DOJ Tells Immigration Board To Limit Cases Without Novel Issue

By Tom Lotshaw

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday issued a rule directing its Board of Immigration Appeals to swiftly dismiss cases that don't raise "novel" issues to confront a backlogged docket of noncitizens contesting removal orders and other immigration court decisions.

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Tesla Applicants Fight Uphill To Keep H-1B Visa Bias Suit Alive

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge appeared open Thursday to tossing a proposed class action alleging Tesla discriminates against American workers by favoring allegedly underpaid H-1B visa holders, telling counsel repeatedly during a hearing the allegations seem to be "speculation."

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DC Circ. Doubts ICE Church Raids Can't Be Blocked

By Britain Eakin

The majority of a three-judge D.C. Circuit panel appeared skeptical Thursday that they shouldn't block the Trump administration from enforcing immigration laws at sensitive locations such as churches, questioning the government's argument that the alleged harm is too speculative.

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Klobuchar Alarmed By Exodus Of Prosecutors In Minnesota

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., on Thursday said she was alarmed by the surge of resignations by federal prosecutors in her state following the shooting deaths of two Minnesotans by immigration agents.

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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DOL Must Pay Retaliation Suit Atty Fees, Farm HR Head Says

By Irene Spezzamonte

The U.S. Department of Labor should pay attorney fees and expenses that a human resources manager at a Tennessee pork farm incurred to defend the agency's retaliation suit, the manager told a federal court Thursday, saying the department failed to investigate the claims against her before suing.

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Ex-Prosecutors Call For Independent Probes Of ICE Killings

By Rose Krebs

A coalition of former federal prosecutors and civil rights attorneys is urging U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to ensure that the U.S. Department of Justice allows for "transparent, unbiased and impartial" investigations into the killings in Minneapolis last month of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration enforcement agents.

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Trump's Seattle US Atty Stays On For Now Via Title Swap

By Rachel Riley

Trump administration appointee Charles Neil Floyd will continue to be the Western District of Washington's top federal prosecutor for now, under the new title of "First Assistant U.S. Attorney," after the deadline passed Wednesday for the U.S. Senate to confirm the interim appointment.

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DOJ Adds 6 New Immigration Judges And 27 Temporary Ones

By Rae Ann Varona

The U.S. Department of Justice has hired 33 new immigration judges, 27 of whom are temporary, according to an announcement Thursday, against a backdrop of a still large immigration court backlog and the Trump administration's ongoing immigration crackdown.

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Trump Admin Finalizes Rule Facilitating Federal Worker Firings

By Tim Ryan

The Trump administration Thursday announced a final rule to create a new category of federal workers who would have fewer job protections and be easier to fire, implementing an executive order from early last year that could affect 50,000 employees at federal agencies.

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White House Willing To Discuss Some Dem DHS Reforms

By Courtney Bublé

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hinted Thursday at some possible cooperation to the Democrats' reform plan for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but she did not elaborate on what that would be.

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J-1 Visa Worker Urges Class Cert. In Marriott RICO Suit

By Irene Spezzamonte

Marriott International Inc. shouldn't prevent class certification in a suit claiming it engaged in racketeering to secure cheaper labor through the J-1 visa program, the worker leading the suit told a Colorado federal court, saying he has enough evidence to support a class claim. 

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Ambiguity Remains On Anti-DEI Grant Conditions

Although a recent decision in City of Chicago and City of Saint Paul v. U.S. Department of Justice temporarily halts enforcement of anti-DEI conditions in federal grant applications, and echoes recent decisions in similar cases, companies remain at risk until the term “illegal DEI” is clarified, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

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A Primer On Law Enforcement Self-Defense Doctrine

In the wake of several shootings by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, misconceptions persist about what the laws governing police use of force actually permit, and it’s essential for legal practitioners to understand the contours of the underlying constitutional doctrine, says Markus Funk at White & Case.

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Series

Teaching Logic Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Teaching middle and high school students the skills to untangle complicated arguments and identify faulty reasoning has made me reacquaint myself with the defined structure of thought, reminding me why logic should remain foundational in the practice of law, says Tom Barrow at Woods Rogers.

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Meet New Paul Weiss Chairman Scott Barshay

By Anna Sanders

New Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP chair Scott Barshay is a rainmaker who most recently led the corporate department, guiding clients through some of the largest transactions in recent history after joining the firm's New York office a decade ago.

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Judge Who Resigned To Criticize Trump Had Faced Inquiry

By Chris Villani

Former Massachusetts U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf was the subject of an inquiry into potential misconduct when he announced his November resignation, a decision he said at the time was motivated by a desire to speak out against the Trump administration, according to a source familiar with the matter.

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Judge Says AI Errors Show Atty Can't 'Learn' From Mistakes

By Ivan Moreno

A New York federal judge concluded that an attorney who repeatedly submitted filings with false AI-generated citations must be punished with case-terminating sanctions against a client he was defending in a trademark lawsuit, saying Thursday that the lawyer "has not, and apparently cannot, learn from his mistakes."

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NY Times Article Excerpts Admitted In Goldstein Trial

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors pressing their case against SCOTUSblog co-founder Thomas Goldstein for tax evasion and misleading statements on mortgage applications were finally able on Thursday to present jurors with key statements the U.S. Supreme Court lawyer made to legal journalist Jeffrey Toobin for a long New York Times Magazine article.

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Texas Atty Must Explain AI 'Misuse' In Employment Case

By Lauren Berg

A prominent civil rights attorney representing a University of Texas at Austin nurse in an employment discrimination case must explain why he shouldn't be sanctioned "for his apparent misuse of artificial intelligence" to research and write a brief, a Texas federal judge ruled.

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Ex-Alex Jones Atty Asks Conn. Justices To Nix Suspension

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut attorney who formerly represented conspiracy broadcaster Alex Jones in a $1.4 billion defamation case has asked the state's highest court to consider whether it was proper for a judge to suspend his law license for violating a protective order governing Sandy Hook families' personal information.

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Deel Loses Bid To DQ Quinn Emanuel In Trade Secrets Fight

By Lauren Berg

Payroll and human resources company Deel Inc. cannot have Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP disqualified from representing its competitor Rippling in a trade secrets fight, a Delaware judge ruled Thursday, saying there is no "clear conflict" that would require booting the BigLaw firm.

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State Bar Of Texas Declines To Open Grievance On Ramey

By Emily Sawicki

The State Bar of Texas has declined to open a grievance against patent litigator William P. Ramey III after a San Francisco federal court sanctioned him and his firm, Ramey LLP, for practicing law in California without a license.

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Wash. Lawyer Faces Sanction Threat Over Alleged AI Errors

By Ben Adlin

A federal judge has ordered an attorney in Washington state to submit a sworn declaration explaining why she shouldn't be sanctioned for what opposing counsel claimed are dozens of artificial intelligence "hallucinations" across multiple case filings.

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Fake Case Pulled From Toshiba Malicious Prosecution Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A former printer toner salesman is trying to salvage his lawsuit against Toshiba after the company flagged nonexistent citations, apologizing to the California federal court in a corrected brief Thursday defending claims that the electronics company manufactured a criminal case against him and others to maintain an illegal monopoly.

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McCarter & English Wants To Torpedo $22M Malpractice Suit

By Aaron Keller

McCarter & English LLP on Thursday asked a Connecticut Superior Court judge to sink a $22.3 million professional negligence lawsuit by two struggling insurers, saying failures to provide documents or knowledgeable people to testify during pretrial depositions warrant a "harsh" end to the nearly decade-old case.

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Judiciary Backs Bill To Let Judges Carry Concealed Guns

By Courtney Bublé

The federal judiciary has come out in support of a Republican-led bill to allow judges and prosecutors to carry concealed firearms across state lines, according to a letter obtained by Law360.

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