Analysis

Supreme Court's Biggest Criminal Law Opinions Of 2025

By Brandon Lowrey

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2025 handed down major criminal law decisions that made it easier for defendants to mount post-conviction challenges, clarified fraud statutes, and settled a circuit split over whether defendants can be convicted of violent crimes in which they did not physically participate.

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Analysis

More Pardon Seekers Going 'Straight To The White House'

By Phillip Bantz

A nonprofit's unusual plan to make a mass pardon request directly to the Trump administration highlights burgeoning optimism among white collar defendants about their chances of securing relief, and a recognition that the clearest path to clemency no longer runs through the traditional channels.

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4 Stories That Shaped Civil Rights, Access To Justice In 2025

By Marco Poggio

Civil rights and access to justice advocates faced mounting pressure in 2025, as President Donald Trump's return to office drove aggressive immigration enforcement, deep cuts to criminal justice funding, renewed Supreme Court scrutiny of the Voting Rights Act, and a steep increase in executions.

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Analysis

Trials & Mixed Outcomes Defined Antitrust Enforcers' 2025

By Bryan Koenig

U.S. antitrust enforcers took three high-profile cases against major technology platforms to trial this year, and that was just part of a government campaign that alleged a range of transgressions — including monopolistic conduct, algorithmic price-fixing and anticompetitive agreements — and netted one high-profile victory and several major setbacks.

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Analysis

The Telecom Developments That Defined 2025

By Christopher Cole

As Republicans took the reins of the Federal Communications Commission this year, the commission wasted little time filling a wish list of industry demands, from axing older regulations to launching plans to relax limits on media consolidation, streamline Space Bureau paperwork and put the kibosh on unwanted cable billing rules.

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Analysis

Top State & Local Tax Cases Of 2025

By Jaqueline McCool

From a Colorado appellate court upholding a tax on Netflix subscriptions to Pennsylvania's high court finding the Pittsburgh fee on nonresident pro athletes unconstitutional, 2025 was a busy year for state and local tax cases. Here, Law360 looks at the most influential cases of 2025 and their impact going into the new year.

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Analysis

The Top Patent Damages Of 2025

By Dani Kass

The largest patent verdict of the year was Apple's $634 million loss against Masimo, and juries issued eight other nine-figure verdicts in 2025 — many of which were against Samsung.

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Justices Let Immigration Judges' Free Speech Suit Continue

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration has failed to show it will be irreparably harmed by a Fourth Circuit decision that revived immigration judges' lawsuit challenging restrictions on their ability to speak publicly.

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Eni Asks Justices To Weigh In On Natural Gas Project Spat

By Caroline Simson

Italian energy giant Eni is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a New York appellate court decision that it says "stretched the claim preclusion doctrine beyond all constitutional bounds," in a long-running and multifaceted dispute stemming from a deal over a billion-dollar Mississippi liquefied natural gas processing facility.

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Fed. Circ. Declines To Save MemoryWeb Digital File Patent

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision striking claims in a patent covering a digital files management system, one of several that MemoryWeb has asserted against big technology companies. 

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Brief

Trump Admin Appeals Harvard Win In $2B Fund Freeze Case

By Chris Villani

The Trump administration will ask the First Circuit to overturn a federal judge's ruling that prevented the government from withholding $2.2 billion in federal grants from Harvard University over concerns about antisemitism on campus.

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2nd Circ. Reverses NLRB Loss In Parking Co. Injunction Bid

By Braden Campbell

The Second Circuit ordered a parking company Friday to rehire and negotiate with workers it canned when it took over the parking contract they labored under, granting the National Labor Relations Board an injunction and faulting the trial court for its purportedly shallow analysis in an initial denial.

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Feds Fight 'Do-Over' Of Tort Atty's Attempted-Extortion Rap

By Cara Salvatore

Federal prosecutors are urging the Fourth Circuit not to give "a do-over" to a medical malpractice attorney who was convicted of attempting to extort the University of Maryland Medical System out of $25 million and who says his self-representation at trial was not competent.

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Geico Agents Secure Some Discovery In Misclassification Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Geico must produce more information related to a retaliation claim and the authenticity and completeness of its retirement and welfare plans in a suit lodged by former agents alleging the insurer denied them benefits by misclassifying them as independent contractors, an Ohio federal judge ruled.

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9th Circ. Revives Excessive Force Suit Against Spokane Police

By Parker Quinlan

The Ninth Circuit has held that police officers in Washington state could have violated the Fourth Amendment rights of a man who died in their custody during a suspected drug overdose, finding that their alleged use of force would be excessive under federal law if proven.

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9th Circ. Takes Up IPhone Buyers' Class Decertification

By Bryan Koenig

The Ninth Circuit has summarily agreed to let consumers appeal what they had described as the "death knell" district court ruling that decertified their class of iPhone users that was expected to reach 200 million members in an antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies.

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X Can Still Sue Media Matters In Ireland, 9th Circ. Rules

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Friday vacated a California federal judge's injunction that blocked X Corp.'s ongoing lawsuit against left-leaning watchdog Media Matters in Ireland over an allegedly defamatory article, saying Media Matters waited too long before seeking to bring the case to the Golden State and thus prejudiced X.

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Live Nation 401(k) Suit Arbitration In Calif. Gets Redo

By Kellie Mejdrich

A California federal judge agreed to reconsider his order from 2023 requiring arbitration of some claims in a federal benefits suit from Live Nation workers alleging excessive fees in their employee 401(k) plan after the Ninth Circuit had remanded the case in August.

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App Makers Tell 9th Circ. It Got Google Maps Facts Wrong

By Bryan Koenig

App makers asked the Ninth Circuit to rethink their proposed antitrust class action accusing Google of locking out rival maps products, arguing a panel refused to revive the case only because it did "not address and ignored" their allegations.

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Calif. Appeals Court Upholds Los Angeles' Mansion Tax

By Maria Koklanaris

A property transfer tax that adds 4% to 5.5% to the cost of Los Angeles real estate deals of more than $5 million is legal under the U.S. and California constitutions, a state appeals panel ruled, upholding a trial court.

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Texas Justices Order Redo For BofA Building Valuation

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ordered a redo in a valuation that saw Bank of America communicate with a supposedly neutral appraiser ahead of time, saying that a trial court improperly confirmed an $8 million appraisal of a Houston property.

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Brief

Florida Supreme Court To Review Pot Legalization Effort

By Sam Reisman

The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to weigh whether a new proposal to legalize retail marijuana via ballot initiative complies with the state's constitution.

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Del. Justices Reinstate Elon Musk's $56B-Plus Pay Package

By Jeff Montgomery

Elon Musk saw his once-$56 billion, now larger, Tesla Inc. compensation package rescued Friday, as the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling from January 2024 that voided a board and stockholder-approved pay deal.

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NC Panel Denies Lindberg's Bid To Broaden Receivership

By Abigail Harrison

Convicted insurance mogul Greg Lindberg couldn't convince a North Carolina state appeals court to either loosen the strictures on a receivership or free certain of his affiliates from a temporary restraining order connected to his $1.2 billion insurance scheme from the mid-2010s.

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Michigan's 5 Biggest Court Rulings Of 2025

By Carolyn Muyskens

Michigan courts had a memorable year in 2025, issuing rulings that extended protections against automatic life sentences to young adults, struck down abortion restrictions and pulled the plug on criminal cases related to President Donald Trump's so-called fake elector plot.

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Driver Scantly Involved In Crash Can't Skirt Liability

By Mark Payne

A Michigan appellate panel upheld a trial court's finding that a vehicle can be considered involved in a crash even if it made minimal contact with other cars if its driver's emergency actions contribute to the overall crash, and a jury should determine the insurer's liability in a no-fault dispute.

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Colo. Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart Retires

By Zach Dupont

After an extended leave of absence this year, Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart announced her retirement from the state's high court Friday.

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Feature

The 6 Biggest Rulings By Massachusetts' Top Court In 2025

By Chris Villani

Massachusetts' top court rejected a novel double jeopardy claim in a headline-grabbing murder case, revived claims against Harvard over a "ghoulish" scheme, and said a Snapchat Bitmoji could show police bias, among other significant rulings this year.

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A 6th Circ. Snapshot: 3 Cases That Defined 2025

With more than a thousand opinions issued this year, three rulings from the Sixth Circuit stood out for the impact they'll have on the practice of civil procedure, including a net neutrality decision, a class certification standards ruling and an opinion about vulgarity in school, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

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Health, Legal Employers Face Unique Online Speech Hurdles

Employers in the legal and healthcare industries must consider distinctive ethical obligations and professional requirements when disciplining employees for social media posts, while anticipating an area of the law in flux as courts seek to balance speech rights and the workplace function, say attorneys at FordHarrison.

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How Fractional GCs Can Manage Risks Of Engagement

As more organizations eliminate their in-house legal departments in favor of outsourcing legal work, fractional general counsel roles offer practitioners an engaging and flexible way to practice at a high level, but they can also present legal, ethical and operational risks that must be proactively managed, say attorneys at Boies Schiller.

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Bonus Spotlight

Haynes Boone, Seward & Kissel Announce Year-End Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

Haynes Boone is handing its associates year-end and special bonuses in line with those offered by a significant portion of BigLaw this year, largely adhering to a bonus scale first put forward by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP in November, a firm spokesperson confirmed Monday.

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Analysis

4 Legal Ethics Matters That Rocked 2025

By Emily Sawicki

This year, judges across the country grappled with attorneys' use and misuse of generative artificial intelligence, and prominent federal prosecutor battles dominated headlines in some of the top legal ethics matters of 2025.

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DOJ Challenges ABA's Standing In Law Firm Intimidation Suit

By Ryan Boysen

The Trump administration is not waging an intimidation campaign against U.S. law firms, the government said Friday, calling an American Bar Association lawsuit challenging its alleged "law firm intimidation policy" as total speculation that must be dismissed due to lack of standing.

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Ex-CIA Director's Lawyers Accuse DOJ Of Judge Shopping

By Carolina Bolado

Former CIA Director John Brennan's attorneys asked the chief judge for the Southern District of Florida on Monday to block prosecutors from trying to steer any potential charges against him for investigating Russia's 2016 election interference to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's courtroom.

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Analysis

2025 Was A Policy Year Like No Other For Immigration Attys

By Britain Eakin

This year brought nonstop immigration policy whiplash as the Trump administration ramped up enforcement, triggering panic among employers about I-9 compliance in a landscape of constantly shifting adjudication and work authorization policies. Here, Law360 looks at how policy shifted attorney practice in 2025.

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Calif. Atty Slams 'Protectionist' ABS Fee-Sharing Ban

By Emily Sawicki

A California attorney has pushed back on opposition from California's attorney general and the state's bar association amid his efforts to block enforcement of a ban on fee sharing with out-of-state law firms owned by nonattorneys, arguing the new state law is a "protectionist act, in defiance of the constitution."

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LawFirms.com Beats LegalForce's TM Suit After Bench Trial

By Ivan Moreno

A California judge has concluded that a company that operates LawFirms.com did not infringe a law firm's trademarks for LegalForce, saying that during a four-day bench trial in October the court found "no one was actually confused or misled."

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Schumer Pushes Senate To Sue Over Epstein File Release

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced a resolution on Monday that would direct the Senate to take legal action to force the Trump administration to fully comply with the law to release the files of the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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Analysis

As US Executions Decline, Florida Surges

By Brandon Lowrey

During Florida's 1994 gubernatorial race, Republican candidate Jeb Bush accused Democratic incumbent Lawton Chiles of being too soft on crime; Chiles' immediate predecessor, Bush pointed out, had signed almost 10 times as many death warrants as Chiles had.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's justices threw the Court of Chancery in reverse big time last week, rescinding a decision by the state's chancellor that last year effectively canceled tech tycoon Elon Musk's multi-year, then-$56 billion stock-based compensation package. It was a decision that lit up the court's relatively low-key, pre-holiday wind-up. It also highlighted the endless, 3D tug of war over Delaware-chartered companies and the interests of boards, officers, controllers, stockholders and the corporate bar.

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