U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Thursday denied the U.S. Department of Education's request for an 18-month extension to process over 200,000 loan cancellation applications for students claiming they were defrauded by colleges they attended, calling it "totally unacceptable" and setting an April deadline to get the job done.
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TOP NEWS

'Totally Unacceptable': Alsup Rips Feds In Student Loan Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Thursday denied the U.S. Department of Education's request for an 18-month extension to process over 200,000 loan cancellation applications for students claiming they were defrauded by colleges they attended, calling it "totally unacceptable" and setting an April deadline to get the job done.

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Terraform Founder Gets 15 Years For 'Epic' $40B Crypto Scam

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge hit Terraform founder Do Kwon with a 15-year prison sentence Thursday, saying he caused "real people to lose $40 billion in real money" as he orchestrated a massive fraud that sunk the once high-flying crypto concern.

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Agri Stats Says DOJ Wants To 'Leapfrog' Pork Pricing Claims

By Matthew Perlman

Agri Stats urged a Minnesota federal court to reject the Justice Department's bid to "leapfrog" a set of private antitrust cases involving pork prices by using a scheduled May trial for its information sharing claims against the data firm instead.

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6th Circ. Panel Shows No Leanings On PBM Jurisdiction Fight

By Mark Payne

A Sixth Circuit appeals panel gave few hints Thursday on whether it would send back to state court a lawsuit from Ohio alleging that pharmacy benefit managers were driving up prescription prices through rebate schemes. 

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FTC, Amazon Want To Delay Antitrust Trial By 7 Weeks

By Bryan Koenig

As they try to get back on track after the government shutdown, the Federal Trade Commission and Amazon asked a Washington federal judge Wednesday to push back the start of the antitrust trial accusing the online retail giant of creating an artificial pricing floor.

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POLICY & REGULATION

State AGs Call For AI Chatbot Safeguards

By Emily Field

More than 40 attorneys general have pushed Big Tech companies like Meta and Microsoft to adopt safety measures on AI chatbots, writing a letter that pointed to recent news of children and vulnerable people whose chatbot conversations ended in violence.

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SEC Gives DTCC Nod To Offer Tokenization Service

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday issued a no-action letter clearing the way for The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. to launch a service tokenizing certain securities.

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House Panel Advances Nearly 20 Bills To Protect Kids Online

By Allison Grande

A package of 18 bills that propose using methods such age verification mandates, government-run studies and educational campaigns to enhance online safeguards for children passed through a House subcommittee Thursday, despite concerns from Democrats that the measures wouldn't be enough to counter recent moves to reduce the roles of states and the Federal Trade Commission in this space. 

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Brief

Fla. Lawmaker Proposes Medical Marijuana Home Cultivation

By Jonathan Capriel

Florida is considering a bill that would allow qualified medical marijuana patients to grow up to six flowering cannabis plants at home for personal use and purchase seeds from licensed centers.

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FSOC To Tack Toward Deregulation For Growth, Bessent Says

By Jon Hill

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the Financial Stability Oversight Council will pivot toward a focus on promoting economic growth through deregulation, charting a new course for the panel that mirrors shifts underway at its member agencies.

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ENFORCEMENT

FTC Challenges $725M Construction Adhesives Deal

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit Thursday in New York federal court to challenge a $725 million merger combining Loctite with Liquid Nails, arguing that joining "the clear top two brands of construction adhesives" would drive up costs for home building and improvement.

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Epic Systems Is Monopolizing EHR Market, Texas AG Suit Says

By Gianna Ferrarin

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hit Epic Systems Corp. with an antitrust suit in state court on Wednesday alleging the company is illegally seeking to monopolize markets for electronic health records software.

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LITIGATION

9th Circ. Won't Rethink Vegas Hotels' Win In Price-Fixing Suit

By Ben Adlin

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday rejected Las Vegas hotel guests' request for the full appeals court to reconsider a panel's August ruling that threw out their proposed class action accusing the casino-hotel operators of using software to illegally inflate room rates.

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Zillow Cases Over Agent Steering, Kickbacks Merge In Wash.

By Nate Beck

A Washington federal judge on Thursday appointed Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and DiCello Levitt LLP as interim co-lead counsel over consolidated claims that Zillow paid kickbacks to brokers for referrals to its own mortgage services, among other anticompetitive conduct using company agents.

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DC Firm Faces Proposed Class Action Over Data Breach

By Andrea Keckley

A Washington, D.C., law firm failed to notify clients of a data breach that compromised their personal information for six months, a proposed class action alleged in federal court on Wednesday.

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Suit Over DraftKings' Voided Bets Advances With Class Cert.

By Alex Lawson

An Indiana federal judge has certified a class of 99 bettors who were denied payouts when DraftKings canceled their successful wagers on an NBA game, pushing forward a suit over the online betting giant's administration of its house rules.

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Debt Collection Firm Hit With Class Claims In Philly

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Jefferson Capital, a Minnesota-based debt collection firm, has been hit with a class action in Philadelphia alleging the company violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and state law by contacting third parties in the vicinity of people who owed money.

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DOJ-UnitedHealth Deal Requiring Home Health Sale OK'd

By Bryan Koenig

A Maryland federal judge signed off on the U.S. Department of Justice settlement resolving its challenge to UnitedHealth's $3.3 billion acquisition of home health and hospice company Amedisys, under a deal requiring the sale of least 164 locations across 19 states.

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Localities Worried Over FCC Preemption On Rights Of Way

By Christopher Cole

Cities are protesting a legal effort underway at the Federal Communications Commission to potentially override local decision-making when it comes to the use of publicly owned rights of way for high-speed internet deployment projects.

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NC County Sues DuPont, 3M, Tyco Over PFAS Contamination

By Mike Curley

A county in southeastern North Carolina is suing 3M Co., DuPont de Nemours Inc., the Chemours Co., Tyco Fire Products LP and other companies, alleging that they knowingly sold products containing PFAS, or "forever chemicals," that have contaminated county land.

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Nabisco Wheat Thins Buyers Win OK On $10M False Ad Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Thursday said he will give final approval to Nabisco and parent Mondelez's $10 million deal over claims it falsely advertised Wheat Thins as containing "100% Whole Grains," and said plaintiffs' attorneys deserve a one-third cut of the deal for battling through "a number of unreasonable positions taken by the defendants."

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Brief

Kratom, Kava Sellers Drop Suit Over Utah Product Ban

By Jonathan Capriel

A company that marketed psychoactive products derived from the kratom leaf and kava root has permanently dropped its federal lawsuit against Utah regulators challenging the constitutionality of rules blocking the sale of their wares in the state.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Key Crypto Class Action Trends And Rulings In 2025

As the law continued to take shape in the growing area of crypto-assets, this year saw a jump in crypto class action litigation, including noteworthy decisions on motions to compel arbitration and class certification, according to Justin Donoho at Duane Morris.

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Tracking The Evolution Of AI Insurance Regulation In 2025

As artificial intelligence continues to transform the insurance industry, including underwriting, pricing, claims processing and customer engagement, state regulators, led by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, are increasing oversight to ensure that innovation does not outpace consumer protections, say attorneys at Fenwick.

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Series

Knitting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Stretching my skills as a knitter makes me a better antitrust attorney by challenging me to recalibrate after wrong turns, not rush outcomes, and trust that I can teach myself the skills to tackle new and difficult projects — even when I don’t have a pattern to work from, says Kara Kuritz at V&E.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Wash. Justices Retroactively Lower Bar Exam's Passing Score

By Ben Adlin

As Washington state is preparing to transition to a new bar exam, its Supreme Court has ordered a retroactive adjustment to the current exam's minimum passing score, making an estimated hundred-plus law school graduates who narrowly failed in recent years newly eligible for admission to practice law.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Dems Demand Release Of 2nd Jack Smith Report

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday demanding she release the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on President Donald Trump's retention of classified documents after he left office the first time.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Shell hit with a climate change claim from 100 survivors of a typhoon in the Philippines, London Stock Exchange-listed Oxford Nanopore bring legal action against its co-founder, and the editors of Pink News sue the BBC for defamation following its investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the news site.

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Higgs Fletcher Forms White Collar, Regs Enforcement Team

By Andrea Keckley

San Diego-based law firm Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP has launched a white collar crime and regulatory enforcement defense practice group, citing heightened regulatory scrutiny in the financial and healthcare sectors and rising enforcement risks for licensed professionals and institutions.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to review the influence that proxy adviser firms have, and law firms saw a 9.8% increase in compensation expenses along with a similar increase in billable rates. ​These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Watchdog Sues White House For Records On Law Firm Deals

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington-based nonprofit watchdog has sued the Trump administration, seeking records related to deals BigLaw firms struck to provide an estimated nearly $1 billion worth of pro bono legal services to further the administration's priorities, following the president's executive orders to withhold security clearances and investigate the firms.

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Ex-NJ Municipal Court Admin Says COVID Got Her Fired

By George Woolston

The former municipal court administrator for West Windsor Township, New Jersey, has alleged that the town failed to accommodate her disability when it fired her instead of giving her a short medical leave of absence after she contracted COVID-19.

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US Atty Nominee For Wyo. Was Outside Capitol On Jan. 6

By Courtney Bublé

One of President Donald Trump's U.S. attorney nominees, who was on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, and recently told senators he still thinks "there were imperfections" in the 2020 election process, has been advanced toward Senate confirmation.

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Del. US Atty Resigns Citing 'Politics,' Successor Appointed

By Rose Krebs

The acting U.S. Attorney for Delaware said Friday that she is resigning, citing "a highly politicized, flawed blue-slip tradition" for nominees and saying she "fully" supports her first assistant, who has been appointed by a federal judge to succeed her.

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Bonus Spotlight

Axinn Veltrop's Bonuses Reach Up To $240K

By Andrea Keckley

Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP is giving out bonuses of up to $240,000 for its associates, according to an in-house memo seen by Law360 Pulse.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit handed Epic Games Inc. a partial win by mostly affirming an injunction blocking Apple Inc. from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems.

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Promo that reads 2025 MVPs Promo that reads Law360 Pulse Compensation Report

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Addleshaw Goddard

Akerman LLP

Ashurst LLP

Axinn Veltrop

Baker McKenzie

Banner Witcoff

Baron & Budd

Bose McKinney

Brownstein Hyatt

Cadwalader Wickersham

Campbell & Williams

Clarke Willmott

Clyde & Co

Coblentz Patch

Cohen Milstein

Cooley LLP

Cossich Sumich

Costello & Silverman

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

Cripps LLP

Crowell & Moring

DAC Beachcroft

DLA Piper

Debevoise & Plimpton

Dechert LLP

DiCello Levitt

Dorsey & Whitney

Duane Morris

Epstein Becker

Faegre Drinker

Fenwick & West

Finkelstein Blankinship

Flannery Georgalis

Foley & Lardner

Fox Law APC

Fried Frank

Gallagher Evelius

Genova Burns

Gibson Dunn

Goodwin Procter

Hagens Berman

Hall Render

Hausfeld LLP

Hecker Fink

Higgs Fletcher

Hogan Lovells

Jackson Lewis PC

Jones Day

Katten Muchin

Kelley Drye

Kellogg Hansen

Kennedys Law LLP

Kilburn & Strode LLP

Kirkland & Ellis

Lankler Siffert

Latham & Watkins

McDonald Carano

McNutt Law Firm

Mehri & Skalet

Milbank LLP

Morgan Lewis

Morrison & Foerster

Murray Osorio

Nelson Mullins

Norton Rose

Osborne Clarke

PCB Byrne

Paul Weiss

Perkins Coie

Pillsbury Winthrop

Quinn Emanuel

Reed Smith

Reynolds Porter

Ropes & Gray

Rule Garza

Shegerian & Associates

Sidley Austin

Simmons & Simmons

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Skadden Arps

Slaughter and May

Spencer Fane

Stephenson Harwood

Stevens & Bolton

TLT LLP

Taft Stettinius

Thompsons Solicitors

Tousley Brain

Vinson & Elkins

Wachtell Lipton

Walker Morris LLP

Ward & Smith

Williams & Connolly

Willkie Farr

WilmerHale

Wilsons Solicitors

Womble Bond

Wright Close Barger & Guzman

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

3M Co.

A.P. Moller-Maersk

Ace Hardware Corp.

Agri Stats Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

Amedisys Inc.

American Antitrust Institute

American Arbitration Association

American Civil Liberties Union

American Economic Liberties Project

American Industrial Partners

Apple Inc.

Arete Wealth Advisors

Balfour Beatty PLC

Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital LLC

Best Buy Co. Inc.

Blackstone Inc.

BlockFi Inc.

Botanic Tonics LLC

BrightSpring Health Services

British Broadcasting Corp.

Burke Inc.

Caesars Entertainment Inc.

Cargill Inc.

Coinbase Global Inc.

Consumer Technology Association

Corporate Legal Operations Consortium

Corteva Inc.

Delphi Automotive PLC

Denver Nuggets

Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.

Digital River Inc.

DraftKings Inc.

Drexel University

DuPont de Nemours Inc.

Epic Games Inc.

Epic Systems Corp.

Exceed Company Ltd.

Express Scripts Holding Co.

FSI International, Inc.

Financial Services Institute Inc.

Glass Lewis & Co. LLC

Global Payments Inc.

Google LLC

HSBC Holdings PLC

Harbor Global LLC

Henkel Corp.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Johnson Controls International PLC

Juniper Networks Inc.

Known

LHC Group Inc.

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

LinkedIn Corp.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Ltd.

Lloyds Bank PLC

London Stock Exchange Group PLC

Los Angeles Lakers

Lowe's Cos. Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

Mondelez International Inc.

NASCAR Digital Media LLC

NATOA Inc.

National Association of Insurance Commissioners

Netflix Inc.

OpenAI OpCo LLC

OptumRx Inc.

Porsche

Project on Predatory Student Lending

Proof

Ripple Labs Inc.

Sanderson Farms Inc.

Seattle University

Shell PLC

Skydance Media LLC

Starbucks Corp.

The Chemours Co.

The Cigna Group

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

The Home Depot Inc.

The Kraft Heinz Co.

Todd Snyder

Treasure Island LLC

Twitter Inc.

Tyson Foods Inc.

Uniswap Labs

UnitedHealth Group Inc.

University of Virginia

Virgin Money Holdings PLC

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Washington State Bar Association

Worldpay LLC

Wynn Resorts Ltd.

Yes Bank Ltd.

Zillow Group Inc.

Zillow Home Loans LLC

easyJet plc

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Housing Finance Agency

Federal Reserve System

Federal Trade Commission

Financial Stability Oversight Council

Food and Drug Administration

Illinois Attorney General's Office

Maryland Attorney General's Office

Minnesota Attorney General's Office

New Jersey Attorney General's Office

New York Attorney General's Office

Ohio Attorney General's Office

Texas Attorney General's Office

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

United States District Court for the District of Utah

United States District Court for the District of Wyoming

United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

Utah Department of Agriculture and Food