Ill. Judge Blocks Trump's DEI Conditions For Disaster Grants

By Allison Grande

An Illinois federal judge has temporarily enjoined the Trump administration from imposing certain conditions on the city of Chicago and other local governments seeking federal emergency funds, including that they halt diversity, equity and inclusion programs, finding that the challengers had demonstrated these conditions are "likely unlawful."

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Hytera Fights $290M Restitution Bid At Sentencing Hearing

By Celeste Bott

Counsel for Hytera Communications Corp. urged an Illinois federal judge Monday to reject prosecutors' request that it pay more than $290 million in restitution to Motorola Solutions Inc. for conspiring to steal its trade secrets, arguing during the first day of a two-day sentencing hearing that Motorola will be made whole by the more than $600 million Hytera must fork over in a parallel civil case.

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Mass. Judge Says States Can Fight Planned Parenthood Cuts

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday chided a Trump administration lawyer for continuing to argue that a coalition of states lacks standing to seek to block what it says is the effective defunding of Planned Parenthood, even as it only just received a lengthy list of new requirements for Medicaid reimbursement.

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21 States Get Judge To Halt Trump Cuts Of 4 Fed. Agencies

By Joyce Hanson

A Rhode Island federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from eliminating four federal agencies that support museums and libraries, minority businesses, organized labor, and homeless services, handing a win to a coalition of 21 states that challenged the legality of the cuts.

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FTC Abandons In-House GTCR Merger Case After Court Loss

By Matthew Perlman

The Federal Trade Commission formally dropped its administrative case challenging GTCR BC Holdings LLC's acquisition of a medical coatings supplier after an Illinois federal judge refused to put the deal on hold.

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DOJ Looks To Settle RealPage Rent Price-Fixing Claims

By Isaac Monterose

The federal government filed a proposed final judgment on Monday that aims to settle antitrust claims accusing property management software company RealPage Inc. and multiple landlords of conspiring to use RealPage's revenue management software to fix rent prices.

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PJM Says FERC Wrongly Nixed Grid Planning Change

By Keith Goldberg

PJM Interconnection has told the D.C. Circuit that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrongly rejected a plan the regional grid operator brokered with transmission owners to make grid planning decisions without the approval of its members committee.

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Brief

Ex-McDonald's Executive Takes Race Bias Suit To 7th Circ.

By Patrick Hoff

A Black former security executive for McDonald's is appealing the fast food giant's win over his lawsuit claiming he was fired for confronting the company's CEO about racial disparities, he told an Illinois federal court Monday.

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Venable Adds Ex-Benesch Partner To Chicago Office

By James Boyle

An attorney with more than 20 years of experience representing clients in complex investments and transactions has moved his practice to Venable LLP's Chicago office after two years with Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP.

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State AGs May Extend Their Reach To Nat'l Security Concerns

Companies with foreign supply-chain risk exposure need a comprehensive risk-management strategy to address a growing trend in which state attorneys general use broadly written state laws to target conduct that may not violate federal regulations, but arguably constitutes a national security threat, say attorneys at Wiley.

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5 Bonus Plan Compliance Issues In Financial Services

As several legal constraints — including a new California debt repayment law taking effect in January — tighten around employment practices in the fiercely competitive financial services sector, the importance of compliant, well-drafted bonus plans has never been greater, say attorneys at Jackson Lewis.

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Series

The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Making The Case To Combine

When making the decision to merge, law firm leaders must factor in strategic alignment, cultural compatibility and leadership commitment in order to build a compelling case for combining firms to achieve shared goals and long-term success, says Kevin McLaughlin at UB Greensfelder.

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Bonus Spotlight

Weil Matches Year-End And Special Bonuses For Associates

By Anna Sanders

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP on Tuesday joined a cadre of other firms in matching the BigLaw standard for this year's associate bonuses.  

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Judges Decline Invites To Senate Hearing On Impeachment

By Courtney Bublé

Two federal judges, both of whom Republicans are looking to impeach, declined to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing next week on the impeachment of "rogue" judges, a source familiar with the situation told Law360 on Tuesday.

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DOJ Official Sues Over Firing For Epstein Talk On Hinge 'Date'

By Alison Knezevich

A longtime official at the U.S. Department of Justice who was fired after he was secretly recorded discussing the Epstein files has sued the agency and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in D.C. federal court.

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Democrats Seek Documents On Emil Bove's DOJ Tenure

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Democrats are turning to public records requests to learn more about the controversial tenure of U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove while he served at the U.S. Department of Justice, claiming that they're being "stonewalled" by the department.

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$255K In Fees To Google For 'Frivolous' Ramey Case Upheld

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a California judge's decision that a client of embattled intellectual property firm Ramey LLP must pay nearly $255,000 in fees and sanctions for bringing a "frivolous" patent suit against Google, finding the award to be "entirely proper."

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Fla. Law Student Expelled For Antisemitic Post To Be Reenrolled

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge has ordered the reinstatement of a law school student who was expelled after he was investigated over antisemitic posts on social media, saying the university didn't prove his speech "constituted a true threat." 

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Texas Law Firm, Atty Reach Tentative Deal In Age Bias Suit

By Rose Krebs

An attorney who sued a Houston-based law firm alleging she was fired in retaliation for having complained about age discrimination has reached "a tentative agreement" to resolve the matter, according to a filing in Illinois federal court.

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Husch Blackwell Blasts Ex-Firm Atty's ERISA Suit

By James Boyle

A former Husch Blackwell LLP partner's claim that the firm violated federal law by withholding monthly retirement account contributions misidentified the funds in question as participant contributions, when they were, in fact, contributions from the firm's year-end profit-sharing program.

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