NJ Justices Sharply Limit Attorney Liability To Nonclients

By Carla Baranauckas

The New Jersey Supreme Court adopted a formal framework on Tuesday for determining when attorneys owe a duty of care to nonclients, affirming that estate lawyers generally cannot be sued for malpractice by disappointed heirs without clear proof the lawyer was engaged to benefit them directly.

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McCarter & English Knocks Down Biotech Malpractice Appeal

By Madison Arnold

A New Jersey appellate court on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a biotech company's malpractice and related claims against McCarter & English LLP, finding the biotech company was required to bring those allegations during the firm's earlier suit to recover more than $837,000 in unpaid legal fees.

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Judge Tosses Ex-NJ Port Worker's Suit Against Maersk, Union

By Katherine Smith

A New Jersey federal judge tossed a former shipping and logistics company employee's suit alleging that he was unlawfully fired and misled by an International Longshoremen's Association local during the grievance process on Tuesday, ruling that his state law claims are preempted by federal law.

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NJ Sues Nursing Home Owners Over Missing Medicaid Funds

By George Woolston

The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller has demanded the owners of two Garden State nursing homes repay millions in Medicaid funds the office recently found they diverted to themselves while neglecting their facilities' residents, according to a complaint filed Monday.

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Q&A

Former NJ AG Platkin Reflects On Legacy Of 'Tough Fights'

By Jake Maher

Matthew Platkin joined Law360 Pulse for an exit interview exploring the biggest cases and issues of his tenure as attorney general, including his anti-corruption work and litigation against the Trump administration.

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Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

By Kevin Penton

Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 48 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, achieving milestones such as high-profile litigation wins at the U.S. Supreme Court and 11-figure merger deals.

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Kim Kardashian's Skims Settles NJ Consumer Fraud Suit

By Carla Baranauckas

Skims Body Inc. will pay a $200,000 civil penalty and continue refunding New Jersey shoppers after improperly collecting sales tax on clothing that should have been tax exempt for nearly five years, Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Division of Consumer Affairs announced Tuesday.

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NY Judge Orders SD To Pause Action Against Abortion Ads

By Dan McKay

A New York federal judge has temporarily barred South Dakota officials from taking action against an abortion rights group that launched an advertising campaign in the state promoting its website, which explains how to order abortion medication online.

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CorMedix Investors Seek First OK Of Governance Reform Deal

By Katryna Perera

Investors in CorMedix Inc. have told a New Jersey federal judge that company directors have agreed to implement several corporate governance reforms to resolve a consolidated shareholder derivative lawsuit accusing the executives of making misleading statements about delays in the regulatory approval of the company's lead drug candidate.

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3rd Circ. Sides With Doctor In Exam Question Copyright Suit

By Elliot Weld

The Third Circuit has affirmed a win for a doctor who was sued for copyright infringement by the American Board of Internal Medicine after emailing test materials to a test preparation company, saying there was not sufficient evidence that improper copying had occurred.

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NLRB Pushes Contempt For Pittsburgh Paper's Defiance

By Braden Campbell

The ailing Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is still defying the Third Circuit's order to restore newsroom workers it railroaded in collective bargaining to their old healthcare plan, the National Labor Relations Board said Tuesday in a renewed motion to hold the newspaper in contempt of the March 2025 ruling.

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Navigating Privilege Law Patchwork In Dual-Purpose Comms

Three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to resolve a circuit split in In re: Grand Jury, federal courts remain split as to when attorney-client privilege applies to dual-purpose legal and business communications, and understanding the fragmented landscape is essential for managing risks, say attorneys at Covington.

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Willkie Accused Of Aiding $735M Fraud In Buyout Deal

By Katryna Perera

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP on Tuesday was accused of aiding a $735 million fraud carried out by an investment manager to secure financing for a 2023 take-private transaction involving Franchise Group Inc., which was then used to pay off the manager's personal debts.

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Goldstein Poker Pals Got Money From Firm, Witness Says

By Jared Foretek

A former office manager at Thomas Goldstein's law firm Tuesday told the jury in his tax fraud trial in Maryland federal court that hundreds of thousands of dollars in wire transfers sent to the U.S. Supreme Court lawyer's poker counterparts were classified as business transactions in documents used by the firm's tax accountants.

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McDonald Hopkins Forms Practice Group For Law Firm MSOs

By Emma Cueto

Midwestern firm McDonald Hopkins LLC announced Tuesday that it has launched a practice group focused on handling deals between law firms and prospective private equity investors, which the firm said is a natural extension of its work on litigation funding deals and private equity investment in other professional services.

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Ex-DOJ Attys Describe Fallout From Trump Takeover

By Stewart Bishop

Former federal prosecutors who resigned or were fired from the U.S. Department of Justice over the last year spoke Tuesday of their dismay over political interference at the department by the Trump administration, but largely expressed confidence that the DOJ could recover in time.

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Shooting Of Indiana Judge, Wife Prompts Call For Vigilance

By Lynn LaRowe

The shooting of an Indiana Superior Court judge and his wife over the weekend has prompted the chief of the state's highest court to urge all jurists in the Hoosier State to "remain vigilant in your security."

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Ex-Girardi Keese Atty To Take Plea Deal In Chicago Case

By Rae Ann Varona

Former Girardi Keese attorney Keith Griffin will take a plea deal in a case accusing him of helping Tom Girardi violate court orders and covering up the theft of client funds, according to a minute entry entered Friday in Illinois federal court.

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Lindsey Halligan Out As US Atty As Judge Criticizes 'Charade'

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that Lindsey Halligan's 120-day term as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia is over, the same day a Virginia federal judge criticized "this charade of Ms. Halligan masquerading" in a role in which she was not lawfully serving.

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Justice Jackson Slams Fee Waiver Ban For Indigent Prisoners

By Brandon Lowrey

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday rejected three pro se indigent prisoners' bids to file petitions to the court without fees and permanently barred them from seeking fee waivers from the high court, decisions that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called "foolish" in a passionate dissent.

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Supreme Court Rules Mandatory Restitution Is Punitive

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Supreme Court held in a unanimous opinion Tuesday that restitution is a criminal punishment subject to the Constitution's ban on increasing punishment retroactively.

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Feature

John Roberts Welcomes John Roberts To Supreme Court

By Jeff Overley

U.S. Supreme Court advocates have tips galore for staying calm at a debut argument, including diligent preparation, mindful breathing and treating the event as a conversation. But a Proskauer Rose LLP attorney benefited Tuesday from a distinctive development: the chief justice's introductory jest about the two of them not being related.

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Justices Ax 6th Circ. Abortion Order Amid Loper Bright Outcry

By Jeff Overley

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday erased a Sixth Circuit decision allowing abortion-related conditions on family planning grants, a victory for Tennessee officials who accused the circuit of flouting the high court's landmark rejection of judicial deference to regulators.

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AI Firm Countersues Legal Publisher For Breach Of Contract

By Adam Lidgett

Artificial intelligence startup Alexi Technologies has accused Fastcase Inc. and its owner of weaponizing the legal system after the legal research firm filed a lawsuit in November claiming the AI company breached a former business relationship.

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Justices Set Time Limit To Ax Judgments, Ending 11-1 Split

By Jeff Overley

Almost every circuit court has wrongly allowed litigants to vacate invalid judgments regardless of how long ago the judgments became final, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, endorsing one circuit's outlier interpretation of a decades-old procedural rule.

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Brief

Supreme Court Security Gets $30M Boost In DHS Bill

By Courtney Bublé

The consolidated U.S. Department of Homeland Security funding bill for fiscal year 2026 released early Tuesday morning includes $30 million for the security of U.S. Supreme Court justices.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court wrapped up last week with a mix of deal litigation, governance fights and disclosure battles, including a proposed settlement over a contested medical device sale, a merits dismissal tied to a $2 billion biotech exit and dueling lawsuits over Paramount Skydance's pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery.

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