'Doesn't Make Sense': DOJ Irks Judge In Merger Fight With AGs

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge said Monday that the U.S. Department of Justice must hand over certain discovery materials to Democratic attorneys general challenging the DOJ's controversial settlement greenlighting the $14 billion merger of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks, telling the DOJ that its argument that discussions of alternative remedies are shielded from discovery "doesn't make sense."

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FTC Says Bezos, Amazon Execs Hid Evidence Via Signal App

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission asked a Washington federal judge to assume Amazon.com Inc. used auto-deleting Signal chats to hide the "anticompetitive nature" of rules that allegedly created an artificial pricing floor across online retail, escalating a long-simmering evidentiary fight that implicates Jeff Bezos and general counsel David Zapolsky.

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Bausch, Lannett To Pay $17.9M In Drug Price-Fixing Deal

By Abigail Harrison

Lannett Company Inc., Bausch Health US LLC and Bausch Health America Inc. will pay $17.85 million to settle allegations by 48 states and territories that they conspired to fix prices for generic drugs, according to a motion filed Monday seeking preliminary approval of the deal.

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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The Top In-House Hires Of January

By Sue Reisinger

Legal department hires over the first month of 2026 included high-profile appointments at SiriusXM, at a host of West Coast tech companies including Microsoft and Meta, and at Black & Decker. Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from January.

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Chancery Keeps Coinbase Insider Trading Suit Alive

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court has refused to shut down a stockholder derivative suit accusing Coinbase Global Inc. insiders of reaping billions by selling shares ahead of a steep stock drop, concluding that the company's special litigation committee failed to meet Delaware's exacting independence standards.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jeff Montgomery

A pair of new high-dollar suits in Delaware's Court of Chancery showed last week that post-deal stock appraisal suits still have legs, despite some efforts to reduce potential from deal-price gains challenges. The week ended with Delaware's justices nipping $100 million from the attorney fees owed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk from $176.2 million to roughly $70.9 million, rejecting part of a Court of Chancery fee calculation.

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Broker-Dealer Fined $750K Over Text Message Recordkeeping

By Sarah Jarvis

Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. Inc. has agreed to a censure and $750,000 fine to settle the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's allegations that the broker-dealer failed to properly supervise and preserve its employees' business-related text messages.

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Jury Finds Real Estate Co. Founder Liable In SEC Fraud Case

By Isaac Monterose

A Colorado jury sided with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in its $49.5 million investment fraud suit against the founder of a real estate investment company.

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Brief

SEC Ends Commonwealth Financial Suit After $93M Reversal

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says it has reached a deal to end a lawsuit accusing Commonwealth Financial Network of failing to disclose conflicts of interest, after the First Circuit overturned the agency's $93 million win against the Massachusetts-based financial firm.

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US Bancorp Beats Suit Over Brokerage Cash-Sweep Program

By Katryna Perera

A Minnesota federal judge permanently threw out a proposed class action accusing U.S. Bancorp and its brokerage unit of shortchanging customers on interest through a cash-sweep program, finding in part that the bank never promised customers a particular minimum interest rate.

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NBA Star Says He Didn't Know Of Ex-Adviser's Self-Dealing

By Stewart Bishop

Portland Trail Blazers star Jrue Holiday on Monday told a Manhattan federal jury that he didn't know that his former Morgan Stanley financial adviser was also on the other side of the NBA star's investment in a $10 million life insurance deal, saying it would have been a dealbreaker if he had known.

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Nevada Judge Temporarily Halts Polymarket Sports Contracts

By Elaine Briseño

A Nevada state judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Polymarket from offering sports contracts in the state for two weeks, finding that the platform's offerings constitute "gaming" under state law.

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Offshore Wind Crowns Courtroom Sweep With Sunrise Restart

By Keith Goldberg

A D.C. federal judge on Monday lifted the Trump administration's halt of the Sunrise Wind project, the final victory for five East Coast offshore wind farms that all convinced courts to block the government's stop-work orders.

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Calif. Cities Challenge DOJ Rules For Child Exploitation Funds

By Hailey Konnath

San Diego and San Jose have sued the U.S. Department of Justice over new requirements for Internet Crimes Against Children program grant recipients, claiming that the federal government is unconstitutionally trying to force its immigration and diversity agendas on local governments and other grant recipients.

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Judge Says 'Piddling' Dispute Slowing Arts Grant Cut Cases

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday prodded groups seeking the reversal of $175 million of Trump administration cuts to grants for writers to move past a lingering privilege dispute, saying it won't "advance the ball" toward judgment.

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1st Circ. Judge Wary Of Boston Bid To Revive PBM Opioid Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

The city of Boston faced pushback from a First Circuit judge on Monday as it argued it didn't miss its window to sue pharmacy benefit managers for their alleged role in the opioid epidemic.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

U.S. enforcers reached three new merger settlements, while the Federal Trade Commission successfully blocked a $945 million heart valve deal and lodged an appeal for its case targeting Meta's past acquisitions.

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DOJ Opposes Google's Bid For Partial Search Remedy Pause

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice and state enforcers are opposing Google's bid to pause parts of the remedies imposed after a D.C. federal court found it monopolized the search market, while the tech giant appeals the ruling to the D.C. Circuit.

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NHTSA To Redo Heavy-Duty Pickup Truck Fuel Economy Rule

By Linda Chiem

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told auto manufacturers Friday that it's preparing to retool fuel economy standards for heavy-duty trucks, as the Trump administration presses ahead with its dismantling of Biden-era policies that sought to bolster the adoption of electric-vehicle fleets.

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FCC's Phone Subsidy Fund Aims To Improve Nat'l Verifier

By Christopher Cole

As the Federal Communications Commission responds to reports from its internal auditors of widespread fraud in Lifeline phone services, the program's administrator has said progress is underway to strengthen a national system to verify beneficiaries.

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Brief

FCC Continues Work As Usual After Gov't Funding Lapse

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission said it has no immediate plans to alter operations as a result of the partial government shutdown that started over the weekend.

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Del. Lawmakers OK Review, Revision Of Property Assessment

By Zak Kostro

Delaware would authorize New Castle County's Office of Finance to review and revise property reassessments for tax purposes if a mistake were made in the reassessment process or certain changes in value occurred under a bill approved by state lawmakers and headed to the governor.

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Investment Funds Pro Rejoins Davis Polk From Paul Weiss

By Katryna Perera

A private funds and investment management regulatory lawyer is returning to Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP as a partner in the firm's New York office after spending nearly four years with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he served as head of the firm's investment management regulation practice.

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Akin Gov't Investigation Pros Move To Simpson Thacher In DC

By Tracey Read

Three former leaders of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP's congressional investigations and state attorneys general practices have jumped to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in Washington, D.C.

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FTC Focus: Testing Joint Enforcement Over Loyalty Programs

The Federal Trade Commission's case against Syngenta can be understood both as a canary for further scrutiny over loyalty-discount practices and a signal of the durability of joint federal-state antitrust enforcement, with key takeaways for practitioners and those subject to regulatory antitrust scrutiny alike, say attorneys at Proskauer.

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Traditional FCA Enforcement Surges Amid Shifting Priorities

The U.S. Department of Justice’s January report on False Claims Act enforcement in fiscal year 2025 reveals that while the administration signaled its intent to expand FCA enforcement into new areas such as tariffs, for now the greatest exposure remains in traditional areas like healthcare — in which the risk is growing, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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Ruling Helps Clarify FERC's Post-Jarkesy Enforcement Power

A North Carolina federal court's recent ruling in American Efficient v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may be a step in providing clarity on FERC's enforcement authority under the Federal Power Act in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, say attorneys at Sidley.

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How 3 CFTC Letters Overhauled Digital Asset Guidance

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently issued three letters providing guidance for the use of digital assets in derivatives markets, clarifying the applicability of CFTC regulations across numerous areas of digital asset activities and leading to the development of standards to allow market participants to post digital assets as collateral, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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5th Circ. Ruling Clarifies Tax Rules For Limited Partners

The Fifth Circuit’s Jan. 16 decision in Sirius Solutions v. Commissioner provides greater tax planning certainty by adopting a bright-line test for determining when partners in limited liability companies are exempt from self-employment tax, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Dispatches From Utah's Newest Court

While a robust body of law hasn't yet developed since the Utah Business and Chancery Court's founding in October 2024, the number of cases filed there has recently picked up, and its existence illustrates Utah's desire to be top of mind for businesses across the country, says Evan Strassberg at Michael Best.

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NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

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Habeas Cases Flood Courts After Immigrant Detention Shift

By Jack Karp

Federal courts have been inundated with a flood of cases stemming from the Trump administration's revised approach to the detention of unauthorized immigrants, with judges routinely ruling against the government as immigration attorneys scramble to keep up.

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Baker McKenzie Describes Client Fallout After Assault Claims

By Alison Knezevich

Several clients asked the leader of Baker McKenzie's Washington, D.C., office to stop handling work for them after he was accused of sexual assault, according to a new filing in a defamation case against the former firm associate who made the allegations.

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Goldstein Knew What Was On His Returns, Accountant Claims

By Jared Foretek

The top outside accountant handling tax returns for SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein and his law firm said Tuesday that Goldstein wasn't forthcoming about his gambling records and that he firmly believed the former U.S. Supreme Court attorney knew what was in his allegedly false tax returns when they were filed.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Yew Warns Of Deepfake Evidence

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

After decades on the bench of the Santa Clara County Superior Court, Judge Erica Yew began to regard the future of courtroom evidence with some trepidation, as the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence made it easier to falsify documents, photos and videos.

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4 Attys Sanctioned Over AI Hallucinations In Legal Brief

By Elliot Weld

A Kansas federal judge has issued sanctions against a group of lawyers representing a technology company in a patent dispute and has referred one attorney for disciplinary action over case citations hallucinated by ChatGPT appearing in a legal brief.

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Pretti Killing Highlights Free Speech And Gun Rights Tension

By Marco Poggio

The killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and lawful gun owner, by federal immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis last month brought to the fore a long-standing tension between two constitutional rights that the U.S. Supreme Court has never resolved, legal experts say.

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Floyd Prosecutor, Defense Atty To Represent Pretti's Family

By Lynn LaRowe

The relatives of a Minnesota intensive care nurse killed by ICE agents have secured legal representation from a former federal prosecutor who helped secure the conviction of an ex-police officer in the killing of George Floyd, and a criminal defense attorney coming off a high-profile murder case.

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Feds Fight Cyberstalking Atty's Bid For Pretrial Release

By Adrian Cruz

The U.S. government has asked a Texas federal judge to reject a bid for pretrial release from a currently detained attorney charged with cyberstalking other attorneys at BigLaw firms.

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Queens Defenders Ex-Director Admits Embezzling Over $100K

By Pete Brush

The former longtime head of Queens Defenders copped to a count of fraud conspiracy in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday after prosecutors said she diverted over $100,000 intended for indigent residents and used the money for a lavish lifestyle.

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Analysis

Squires And Stewart's Patent Office, By The Numbers

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has seen sweeping changes under Director John Squires and Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart, ranging from pro-patent owner policies at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to employment shake-ups that have prompted departures from the agency.

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Senate Confirms Picks For Texas, Ark. District Court Seats

By Courtney Buble

The Senate confirmed two U.S. district court judges, for Texas and Arkansas, on Tuesday.

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