Hundreds of private attorneys in Massachusetts who are paid by the state to represent indigent defendants and others have stopped accepting new court-appointed cases over complaints about low pay, putting the system on what one veteran advocate called "the verge of imploding."
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Mass. Court-Appointed Attys Hit 'Boiling Point' Over Low Pay

By Julie Manganis

Hundreds of private attorneys in Massachusetts who are paid by the state to represent indigent defendants and others have stopped accepting new court-appointed cases over complaints about low pay, putting the system on what one veteran advocate called "the verge of imploding."

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Blue States Back Harvard In $2.2B Funding Freeze Fight

By Ryan Harroff

A coalition of 20 states and the District of Columbia filed a brief supporting Harvard University's bid for a pretrial win in its challenge to the Trump administration's move to freeze $2.2 billion in funds, telling a Massachusetts federal judge that the president's attacks on universities are "an attack on the states themselves."

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States Sue To Block 23andMe From Selling DNA Data In Ch. 11

By Dorothy Atkins

A bipartisan coalition of 28 attorneys general has sued 23andMe Inc. in Missouri bankruptcy court seeking to block the genetic-testing company from auctioning off its 15 million customers' personal genetic information without their explicit consent in its ongoing Chapter 11 proceeding.

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Edward Jones Among 5 Firms Paying $9.3M Over Inflated Fees

By Zach Dupont

Edward Jones, TD Ameritrade and three other wealth adviser firms have reached a $9.3 million settlement with the North American Securities Administrators Association after having been accused of overcharging fees for small-dollar investors.

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Trump Wind Farm Pause Has Stalled Projects, Judge Hears

By Keith Goldberg

A coalition of blue states and industry advocates told a federal judge on Tuesday that the recent mothballing of a New Jersey offshore wind project exemplifies the damage being inflicted by the Trump administration's unlawful decision to pause wind farm permitting.

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IT Co. Urges 1st Circ. To Affirm It's Blameless For Data Breach

By Elizabeth Daley

An information security technology company urged the First Circuit on Tuesday to affirm that it isn't liable for a 2018 data breach that exposed confidential information of more than 277,000 of the medical device maker's patients, arguing that the insurer assignee of the device maker had no valid points.

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Brief

DHS Unit Has Until Friday To Show Parole Changes Are Live

By Britain Eakin

A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday gave the Trump administration until Friday to confirm that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has resumed adjudicating immigration benefits requests for a class of noncitizens granted entry through humanitarian parole.

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BANKRUPTCY

Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's Court of Chancery showed new resistance to suits alleging corporate weaponizing of advance notice bylaws, and a new report highlighted the high fees that attorneys are cashing in on in Delaware courts compared to the federal court system. Several new suits were also filed concerning allegedly under- or overvalued sales and acquisitions being pushed through.

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Biopharma Co. Unit Hopes To Shed Empty Facilities In Ch. 11

By Isaac Monterose

A subsidiary of biopharmaceutical manufacturer National Resilience Holdco Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection Tuesday in Delaware bankruptcy court with a reorganization plan involving shutting down offices, manufacturing sites and labs it described as "underutilized."

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DEALS

Skadden Guiding Brown & Brown On $9.8B Accession Buy

By Al Barbarino

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP is advising Brown & Brown Inc. on a nearly $10 billion agreement to purchase Accession Risk Management Group Inc., the companies disclosed in a joint statement Tuesday. 

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco Shows Why Attys Must Disclose AI Use

The recent revelation that a handful of questions from the controversial California bar exam administered in February were drafted using generative artificial intelligence demonstrates the continued importance of disclosure for attorneys who use AI tools, say attorneys at Troutman.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

ABA 'Surprised And Disappointed' By DOJ Shunning

By Courtney Bublé

The American Bar Association on Tuesday defended its long-standing process for reviewing judicial nominees and said Attorney General Pam Bondi was wrong to call the group an "activist organization."

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Analysis

Feds Reboot FCPA Agenda With Narrower Enforcement Focus

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday released new and tightened guidelines for enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after a four-month pause on such prosecutions, centering prospective investigations on situations that affect U.S. competitiveness and national security as well as transnational cartels.

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Top CFPB Enforcer Quits Over 'Devastating' Agency Pullback

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's top enforcement official resigned Tuesday, saying she can no longer effectively do her job under leadership that "has no intention to enforce the law in any meaningful way."

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Judiciary Panel Advances New Rules On Amici, AI, Subpoenas

By Jeff Overley

The federal judiciary's top policy panel Tuesday propelled revamped rules regarding numerous hot legal topics, including artificial intelligence, "dark money" groups bankrolling amicus briefs and the subpoena powers of courts and defense counsel.

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NJ Rep. LaMonica McIver Indicted Over ICE Facility Incident

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver has been charged with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers during her inspection of a Newark, New Jersey, immigration detention facility last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

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Wis. Judge Can't Wield Immunity For Obstructing ICE, DOJ Says

By Lynn LaRowe

The U.S. Department of Justice has urged a Wisconsin federal judge to reject a state court judge's argument that judicial immunity blocks her prosecution for allegedly obstructing an ICE arrest at a Milwaukee courthouse, saying that while judges may be immune from civil liability for official acts, they are not shielded from prosecution for supposedly criminal conduct.

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State Chief Justices Blast Plans To Cut Legal Services Corp.

By Hailey Konnath

A coalition of 37 state Supreme Court chief justices have asked federal lawmakers to reject President Donald Trump's plans to eliminate the Legal Services Corp., arguing that the "justice system is hobbled when citizens are deprived of legal counsel."

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House Conservatives Push Senate To 'Rein In' Judges

By Courtney Bublé

House conservatives are imploring their Senate counterparts to do more to "rein in" federal judges with the budget reconciliation package.

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SEC's Investment Management Chief Greiner To Leave Agency

By Tom Zanki

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission veteran Natasha Vij Greiner is stepping down as the director of the agency's investment management division, ending a nearly 24-year career serving the SEC in multiple roles, regulators announced Tuesday.

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Analysis

Key Insights On Looming Fair Use Rulings In AI Cases

By Ivan Moreno

Two California federal judges have indicated they are inclined to find that using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence systems is transformative, which usually means that copying a work is fair, but that may not let Meta Platforms and Anthropic off the hook in separate lawsuits.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Advisors LLC

Arnold & Porter

Beveridge & Diamond

Carmody MacDonald

Crowell & Moring

Debevoise & Plimpton

Demeo LLP

Gimbel Reilly

Jenner & Block

King & Spalding

Lehotsky Keller

Paul Weiss

Prickett Jones

Quinn Emanuel

Rappaport & Delaney

ResnickLaw LLC

Richards Layton

Ropes & Gray

Skadden Arps

Strang Bradley

Troutman

White & Case

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

23andMe Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

American College of Trial Lawyers

American Conference Institute

Amicus

Anthropic PBC

Barracuda Networks Inc.

Boston University

Brown & Brown Inc.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.

Credit Suisse Group AG

Datascan LP

Desktop Metal Inc.

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.

Google LLC

Harvard University

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

LPL Financial

Meta Platforms Inc.

Michaels Stores Inc.

National Association of Attorneys General

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

National Resilience Inc.

North American Securities Administrators Association

Owens Corning Corp.

Permira

Public Citizen Inc.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Rocket Cos.

Stanford University

State Bar of California

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.

The Catholic University of America

The New York Times Co.

Thomson Reuters Corp.

Zoll Medical Corp.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

COPRAC

California Supreme Court

Committee for Public Counsel Services

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Food and Drug Administration

Judicial Conference of the United States

Legal Services Corp.

Minnesota Attorney General's Office

Missouri Attorney General's Office

New York Attorney General's Office

Oregon Department of Justice

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

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

U.S. Copyright Office

U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

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

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

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin