Analysis

Feds' Use Of AI In Permitting, Rulemaking Raises Concerns

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Federal government agencies with environmental responsibilities have begun using artificial intelligence tools, but attorneys say information about exactly why, how and when they are being used has been hard to get, leading to uncertainty about their effectiveness and shortcomings.

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Analysis

SEC Off-Channel Sweep Led To Recordkeeping Compliance

By Sarah Jarvis

Despite Chairman Paul Atkins' criticism of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's previous off-channel communications settlements, that Biden-era enforcement sweep has boosted firms' recordkeeping compliance efforts, and a lack of big-dollar penalties on the horizon hasn't erased the pressure to comply, experts say.

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9th Circ. Judge Rips Feds For 'Trying To Suppress Speech'

By Dorothy Atkins

A Ninth Circuit panel expressed doubts Friday about the Trump administration's request to reconsider an order reinstating billions of dollars in University of California research grants in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, with one judge objecting that "the government is trying to suppress, to penalize speech."

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Bondi Taps SDNY To Investigate JPMorgan Over Epstein Ties

By Rae Ann Varona

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday tapped Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's ties to JPMorgan Chase & Co., former President Bill Clinton and others after President Donald Trump called for the probe while claiming that his alleged links to the financier were a "hoax."

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Prosecutorial Watchdog Takes Helm In Trump Election Case

By Chart Riggall

The Georgia election interference charges against President Donald Trump and others will continue after the head of the state's prosecutorial oversight agency said Friday that for now, he'll take over the case from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after multiple outside prosecutors turned down the job.

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DOJ Official Among Trump Picks For District Courts

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced judicial nominees for federal courts in Tennessee, Indiana and Missouri on Friday, including a current U.S. Department of Justice official.

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House Eyes Vote To Repeal Provision On Senators' Lawsuits

By Courtney Bublé

A House bill to repeal a controversial provision tucked into the government funding package that would allow senators investigated by former special counsel Jack Smith to sue for damages is listed for possible consideration on the schedule for the week of Nov. 17.

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Lawyers Call On High Court To Stop 'Capitulating' To Trump

By Katie Buehler

Lawyers and legal advocates gathered in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday to protest rulings that have allowed President Donald Trump and his administration to implement allegedly "unlawful actions" amid legal battles, and to demand the justices act as a check on executive power in future cases.

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SEC's Atkins Turns A Critical Lens On BlackRock, Vanguard

By Jessica Corso

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins said Friday morning that his agency is working to rein in large institutional asset managers like BlackRock and Vanguard that "get out of line" by trying to influence management decisions.

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Chamber Asks Justices To Stop Calif. Climate Reporting Laws

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Business groups challenging California laws that require large companies to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to prohibit the state from enforcing the statutes during litigation in lower courts.

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La., Parishes Push To Keep Coastal Suits In State Court

By Keith Goldberg

Louisiana and a pair of its coastal parishes have told the U.S. Supreme Court that the Fifth Circuit correctly concluded that their pollution lawsuits against Chevron and Exxon stemming from their World War II-era oil production belong in state court.

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Pa. Budget Ends State's Bid To Join Cap-And-Trade Compact

By Matthew Santoni

Pennsylvania legislators have announced that their long-awaited 2025 budget included provisions ending the state's bid to join a multistate carbon cap-and-trade compact, mooting years of litigation over whether the credits that fossil-fuel power plants would purchase were a fee or a tax.

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Texas Judge Rejects Bid To Block Kenvue's $398M Dividend

By Jonathan Capriel

Texas can't stop the makers of Tylenol from marketing the drug as safe for children and pregnant women or halt a nearly $400 million payment to shareholders, a state court ruled on Friday, rejecting arguments by Attorney General Ken Paxton's motion.

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Sandisk Points To Differences In 'Settled Expectations' Cases

By Adam Lidgett

Sandisk Technologies Inc. has told the Federal Circuit that its own case challenging the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's denial of patent reviews based on an owner's "settled expectations" is different from cases in which the court recently rejected petitions over changing institution practices at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

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Brief

USPTO Workers Laid Off During Shutdown Recalled To Work

By Theresa Schliep

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office employees who were laid off at the beginning of the government shutdown are being called back to work following the appropriations deal that rescinded reductions in force across the federal workforce.

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Aussies Float DST To Push Platforms To Pay News Media

By Kevin Pinner

Australia has proposed a measure analogous to a 2.25% digital services tax aimed at pressuring social media companies and search engines to pay Australian news organizations to publish their work.

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NC Coastal Erosion Spurs Call For Proactive Flood Coverage

By Hayley Fowler

North Carolina's governor and the state insurance commissioner are calling on Congress to pass a bill that would cover homes on the brink of collapsing into the ocean under the National Flood Insurance Program — a problem currently plaguing the state's shoreline, where coastal erosion has claimed 27 homes along the Outer Banks since 2020.

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7th Circ. Wary Of Takings Challenge To Chicago Tenant Law

By Celeste Bott

A Seventh Circuit judge on Friday pressed counsel for a building owner, which opposes a Chicago law requiring owners of foreclosed rental properties to pay tenants a relocation fee or offer a new lease, to address the limits of its argument that those fees are an unconstitutional taking of its property.

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Northern NY US Atty To Defend DOJ In Maurene Comey Suit

By Jack Karp

The U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of New York has agreed to defend the U.S. Department of Justice against a lawsuit from former FBI Director James Comey's daughter over what she calls her illegal firing, that office informed a New York federal judge this week.

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Employers Urge Justices To Reverse DC Circ. Pension Ruling

By Kellie Mejdrich

Employers that withdrew from a union pension fund urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the D.C. Circuit's holding on actuarial assumptions requirements for calculating withdrawal liability, arguing the appellate court misread federal benefits law by deciding that a union pension plan could retroactively change assumptions.

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Ex-Va. City Atty Tells 4th Circ. FMLA Doesn't Immunize Officials

By Irene Spezzamonte

The Family and Medical Leave Act doesn't contemplate qualified immunity, a former Virginia city assistant attorney told the Fourth Circuit on Thursday, arguing that a municipal attorney cannot appeal a federal court's decision to let his FMLA suit go to trial.

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Conn. Union Says Prison Bureau Axed CBA As Retaliation

By Brian Steele

The Federal Bureau of Prisons violated the constitutional rights of its employees when it unilaterally canceled a collective bargaining agreement in September in an effort to suppress union speech and activities, according to a new lawsuit in Connecticut federal court.

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Amazon, New York Square Off Over State's NLRB Fill-In Law

By Stewart Bishop

The state of New York on Friday urged a Brooklyn federal judge to reject Amazon's bid to block a law allowing the Empire State's labor board to adjudicate private sector unionization matters and labor-management disputes, a statute that the online retailer says is flatly unconstitutional. 

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Google Offers EU Ad Tech Fixes Without Breakup

By Bryan Koenig

Google tried to mollify European Union antitrust enforcers Friday with the promise of "immediate product changes" to its advertising placement technology business, while arguing against "a disruptive break-up" called for when the European Commission fined the technology giant €2.95 billion ($3.5 billion).

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FTC To Make Valvoline, Greenbriar Divest 45 Oil Shops

By Rae Ann Varona

The Federal Trade Commission said Friday that it will require Valvoline Inc. and Greenbriar Equity Group LP to divest 45 quick oil change shops to resolve antitrust concerns surrounding the automotive services company's planned acquisition of Breeze Autocare from the private equity firm for $625 million.

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Google, TikTok, Meta Fight Calif. Law Over Kids' Online Feeds

By Bonnie Eslinger

TikTok, Meta and Google filed separate suits against California Attorney General Rob Bonta in federal court on Thursday seeking to block the state from enforcing a new law's requirement for parental consent before online platforms can deliver personalized content feeds to children, saying the provision infringes on their First Amendment rights.

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NJ Sen. Seeks Fix For Daniel's Law Amid Legal Challenges

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey state senator has introduced legislation intended to rescue Daniel's Law from mounting constitutional challenges, saying the state's judicial-privacy statute has been weakened by 2023 amendments that have spawned confusion, lawsuits and compliance problems for businesses and public agencies.

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DOJ Targets North Korean IT Job Fraud, $15M Crypto Heist

By Joyce Hanson

Four United States nationals and one Ukrainian have pled guilty in federal court to scheming with North Korea to help its citizens illegally secure remote information technology jobs with U.S. companies, the Department of Justice said Friday.

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Texas Justices Wall Off Shareholder Claims Against 3rd Party

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Supreme Court found that individual shareholders have no right to bring direct claims against an outside party that has an agreement with the shareholders' company, saying Friday that they instead must file suit on behalf of the company they hold ownership in.

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Frequent DEI Foe Takes Aim At Mich. Law Firm's Scholarships

By Madison Arnold

American Alliance for Equal Rights, a group known for challenging diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships, has set its sights on Michigan personal injury firm Buckfire & Buckfire PC for alleged discrimination via the firm's scholarship programs for minorities.

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US To Slash Tariff On Swiss Imports To 15% In Trade Deal

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. will reduce a 39% tariff on Swiss imports to 15% as part of a framework trade agreement reached with Switzerland, according to Friday announcements by the White House and the Swiss government.

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Del. Lawmakers OK Pushing County's Property Tax Deadline

By Zak Kostro

Delaware would extend a tax payment deadline for New Castle County property owners until the end of the year under a bill unanimously approved by state lawmakers and headed to the governor.

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Analysis

Trump's H-1B Policies Could Exacerbate Teacher Shortages

By Britain Eakin

U.S. school districts that hire foreign teachers through the H-1B visa program could face worsening teacher shortages or be forced to hire less-qualified teachers if public educators are not exempted from President Donald Trump's $100,000 H-1B fee.

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9th Circ. Revives Deportation Case Due To Atty Errors

By Tom Lotshaw

A split Ninth Circuit panel revived a Ugandan man's removal case, with the majority ruling that immigration courts wrongly brushed off his claims of ineffective counsel.

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4th Circ. Again Denies Man's Bid For Deportation Relief

By Rae Ann Varona

The Fourth Circuit has again refused to revive a Mexican native's bid for deportation relief, saying his Virginia conviction for receiving stolen property is still a crime involving moral turpitude despite a change in how ambiguous laws should be interpreted.

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Wash. County Fights Limits On Immigrants Working At Jails

By Ben Adlin

Washington's King County is challenging what it calls a "quirk" in Washington state law that unconstitutionally prohibits "lawfully present, work-authorized immigrants" from serving as corrections officers for local governments — though they can work in corrections at the state level.

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Rochester Sanctuary Policy Changes Moot DOJ's Suit

By Nadia Dreid

The Trump administration's lawsuit against Rochester, New York, over its "sanctuary city" policies is now moot because the city has amended its laws to codify similar policies the lawsuit doesn't address, preventing the court from providing relief, a federal judge has ruled.

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Italian Police Seize Assets In €260M VAT Fraud Probe

By Natalie Olivo

Italian financial police seized corporate assets Friday as part of an investigation into a criminal ring suspected of evading €260 million ($302 million) in value-added taxes on fuel, European Union authorities said.

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Boston School Bus Fleet Manager Charged In Bribery Scheme

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts federal prosecutors alleged Friday that a former fleet and facilities director for the company that provides school bus services to the city of Boston solicited more than $870,000 in bribes and kickbacks, along with a job for his son, from businesses seeking to do work at bus yards.

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Feds Say Ex-Police Union Prez Got Break With 30-Month Term

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts police union president who was convicted in a kickback scheme and sentenced to 2.5 years in prison should receive at least that much time when he's resentenced following a First Circuit decision largely affirming the verdict, prosecutors said, calling the original punishment a "windfall."

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Crypto Firm Founder Gets 5 Years For $9.4M Fraud Scheme

By Sydney Price

An Oklahoma federal court has ordered the co-founder of a cryptocurrency investment firm to serve five years in prison and pay more than $1.1 million for his role in a fraud conspiracy that involved making false promises of returns to thousands of investors via social media posts.

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'Constitutional Word Salad': Judge Rips Suit Over Mascot Ban

By Bonnie Eslinger

A New York federal court judge denied a Long Island school district's bid to amend claims in a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on Indigenous mascots, calling proposed changes a "constitutional word salad," but said a district parent could add First Amendment claims to the litigation.

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Okla. AG, Governor Feud Over Tribal Hunting Enforcement

By Crystal Owens

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed a special prosecutor to go after Native Americans who hunt or fish on tribal lands without state licenses after Attorney General Gentner Drummond said last month he would not prosecute the cases.

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FCC Urged To Add Tribal Window To C-Band Sale

By Christopher Cole

A public interest group has urged the Federal Communications Commission to add a tribal priority window as the agency develops a plan required by Congress to auction off rights to upper C-band spectrum.

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NextNav Asks FCC To Act Now On GPS Backup Proposal

By Nadia Dreid

Geolocation service provider NextNav is butting heads with an artificial intelligence company at the Federal Communications Commission about whether the agency should act now to establish a spectrum-based alternative to GPS or wait and see how an AI-based alternative works out.

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DC Circ. Wary Of DEA Delays In Religious Ayahuasca Case

By Sam Reisman

A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday appeared skeptical that the Drug Enforcement Administration was justified in its delays processing an Iowa church's application for a religious exemption to the Controlled Substances Act to use a psychedelic in its rites.

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Smith Anderson Adds Fox Rothschild Land Use Duo

By Abigail Harrison

Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP has welcomed land use duo Robin Tatum as partner and Catherine Hill as counsel, expanding the firm's land use practice in its office in Raleigh, North Carolina, where it is based. The lawyers, who are joined by paralegal Amanda Ball, arrive from Fox Rothschild LLP.

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How Litigating Antitrust Fix Helped GTCR Prevail In Court

An Illinois federal judge's recent denial of the Federal Trade Commission's injunction request in the GTCR acquisition of Surmodics joins a developing series of cases in which deal parties have prevailed against government antitrust challenges by proposing a post-complaint fix and litigating the as-amended deal, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.

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Why Foreign Cos. Should Prep For Increased SEC Oversight

With the recent trading suspensions of 10 foreign-based issuers listed on the Nasdaq, an enforcement action against a U.K. security-based swap dealer and the announcement of a cross-border task force, it's clear that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will expand oversight on foreign companies participating in the U.S. capital markets, says Tejal Shah at Cooley.

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Breaking Down Article 12 Of The Uniform Commercial Code

Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia have enacted Article 12 of the Uniform Commercial Code, providing the alternative to perfection by control of assets like cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens, but before accepting these assets as collateral, lenders and creditors should consider how to best maintain priority, say attorneys at Miller Nash.

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How To Kill A Person: A Legal Battle Over Execution Methods

By Marco Poggio

As botched executions pile up and states reach for untested methods like nitrogen hypoxia, prisoners are turning to the courts for a say in how they will die — and are being met with a legal framework stacked against finding execution methods unconstitutional.

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Buchalter Won't Be Sanctioned For 'Hallucinated' AI Citations

By Rose Krebs

An Oregon federal judge has decided not to sanction Buchalter PC and other counsel representing an environmental nonprofit in a trademark infringement dispute for submitting "hallucinated" case citations generated by an artificial intelligence tool, saying he is satisfied with "remedial actions" already done or to be taken.

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Perkins Coie Sued By Omani Co. Over Trade Case Defense

By Rachel Riley

An Omani screw manufacturer has launched a legal malpractice suit in Washington state court accusing Perkins Coie LLP of a "series of deadly mistakes" while representing the Middle Eastern company in a U.S. Department of Commerce probe, allegedly leading to steep penalties and tariffs that cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Manning Kass Hit With Age Bias Suit In Calif.

By Christine DeRosa

Manning & Kass Ellrod Ramirez Trester LLP is facing an age bias lawsuit in California state court alleging a firm leader has made ageist comments at employees over 40 and is trying to drive those workers out of the firm.

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Non-Attys Could Help Close Georgia's Civil Justice Gap

By Emily Johnson

Low-income Georgians and rural Georgians face several barriers to accessing legal services, including living in a legal desert, according to a Georgia Supreme Court committee’s report. The panel's proposal allowing "limited licensed legal practitioners" to assist with civil housing and consumer debt matters could improve access to justice across the state.

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King & Spalding, Atty Move To End Bias Suit At 4th Circ.

By Grace Elletson

King & Spalding LLP and an attorney who complained that she didn't apply to a summer associate program as a straight, white woman because the firm sought diverse applicants have agreed to end her bias case, according to a filing in the Fourth Circuit.

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New California Bar Leader Aims To Rebuild Public Trust

By Tracey Read

After less than two weeks on the job, Laura Enderton-Speed, the California State Bar's new executive director, is already busy working to strengthen trust in the organization following the botched administration of the February bar exam.

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NC, Utah Attorneys General Launch Nationwide AI Task Force

By Matt Perez

Democratic North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Republican Utah Attorney General Derek Brown have announced the formation of a nationwide artificial intelligence task force in collaboration with developers OpenAI and Microsoft, as well as the Attorney General Alliance, a nonprofit group of bipartisan state attorneys general.

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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 Freeths face a professional negligence claim from a Scottish car dealership, Rolls-Royce sue logistics giant Kuehne + Nagel, and a team of Oberon Investments Group investment managers sued by their former employer.  

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Experts say it will likely take at least a month for the thousands of SEC employees now back to work after the government shutdown to catch up with submissions for initial public offerings. Meanwhile, clean energy developers are increasingly looking to privately held investors amid a race to beat a July 2026 cutoff to maintain eligibility for clean electricity investment and production tax credits. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Sidley Austin LLP and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Washington federal jury cleared Novo Nordisk of allegations that it defrauded the state's Medicaid and Medicare systems by paying kickbacks and promoting off-label use to illegally boost prescriptions of its hemophilia drug NovoSeven.

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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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