How A NJ Clergy Abuse Probe Will Reshape Defense Strategy

By Aaron Keller

The New Jersey Supreme Court has cleared the way for a grand jury to investigate clergy abuse claims, bringing forward a rarely used prosecution tool that experts say will have reverberations on the strategies taken by lawyers representing powerful individuals and institutions even beyond the Catholic Church.

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Q&A

Mass. Public Defender On Burnout, Bias And Legal Shifts

By Chris Villani

Carla Barrett has spent the past 19 years working for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, Massachusetts' public defenders. She told Law360 the job comes with challenges both structural and legal, adding that even among her prosecutorial counterparts, her work can often be misunderstood.

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2nd Circ. Overturns Ex-HSBC Exec's 2017 Fraud Conviction

By Sarah Jarvis

The Second Circuit on Thursday overturned the conviction of a former HSBC executive accused of defrauding a Scottish oil and gas company in a $3.5 billion currency exchange deal, finding his jury was improperly instructed on a now-invalid "right-to-control" theory of fraud.

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Trouble Interpreting Nonverbal Witness Dooms Murder Verdict

By Chris Villani

Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday found that a man convicted of murder is entitled to a new trial because a key witness against him is nonverbal and interpreters were not able to effectively communicate with her while she was on the stand.

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Banning Of Courtroom Snoozer Prompts New NY Murder Trial

By Elizabeth Daley

A man convicted of murder in Queens will get a new trial, a New York appeals court has ruled, finding that because his friend was permanently barred from watching the proceedings after falling asleep in court, the defendant was denied his Constitutional right to a public trial.

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Colo. Court Clarifies Virtual Hearing Rights For Defendants

By Zach Dupont

The Colorado Court of Appeals said Thursday that judges must provide criminal defendants with proper advisements before issuing sentences via the court's video interfacing service, Webex, but found a judge's error in the case at hand didn't cause any harm.

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7th Circ. Gives Man Second Shot To Argue Search Was Illegal

By Elizabeth Daley

A man who pled guilty to drug and weapons charges when an Illinois federal court refused to suppress evidence against him must get another shot at arguing that officers found the contraband during an illegal search, the Seventh Circuit ruled Thursday.

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7th Circ. Signs Off On Searches Tied To Convictions

By Parker Quinlan

The Seventh Circuit has ruled that a warrant used to charge two men with cocaine trafficking and felony weapons crimes was valid and that a lower court was correct to allow the evidence turned up in the search to be presented at trial.

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DOJ Seeks 1-Day Sentence For Ex-Cop In Breonna Taylor's Death

By Parker Quinlan

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday recommended a one-day sentence for a former Louisville Metro Police Department officer in Kentucky who fired shots into the home of Breonna Taylor the night she died in March 2020, according to the government's sentencing memorandum.

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Former Club Rugby Champ Jailed For Crypto Ponzi Scheme

By Alex Lawson

A Seattle federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a former national champion club rugby player to 30 months in prison for wire fraud after he defrauded investors with promises of building a new cryptocurrency mining operation.

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Unpacking Enforcement Challenges Of DOJ's Bulk Data Rule

Now fully effective, the U.S. Department of Justice's new data security program represents the U.S.' first data localization requirement ripe for enforcement, but its implementation faces substantial practical challenges that may hinder the DOJ's ability for wide-ranging or swift action, say attorneys at Cleary.

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Series

Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator

Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.

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5 Things To Know As California Courts Decide On AI Rule

By Emily Sawicki

Fourteen months after California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero first convened a task force to study potential benefits and risks of using artificial intelligence in the court system, the Judicial Council of California is poised Friday to consider the proposed rules and standards the task force developed.

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Watchdog Raises Concerns On 9th Circ. Nominee's Crypto Work

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Ninth Circuit has a long record of representing cryptocurrency companies, which a watchdog group fears could aid what it calls the president's "self-enrichment" with digital currency.

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Dems Walk Out On Vote Of Emil Bove For 3rd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee walked out of the vote on Emil Bove's Third Circuit nomination on Thursday morning after Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., accused committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, of subverting committee rules by not acknowledging his request to speak and rushing through the nomination.

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US Trustee Says Constitution Bars Jackson Walker Jury Trial

By Adrian Cruz

The federal government's bankruptcy watchdog told a Texas federal judge that under the Seventh Amendment, Jackson Walker LLP isn't entitled to a jury trial in its fee dispute stemming from a former bankruptcy judge's secret relationship with a onetime partner.

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CFTC Restructures Enforcement Division Amid Layoffs

By Jessica Corso

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to lay off around two dozen staff members and has restructured its enforcement division by eliminating some management positions, a person familiar with the matter told Law360 Thursday.

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Wis. Senators Send List Of Bipartisan 7th Circ. Picks To Trump

By Courtney Bublé

The senators from Wisconsin, one Republican and one Democrat, have sent President Donald Trump a list of five candidates for the seat of the Seventh Circuit that is slated to open in October.

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Israel Criticism Isn't Antisemitism, Judge Tells DOJ Lawyers

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge overseeing a free speech trial over deportation actions targeting pro-Palestinian students and faculty said Thursday that "criticism of the state of Israel is not antisemitism," and that even the most "vile" statements, absent threats or violence, are protected by the First Amendment.

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J&J Loses Bid To DQ Beasley Allen From Talc MDL Committee

By George Woolston

A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday denied Johnson & Johnson's bid to remove the Beasley Allen Law Firm from the plaintiffs steering committee in the multidistrict talc litigation but said that changes would be made to the committee's structure.

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Former Microsoft GC Remembered As Rule Of Law Champion

By Andrea Keckley

Former American Bar Association President William H. "Bill" Neukom, the first head lawyer for Microsoft and a longtime partner at a predecessor firm to K&L Gates LLP, has died at age 83, the bar said Wednesday.

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Wisconsin Bar Settles Atty's Legal Challenge Over DEI Efforts

By Madison Arnold

The State Bar of Wisconsin has settled a lawsuit from a lawyer challenging its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, with the agency agreeing to apply a tweaked definition of diversity to two leadership programs.

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Fla. Law Firm Zumpano Patricios Hit With Data Breach Suit

By Sarah Martinson

Miami-headquartered national law firm Zumpano Patricios is facing a proposed class action in Florida federal court accusing the firm of failing to protect sensitive information, including dates of birth and healthcare payments, that was compromised in a May data breach.

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LA Ex-Judge Admonished For 'Discourteous,' 'Demeaning' Talk

By Hailey Konnath

California's Commission on Judicial Performance has publicly admonished a retired Los Angeles state judge for a pattern of "discourteous, undignified and impatient" behavior that also involved "demeaning" remarks toward women, findings that the judge said don't reflect "the full complexity of the circumstances."

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SEC Atty Exits After Hiding Revoked License, OIG Says

By Jessica Corso

A longstanding employee of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission resigned after it was discovered that they had falsely reported being in good standing with a state bar association, according to the regulator's inspector general.

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Analysis

6 Cases For Patent Attys To Watch In The Second Half Of 2025

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit is considering major questions about when delays in prosecuting patents become bad faith and whether the acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director is legally allowed to apply new rules retroactively. Here's what you need to know about these cases and others that attorneys are keeping an eye on for the rest of the year.

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