Curaleaf Urges Block On NJ Pot Shop Union Rule

By Emily Brill

Curaleaf asked a New Jersey federal judge Friday to block state cannabis industry regulators from making cannabis retailers sign labor peace agreements with unions, saying the requirement treads on the retailers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

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Pot Nonprofit Defends Timeliness Of Discrimination Claim

By Jonathan Capriel

A Black entrepreneur who was denied a marijuana license eight years ago should be allowed to pursue his discrimination lawsuit against the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, the businessman told a federal court this week, saying he just recently caught wind of the favorable treatment the board gave white-owned businesses over minority-owned ones.

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Okla. Drug Enforcers Claim Immunity Against Hemp Seizure Suit

By Sam Reisman

Oklahoma drug enforcers urged a federal judge Friday to dismiss a $4 million lawsuit brought by hemp companies alleging state and local law enforcement wrongfully seized a shipment of federally lawful hemp bound from California to North Carolina.

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Cannabis Company Cresco Wants Potency Suit Tossed

By Jonathan Capriel

Cannabis giant Cresco Labs asked an Illinois federal judge to end a proposed class action accusing it and its subsidiaries of mislabeling their products to get around state-mandated THC potency limits, arguing that this is an issue for state lawmakers to handle, not the judiciary.

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Girardi Keese Trustees Sue Over $3.2M Settlement Transfers

By Rae Ann Varona

Bankruptcy trustees for disgraced California attorney Tom Girardi's defunct law firm and New York attorney Joseph DiNardo have filed suit to recover more than $3.1 million they allege should have been paid to a gas explosion settlement victim, but instead went to help finance food and beverage businesses.

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8th Circ. Jurist To Take Senior Status, Giving Trump Open Seat

By Dorothy Atkins

U.S. Circuit Judge William Duane Benton of the Eighth Circuit notified the judiciary on Friday that he plans to step back from active service, opening up another seat on the court for President Donald Trump to fill, according to the federal judiciary's online list of future judiciary vacancies.

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Former Mintz Client Files Negligence Suit Over Patent Work

By Adam Lidgett

A former Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC client has hit the firm with a professional negligence suit in Texas federal court, saying the firm's allegedly "shoddy, substandard" legal work led to one of the company's patents being almost completely wiped out.

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Trump Taps Ex-Willkie Atty For 2nd Shot At Filling CFTC Chair

By Jessica Corso

President Donald Trump has chosen a former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner and top attorney on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's cryptocurrency task force to head the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, tapping the crypto industry advocate to lead an agency struggling with a leadership void.

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Senate Confirms 7th Circ., Alabama Judicial Picks

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate voted on Monday to confirm Rebecca Taibleson, a federal prosecutor in Wisconsin, to the Seventh Circuit, and Justice Bill Lewis of the Alabama Supreme Court to the Middle District of Alabama.

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Analysis

PTAB Judges Alarmed By Squires' Moves To Limit Their Power

By Theresa Schliep

With U.S. Patent and Trademark Office leadership limiting the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's oversight of patent validity disputes, current judges for the tribunal say they are distressed by the recent moves to curb their authority and are looking for work elsewhere amid the instability.

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Brief

DOJ Hires 36 New Immigration Judges After Dozens Of Firings

By Britain Eakin

The Executive Office for Immigration Review has hired 11 new permanent immigration judges and 25 temporary ones after more than 100 judges were terminated, reassigned or retired early.

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Who Watches The Watchers? Conn. Justices Mull Court Bias

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut Supreme Court justice said Monday that if the state's human rights watchdog cannot address claims of racial discrimination in attorney licensing, then there is "no oversight" when bias infects the process.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court and Delaware Supreme Court saw another busy week of disputes spanning biotech milestones, reincorporation showdowns, shareholder voting schemes and cryptocurrency fiduciary rights.

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