4th Circ. Affirms Ex-Crypto COO's Fraud Conviction

By Ryan Harroff

The Fourth Circuit found no error in a former cryptocurrency executive's conviction for fraud and conspiracy related to his time working at a foreign currency and cryptocurrency trading investment firm that the panel said was actually just a Ponzi scheme that never made any trades.

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CR Bard Owes For Plant Neighbor's Illness, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A Georgia jury heard in closing arguments on Thursday that C.R. Bard's medical sterilization plant wantonly polluted the air with ethylene oxide and caused a man's cancer, while the company said the man's exposure was nowhere near danger levels.

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Judge Told Data Would Let Rivals Mimic Google Search

By Matthew Perlman

An academic testifying for Google on Thursday told a D.C. federal court that the data sharing provisions being proposed as a fix in the search monopolization case would allow rivals to reverse engineer Google search and if not match the results, at least mimic them.

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5 Fed. Circ. Clashes To Watch This Month

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit's argument calendar for May includes appeals of two nine-figure patent verdicts — one against Apple and one against Medtronic — and Roku's bid to revive its remote control patent suit at the U.S. International Trade Commission after a loss tied to the commission's domestic industry requirement.

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WhatsApp Trial Judge Bars NSO's 'Outlandish' IP Theft Claim

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge presiding over a damages trial over how much Israeli spyware-maker NSO Group owes for hacking 1,400 WhatsApp users' devices ruled Thursday NSO's counsel violated multiple pretrial orders, finding corrective instructions are warranted and barring counsel from making the "outlandish" claim Meta Platforms' spyware-attack remediation was trade secret theft.

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TM Dispute Over Flag Football's Governing Body Stays Alive

By Adam Lidgett

A Texas federal judge on Thursday shot down USA Football's bid to escape claims from USA Flag in a simmering feud over the national leadership of flag football within the U.S., saying there are many factual issues that need to be put in the hands of a jury.

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'Open AI' TM Fight Should Go To Trial, Website Owner Says

By Adam Lidgett

Open Artificial Intelligence said key questions in a trademark dispute with OpenAI should go before a jury, arguing there were too many factual issues for the ChatGPT developer to obtain a ruling in its favor in the fight.

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J&J Talc Unit Says New Doc 'Key' To Talc Study Libel Suit

By George Woolston

A Johnson & Johnson talc unit has asked a New Jersey federal court to reinstate its libel suit over a scientific article linking talcum powder to mesothelioma, arguing that newly discovered evidence shows statements in the article are false.

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11th Circ. Says Ga. Smoke Shop Can't Burn $1.1M Verdict

By Chart Riggall

The Eleventh Circuit said a Georgia-based tobacco importer will remain on the hook for a $1.1 million verdict for selling counterfeit rolling papers, rejecting the company's arguments that the Lanham Act damages levied against it needed to bear close relation to the actual damages suffered by the papers' manufacturer.

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NY Judge Says He May Nix $110M Mango Markets Fraud Verdict

By Stewart Bishop

A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday suggested that he may grant all or part of a crypto trader's motion for acquittal or a new trial over allegations that he defrauded Mango Markets investors out of $110 million by manipulating the price of the exchange's native token, in a ruling that would likely center on issues involving mixed swaps or venue.

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Fla. Condo Wins Noise Dispute With Autistic Man's Family

By David Minsky

A Florida appellate panel ruled in favor of a condominium association in a lawsuit over a noise dispute between a family caring for their autistic son and a neighbor, finding no evidence that the family faced discrimination in violation of housing laws.

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Boies Schiller Litigator Jumps To Weil In New York

By Andrea Keckley

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP announced Thursday that it has hired a former Boies Schiller Flexner LLP litigator with experience as a law firm partner, in-house attorney and federal prosecutor.

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Series

Teaching College Students Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Serving as an adjunct college professor has taught me the importance of building rapport, communicating effectively, and persuading individuals to critically analyze the difference between what they think and what they know — principles that have helped to improve my practice of law, says Sheria Clarke at Nelson Mullins.

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Analysis

A Look At Trump's First Judicial Pick Of His Second Term

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's first judicial nominee, Whitney Hermandorfer, who's been tapped for a seat Democrats tried to fill while Joe Biden was in the White House, has been part of litigation on several politically charged issues due to her job with the Tennessee Attorney General's office.

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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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Cannabis Drink Co. Accuses Stoel Rives Attorneys Of Fraud

By Sam Reisman

A startup that develops nonalcoholic cannabis beers has alleged in a California state court action that attorneys from Stoel Rives LLP and others conspired on a scheme to defraud the company out of millions by purporting to sell an unlicensed marijuana business.

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4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In April

By Julie Manganis

Some notable Massachusetts state court decisions in April wrestled with a Staples affiliate's jurisdictional challenge in an employment case, a discovery dispute in the state's greenwashing litigation against Exxon involving McKinsey & Co., and an insurer's effort to be let off the hook for representing a lawyer in a malpractice claim.

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Trump Announces First Judicial Nominee Of 2nd Term

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced his first judicial nominee of his second administration late Thursday night.

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DC US Atty Pick Vows To Take On Judicial Threats

By Courtney Bublé

Ed Martin, nominee to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia who is currently serving in the role on an interim basis, has told federal judges in D.C. he is concerned about the increase in threats to judges and pledged to work together to stop it.

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Legal Job Sector Stayed Strong In April Despite Economy

By Tracey Read

The U.S. legal sector added 1,400 law-related jobs in April, marking the second straight month of improvement, according to preliminary data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Colorado Investor, Ex-Counsel Trade Blows In Malpractice Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Colorado real estate investor and Fox Rothschild LLP have filed a flurry of motions in a legal malpractice suit, with the investor requesting that the firm be found liable for damages amid its representation in an underlying fight over a soured development deal, and the firm contending the investor abandoned a claim over attorney fees.

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Ex-Litigator, Wilson Elser Plan To Drop Bias Suit

By Ryan Boysen

An ex-Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP litigator who sued the firm for allegedly firing him over his disabilities appears to have settled with his former colleagues, with both parties telling a New York federal judge on Friday they plan to dismiss the case.

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Reuters Escapes Suit Over NJ Judicial Privacy Law

By George Woolston

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging Thomson Reuters violated the New Jersey judicial privacy measure Daniel's Law, finding the plaintiffs failed to properly serve the Canadian organization.

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Convicted Ex-Sacks Weston Atty Gets Early End To Probation

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge has granted the request of a Philadelphia lawyer sentenced in 2023 to prison and supervised release for resolving cases behind the back of his former firm to be let out of probation early.

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Head Of Calif. State Bar To Step Down After Botched Exam

By Jack Karp

The leader of the State Bar of California, who oversaw the problem-plagued rollout of this year's state bar exam, will be leaving the organization when her contract expires in July, the bar announced Friday.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Corporate diversity policies are alive and thriving, according to a new report, although they are often taking on new names to dodge the anti-diversity backlash. Another new study warns that 60% of in-house lawyers are considering looking for a new job, primarily in search of higher pay and better benefits.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP and Pilot Law PC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federally employed military reservists called to active duty during wartime or a national emergency are entitled to a top-up differential pay, regardless of their specific role.

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NJ Bankruptcy Judges May Be Tapped As Unpaid Mediators

By Emily Lever

Bankruptcy judges may be among the jurists called upon to mediate New Jersey federal court cases without compensation, according to a proposed amendment to court rules.

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FIFA Seeks Fees After Citation Mistakes In Antitrust Case

By Madison Arnold

FIFA is demanding attorney fees from plaintiffs for misusing artificial intelligence in an antitrust suit against the soccer federation in Puerto Rico, with a formatting error revealing that it is seeking more than $50,000 for work performed by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP and a local firm, according to court documents.

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Abbe Lowell Launches New Firm With Ex-Skadden Associates

By Rachel Rippetoe

Tapping a team of ex-BigLaw associates, some of whom publicly quit their firms in response to deals struck to avoid scrutiny from the Trump administration, prominent defense lawyer and former Winston & Strawn LLP partner Abbe David Lowell launched a new boutique Friday aimed at helping clients facing what it called "politicized investigations" by the government.

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