1st Circ. Critical Of Boston's Choice To Ice Out Satanists

By Brian Dowling

A First Circuit panel on Tuesday said Boston's process of selecting faith and community leaders to offer an opening prayer at city council meetings raises constitutional concerns, suggesting it could revive a suit over the exclusion of satanists.

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Fed. Circ. Seems Wary Of Broad's CRISPR Inventorship Win

By Dani Kass

Federal Circuit Judge Todd Hughes on Tuesday suggested that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board cited the correct standard when reviewing who first invented a particular use of the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9, but then applied an improper standard when ruling in favor of a Massachusetts research team.

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1st Circ. Questions SEC Walk-Back In Conn. Atty's Fraud Case

By Julie Manganis

A First Circuit panel indicated Tuesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to have it both ways by avoiding a retrial of a fraud case against a Connecticut attorney while keeping in place an earlier win.

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Steward Health Gets Ch. 11 Loan, Says It Plans Hospital Sales

By Rick Archer

A Texas bankruptcy judge Tuesday allowed Steward Health Care to take out $75 million in Chapter 11 financing to meet its next-day payroll after being told the hospital chain plans to sell facilities to pay down its $9 billion in debt.

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85 Lawmakers Join Chorus Opposing Space Force Transfers

By Chart Riggall

A bipartisan group of 85 federal lawmakers on Tuesday joined all 50 state governors in opposing a proposal to allow Air National Guard units to be transferred to the U.S. Space Force without gubernatorial approval, arguing the measure would undermine "the integrity and longstanding mission of the National Guard."

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Employment Agency Owner Admits Hiding $10M In Income

By Kat Lucero

The owner of a temporary employment agency pled guilty to filing false federal business tax returns to conceal more than $10 million in corporate income, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

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Feds Say Student Recruiter Charged UK Schools Illicit Fees

By Lauren Berg

A Massachusetts company that recruits American students to attend British universities unlawfully demanded that foreign schools participating in U.S. student aid programs pay it an incentive fee and then hide the payments from the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

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WilmerHale Guides Akamai's $450M Buy Of Noname Security

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Cloud company Akamai Technologies Inc., advised by WilmerHale, on Tuesday announced plans to buy Noname Security, an application programming interface security company, for $450 million.

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Northeast Firms Harris Beach, Murtha Cullina To Join Forces

By Christine DeRosa

Midsize law firms Harris Beach PLLC and Murtha Cullina LLP on Tuesday announced plans to combine starting next year, creating one firm with a footprint across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and nearby states.

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Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Susman's Brook, Shackelford

By Sydney Price

Susman Godfrey LLP attorneys Davida Brook and Stephen Shackelford Jr. learned very early on in their working relationship that they needed to trust each other. That concept, they say, has been foundational to their success as defamation attorneys, and those who have worked alongside them say everyone else has reason to trust them, too.

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Florida Judge Delays Trump's Classified Docs Trial Indefinitely

By David Minsky

The Florida judge overseeing the criminal case that accuses former President Donald Trump of holding onto classified documents upon leaving office extended indefinitely the planned May 20 start of the trial, citing "myriad and interconnected pretrial" issues regarding the Classified Information Procedures Act, according to a federal court order filed on Tuesday.

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Stormy Daniels Tells NY Jury 'Fear' Drove Hush Money Deal

By Frank G. Runyeon, Stewart Bishop and Rachel Scharf

Adult film star Stormy Daniels detailed for a Manhattan jury on Tuesday how a sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006 led to an alleged $130,000 hush money payment in 2016, describing how it was "fear and not money" that led her to make the deal.

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Coverage Recap: Day 9 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

By Rachel Scharf, Stewart Bishop and Frank Runyeon

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from day nine.

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Prepetition Waivers Sway Invitae Judge On Kirkland Hire

By Vince Sullivan

A New Jersey bankruptcy judge approved the retention of Kirkland & Ellis LLP as bankruptcy counsel for debtor Invitae Corp. Tuesday, the same day he approved a $239 million sale of its assets to Labcorp.

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Atty Dons Muppet Head To Open Sesame Place Race Bias Trial

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A federal jury in Philadelphia on Tuesday gazed at the googly eyes and blue fur of an attorney who donned the head of Sesame Street's Grover to tell them that performers wearing the fluorescent bodysuits of other beloved Muppets discriminated against children at a Pennsylvania theme park because of the color of their skin.

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Remote Atty Is No Reason For Mistrial, 10th Circ. Says

By Emily Sawicki

In a published opinion Tuesday, a Tenth Circuit panel ruled that the remote court appearance of a plaintiff's attorney who contracted COVID-19 was not grounds to declare a mistrial after a Black utility worker lost his Title VII workplace discrimination case in Kansas, finding that the plaintiff could not show that he was prejudiced by his lead counsel's absence.

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