Analysis

Kirk-Related Visa Revocations May Rub Against Court Rulings

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration's revocation of visas from individuals who criticized Charlie Kirk after his death raises First Amendment concerns that could run up against a recent federal court ruling holding that noncitizens have the same free speech rights as U.S. citizens.

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Sheriff's Atty Says Work With Witness's Counsel Not Conflict

By Julie Manganis

The attorney for a Massachusetts sheriff charged with extorting a retail cannabis business denied that his past work with counsel for the alleged victim is a conflict of interest. 

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US Chamber Says $1B Smoking Verdict Shows Safeguards Needed

By Mike Curley

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is urging the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts to overturn a $1 billion punitive damages verdict against Philip Morris USA Inc., saying the magnitude of the sum shows safeguards are needed in cases involving punitive damages.

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Research Exec Faked Data, Worked For Rivals, $10M Suit Says

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts marketing and political research firm that has done work for Snapchat, Paramount and the government says its co-founder and former chief analytics officer falsified data and used its resources on projects for competitors, and is seeking at least $10 million in damages in a recently launched lawsuit.

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Mass. Seasonal Community Leaders Plug Real Estate Tax Bills

By Sanjay Talwani

Massachusetts locations designated as seasonal communities would have new revenue options, including a local-option real estate transfer tax, to fund affordable housing efforts under legislation pitched by local leaders to a legislative panel.

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Songwriters Claim Udio AI Was Trained On Copyrighted Music

By Elliot Weld

A group of songwriters is suing artificial intelligence company Udio AI, claiming its music-generating AI models were trained using copyrighted music scraped from the internet.

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Schools Look To Duck Early Admissions Antitrust Case

By Matthew Santoni

A proposed class action against 32 colleges and universities fails to turn the "early decision" application process into an alleged conspiracy not to compete for applicants, in part because the schools have no reason to entice committed students away from their first choice of colleges, the defendants argued to a Massachusetts federal court.

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4th Circ. OKs $811M Award In CFPB Immigrant Bond Co. Suit

By Katryna Perera

The Fourth Circuit has affirmed an $811 million judgment awarded to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in its enforcement case against immigrant bond companies accused of engaging in abusive practices.

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USDA Can't Curb SNAP Benefits As States Fight Data Demand

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge on Wednesday preliminarily blocked the U.S. Department of Agriculture from withholding potentially billions of dollars in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit funds from states that refuse to turn over highly sensitive personal information on millions of SNAP food assistance benefit recipients.

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States Battle Trump Admin To Recover Solar Program Funds

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Attorneys general from across the country are suing the Trump administration for allegedly violating the Constitution and federal law by canceling a $7 billion program providing solar equipment to low-income households.

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Mass. Tax Board Reduces Condo's Fair Cash Value

By Jaqueline McCool

A Massachusetts condominium's value should be lowered because the trust that owns the property proved that the property was less updated and smaller compared with similar properties, the state tax board ruled. 

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Mass. Board Reduces Condo Value For Its Street Proximity

By Sanjay Talwani

A Massachusetts condominium unit with a desirable view was overvalued by a local assessor, a state panel said, agreeing with the owner that its location close to a street was a detriment to its value.

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Series

Traveling Solo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Traveling by myself has taught me to assess risk, understand tone and stay calm in high-pressure situations, which are not only useful life skills, but the foundation of how I support my clients, says Lacey Gutierrez at Group Five Legal.

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Loan Forgiveness Overhaul May Chill Legal Aid Work

By Alison Knezevich

Civil legal services groups and public defenders say the Trump administration's proposed change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program would politicize the initiative and make it harder to recruit attorneys to jobs that pay less than the private sector.

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Atty Quits Ga. Bar's 'Facade' Committee On Client Solicitation

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia attorney resigned Friday as head of the state bar's committee on attorney-client solicitation, accusing the bar of not even "reaching for a garden hose" while unlawful solicitation of accident victims has spread "like wildfire" across the Peach State.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen Johnson & Johnson hit with a £1 billion ($1.34 billion) claim for allegedly selling contaminated baby powder, Carter-Ruck bring a claim against the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and Hewlett Packard file a probate claim against the estate of Mike Lynch.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Exxon was hit with a proposed class action alleging its new program to enable automated proxy voting for retail investors is intended to stifle shareholder dissent. Meanwhile, a new survey found that nearly two-thirds of in-house legal departments think they will rely less on outside legal service providers because of generative artificial intelligence. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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NY Court Orders Hearing On Counsel Conflict In Drug Case

By Elizabeth Daley

A man who pled guilty to gun and drug charges and was sentenced to 12 years in prison can argue for a new trial due to ineffective counsel after a similarly culpable co-defendant got a light sentence allegedly due to cooperation between their attorneys, a New York state appeals court said in a reversal.

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Utah Fires Motley Rice From Opioid Case

By Jack Karp

The state of Utah has fired Motley Rice LLC from representing it in long-running litigation over the opioid crisis, a spokesperson for the Utah attorney general's office confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Friday.

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Ga. Judge Resigns After DUI Arrest Outside Fla. Strip Club

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia Superior Court jurist who led the state's Council of Superior Court Judges stepped down from the bench Thursday after his driving under the influence arrest last week outside a Jacksonville, Florida, strip club.

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UC Law School Can Drop Hastings Name, Appeals Court Says

By Andrea Keckley

California is allowed to drop Serranus Clinton Hastings' name from the University of California's San Francisco-based law school, a state appeals court has ruled, backing a trial judge's decision to toss a lawsuit filed by the former chief state Supreme Court justice's descendants and various school alumni.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Caldwell Cassady & Curry PC and Miller Fair Henry PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California federal jury found Samsung must pay nearly $445.5 million for infringing four wireless communication patents.

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Liberty Mutual Attys Face Sanctions Bid Over Citation Errors

By Emily Sawicki

A St. Louis federal court is weighing whether to sanction Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Company's lawyers after they submitted a motion containing citation errors and then, after a warning, "somehow" submitted a second motion with the same types of mistakes.

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Federal Courts To Scale Back Operations Amid Shutdown

By Ryan Boysen

The federal court system has run out of money and will scale back operations beginning Monday as a result of the ongoing government shutdown, possibly leading to case delays.

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Robbins Geller To Steer REIT Investors' Suit Over $787M Deal

By Sydney Price

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP will lead a proposed class of investors in real estate investment trust Broadmark Realty Capital Inc. who claim they were misled by executives from the REIT ahead of a $787 million merger with Ready Capital Corp. in 2023.

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