Proposed Small-Biz Standards Could Hurt Smaller Cos.

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Small Business Administration's newly proposed size standards aimed at simplifying industry classifications and dramatically increasing size thresholds would make it harder for smaller firms to compete for government contracts, despite leading to more contracts reserved for small businesses, government contracts attorneys say.

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11th Circ. Rules Qui Tam Provisions Don't Violate Constitution

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday held that the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions do not violate the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution, maintaining private citizens' ability to sue entities on behalf of the United States for allegedly defrauding the federal government.

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Teachers Union Wants In On CDL Data Fight

By Katherine Smith

The American Federation of Teachers is seeking to enter a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's bid to obtain a database containing information on 17 million commercial driver's license holders, telling a Virginia federal court Tuesday that the 24 states bringing the suit don't adequately represent the interests of the union.

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VA Paid $11.2M For Suicide Prevention Services It Never Got

By Elaine Briseño

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs spent $11.2 million on a backup suicide prevention line that it did not receive for a year due to failures in contract oversight and information-security planning, a Tuesday report found.

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Watchdog Sues To Unmask Feds' 'Secret' Frontier AI Review

By Lauren Berg

A nonprofit ethics watchdog accused the Trump administration in D.C. federal court Tuesday of failing to hand over information about the "secret de facto regulatory regime" governing frontier artificial intelligence models.

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Honeywell Aerospace To Pay $2M In Security Lapses Case

By Hayley Fowler

Honeywell Aerospace Inc. will pay $2 million to settle a False Claims Act suit alleging it failed to provide basic cybersecurity protections for government data under defense contracts it won for quantum-computing services, the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday.

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Crooked Owner Of NYC Homeless Services Org Avoids Prison

By Pete Brush

A New York federal judge sentenced an elderly Long Island contractor to two years of home confinement Tuesday, after he admitted scheming with a business partner to steal over $7 million that had been earmarked for homeless services.

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Interior Board Stays BLM Data Center Approval In Nevada

By Tom Lotshaw

A U.S. Department of the Interior appeals board said Tuesday that environmental groups are likely to show that officials violated the National Environmental Policy Act when they used a review completed for a solar power generation facility to approve the first-ever data center on federal land.

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GEO Seeks Split Trial In Colo. Detainee Labor Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Private prison operator The GEO Group Inc. urged a Colorado federal judge to split an upcoming trial over allegations that it unlawfully profited from detainee labor, saying financial evidence should either stay out of the case entirely or be reserved for a later phase on the amount of punitive damages.

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Lockheed, General Dynamics Land 7-Year Missile Deals

By Elaine Briseño

The U.S. Department of Defense announced it has signed seven-year procurement agreements with Lockheed Martin Corp. and General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems to increase missile production.

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DOJ Fraud Declination Highlights Self-Disclosure Tradeoffs

As exemplified by the U.S. Department of Justice's declination of charges against Campus Eye Management under its new corporate enforcement policy, self-disclosure can be an attractive option for healthcare companies navigating criminal exposure, but should be weighed against potential costs, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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HSF Kramer Added To $1B King & Spalding Malpractice Suit

By Jack Karp

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and several of its partners on Tuesday were added to a $1 billion legal malpractice suit against King & Spalding LLP alleging that the firms engaged in multiple schemes to enrich a lawyer's friend at the expense of investment firm White Oak Advisors.

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Fla. Bar Tosses Complaint Over DHS GC's 'Worst' Judge Posts

By Adrian Cruz

The Florida Bar has refused to investigate the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for potential ethics violations over his recent series of social media posts attacking sitting judges, citing a potential conflict with the authority of the federal government.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Rodriguez On The Uses Of AI

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

Today, Judge Xavier Rodriguez is known as an expert in electronic discovery and a proponent of artificial intelligence, but his interest was piqued before he joined the bench of the Western District of Texas in 2003, when he was still a lawyer and the methods for sifting through electronically stored information were still primitive.

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Judges Say Social Media, Political Rhetoric Endanger Them

By Adrian Cruz

Increased access to social media and personal data via the internet, a larger number of high-profile cases, and inflammatory comments made by politicians have led to a rise in violent threats against judges and concerns about their safety, according to a recently published report.

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5th Circ. Judge Hints Court Order With AI Errors Can't Stand

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit judge wanted to know why a panel should keep intact a court order blocking an anti-DEI Mississippi law that contained artificial intelligence hallucinations, asking whether the judges could confidently find that made-up citations did not ultimately sway the district court's decision.

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Ex-Warriors GC, DEI Exec Say Bias Complaints Led To Firings

By Lauren Berg

The Golden State Warriors' former associate general counsel and its former vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion allege they were unlawfully fired in retaliation for speaking up about enduring a workplace marked by gender and race-based discrimination.

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NY Firm, Clinics Reject FedEx's 'Staged' Crashes Claims

By Linda Chiem

A New York personal injury firm and various healthcare providers have told a Manhattan federal judge that FedEx has asserted implausible claims alleging they orchestrated an insurance fraud scheme to fabricate medical records and inflate accident claims, saying there is no such racketeering enterprise.

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Brief

Barnes & Thornburg Says Ex-NBA Star Owes $1M Legal Fees

By Jonathan Capriel

Former NBA player Luol Deng is being sued for more than $1 million by a Chicago-based law firm that claims he failed to pay legal fees connected to two real estate matters, according to a suit filed in Illinois state court.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Bryan Koenig

Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery pressured state attorneys general challenging their merger to settle, the Federal Trade Commission successfully challenged a construction adhesives tie-up, state officials waded in against the NextEra-Dominion transaction, and Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. defended their combination under review by federal regulators.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of August

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Anthropic, Zillow and ConocoPhillips. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from August.

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