Ex-Munchkin GC Sues Over 'War On Families' At Baby Co.

By Hailey Konnath

Munchkin Inc.'s former general counsel says he was fired for trying to sound the alarm about the baby products brand's "war on families" and culture of discrimination against working mothers and families, in a $10 million suit filed in California state court on Friday.

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Biotech GC Says She Was Ousted Amid 'Systemic' Bias

By Chris Villani

A former general counsel at Massachusetts life sciences firm Repligen has filed a lawsuit in state court claiming that a pervasive culture of gender bias led to her and other women being treated differently and paid less.

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Cadence To Pay $140M For Illegal Chip Design Exports To China

By Bonnie Eslinger

Semiconductor technology company Cadence Design Systems agreed to pay over $140 million and plead guilty to criminal conspiracy to commit export control violations to resolve charges that it exported semiconductor design tools to a restricted Chinese military university, U.S. Department of Justice officials announced Monday.

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Patent Damages Explode As Practice Areas See Wild Swings

By Cara Salvatore

Damages in plaintiff-won federal patent cases have soared in the past decade while those in environmental cases and some other types of civil litigation have plummeted, a new report from Lex Machina shows.

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Analysis

Merger Settlements Return As Enforcers Keep Busy

By Matthew Perlman

The first half of 2025 saw a string of settlements by the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice allowing mergers to move forward, a marked shift from the prior administration.

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Sony Sues Tencent To Block China Co.'s Video Game 'Rip-Off'

By Bonnie Eslinger

Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC has sued Tencent Holdings Ltd. and subsidiaries of the Chinese technology giant in California federal court to prevent the release of Tencent's video game Light of Motiram, claiming it's a "clone" of Sony's popular Horizon video game series.

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Brief

Walmart Makes Deal After $223M Loss In Trade Secrets Trial

By Elliot Weld

Walmart Inc. has reached a settlement with Zest Labs Inc. to end a suit accusing the retail behemoth of using Zest Labs' trade secrets related to shelf-freshness technology after a jury awarded the company $223 million in damages, according to a Monday court order.

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DOL Seeks Small Biz Input On Pooled Retirement Plans

By Grace Elletson

The U.S. Department of Labor asked small businesses for feedback Monday on whether there should be more conflict-of-interest guardrails on pooled employer retirement plans, and what barriers prevent employers from trusting the newly structured benefit vehicles.

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FCC Pushed To Rescind Biden-Era Cybersecurity Ruling

By Christopher Cole

Several telecom trade groups have urged the Federal Communications Commission to pull back a ruling from early this year that imposed new cybersecurity requirements on providers in the aftermath of the Salt Typhoon cyberattack by actors linked to the Chinese government.

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Florida's AG Announces 'Climate Cartel' Investigation

By Sarah Jarvis

Florida's attorney general announced Monday that he is investigating whether two greenhouse gas emission reduction groups violated state consumer protection or antitrust laws for allegedly coercing companies into disclosing proprietary information.

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DOL's Job Corps Closure Was Unlawful, DC Judge Rules

By Irene Spezzamonte

A D.C. federal court granted a group of students' request for a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Labor for its decision to close 99 Job Corps centers, saying the department's move was unlawful and "unprecedented."

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J&J Loses Bid To Probe Beasley Allen Talc Litigation Funding

By Jake Maher

A special master found Monday there is no reason to believe third-party funders are influencing Beasley Allen Law Firm's decisions in a massive talc litigation in New Jersey, defeating a subpoena from Johnson & Johnson digging into alleged third-party litigation funding.

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Perplexity's TM Infringement Confuses Its Own AI, Comet Says

By Lauren Berg

Software company Comet ML asked a California federal judge to tighten up a preliminary injunction in its trademark infringement dispute with Perplexity AI to protect against consumer confusion, saying the artificial intelligence company's own chatbot confuses the two companies' services.

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Firms Rip Ford's 'Retaliatory' RICO Suit Over Lemon Law Bills

By Dorothy Atkins

Knight Law Group LLP and other firms urged a California federal judge Friday to toss The Ford Motor Co.'s allegations they conspired to dupe clients and defraud automakers by inflating billing, arguing that the racketeering claims are "retaliatory," insufficient and time-barred, and the firms are shielded under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine.

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DraftKings Escapes Class Action Over $1,000 Bonus Promo

By Alex Lawson

A Brooklyn federal judge dismissed a proposed class action targeting a DraftKings promotion promising $1,000 in bonus funds for new customers, finding Monday that the online betting giant properly explained that the funds were subject to specific requirements.

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Judge To Weigh If FTX Prosecutors Broke Plea Promise

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge said Monday he will investigate an allegation by crypto lobbyist Michelle Bond that she was charged with campaign finance crimes despite a promise that a guilty plea by her husband, former FTX executive Ryan Salame, would leave her in the clear.

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Rocket Cos. Investor Ends Fraud Suit After Class Cert. Denial

By Sydney Price

A pension fund that had previously attempted to lead a suit in Michigan federal court against Rocket Companies Inc. has agreed to drop all its claims in the shareholder litigation accusing the mortgage business of concealing a downturn in loan volume.

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EXp Holdings Accused Of 'Bad Faith Inaction' In Del. Suit

By Jeff Montgomery

An attorney for stockholders of real estate brokerage eXp World Holdings Inc. told Delaware's chancellor Monday the company's response to long-running sexual assault allegations was an example of "bad faith inaction" rather than good faith responses.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

A Delaware vice chancellor last week sent several coordinated derivative suits seeking millions of dollars in damages from AT&T to trial and also chose a boutique firm to lead a potential "blockbuster" suit challenging a take-private deal of a sports and entertainment group after "heated" attacks between competing counsel.

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New DOJ Penalty Policy Could Spell Trouble For Cos.

In light of the U.S. Department of Justice’s recently published guidance making victim relief a core condition of coordinated resolution crediting, companies facing parallel investigations must carefully calibrate their negotiation strategies to minimize the risk of duplicative penalties, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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What To Know As SEC Looks To Expand Private Fund Access

As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission considers expanding retail access to private markets, understanding how these funds operate — and the role of financial intermediaries in guiding investors — is increasingly important, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

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Legal Ops, Compliance Increasingly Vital To Antitrust Strategy

With deal timelines tightening and disclosure requirements intensifying, legal operations and compliance teams are becoming critical drivers of premerger strategy, cross-functional alignment and regulatory credibility, says Alexander Lima at Wesco International.

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AI Infrastructure Growth Brings Unique IP Considerations

The explosive rise of artificial intelligence has triggered an equally dramatic transformation in the supporting infrastructure required to meet growing AI demand, and the technology used in these data centers has its own intellectual property considerations to navigate, says Vincent Allen at Carstens Allen.

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How The Healthline Privacy Settlement Redefines Ad Tech Use

The Healthline settlement is the first time California has drawn a clear line in the sand around how website tracking must function in practice, so if your site uses tracking technologies, especially around sensitive content like health or finance, regulators are inspecting your website's back end, not just its banner, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

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Series

Adapting To Private Practice: From ATF Director To BigLaw

As a two-time boomerang partner, returning to BigLaw after stints as a U.S. attorney and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, people ask me how I know when to move on, but there’s no single answer — just clearly set your priorities, says Steven Dettelbach at BakerHostetler.

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Jackson Walker Settles Judge Romance Claims For $485K

By Emma Cueto

Jackson Walker LLP has reached a $485,000 settlement with two former bankruptcy clients to resolve a dispute related to the concealed romance of a former partner and former Texas bankruptcy judge David R. Jones, according to a motion filed Friday.

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Fed. Circ. Panel Calls For Extending Newman's Suspension

By Ryan Davis

A three-judge Federal Circuit panel recommended Monday that U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman remain suspended, saying her refusal to undergo medical tests by doctors chosen by the court is a "serious form of continuing misconduct" that is hindering an investigation into her health.

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New Jersey US Atty Faces Authority Challenge In Drug Case

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey man facing federal drug and firearms charges is mounting what appears to be the first formal legal challenge to Alina Habba's continued role as acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, arguing that her appointment is unlawful and undermines the legitimacy of his prosecution.

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Qui Tam Relator's Atty Admits Fake Citations In DC FCA Suit

By Emily Sawicki

An attorney representing the estate of a Washington, D.C.-based construction company's former director in a False Claims Act suit launched against the contractor has withdrawn from the suit due to "recent failure to provide adequate representation" after his co-counsel alleged that the attorney used AI to file a brief "riddled with citation errors."

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Texas Judge 'Perplexed' By 5th Circ. Sanction Reversal

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge said he was "perplexed" by a Fifth Circuit panel's decision to reverse his sanction order against an attorney, saying in a Monday opinion that the attorney seemingly flouted the case governing litigation conduct by opposing a bid for an extension to reply.

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Retired Judges Say DOJ Suit 'Threatens' Core Of Judicial Role

By Hailey Konnath

A group of retired federal judges on Monday threw their support behind Maryland federal judges targeted in a Trump administration lawsuit over their habeas petitions standing order, arguing that the suit "threatens the judicial role to its core" and is trying to block judges from employing "a commonplace docket-management technique."

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Analysis

Trump Wants Ex-Death Row Inmates In 'Supermax' ADX

By Rachel Rippetoe

Advocates argue that President Donald Trump's effort to send the inmates whom President Joe Biden saved from federal death row to the country's most restrictive federal "supermax" prison is testing the limits of the justice system.

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State Justices' Financial Disclosures 'Didn't Get Worse' In '24

By Jack Karp

Several states are making information about their Supreme Court justices' finances and potential financial conflicts somewhat more accessible, according to a new report.

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