FTC Appeals Meta Loss To DC Circ.

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission gave notice Tuesday that it would seek D.C. Circuit intervention over a federal judge's rejection of its lawsuit accusing Meta Platforms Inc. of illegally monopolizing personal social media through what the agency described as a buy-or-bury strategy behind the Facebook parent's purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp.

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5th Circ. Urged Not To Transfer Google Antitrust Case

By Matthew Perlman

Mobile analytics software company Branch Metric urged the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday not to transfer from Texas to California its case accusing Google of monopolizing mobile device search markets, saying the case has sufficient connections to the Lone Star State.

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Zillow, Redfin Must Produce CEO Docs In FTC's Antitrust Case

By Bryan Koenig

A Virginia federal magistrate judge gave the Federal Trade Commission a limited peek Tuesday into the communications between the CEOs of Zillow and Redfin over an alleged deal paying Redfin more than $100 million not to compete for rental listings, partially overriding Zillow's objections in a ruling from the bench.

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Microsoft Warns Google Play Store Deal Invites Antitrust Harm

By Lauren Berg

Microsoft Corp. urged a California federal judge to reject the proposed Android app distribution settlement in Epic Games' antitrust suit against Google, arguing that the deal would essentially erase the court's injunction requiring Google to open up its Play Store to Microsoft and other competitors.

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Comulate Alleges Anticompetitive Tactics By Applied Systems

By Matthew Perlman

A maker of software for insurance brokers has further escalated its dispute with rival Applied Systems Inc., lodging a new lawsuit in Illinois federal court over an alleged campaign to eliminate a competitor it was unable to acquire.

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UK Unveils Major Revamp Of Merger Reviews To Spur Growth

By Najiyya Budaly

The government has proposed a radical shake-up of the Competition and Markets Authority's merger review process to promote competitiveness, including measures to ditch independent decision-making panels, limit jurisdiction over deals and allow companies more time to find fixes for antitrust concerns.

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Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

By Kevin Penton

Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 48 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, achieving milestones such as high-profile litigation wins at the U.S. Supreme Court and 11-figure merger deals.

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Netflix Revises $83B Warner Bros. Deal To All Cash

By Al Barbarino

Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery have revised their $82.7 billion merger agreement into an all-cash deal, a move that could ease shareholder concerns over the prior stock component's susceptibility to market fluctuations.

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Lender Says Distillery Partner Diverted Funds Meant For Bills

By Matthew Santoni

A minority owner of Pittsburgh-based Maggie's Farm distillery allegedly took $10,000 from the business for his own venture with the help of an employee and a partner from Maiello Brungo Maiello, according to a lender that's allegedly owed $1.9 million from the struggling business. 

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HP Wants Antitrust Suit Over Third-Party Ink Tossed For Good

By Lauraann Wood

HP has urged an Illinois federal judge to permanently toss customers' amended lawsuit accusing the printer-maker of illegally blocking third-party ink cartridge use through a firmware update, arguing the "few" changes in their latest complaint still do not outline a plausible antitrust case.

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Ex-Med Spa Workers Say Poaching Claims Can't Stay In Conn.

By Aaron Keller

Two former Connecticut medical spa workers have asked a judge to dismiss claims they lured clients and a colleague to a nearby competitor, saying their employment agreements select Delaware as the necessary forum and venue for any dispute.

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AI Firm Countersues Legal Publisher For Breach Of Contract

By Adam Lidgett

Artificial intelligence startup Alexi Technologies has accused Fastcase Inc. and its owner of weaponizing the legal system after the legal research firm filed a lawsuit in November claiming the AI company breached a former business relationship.

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SEC Picks Kirkland Partner For Corp. Finance Deputy Director

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that a Kirkland & Ellis LLP partner and counsel to a former commissioner will be deputy director of the Division of Corporation Finance.

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What's New In ISS' Benchmark Voting Policy Updates For 2026

Companies should audit their governance structures and disclosures to prepare for the upcoming proxy season in light of Institutional Shareholder Services' 2026 policy updates, which include tighter guardrails on capital structures and director compensation, and more disclosure-driven assessments of environmental and social shareholder proposals, say attorneys at Fenwick.

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Navigating Privilege Law Patchwork In Dual-Purpose Comms

Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to resolve a circuit split in In re: Grand Jury, federal courts remain split as to when attorney-client privilege applies to dual-purpose legal and business communications, and understanding the fragmented landscape is essential for managing risks, say attorneys at Covington.

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Willkie Accused Of Aiding $735M Fraud In Buyout Deal

By Katryna Perera

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP on Tuesday was accused of aiding a $735 million fraud carried out by an investment manager to secure financing for a 2023 take-private transaction involving Franchise Group Inc., which was then used to pay off the manager's personal debts.

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Goldstein Poker Pals Got Money From Firm, Witness Says

By Jared Foretek

A former office manager at Thomas Goldstein's law firm Tuesday told the jury in his tax fraud trial in Maryland federal court that hundreds of thousands of dollars in wire transfers sent to the U.S. Supreme Court lawyer's poker counterparts were classified as business transactions in documents used by the firm's tax accountants.

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McDonald Hopkins Forms Practice Group For Law Firm MSOs

By Emma Cueto

Midwestern firm McDonald Hopkins LLC announced Tuesday that it has launched a practice group focused on handling deals between law firms and prospective private equity investors, which the firm said is a natural extension of its work on litigation funding deals and private equity investment in other professional services.

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Ex-DOJ Attys Describe Fallout From Trump Takeover

By Stewart Bishop

Former federal prosecutors who resigned or were fired from the U.S. Department of Justice over the last year spoke Tuesday of their dismay over political interference at the department by the Trump administration, but largely expressed confidence that the DOJ could recover in time.

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Shooting Of Indiana Judge, Wife Prompts Call For Vigilance

By Lynn LaRowe

The shooting of an Indiana Superior Court judge and his wife over the weekend has prompted the chief of the state's highest court to urge all jurists in the Hoosier State to "remain vigilant in your security."

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Ex-Girardi Keese Atty To Take Plea Deal In Chicago Case

By Rae Ann Varona

Former Girardi Keese attorney Keith Griffin will take a plea deal in a case accusing him of helping Tom Girardi violate court orders and covering up the theft of client funds, according to a minute entry entered Friday in Illinois federal court.

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Lindsey Halligan Out As US Atty As Judge Criticizes 'Charade'

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that Lindsey Halligan's 120-day term as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia is over, the same day a Virginia federal judge criticized "this charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading" in a role in which she was not lawfully serving.

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Justice Jackson Slams Fee Waiver Ban For Indigent Prisoners

By Brandon Lowrey

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday rejected three pro se indigent prisoners' bids to file petitions to the court without fees and permanently barred them from seeking fee waivers from the high court, decisions that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called "foolish" in a passionate dissent.

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Supreme Court Rules Mandatory Restitution Is Punitive

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Supreme Court held in a unanimous opinion Tuesday that restitution is a criminal punishment subject to the Constitution's ban on increasing punishment retroactively.

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Feature

John Roberts Welcomes John Roberts To Supreme Court

By Jeff Overley

U.S. Supreme Court advocates have tips galore for staying calm at a debut argument, including diligent preparation, mindful breathing and treating the event as a conversation. But a Proskauer Rose LLP attorney benefited Tuesday from a distinctive development: the chief justice's introductory jest about the two of them not being related.

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Justices Ax 6th Circ. Abortion Order Amid Loper Bright Outcry

By Jeff Overley

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday erased a Sixth Circuit decision allowing abortion-related conditions on family planning grants, a victory for Tennessee officials who accused the circuit of flouting the high court's landmark rejection of judicial deference to regulators.

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NJ Justices Sharply Limit Attorney Liability To Nonclients

By Carla Baranauckas

The New Jersey Supreme Court adopted a formal framework on Tuesday for determining when attorneys owe a duty of care to nonclients, affirming that estate lawyers generally cannot be sued for malpractice by disappointed heirs without clear proof the lawyer was engaged to benefit them directly.

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Justices Set Time Limit To Ax Judgments, Ending 11-1 Split

By Jeff Overley

Almost every circuit court has wrongly allowed litigants to vacate invalid judgments regardless of how long ago the judgments became final, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, endorsing one circuit's outlier interpretation of a decades-old procedural rule.

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Brief

Supreme Court Security Gets $30M Boost In DHS Bill

By Courtney Bublé

The consolidated U.S. Department of Homeland Security funding bill for fiscal year 2026 released early Tuesday morning includes $30 million for the security of U.S. Supreme Court justices.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court wrapped up last week with a mix of deal litigation, governance fights and disclosure battles, including a proposed settlement over a contested medical device sale, a merits dismissal tied to a $2 billion biotech exit and dueling lawsuits over Paramount Skydance's pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery.

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