NY Atty General Indicted Following Pressure From Trump

By Lauren Berg

New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted in Virginia federal court Thursday on charges related to mortgage fraud, three weeks after President Donald Trump wrote a social media post encouraging U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action because James and two other political opponents were "guilty as hell."

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UMG Beats Drake's 'Not Like Us' Diss Track Defamation Suit

By Lauren Berg

A New York federal judge Thursday tossed Drake's defamation suit against Universal Music Group over the hip-hop artist's rival Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us," saying the diss track's lyrics accusing Drake of being a "certified pedophile" are opinion and trash talk, not factual statements that are actionable.

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Sullivan & Cromwell Impersonators Hit With NY Fraud Claims

By Emily Sawicki

New York Attorney General Letitia James is attempting to take down a slew of businesses whose names are variants of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, accusing them of attempting a scheme to fraudulently redirect checks meant for the global corporate law firm.

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Weinstein Says Jurors Traded Threats, Tainting Verdict

By Cara Salvatore

Harvey Weinstein's legal team said his June sexual assault convictions were tainted by juror misconduct, including physical threats and an unfounded bribery claim, arguing in a motion for a new trial that a judge refused to properly investigate.

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Longtime Top NY State Judge In Brooklyn To Retire

By Frank G. Runyeon

Longtime New York state Judge Lawrence Knipel told Law360 that he will retire next month with plans to go into commercial law and mediation after 35 years on the bench.

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Fired Jets Executive Fights Team's Use Of 'Privileged' Texts

By Elaine Briseño

A former finance executive suing the New York Jets for an alleged retaliatory firing after her husband reported sexual harassment by the team's president now seeks an injunction to stop the organization from publicly disclosing or discussing certain text messages between her and her spouse.

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Menendez Witness Avoids Prison After 'Honest' Testimony

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge allowed a former insurance broker from New Jersey to avoid prison Thursday, after prosecutors said his "extensive" cooperation helped secure the conviction of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez on corruption charges.

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Musk's X Posts Trigger Disclosure In NYT Suit, Judge Rules

By Lauren Berg

The government must produce a list of any security clearances granted to Elon Musk in response to The New York Times' Freedom of Information Act request, a Manhattan federal judge ruled, saying the billionaire waived his privacy interest by posting about his top secret clearance, drug use and foreign contacts.

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GOP Sen. Joins Dems On Bill To Nix Trump's Global Tariffs

By Dylan Moroses

Several Senate Democrats and one Republican introduced legislation Thursday to eliminate the national emergency associated with President Donald Trump's so-called reciprocal tariff regime.

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US Wind Fights For Countersuit Against Offshore Project Foes

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

US Wind Inc. is asking a Maryland federal court to allow it to proceed with claims against local governments and community, business and environmental groups that are challenging the approval of a wind energy project off the state's coastline.

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Nissan, Drivers Reach Deal To End Faulty Brake Claims

By Emily Field

Nissan North America Inc. and drivers on Thursday reached a settlement in principle in Tennessee federal court that would end multistate claims alleging the automatic braking systems in certain Nissan vehicles would sometimes trigger and cause the cars to stop suddenly, creating an unpredictable hazard.

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Colgate-Palmolive's $332M Pension Settlement Gets Initial OK

By Kellie Mejdrich

A New York federal court granted initial approval to a $332 million settlement between Colgate-Palmolive and a class of pensioners who claimed the household products company shorted them on lump-sum retirement payouts, which comes after the parties mediated their dispute earlier this year.

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Mobile Game Co. To Pay $25M To End Chancery Investor Suit

By Jarek Rutz

A China-based mobile gaming company has agreed to pay $24.75 million to settle a Delaware Chancery Court class action accusing it of engineering a $600 million share buyback that unfairly cemented its control of the company.

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WPP Faces Investor Suit Over AI-Focused Strategy

By Sydney Price

Communications holding company WPP PLC on Thursday was hit with a shareholder's proposed class action accusing it of overhyping the success of its artificial intelligence-based media arm amid increasing macroeconomic pressures.

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Voyager Judge Won't Dismiss Contract Claims In Binance Suit

By Alex Wittenberg

A New York bankruptcy judge said Thursday he expected to deny a request by Binance.US to dismiss Voyager Digital's breach of contract claims stemming from a collapsed asset purchase agreement between the two cryptocurrency ventures.

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Honeywell Defends $46M Award Over LNG Plant As Valid

By Joyce Hanson

Industrial conglomerate Honeywell has defended its $46 million arbitral award that a Mexican construction company derided as a "sloppy mess" in a dispute related to a liquefied natural gas plant, saying the company's petition to vacate the award is itself "rife with disingenuous legal arguments."

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Pharma Co. Looks To Nix 'Absurd' Award Over Acne Drug

By Caroline Simson

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is urging a New York federal court to partially undo an arbitral award issued in a dispute over intellectual property for an acne drug, saying the award, if allowed to stand, could interfere with a medication that's been available in Canada for years.

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Reflection AI, Backed By Nvidia, Raises $2B In Series B Round

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Artificial intelligence company Reflection AI on Thursday announced that it has raised $2 billion in a Series B funding round, with media reports saying the latest round has caused the company's valuation to soar to $8 billion.

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2nd Circ. Says Immigration Board Ignored Torture Evidence

By Tom Lotshaw

The Board of Immigration Appeals glossed over evidence and failed to justify its decision to overturn an immigration judge who granted an El Salvador man protection from removal under the Convention Against Torture, a Second Circuit panel said.

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Ex-Manhattan ADA Joins Pryor Cashman From NY Boutique

By Andrea Keckley

Pryor Cashman announced Thursday that its family law group has added a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, who joins the firm's New York office from Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan LLP.

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Breaking Down The Intersection Of Right-Of-Publicity Law, AI

Jillian Taylor at Blank Rome examines how existing right-of-publicity law governs artificial intelligence-generated voice-overs, deepfakes and deadbots; highlights a recent New York federal court ruling involving AI-generated voice clones; and offers practical guardrails for using AI without violating the right of publicity.

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Series

Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Painting trains me to see both the fine detail and the whole composition at once, enabling me to identify friction points while keeping sight of a client's bigger vision, but the most significant lesson I've brought to my legal work has been the value of originality, says Jana Gouchev at Gouchev Law.

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Up Next At High Court: Voting Rights & Warrantless Entries

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return Tuesday to hear oral arguments in four cases, including a dispute over the constitutionality of the last remaining provision of the Voting Right Act and whether federal prisoners seeking postconviction relief are subject to the same rules as state inmates.

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Atty's Due Process Claims Challenging Disbarments Trimmed

By Emily Sawicki

A former attorney has had most of a due process suit fighting his disbarment in Florida and reciprocal discipline in Massachusetts and New York thrown out, with a Manhattan federal judge finding that New York lacks personal jurisdiction over out-of-state disciplinary officials.

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CFTC Crypto Task Force Head Returns To Akin

By Aislinn Keely

The former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Digital Asset Task Force has left the agency to return to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as senior counsel in its white collar defense and government investigations practice.

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9th Circ. Flouting 'Imperial Judiciary' Warning, Judges Assert

By Jeff Overley

A large contingent of Ninth Circuit judges accused colleagues Friday of ignoring recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions limiting legal remedies in politically charged disputes, adding fresh fuel to a heated debate over the judiciary's handling of suits against the Trump administration.

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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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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Paddington Bear's creators and Studio Canal sue the company behind Spitting Image, Blackpool Football Club's former owner Owen Oyston bring a fresh claim against the club, and Mishcon de Reya sue a Saudi investment group.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Solomon Ward Seidenwurm & Smith LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the full Ninth Circuit held that denials of California anti-SLAPP motions can no longer be appealed in the midst of litigation.

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NJ Senate President Calls For Monitor Of State AG Unit

By Madison Arnold

New Jersey Senate President Nicholas Scutari on Friday called for the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the state's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, saying it has been troubled with failed prosecutions, botched investigations and misconduct.

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Ga. Judge Charged With DUI At Florida Strip Club

By Chart Riggall

The Georgia judge who heads up the state's council of superior court jurists was arrested for driving under the influence outside a Jacksonville, Florida, strip club this week after hitting another vehicle with his Mercedes, according to arrest records.

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Brief

Bill Would Let Judges, Prosecutors Carry Concealed Guns

By Courtney Bublé

Two Republicans have introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate that would allow current and retired federal judges and state, local and federal prosecutors to carry concealed firearms in response to increasing concerns about judicial security.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

It is of little solace to general counsel that most big law firms hiked their billing rates this year just slightly less than last year's increase. And it looks like Elon Musk is settling with the former chief legal officer and the general counsel of Twitter, along with two other executives, over their suit to obtain millions in promised severance pay. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Retribution, Intent Claims May Defuse Bombshell James Case

By Phillip Bantz

The Trump administration's indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James is tightly crafted and offers a straightforward presentation of the government's case, but experts say James appears to have a strong argument that she did not intend to break the law and is being unfairly targeted for what amounts to a minor offense.

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