk policies is ambiguous.

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Split 4th Circ. Says Video Privacy Suit Belongs In Arbitration

By Allison Grande

A divided Fourth Circuit panel ruled Monday that a pair of subscribers pressing a putative class action accusing streaming service CuriosityStream Inc. of unlawfully sharing their video-viewing information must arbitrate their claims, with the majority finding that registered users had "reasonable notice" of the arbitration agreement. 

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FIFTH CIRCUIT

Split 5th Circ. Vacates Death Sentence Over Brady Violations

By Emily Sawicki

A split Fifth Circuit has reversed and vacated a Texas woman's murder conviction and death sentence after 27 years, having determined that prosecutors failed to properly disclose evidence in accordance with U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and remanded the case to Amarillo, Texas, federal court.

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Treasury's CTA Halt Doesn't Justify Block, Feds Tell 5th Circ.

By Kevin Pinner

The U.S. Treasury Department halting enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act on domestic entities doesn't add justification to a nationwide block on the law because it's a valid exercise of Congress' powers to regulate commerce, taxes, foreign affairs and national security, the U.S. government told the Fifth Circuit.

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SIXTH CIRCUIT

Ex-Package Co. Worker Wants 6th Circ. Redo In ADA Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

A former mill utility worker is urging the Sixth Circuit to rehear his suit claiming a packaging manufacturer wouldn't let him return to work because he asked for a medical accommodation, arguing an appellate panel's ruling ignored key evidence at trial, including that he could have worked in a lighter-duty role.

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NINTH CIRCUIT

Trump Tells 9th Circ. To Undo Birthright Citizenship Injunction

By Madeline Lyskawa

President Donald Trump urged the Ninth Circuit to undo a Washington federal court's injunction on his executive order limiting birthright citizenship, saying children born to noncitizens in the United States do not fall within the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause.

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Tribe Says BNSF Can't Derail $400M Trespass Judgment

By Greg Lamm

A Washington tribe is urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court's finding that BNSF Railway Co. must pay nearly $400 million for years of illegally running oil cars across tribal territory, saying the railroad's claim that it strips away lawfully earned profits "makes little sense."

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Brief

DOJ Wants In On Invisalign Monopoly Arguments At 9th Circ.

By Nadia Dreid

The U.S. Department of Justice wants to be there when orthodontists and consumers who purchased clear teeth aligners face off with the company behind Invisalign at the Ninth Circuit next month, so it can tell the appellate judges where the lower court went wrong in killing their monopoly suits.

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ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

11th Circ. Urged To Find Qui Tam Cases Unconstitutional

By Daniel Wilson

A group of defendants accused of Medicare Advantage fraud urged the Eleventh Circuit on Monday to uphold a decision finding the False Claims Act's whistleblower provision unconstitutional, saying the statutory clause violates the Constitution in multiple ways. 

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Brief

Sig Sauer To Appeal $2.3M Accidental Fire Verdict

By Chart Riggall

Sig Sauer said Monday that it plans to appeal a $2.35 million verdict it lost to a Georgia man who claimed that a defect in its popular P320 pistol caused him to accidentally shoot himself after a federal judge declined the company's bid for a new trial.

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DELAWARE

Viacom And NAI Can Continue Shareholder Coverage Dispute

By Elizabeth Daley

A Delaware Superior Court judge ruled in companion cases that Shari Redstone, National Amusements Inc. and Viacom Inc. can still seek coverage for millions after underlying shareholder litigation in the wake of Viacom's 2019 CBS merger, determining prior actions were unrelated to the underlying disputes at hand.

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COLORADO

Colo. Justices To Review Insurers' Noncooperation Defense

By Thy Vo

The Colorado Supreme Court will consider whether a pair of insurance companies can defeat a man's bad-faith lawsuit by arguing his failure to turn over medical information about a surgery before his auto accident breached a contractual duty, according to an order Monday granting two petitions for review.

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Colo. Proposal Seeks Taxpayer Votes On New State Fees

By Sanjay Talwani

Colorado voters could decide whether to require future votes to approve new state fees and other charges to fund major state enterprises under a pair of proposed initiatives with titles approved by a state board.

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Colo. Court Affirms Property Tax Valuation For Partial Build

By Jaqueline McCool

A partly built commercial building in Colorado was properly valued by a county board of equalization, as the state doesn't have an exemption for partial builds, a state appeals court ruled.

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Colo. Justices To Weigh Attys' Duties When Borrowing Claims

By Thy Vo

Colorado justices will consider if and when attorneys can borrow claims from other lawsuits and still satisfy their personal duty to conduct a "reasonable inquiry" under professional rules, according to an order on Monday agreeing to hear a telecommunications company's challenge to a stockholder suit.

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UTAH

Starbucks Faces Suit Over Fatal Patio Crash After Panel Flip

By Rachel Riley

Starbucks owed a duty of reasonable care to a patron who was struck by a rogue pickup truck while sitting on the patio of a Salt Lake City area store, the Utah Court of Appeals has ruled, reviving her family's lawsuit against the Seattle-based coffee company.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Recent Cases Clarify FCA Kickback Pleading Standards

Two recently resolved cases involving pharmaceutical manufacturers may make it more difficult for False Claims Act defendants facing kickback scheme allegations to get claims dismissed for lack of evidence, say Li Yu at Bernstein Litowitz, Ellen London at London & Noar, and Gregg Shapiro at Gregg Shapiro Law.

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Bankruptcy Ruling Provides Guidance On 363 Asset Sales

HE v. Avadim Holdings, a recent ruling from the District of Delaware, underscores the principle that rejection of executory contracts does not unwind completed transfers of property and the importance of clear and precise language in sale orders and asset purchase agreements in bankruptcy cases, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

National Lawyers Guild Slams Trump's Perkins Coie Order

By Rachel Riley

The Seattle Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild denounced President Donald Trump's recent executive order revoking Perkins Coie LLP's security clearances, saying on Monday the decision "exemplifies his complete disregard for the rule of law and his contempt for core American democratic values."

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Paul Hastings Reelects Chair, Managing Partner To 2nd Terms

By Tracey Read

Paul Hastings LLP Chair Frank Lopez and Managing Partner Sherrese Smith have been reelected to their second three-year terms, the firm said Monday.

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Judge Who Shot Wife Gets Mistrial As Jury Hangs On Murder

By Gina Kim

A California judge declared a mistrial Monday in the murder trial of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, who shot and killed his wife in their Anaheim Hills home in 2023, after jurors said they remained at an impasse over whether he was guilty of second-degree murder.

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Analysis

SEC Leaves Meme Coin Fraud For Other Cops To Chase

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff's decision to say that so-called meme coins are beyond the agency's purview is a welcome change from past practices, experts say, but the devil is in the details when it comes to policing fraud and helping consumers recover when projects go bust.

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Del. Bar Panel OKs Corp. Law Bill To Curb Class Suits, Fees

By Jeff Montgomery

A key panel of the Delaware's State Bar Association overwhelmingly approved on Monday a pending bill to put new constraints on corporate stockholder lawsuits, over objections that the measure will snuff out shareholder protections from conflicted boards and corporation controllers.

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2 Firms Sued After Cyber Thief Steals $442K From Estate

By Ryan Harroff

Law firms SutterWilliams LLC and Allender & Allender PA were hit with a negligence and malpractice suit after a cybercriminal allegedly used spoofed email accounts to trick an attorney at the latter firm into handing over $442,600 from the sale of a late Pennsylvania sheriff's deputy's house in Florida.

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Paul Hastings Adds Kirkland Atty As Global M&A Co-Chair

By Tracey Read

Paul Hastings LLP has hired a third global co-chair for its mergers and acquisitions practice who was one of the youngest M&A partners in the world to have announced well over $1 trillion in deals, the firm said Monday.

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Hagens Berman Comms With Ghosting Client Kept Privileged

By Ryan Boysen

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP doesn't have to turn over texts and emails with a client who disappeared from a putative class action against Apple and Amazon, a Washington federal judge has ruled, despite the tech giants' accusations that the firm lied about those communications.

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J. Crew Wins Confirmation Of Ex-GC's Arbitration Loss

By Lauren Berg

A New York federal judge confirmed an arbitrator's ruling Monday that found J. Crew hadn't fired its former legal chief, Maria DiLorenzo, in retaliation for her complaints about colleagues' discriminatory comments about her hearing loss.

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Clerks May Seek Political Jobs On 'Case-By-Case Basis'

By Emily Sawicki

Individual federal judges may determine whether their clerks may seek political posts while employed by the judiciary, the Judicial Conference of the United States' Committee on Codes of Conduct now recommends, months after issuing guidance advising clerks to hold off seeking such roles until their clerkships end.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Allender & Allender

ArentFox Schiff LLP

Arete Law Group

Arnold & Porter

Baker & Hostetler

Baker Botts

Barnes & Thornburg

Berger Montague

Bernstein Burkley

Bernstein Litowitz

Boies Schiller

Bursor & Fisher

Clifford Chance

Cohen Ziffer

Cooch & Taylor

Cooley LLP

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

David Boies

Davis Wright Tremaine

Dentons

Devlin Law Firm LLC

Dickinson Wright

Dubbin & Kravetz

Duffy & Young

Elzufon Austin

Eversheds Sutherland

Faegre Drinker

Foley & Lardner

Friedman Rubin

Goodwin Procter

Greenbaum Rowe

Gupta Wessler

Hagens Berman

Hangley Aronchick

Heyman Enerio

Hunton Andrews

K&L Gates

Kaufman Dolowich

Kendall Brill & Kelly

Kennedys Law LLP

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Lewis Brisbois

Littler Mendelson

Marshall Dennehey

McDermott Will & Emery

McHale Slavin

Morgan Verkamp

Nixon Peabody

Norton Rose

O'Melveny & Myers

Orrick Herrington

PV Law LLP

Pacifica Law Group

Patterson Ripplinger

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Pearl Cohen

Pearman Law Firm

Perkins Coie

Potter Anderson

Procopio Cory

Redgrave LLP

Reid Collins

Seila Law

Sidley Austin

Silverman Thompson

Simon & Simon PC

Smart Schofield

Sparacino PLLC

Spencer Fane

Sullivan & Cromwell

Tousley Brain

Troutman

Varnum LLP

Weil Gotshal

Wheeler Trigg

Wigdor LLP

Williams & Connolly

Womble Bond

​Bottini & Bottini

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AbbVie Inc.

Advance Colorado

Align Technology Inc.

Alliance Defending Freedom

Amazon.com Inc.

Amcor PLC

American Bar Association

American International Group Inc.

Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Apple Inc.

BNSF Railway Co.

Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd.

Bragg

Business Roundtable

CNA Financial Corp.

Chevron Corp.

Constellation Brands Inc.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

F.W. Webb Co.

George Washington University

Graphic Packaging Holding Co.

Gray Television Inc.

Harvard University

Honeywell International Inc.

Human Rights Campaign

Ironshore Inc.

J. Crew Group Inc.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Kellanova Co.

Level 3 Communications Inc.

Lumen Technologies Inc.

Mars Inc.

McKesson Corp.

Medtronic PLC

Meta Platforms Inc.

NBCUniversal Media LLC

National Amusements Inc.

National Federation of Independent Business

Optimum

Paramount Global

Paramount Pictures Corp.

Perella Weinberg Partners LP

Pfizer Inc.

Sierra Wireless, Inc.

Sisvel International SA

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Starbucks Corp.

Starr International Co. Inc.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

TCL Technology Group Corp.

Telit Cinterion

Tesla Inc.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Uber Technologies Inc.

United Services Automobile Association

Verizon Communications Inc.

Wells Fargo & Co.

Wynn Resorts Ltd.

comScore Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Arizona Department of Revenue

Arizona Supreme Court

California Attorney General's Office

City and County of San Francisco, California

Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies

Colorado Supreme Court

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Delaware Court of Chancery

Executive Office of the President

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Trade Commission

Food and Drug Administration

Fort Mojave Indian Tribe

Illinois Attorney General's Office

Judicial Conference of the United States

Minnesota Attorney General's Office

National Labor Relations Board

New Jersey Attorney General's Office

Oregon Department of Justice

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community

Texas Attorney General's Office

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

U.S. Agency for International Development

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia

Vermont Natural Resources Agency

Wage and Hour Division

Washington Attorney General's Office

White Mountain Apache Tribe