Tom Girardi's son-in-law pled guilty to criminal contempt Thursday in Illinois federal court, admitting he knew the once-celebrated plaintiffs lawyer failed to pay millions of dollars in plane crash settlement funds they had been ordered to distribute to their clients "as soon as practical."
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TOP NEWS

Girardi's Son-In-Law Admits Contempt In Illinois Theft Case

By Lauraann Wood

Tom Girardi's son-in-law pled guilty to criminal contempt Thursday in Illinois federal court, admitting he knew the once-celebrated plaintiffs lawyer failed to pay millions of dollars in plane crash settlement funds they had been ordered to distribute to their clients "as soon as practical."

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Foley & Lardner Says Palestine Support Didn't Doom Job Offer

By Andrea Keckley

Foley & Lardner LLP urged an Illinois federal judge to dismiss a bias suit by a former summer associate, arguing her job offer was rescinded not due to her Arab Muslim identity but because her public comments on Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel "violated the firm's core values" and showed "incredibly poor judgment."

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Ill. Judge Tosses Dredged Waste Suit After Feds Pull Site Plan

By Celeste Bott and Tom Lotshaw

An Illinois federal judge on Thursday dismissed with prejudice a lawsuit challenging a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to expand a disposal site that stores sediments dredged from Chicago waterways, citing the agency's withdrawal of its decision over the Lake Michigan shoreline facility.

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Juul Beats Distributor's E-Cig Price Discrimination Suit

By Bryan Koenig

An Illinois federal judge Wednesday permanently dismissed a price discrimination suit against Juul Labs, finding that a gas station distributor alleging it was given worse terms than a rival on e-cigarette products torpedoed its own case when it removed details of the alleged market from its latest complaint.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Fed, OCC Face Bipartisan Call For Leverage Ratio Reform

By Jon Hill

Republican and Democratic lawmakers teamed up Thursday to urge federal banking regulators to revisit their bank leverage rules "with haste," pointing to U.S. Treasury market liquidity concerns and asking for details about potential adjustments under consideration.

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LITIGATION

Walgreens Says No Standing In Suit Over Tobacco Surcharge

By Mike Curley

Walgreens is urging an Illinois federal court to throw out a suit from an employee alleging it illegally imposes a tobacco surcharge on employees in its healthcare program, saying the program complies with federal regulations, and the employee has no standing because she declined to participate in the program.

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Judge Wants Details On Harm From Trump Wind Farm Pause

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge Thursday asked a coalition of states and a clean-energy advocacy group for more specifics about the harm they allegedly will be caused by the Trump administration's decision to pause wind farm permitting, and said he wanted to move forward with a trial "promptly."

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Maryland Judge Halts 'Mass Closure' Of AmeriCorps Programs

By Thy Vo

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday temporarily enjoined the Trump administration's "mass closure" of AmeriCorps programs in two dozen states and ordered more than 750 national service members be restored, but declined to vacate the firing of AmeriCorps' paid staff.

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States, Attys, Groups Push 8th Circ. For ND Tribes' Voting Rights

By Crystal Owens

Nineteen states, 16 former federal attorneys and a slew of civil rights groups are backing two North Dakota tribes in their efforts for an Eighth Circuit rehearing, arguing the appellate court's semantic shift regarding voting rights presents important questions that merit its full consideration.

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DEALS

Katten, Covington Steer Deal In PE Billionaire's White Sox Bid

By Elaine Briseño

The Katten-advised Chicago White Sox announced Thursday that they have reached a long-term investment agreement that would pave the way for Covington-led private equity billionaire Justin Ishbia to obtain a controlling interest in the team.

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Chicago Fire Pitch $650M Arena For Vacant South Loop Site

By Nate Beck

The Chicago Fire soccer team has announced plans to build a $650 million stadium on a long-vacant site in the South Loop that was recently eyed for a new baseball stadium.

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PEOPLE

Norton Rose Adds Corporate Pro To Growing Chicago Office

By Hope Patti

Norton Rose Fulbright announced the growth of its Chicago office Thursday with the addition of a "highly regarded corporate lawyer," who will serve as a partner in the firm's business practice group and as a member of its transactional and regulatory insurance team.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Series

Running Marathons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

After almost five years of running marathons, I’ve learned that both the race itself and the training process sharpen skills that directly translate to the practice of law, including discipline, dedication, endurance, problem-solving and mental toughness, says Lauren Meadows at Swift Currie.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Analysis

How Trump's Pardons Could Sway Prosecutorial Discretion

By Phillip Bantz

As President Donald Trump dismantles a growing list of white collar criminal cases with a flurry of clemency grants early in his second term, erasing years of investigative and prosecutorial work with a stroke of his black Sharpie, experts worry his actions will have a chilling effect on prosecutorial decision-making.

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Bernstein Litowitz Can Hire Ex-SEC Atty Over Musk Objection

By Jessica Corso

A New York federal judge on Thursday gave the all-clear for investor-side firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP to hire the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's former litigation chief over the objections of Elon Musk.

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Seyfarth Joins Long List Of BigLaw's China Closures

By Aebra Coe

Seyfarth Shaw LLP is the latest large law firm to close an office in China, with a spokesperson confirming Thursday that the firm plans to shutter its Shanghai office later this year.

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Analysis

Trump's New Travel Ban May Be Harder To Fight This Time

By Britain Eakin

President Donald Trump's travel ban, which suffered multiple court losses during his first term before the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld it, may be on more solid legal footing in its renewed form, with lessons evidently applied from those losses.

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Dems, GOP Question Contempt Section Of Reconciliation Bill

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Democrats have vowed to do whatever they can to defeat a provision in the budget reconciliation that would limit federal courts' ability to hold federal officials in contempt, and some Republicans are wary of it as well. 

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Justices Nix Higher Hurdle For Heterosexual Bias Claims

By Ryan Harroff

A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday vacated the Sixth Circuit's ruling that plaintiffs claiming anti-heterosexual workplace discrimination need to provide extra "background circumstances" evidence, opining that it improperly imposed special standards on majority-group plaintiffs.

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High Court Drops Class Cert. Clarification Bid

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Thursday to weigh in on whether federal courts can certify classes that include uninjured members, holding it improperly agreed to hear a disability discrimination case against diagnostics company Labcorp that raised the important question.

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Atty Coalition Asks Fla. Bar To Open Ethics Probe Into Bondi

By Carolina Bolado

A group of lawyers, law professors and former judges asked the Florida Bar on Thursday to open an ethics investigation into Pam Bondi's actions as attorney general, saying she has pushed U.S. Department of Justice attorneys to violate their ethical obligations under the guise of "zealous advocacy."

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Senate Panel Advances Picks For Nat. Sec. Post, Iowa US Atty

By Courtney Buble

The Senate voted 52-43 along party lines on Thursday to confirm John Andrew Eisenberg to be assistant attorney general for national security.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Joseph Saveri

By Daniel Connolly

Joseph Saveri, now one of the most successful plaintiffs lawyers in the U.S., said he's thought often about the story of his paternal grandparents, who left Italy around 1918, immigrated to America and traveled across the continent to settle in San Francisco.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Abell Eskew

Bakke Grinolds

Bernstein Litowitz

Beveridge & Diamond

Cera LLP

Cheronis & Parente

Cleary Gottlieb

Cooper & Kirk

Covington & Burling

Davis Polk

Day Pitney

Edelson PC

Edward L. Gilbert Co. LPA

Foley & Lardner

Girardi & Keese

Grasso Law PC

Gupta Wessler

Hartley LLP

Jenner & Block

Jones Day

Joseph Saveri Law Firm

Kapitan Gomaa

Katten Muchin

Kirkland & Ellis

Lane & Waterman

Law Office of Bryan L. Sells

Lieff Cabraser

Mayer Brown

Morgan Lewis

Nelson Mullins

Norton Rose

Patterson Belknap

Paul Weiss

Quinn Emanuel

Robins Kaplan

Saul Ewing

Saveri & Saveri

Seyfarth Shaw

Simon Paschal

Siri & Glimstad

Swift Currie

Vitale Vickrey

WilmerHale

Wilson Sonsini

Winston & Strawn

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

American Civil Liberties Union

American Immigration Lawyers Association

Apple Inc.

Associated Press

BDT & MSD Partners

Bank Policy Institute

Bumble Bee Foods LLC

California Institute of Technology

Campaign Legal Center

Chicago Bulls

Chicago White Sox

Financial Services Forum

GameStop Corp.

George Washington University

HDR Global Trading Ltd.

HSW International Inc.

Harvard University

JUUL Labs Inc.

Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings

LinkedIn Corp.

Major League Baseball Inc.

Major League Soccer LLC

Morningstar, Inc.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

National Basketball Association Inc.

National Congress of American Indians

Native American Rights Fund Inc.

New York University

Nikola Corp.

Phoenix Suns

Robinhood Markets Inc.

The Florida Bar

Twitter Inc.

Ultimate Fighting Championship Ltd.

University of Virginia

Varsity Brands LLC

WNBA Enterprises LLC

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Corporation for National and Community Service

Federal Reserve System

Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

Maryland Attorney General's Office

National Institutes of Health

National Security Council

North Dakota Attorney General's Office

Ohio Attorney General's Office

State of Maryland

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

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

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. Department of Justice

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 Massachusetts

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

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

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

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

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court