Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2025, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

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OpenAI, Microsoft Must Face Musk Fraud Fight In April Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge denied OpenAI Inc.'s request for summary judgment on Elon Musk's claims OpenAI duped him into donating $38 million with false promises of remaining a nonprofit, while trimming some claims against Microsoft Corp. and sending the bifurcated dispute to an April jury trial.

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Calif. AG Orders xAI To Stop Enabling Sexualized Deepfakes

By Rae Ann Varona

California's attorney general on Friday sent xAI a cease and desist letter demanding the artificial intelligence company immediately stop the creation and distribution of nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes, days after U.S. senators announced they had demanded that leading tech companies disclose how they are preventing such images on their platforms.

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High Court Takes Up Intel Workers' Bid To Revive 401(k) Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear Intel workers' challenge to a Ninth Circuit decision backing an end to their proposed class action alleging 401(k) mismanagement, a case that gives the justices a chance to clarify the pleading standards for retirement fund underperformance. 

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Stolen Google AI Info Valuable To Rivals And China, Jury Told

By Bonnie Eslinger

Federal prosecutors questioned a foreign policy expert and an MIT computer science professor Friday in the trial of an ex-Google engineer accused of stealing AI trade secrets to help China, seeking to show that artificial intelligence is a major priority for the Chinese government and that Google's technology was nonpublic and extremely valuable.

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Calif. Defeats Trump Admin Suit Demanding Private Voter Data

By Hailey Konnath

A federal judge has thrown out the U.S. Department of Justice's suit claiming that California is required to fork over statewide voter registration lists with voters' driver's license and Social Security numbers, calling the Trump administration's request "antithetical to the promise of fair and free elections."

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Calif. Atty Wins Fee Appeal In Dispute With Ex-Firm

By James Mills

A California appellate panel on Thursday approved an attorney fee award for a lawyer in dispute with his former firm but also denied that attorney's attempt to get attorney fees for a post-arbitration hearing.

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Roundup

Up Next At High Court: Fed Firing & Gun 'Vampire Rules'

By Katie Buehler

The Supreme Court will begin a short argument week Tuesday, during which the justices will consider President Donald Trump's authority to fire a Democratic Federal Reserve governor over allegations of mortgage fraud, as well as the ability for states to presumptively bar gun owners from carrying firearms onto private property open to the public unless the property owner explicitly allows it. 

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9th Circ. Upholds County Fines For Illegal Short-Term Rentals

By Isaac Monterose

The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to stop a Nevada county from enforcing ordinances that don't allow unlicensed short-term rentals to operate, ruling that the lower court rightfully sided against a local company by determining that the related county fines weren't unconstitutionally excessive.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Cannabis Landlords, Global Deals, ACREL

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including how potential changes to federal marijuana regulation could affect landlords, the largest global real estate deals of 2025, and a chat with the new president of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

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Oregon Judge Strikes Down Exclusion Feds Cited For Logging

By Tom Lotshaw

An Oregon federal judge has vacated a decades-old categorical exclusion the U.S. Forest Service enacted to exempt forest thinning and wildlife habitat projects from environmental reviews after it was used to allow thousands of acres of commercial logging in Fremont-Winema National Forest.

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9th Circ. Upholds Ax Of RNC Suit Over Google Email Filtering

By Allison Grande

The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to revive the Republican National Committee's lawsuit accusing Google of illegally sending RNC fundraising emails to Gmail users' spam folders, finding that the committee had failed to establish the type of user relationship necessary to sustain its claims. 

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Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Patent Suit Against Nintendo Switch

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Friday affirmed a California federal judge's conclusion that Nintendo's popular Nintendo Switch system did not infringe Gamevice Inc. patents, although it remanded an invalidity ruling that one judge feared could result in "really wacky case law."

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Squires Ends Chinese Chip Co. IPRs In Informative Order

By Theresa Schliep

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has stopped Yangtze Memory Technologies Co.'s challenges to two Micron Technology Inc.-owned patents, saying the Chinese chipmaker did not address concerns over its precise identity.

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TaylorMade Claims Golf Rival's UV 'Test' Misleads Consumers

By Elaine Briseño

TaylorMade Golf Co. Inc. in a California federal lawsuit accused its rival Topgolf Callaway Brands of running a disparaging smear campaign meant to convince consumers it has inferior, poor-performing products, in violation of the Lanham Act.

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NuVasive Loses Appeal Over Ex-Exec's Ties To Competitor

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the dismissal of NuVasive Inc.'s long-running lawsuit accusing a former top executive of breaching fiduciary duties and contractual obligations while planning to move to a rival spine-surgery company, ending nearly a decade of litigation over alleged conflicts and disloyal conduct.

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Calif. Resident Pleads Guilty To Shipping AI Chips To China

By Craig Clough

A Chinese national living in Southern California pled guilty Friday in Los Angeles federal court to a conspiracy charge for unlawfully exporting computer chips for artificial intelligence applications worth "tens of millions of dollars" to China.

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SEC Fines Adviser Over Black Rifle Coffee SPAC Deal Conflict

By Sarah Jarvis

Engaged Capital LLC was fined $200,000 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and agreed to a censure Friday over allegations the investment adviser failed to disclose conflicts of interest related to a special purpose acquisition company merger with Black Rifle Coffee Co. in 2022.

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ChatGPT Users Say Microsoft Can't Duck Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

ChatGPT subscribers urged a California federal judge Friday not to dismiss their lawsuit accusing Microsoft of undermining OpenAI by forcing the artificial intelligence giant into using its cloud computing exclusively, a day after they said Microsoft has no claim to alternatively force the proposed class action into arbitration.

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Analysis

Immigrant Visa Pause Could Test Limits Of Executive Power

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration's indefinite pause on immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries may test the outer bounds of executive control over visa issuance and prompt court battles in a rarely litigated area of immigration law.

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Rapper Xzibit's Ex-Wife Sues Over Cannabis TM Transfers

By Gina Kim

The ex-wife of rapper Xzibit filed a trademark infringement suit in California federal court Thursday alleging he assigned the marks of the couple's cannabis brand to his associate without her consent, in violation of an automatic temporary restraining order in their divorce proceedings.

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Dykema Adds Former Assistant US Attorney In Los Angeles

By James Mills

Dykema Gossett PLLC is growing its litigation team, bringing in a former assistant U.S. attorney as senior counsel in its Los Angeles office.

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Littler Adds Epstein Becker Employment Litigator In Calif.

By Craig Clough

Littler Mendelson PC announced that an attorney from Epstein Becker Green is joining its Century City, California, office as a shareholder, bringing a wealth of experience in employment law. 

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Expect State Noncompete Reforms, FTC Scrutiny In 2026

Employer noncompete practices are facing intensified federal scrutiny and state reforms heading into 2026, with the Federal Trade Commission pivoting to case-by-case enforcement and states continuing to tighten the rules, especially in the healthcare sector, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

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5 Advertising Law Trends That Will Shape 2026

The legal landscape for advertisers will grow only more complex this year, with ongoing trends including a federal regulatory retreat, more aggressive action by the states, a focus on child privacy and expanded scrutiny of "natural" claims, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

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What Changed For Healthcare Transaction Law In 2025

Though much of the legislation introduced last year to expand state scrutiny of healthcare transactions did not pass, investors should pay close attention to the overarching trends, which are likely to continue in this year's legislative sessions, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

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Analysis

In First Year, Trump Lost Most Cases But Often Won Appeals

By Cara Bayles

In the first year of President Donald Trump's second term, his administration lost in court nearly twice as often as it won, but its success rate increased when it appealed, according to a Law360 review of more than 400 lawsuits.

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Kirkland, Ex-Judge Hit With Class Action Over Texas Romance

By Hilary Russ

An investment firm is suing Kirkland & Ellis LLP, an ex-judge, two other law firms and a lawyer for allegedly fomenting "mass corruption" in Houston's bankruptcy court and colluding to enrich themselves by controlling the outcome of large Chapter 11 cases.

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Womble Bond Expands With 36-Person McGlinchey Team

By Tracey Read

Womble Bond Dickinson announced Friday it has added a 36-member consumer financial services team from the shuttering McGlinchey Stafford PLLC and is opening two new offices in Albany, New York, and Cleveland.

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Supreme Court Hacker Pleads Guilty To Misdemeanor Charge

By Jared Foretek

A 24-year-old Tennessee man pled guilty Friday to a single misdemeanor charge for hacking into the U.S. Supreme Court's filing system and several other government networks, admitting that he "intentionally accessed a computer without authorization" on 25 different days in 2023.

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Watchdog Urges Blanche To Exit Trump Records Role

By Courtney Bublé

A watchdog organization is calling on Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to step aside as President Donald Trump's proxy for records from his first term as they become available next week, saying he has a conflict of interest.

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Maurene Comey Fights DOJ Bid To Toss Firing Suit

By Emily Sawicki

Former Manhattan federal prosecutor Maurene Comey has urged a New York federal court to reject the U.S. Department of Justice's bid to dismiss her firing suit, arguing her claims belong before the district court and not under the jurisdiction of a non-independent board now controlled by the president.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London saw the David Lloyd gym chain file an intellectual property claim against its founder, security company Primekings reignite a long-running dispute with the former owners of an acquired business, and a pair of Belizean developers sue a finance executive they say shut them out of a cruise port project.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week, U.S. House lawmakers approved a bill that would restrict how retirement plan managers can consider environmental, social and governance issues when picking investments.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and Sher Tremonte LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Second Circuit upheld a ruling requiring Getty Images to pay out nearly $88 million to investors who said they were blocked from purchasing shares in the company once it became public.

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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.

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