It took eight days of trial and more than 50 hours of testimony to finally force a settlement that a North Carolina judge had spent months prodding Michael Jordan's race team and NASCAR to negotiate in their high-stakes antitrust battle — a signal to experts that a billionaire athlete, powerhouse lawyers and the iconic stock car racing organization wouldn't go down without a fight.
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Analysis

Why It Took A Trial For The NASCAR Antitrust Case To Settle

By Hayley Fowler

It took eight days of trial and more than 50 hours of testimony to finally force a settlement that a North Carolina judge had spent months prodding Michael Jordan's race team and NASCAR to negotiate in their high-stakes antitrust battle — a signal to experts that a billionaire athlete, powerhouse lawyers and the iconic stock car racing organization wouldn't go down without a fight.

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Analysis

The Court Cases That Defined Sports Law In 2025

By Alex Lawson

From a landmark settlement that looks to reshape the future of college athletics to an eye-popping victory for a golf legend, the sports legal world was teeming with cases that commanded attorneys' attention throughout 2025.

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NFL's Chiefs Moving To $3B Stadium In Kansas

By Isaac Monterose

The Kansas City Chiefs are leaving their longtime home in Missouri to play in a new, $3 billion stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, that state's governor and the NFL team announced.

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Judge Axes Former Team's Suit Over Minor League Shake-Up

By David Steele

A suit accusing minor league baseball owner Marvin Goldklang of "treason" for supporting a reorganization that eliminated a Tennessee-based franchise and 42 other teams has been dismissed by a New Jersey federal judge.

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Yankees Defend 'Iconic' Logo Against Cannabis Apparel Seller

By Alex Lawson

The New York Yankees are hoping to stifle a cannabis apparel seller's effort to secure a trademark registration for his products, telling the Federal Circuit that the application was correctly denied for copying the team's "iconic" logo.

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Fed. Circ. Urged To Erase Aaron Judge's TM Phrases Win

By Ivan Moreno

A Long Island man seeking to register trademarks for the judiciary-themed expressions "All Rise" and "Here Comes The Judge" has asked the Federal Circuit to overturn the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's rejection of his applications, arguing it erroneously concluded that New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge has priority over the phrases.

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LITIGATION

Justices Urged To Review 'Bike+' TM Suit Against Peloton

By Ivan Moreno

A fitness company with a cycling app called Bike+ has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit decision dismissing its trademark infringement claims against Peloton, saying the appeals court erred in assessing the likelihood of confusion and should have let a jury decide the matter.

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Disney Wants ESPN Streaming Rates Suit Sent To Arbitration

By Jared Foretek

Disney is seeking to force a proposed class of Fubo subscribers to arbitrate their claims that Disney unlawfully made streaming services pay inflated rates for ESPN and other sports channels, telling a California federal judge that the company can enforce Fubo's arbitration clause after its purchase of the streamer.

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Feature

Top North Carolina Cases Of 2025

By Hayley Fowler

A sweep of settlements in major lawsuits punctuated the second half of the year in North Carolina, from a record-breaking wrongful death deal to an eleventh-hour resolution in a lending fight over a biogas development project. Here are some of the top North Carolina case outcomes in the second half of 2025.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Feature

Notable Pennsylvania Legislation Of 2025

By Matthew Santoni

Pennsylvania's much-delayed 2025 budget bill contained some big public-policy changes like ending a carbon cap-and-trade program, offering an $800 income tax credit and providing stopgap funding for mass transit, even as its domination of the state Legislature's time prevented much else from passing, attorneys told Law360 in reviewing major laws that passed in the last year.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

3 Key Trends For The Legal Industry In 2025

By Tracey Read

Executive orders, updated office attendance policies and private equity interests were three top issues that shaped the industry this year.

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ITC Atty's 1st Kids' Book Imagines A Santa-Less Christmas

By Dani Kass

Michelle Klancnik, assistant general counsel at the U.S. International Trade Commission, spends her days looking into when imports should be banned for violating intellectual property rights, but outside work, she​'s focused on one big question: What would happen if Santa took a year off?

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Ex-Oura CEO Pushes To DQ Quinn Emanuel In Firing Suit

By Emily Sawicki

The onetime CEO of fitness tracker company Oura Health is pushing to disqualify Quinn Emanuel from representing the smart ring maker in his compensation suit, telling a San Francisco federal judge that he shared confidential information when he consulted with the firm about his claims prior to filing suit.

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NYC Bar Issues Opinion On AI Use For Recording Client Calls

By Tracey Read

The New York City Bar Association's Professional Ethics Committee has issued an opinion addressing how the New York Rules of Professional Conduct impacts the use of artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and create summaries of conversations in audio and video calls between attorneys and their clients.

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Ex-DOJ Employees Fight Gov't Bid To Toss Their Firing Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

An ex-assistant U.S. attorney and two other former Justice Department employees urged a Washington, D.C., federal court on Tuesday to deny the government's motion to dismiss their lawsuit claiming they were unlawfully fired, arguing an internal government employment board isn't appropriate for their cases and is controlled by President Donald Trump.

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Top Delaware Chancery Cases Of 2025: A Year-End Report

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court closed out 2025 amid a period of institutional uncertainty, as landmark cases addressing fiduciary duty, executive compensation, board oversight and the limits of equitable power unfolded against the backdrop of sweeping legislative changes to the Delaware General Corporation Law.

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Hub Hires: Cooley, Morgan Lewis, Nixon Peabody

By Chris Villani

The end of the year marked the beginning of new chapters for plenty of Boston attorneys, as Cooley added more than 30 professionals to its life sciences team, Morgan Lewis snagged an intellectual property partner, and Nixon Peabody beefed up its cybersecurity practice.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Activision Blizzard Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

Apple Inc.

Arizona Diamondbacks

BNP Paribas SA

Binance Holdings Ltd.

Coinbase Global Inc.

ESPN Inc.

George Washington University

HCA Healthcare Inc.

Kansas City Chiefs

LVMH Moet Hennessy

Las Vegas Raiders LLC

Major League Baseball Inc.

Major League Baseball Players Association

Major League Soccer LLC

Miami Dolphins

Microsoft Corp.

NASCAR Digital Media LLC

NFL Enterprises LLC

National Collegiate Athletic Association

New York City Bar Association

New York Yankees

Nike Inc.

Peloton Interactive Inc.

Public Strategies Inc.

Stanford University

Tesla Inc.

The Boeing Co.

The DIRECTV Group Inc.

The Trade Desk Inc.

The Walt Disney Co.

TripAdvisor Inc.

YouTube Inc.

iHeartMedia Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Arnall Golden

Burakiewicz & DePriest

Burr & Forman

Calcagni & Kanefsky

Cooley LLP

Covington & Burling

Cowan Liebowitz

Cozen O'Connor

Dechert LLP

DiCello Levitt

Duane Morris

Dynamis LLP

Foley & Lardner

Goodwin Procter

Hargrove Firm

Herrick Feinstein

Hogan Lovells

Holland & Knight

Jenner & Block

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Lite DePalma

Lowell & Associates

Mark S. Zaid PC

McCarter & English

McDermott Will & Schulte

McGuireWoods

Milbank LLP

Morgan Lewis

Nixon Peabody

O'Melveny & Myers

Paul Weiss

Perkins Coie

Quinn Emanuel

Robb & Robb

Shipman & Goodwin

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Skadden Arps

Susman Godfrey

Tacopina Seigel

Troutman

Verso Law Group

Wilkinson Stekloff

Willkie Farr

WilmerHale

Winston & Strawn

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Delaware Court of Chancery

Delaware General Assembly

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Executive Office of the President

International Trade Commission

Pennsylvania General Assembly

Supreme Court of Nevada

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

U.S. Supreme Court