Trump Admin Beats Chamber Suit Over $100K H-1B Visa Fee

By Rae Ann Varona

A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Tuesday refused to block the Trump administration's new $100,000 H-1B visa fee, ruling in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's lawsuit challenging the fee that President Donald Trump has "broad authority" to restrict noncitizens' entry.

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DHS Finalizes Rule Shifting H-1B Odds To Higher Earners

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration finalized changes to the H-1B lottery Tuesday, unveiling a final rule it said will favor higher-paid and higher-skilled positions and tamp down on employers exploiting the program to hire low-wage workers and depress the wages of U.S. workers.

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Federal Agencies Urge 9th Circ. To Lift Layoff Freeze

By Braden Campbell

The U.S. government urged the Ninth Circuit to stay a court order barring agencies from laying off workers through next month under the shutdown deal, saying the court intruded on federal labor panels' territory and the funding resolution didn't bar layoffs agencies had in the works.

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Full 9th Circ. Won't Hear Ex-Theranos Exec Balwani's Appeal

By Dorothy Atkins

A Ninth Circuit panel rejected ex-Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani's en banc hearing request to reconsider his 12-count conviction and nearly 13-year prison sentence, while also amending its opinion to clarify that there was "ample evidence" to convict Balwani, even if prosecutors failed to correct a witness's testimony.

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SEC, FAT Brands Near Deal In Suit On CEO's $27M Loan Scam

By Dorothy Atkins

Restaurant franchiser FAT Brands, its former CEO and other executives told a California federal judge on Tuesday that they reached a deal to resolve the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's civil claims that they ran an illegal $27 million personal-loan scheme to fuel the former CEO's lavish lifestyle as the public company floundered.

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Walmart Gets $623K As Sanction Award In Avocado Oil Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge has ordered two attorneys from a Santa Monica-based law firm to pay Walmart $623,000 in attorney fees as a sanction in their client's decertified class action that accused Walmart of falsely labeling its avocado oil as containing only avocado oil despite allegedly containing other oils.

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4 Judges Who Battled Criminal Charges In 2025

By Jake Maher

A number of high-profile cases in 2025 found judges taking on the role of criminal defendants over a wide range of allegations, from murder and sexual assault to corruption and interfering with an ICE arrest.

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Ex-Oura CEO Pushes To DQ Quinn Emanuel In Firing Suit

By Emily Sawicki

The onetime CEO of fitness tracker company Oura Health is pushing to disqualify Quinn Emanuel from representing the smart ring maker in his compensation suit, telling a San Francisco federal judge that he shared confidential information when he consulted with the firm about his claims prior to filing suit.

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Analysis

Biggest Energy & Environmental Court Decisions Of 2025

By Keith Goldberg and Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Two U.S. Supreme Court rulings that erected stricter boundaries on federal environmental reviews and permitting highlighted an action-packed 2025 for energy and environmental litigation. Here, Law360 looks back at this year's most consequential court decisions in energy and environmental law.

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'Surprise' Expert Prompts Axing Of $14M Car Crash Verdict

By Y. Peter Kang

A California appellate court has vacated a $13.8 million jury verdict after finding that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing a "surprise" medical expert witness to testify at an auto collision trial, saying his testimony likely affected the jury's substantial award.

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Arby's, Dunkin' Owner Dodges Web Cookie Suit, For Now

By Craig Clough

A California federal judge dismissed a proposed class action Monday against Arby's, Jimmy John's, Dunkin', Baskin-Robbins and their parent company alleging their websites contained cookie banners falsely promising to remove trackers, finding the plaintiffs failed to meet heightened pleading standards required when the claims are based in fraud allegations.

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Analysis

3 Federal Circuit Clashes To Watch In January

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit is set to hear several intellectual property cases in January, including one over a nine-figure patent judgment against cybersecurity company Gen Digital tied to a contempt finding against a major law firm that represented it, and another over the tech industry's long-running crusade against patent review denials based on related litigation.

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Fed. Circ. Won't Revive Claims In Internet Voice Patent

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board decision in a reexamination requested by Cisco Systems Inc. that claims in a widely asserted Estech Systems IP LLC patent on voice over internet protocol telephone systems are invalid.

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Squires Will Review If Hydrafacial's ITC Win Should End IPR

By Dani Kass

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has paused the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's review of a Hydrafacial LLC skin treatment patent to consider the effect of a related U.S. International Trade Commission decision.

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Justices Urged To Review 'Bike+' TM Suit Against Peloton

By Ivan Moreno

A fitness company with a cycling app called Bike+ has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit decision dismissing its trademark infringement claims against Peloton, saying the appeals court erred in assessing the likelihood of confusion and should have let a jury decide the matter.

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Dem Sens. Blast Idea Of Charging Value-Based Patent Fees

By Elliot Weld

A group of Democratic U.S. senators has asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick not to move forward with a proposed overhaul of the U.S. patent fee system that reportedly would implement fees based on a patent's value, saying such changes would create a "prohibitive bar to innovation for start-ups and other small-to-mid-size businesses."

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Disney Wants ESPN Streaming Rates Suit Sent To Arbitration

By Jared Foretek

Disney is seeking to force a proposed class of Fubo subscribers to arbitrate their claims that Disney unlawfully made streaming services pay inflated rates for ESPN and other sports channels, telling a California federal judge that the company can enforce Fubo's arbitration clause after its purchase of the streamer.

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Analysis

The Court Cases That Defined Sports Law In 2025

By Alex Lawson

From a landmark settlement that looks to reshape the future of college athletics to an eye-popping victory for a golf legend, the sports legal world was teeming with cases that commanded attorneys' attention throughout 2025.

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Intent Not Needed To Boost ID Theft Sentence, 9th Circ. Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

Federal prosecutors need not show that a defendant intended to commit fraud with stolen materials that have authentication features, such as driver's licenses, for courts to apply a sentencing enhancement for possessing those materials, the Ninth Circuit has held.

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OCC Wants To Preempt State Mortgage Escrow Interest Laws

By Hailey Konnath

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has unveiled a pair of proposals aiming to, among other things, preempt state laws requiring banks it regulates to make interest payments for escrow accounts connected to certain types of residential mortgage loans, calling it a "critical tool for reducing unnecessary burden."

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Telcoin Sues To Freeze $1.5M In Stolen Crypto-Assets

By Carla Baranauckas

Cryptocurrency platform Telcoin LLC has gone to California federal court seeking an emergency injunction and damages against unknown hackers who allegedly siphoned millions in digital assets from customer wallets on Christmas Day 2023.

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Estate Of 1970s Cannabis Pioneer Sues Publisher Over IP Use

By Jonathan Capriel

The family of cannabis legalization activist and author Jack Herer is seeking to wrestle back control of his IP, filing a lawsuit in California state court which claims the patriarch's name, image and likeness have been "fraudulently" taken.

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Pot Investors Say Collective Mishandled Profits And Funds

By Mike Curley

A pair of investors is suing the managers of a cannabis retail collective in California state court, alleging that they have been diverting funds and failing to properly distribute profits, instead using them to prop up their own businesses and enrich themselves.

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Greenberg Traurig-Led Silicon Valley SPAC Raises $200M

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Special purpose acquisition company Silicon Valley Acquisition Corp. began trading publicly on Tuesday after raising $200 million in its initial public offering, with plans to pursue an acquisition of a company undergoing "structural transformation."

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Analysis

Fast-Track Court Fights Shaped Immigration Litigation In 2025

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Supreme Court’s use of the emergency docket drove 2025’s biggest immigration decisions, with the justices stepping in repeatedly to stay nationwide injunctions, greenlight key parts of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, and in some cases preserve due process rights. Here, Law360 looks at the year’s key immigration decisions.

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Feature

State Telecom Roundup: AGs Step Up War On Robocalls

By Nadia Dreid

Americans have been pummeled by more than 2.5 billion robocalls every month this year, and stanching the onslaught has become one of the more bipartisan issues in national politics. Federal and state authorities also agree on the magnitude of the issue, and the nation's attorneys general are teaming up for battle across the country at the state level.

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Calif. Chamber Of Commerce Counsel Rejoins Jackson Lewis

By Irene Spezzamonte

A former California Chamber of Commerce senior employment law counsel has rejoined Jackson Lewis PC as a principal, returning to the firm where she has already done a five-year stint, the firm announced.

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3 Key Trends For The Legal Industry In 2025

By Tracey Read

Executive orders, updated office attendance policies and private equity interests were three top issues that shaped the industry this year.

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ITC Atty's 1st Kids' Book Imagines A Santa-Less Christmas

By Dani Kass

Michelle Klancnik, assistant general counsel at the U.S. International Trade Commission, spends her days looking into when imports should be banned for violating intellectual property rights, but outside work, she​'s focused on one big question: What would happen if Santa took a year off?

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NYC Bar Issues Opinion On AI Use For Recording Client Calls

By Tracey Read

The New York City Bar Association's Professional Ethics Committee has issued an opinion addressing how the New York Rules of Professional Conduct impacts the use of artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and create summaries of conversations in audio and video calls between attorneys and their clients.

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Ex-DOJ Employees Fight Gov't Bid To Toss Their Firing Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

An ex-assistant U.S. attorney and two other former Justice Department employees urged a Washington, D.C., federal court on Tuesday to deny the government's motion to dismiss their lawsuit claiming they were unlawfully fired, arguing an internal government employment board isn't appropriate for their cases and is controlled by President Donald Trump.

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Top Delaware Chancery Cases Of 2025: A Year-End Report

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court closed out 2025 amid a period of institutional uncertainty, as landmark cases addressing fiduciary duty, executive compensation, board oversight and the limits of equitable power unfolded against the backdrop of sweeping legislative changes to the Delaware General Corporation Law.

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Hub Hires: Cooley, Morgan Lewis, Nixon Peabody

By Chris Villani

The end of the year marked the beginning of new chapters for plenty of Boston attorneys, as Cooley added more than 30 professionals to its life sciences team, Morgan Lewis snagged an intellectual property partner, and Nixon Peabody beefed up its cybersecurity practice.

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