NY's James, 21 Other Dem AGs Say CFPB Defunding Unlawful

By Craig Clough

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of nearly two dozen Democratic attorneys general in claiming the Trump administration's effort to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is illegal, telling an Oregon federal court Monday the municipalities are statutorily entitled to the CFPB's resources

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FTC Tosses Ban On AI-Fueled Tool For Stifling Innovation

By Allison Grande

The Federal Trade Commission on Monday threw out a 2024 order that imposed a ban on an artificial intelligence-powered writing assistance service that allegedly enabled its subscribers to generate false and deceptive online reviews, concluding that the prior directive was inconsistent with the Trump administration's current policy against undermining innovation in the emerging AI field. 

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Hochul Signs AG James' Bill To Expand Consumer Law

By Sarah Jarvis

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed into law New York Attorney General Letitia James' legislation to expand the state's ban on deceptive business practices to also protect against unfair and abusive practices, in the first updates to the state's primary consumer protection law in 45 years.

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Trump Admin Sues To Undo Ill. Immigrant Protection Laws

By Celeste Bott

The Trump administration sued the state of Illinois on Monday, claiming two recent state laws allowing for civil legal action against any law enforcement agent who knowingly violates the Illinois or U.S. Constitution and prohibiting civil arrests in and around state courthouses unlawfully discriminate against federal officers and violate the supremacy clause.

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Jury Deadlocks In Ex-NY Gov. Aide's Foreign Agent Case

By Stewart Bishop

A Brooklyn federal judge on Monday declared a mistrial in a case alleging a former top aide to two New York governors did the bidding of the People's Republic of China at the highest levels of state government in exchange for millions of dollars, after the jury deadlocked on all charges.

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Mercedes Inks $150M Deal In Emissions Cheating Claims

By Brian Steele

Mercedes-Benz USA LLC and Mercedes-Benz Group AG have reached a nearly $150 million national settlement with state attorneys general amid allegations that they sold and leased vehicles equipped with devices capable of defeating emissions tests.

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CFTC Acting Chair Departs As New Leader Sworn In

By Sydney Price

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's acting chair said Monday she would leave the agency at the end of the day, an announcement that followed the approval of her successor and her previous announcement that she is taking a role at a cryptocurrency company.

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Major Banks Want Loan Rate Collusion Suit Tossed

By Katryna Perera

Several major banks urged a Connecticut federal judge to toss a proposed class action alleging that for the past 30 years, they have been artificially inflating interest rates on variable-rate loans to consumers and small businesses, arguing the suit fails to plead evidence of a conspiracy among the banks.

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New Class Action Claims CIBC, RBC Rigged Quantum Shares

By Katryna Perera

A Quantum Biopharma investor has filed a proposed class action against several major Canadian banks, accusing them of running a spoofing scheme for years that artificially drove down Quantum's stock price — flooding exchanges with fake sell orders to mislead the market and buy shares at deflated prices, costing ordinary shareholders millions.

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Advocacy Groups Warn Against Kalshi's Gambling Push

By Hayley Fowler

A trio of nonprofits that advocate against gambling are fighting betting company Kalshi's efforts to curb Maryland gaming regulators' oversight, telling the Fourth Circuit that health consequences and threats to elections and youth sports would be significant if Kalshi succeeds.

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PayPal Pares Bias Suit Over Minority-Focused Economic Fund

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge trimmed down a venture capital firm CEO's lawsuit accusing PayPal of discriminating against Asian Americans in a $500 million economic opportunity fund for Black- and minority-led businesses in 2020, allowing two claims against the financial technology company to go forward while tossing a couple of others.

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CFTC Suit Adds To Convicted Crypto Fraudster's Woes

By Emilie Ruscoe

The CEO of a collapsed cryptocurrency commodity pool who earlier admitted to a wire fraud conspiracy charge now faces U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission civil claims over what prosecutors say was a $10 million Ponzi scheme.

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Citgo Fights To Ax SF's Climate Claims Before Calif. Panel

By Dorothy Atkins

Citgo urged a California appellate panel Monday to reverse their tentative finding that Golden State courts have personal jurisdiction over certain climate deception claims against oil and gas giants, arguing that local governments' public nuisance allegations are based on "a completely different set of facts" that occurred beyond California's borders.

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Chicken Cos. Face Injunction, Small Fines For Pollution

By Cara Salvatore

A federal judge hit Tyson Foods, Cargill and other poultry companies with a permanent injunction nearly 16 years after trial for polluting Oklahoma waters with chicken waste, but imposed only a tiny fraction of the $100 million in penalties requested by the state.

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3rd Circ. Permits DOL To Back Honeywell In 401(k) Suit

By George Woolston

The U.S. Department of Labor can file a friend-of-court brief supporting Honeywell's position in a worker's fight to revive a proposed class action alleging the company violated federal benefits law, the Third Circuit said Monday.

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DOJ, SEC Charge 6 In $41M Insider Trading Scheme

By Sarah Jarvis

Federal prosecutors in New Jersey have charged six people in connection with what the government is alleging are securities fraud schemes that led to at least $41 million in illicit profits from insider trading, as well as gains from manipulating the stock prices of biopharmaceutical companies.

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OPM Must Face DOGE Data Access Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

A New York federal judge has denied the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's bid to end a lawsuit claiming it unlawfully gave employment records to President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, saying its assertion that the alleged privacy law violation "effects" have been "eradicated" is unsupported by the record.

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Life Insurer, Customers' $335K Deal OK'd In Data Breach Suit

By Hope Patti

A Connecticut federal court gave final approval to a deal requiring a life insurance and financial planning company to pay $335,000 to end claims over a 2023 data breach that potentially compromised its customers' personal information.

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Calif. Judge Moves Insurance Compliance Co.'s Antitrust Suit

By Isaac Monterose

A California federal judge has transferred an artificial intelligence-driven insurance compliance company's antitrust suit against a property management software company to a different California federal court.

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Black & Decker Delayed Dangerous Defects Reports, Feds Say

By Hailey Konnath

Stanley Black & Decker Inc. knowingly dragged its feet on reporting potential hazardous defects in some of its utility bars and miter saws for years in violation of the Consumer Product Safety Act, according to a suit filed Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Trump Admin Adds Drones To Nat'l Security Threat List

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday deemed new foreign-made drones an unacceptable risk to the national security and safety of the country.

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Localities Say FCC Exceeding Powers Could Lead To Suits

By Christopher Cole

Local officials warned the Federal Communications Commission that extensive litigation could result if the agency tries to expand its power in easing permit approvals for high-speed deployment projects, an authority they say is not provided in federal statute.

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Regulatory Rollback And Lingering Limbo: The CFPB In 2025

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has implemented significant changes since President Donald Trump took office in January, including dismissing actions with prejudice, withdrawing guidance and rescinding rules, casting the bureau in uncertain light heading into 2026, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

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2025 Calif. Banking Oversight Centered On Consumer Issues

The combination of statutory reform, registration mandates and enforcement activity in 2025 signals that California's financial regulatory landscape is focused on consumer protection, particularly in the areas of crypto kiosk fee practices, earned wage access providers and elder fraud, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

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Nuclear Power Pitfalls And Opportunities To Watch For In 2026

Shepherding nuclear power projects to completion requires navigating more risks and obligations than almost any other infrastructure undertaking, but with the right strategies, states, developers, vendors and contractors can overcome these hurdles in 2026 and beyond, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

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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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JPMorgan Rips Javice Attys' 'Absurd' Bills For Candy, Booze

By Dorothy Atkins

JPMorgan has unveiled new details in its ongoing legal fee fight with Charlie Javice, accusing the convicted financial aid startup founder's Quinn Emanuel defense counsel and other firms of billing for "absurd" and "outrageous" expenses, including specialty cocktails, cellulite butter, a Cookie Monster toy and $530 on gummy bears.

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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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