Up Next At High Court: Birthright Citizenship, Arbitration

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will close out its March oral arguments session by hearing a nationwide class's blockbuster challenge to President Donald Trump's limited view of birthright citizenship, as well as a dispute over federal courts' authority to confirm or vacate arbitration awards in cases they've formerly overseen.

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Judge Seems Doubtful Of Fulton County's Ballot Retrieval Bid

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia federal judge appeared skeptical Friday of Fulton County's efforts to recover hundreds of boxes of 2020 election ballots that were seized by the FBI in a January raid on a county warehouse, signaling he wasn't sure whether the government had shown "callous disregard" for the Constitution.

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Elizabeth Holmes Gets 11-Year Prison Sentence Cut By A Year

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has shaved off a year from convicted ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes' 11-year-and-three-month prison sentence for securities fraud due to recent sentencing guideline amendments, reducing her time behind bars by one year, instead of the two years she requested, amid objections by prosecutors.

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SEC Shutters Case Against Bankrupt Fatburger Parent

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday that it is walking away from a case accusing restaurant franchisor FAT Brands of running an illegal $27 million personal loan scheme to fuel its former CEO's lavish lifestyle as the public company foundered.

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Judiciary Nixes Amicus Disclosure Reform Over Potential Chill

By Emily Sawicki

The federal judiciary has been asked not to move forward with a plan to add to amicus brief disclosure requirements designed to curb "dark money" groups from bankrolling amicus briefs, after rules committee chairs pulled the recommendation over concerns of a possible chilling effect.

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Ex-CEO Sues Former NJ AG Over Tossed RICO Case

By George Woolston

The former CEO of The Michaels Organization, who was indicted in New Jersey's now-dismissed criminal racketeering case against South Jersey power broker George E. Norcross III, has accused former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and other members of his office of commencing the prosecution knowing there was no probable cause.

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BofA Will Pay $72.5M In Deal Ending Epstein Ties Allegations

By Hailey Konnath

Bank of America agreed to pay $72.5 million to put to rest a proposed class action alleging the bank helped facilitate Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes, according to a motion for preliminary approval of the deal filed in New York federal court Friday.

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Student Fleeced Pals' Families With $7.8M Fraud, SEC Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

A Tulsa, Oklahoma, man has agreed to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that he defrauded investors out of $7.8 million in connection with two investment funds he launched as a college student.

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Jailed Energy Trader Won't Fight $7.7M Judgment

By José Luis Martínez

An energy trader who reported to prison this year told a Texas federal court Friday he does not oppose entry of a more than $7.7 million civil judgment in favor of his former employer, as long as it's credited against the restitution he was ordered to pay by the federal government in separate proceedings.

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Lawyer Says Contract With Rivera Was For Venezuela's Oil Co.

By Carolina Bolado

The $50 million consulting contract that former Florida Congressman David Rivera signed with the U.S. affiliate of Venezuela's state-owned oil company was ultimately funded and controlled by the Venezuelan parent company, the attorney who drafted the document said Friday at Rivera's trial on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent.

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Disco Ball Theatrics Land Flat With Campaign Fraud Jury

By Aaron Keller

A defense lawyer who donned a metallic lei and held a disco ball during closing arguments did not help an attorney and former Connecticut state senator avoid guilty verdicts Friday on wire fraud and conspiracy charges connected to a BDK Law Group party prosecutors described as a campaign launch.

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Family Members Get Prison Terms For Tax Refund Scheme

By Anna Scott Farrell

Family members convicted of designing a trust scheme that tried to net $8.5 million in tax refunds were sentenced to prison by a Texas federal judge and ordered to pay back $1.7 million they spent on cryptocurrency and luxuries, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Atty Asks To Stay Out On Bond Amid $22M Tax Fraud Appeal

By Asha Glover

A Missouri lawyer convicted of helping perpetrate a $22 million tax scheme is asking to stay out of prison while she appeals, telling a North Carolina federal court that she believes her appeal could be successful on grounds that her indictment was obtained unconstitutionally.

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DOJ Actions Suggest Expansion Of Healthcare Enforcement

Recent actions by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggest that federal healthcare enforcement efforts are moving away from traditional program-based fraud and toward cases centered on product integrity, regulatory transparency and telehealth marketing, effectively widening the government's enforcement playbook, say attorneys at MoFo.

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Series

Watching Hallmark Movies Makes Me A Better Lawyer

I realize you may be judging me for watching, and actually enjoying, Hallmark Channel movies, but the escapism and storylines actually demonstrate qualities and actions that lead to an efficient, productive and positive legal practice, says Karen Ross at Tucker Ellis.

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Firms Targeted By Trump Urge DC Circ. To Uphold EO Rulings

By Alison Knezevich

Four law firms targeted last year by President Donald Trump urged the D.C. Circuit on Friday to affirm lower court rulings that struck down executive orders restricting their ability to practice law, saying the directives blatantly violate the Constitution.

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Ex-Williams & Connolly Clerk Accused Of Posting Client Info

By Hailey Konnath

A former Williams & Connolly LLP clerk has been posting confidential firm information — including client information and work email exchanges — and he's threatening to "keep leaking" the materials, which he called "a fun read," according to a suit filed in District of Columbia Superior Court.

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BigLaw Races To Capture Expanding Fund Finance Market

By Kevin Penton

Debt financing work at the fund level has long been dominated on the lender side by attorneys from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, Haynes Boone and Mayer Brown LLP, but other firms are increasingly crafting formal practices and poaching fund finance stars from the more established players.

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NJ Federal Judge DQs Beasley Allen In J&J Talc MDL

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey federal judge has disqualified the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing hundreds of plaintiffs in sprawling multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, holding that the firm violated ethics rules by collaborating with former outside counsel for J&J, a ruling the law firm has vowed to appeal.

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Apollo, BlackRock Deny Asking Kirkland To Abandon Optimum

By Tracey Read

Apollo, Ares, BlackRock and other major financial companies have denied Optimum Communications' claims accusing them of "bullying" Kirkland & Ellis LLP into withdrawing as the telecommunications company's transaction counsel to get revenge for a collusion lawsuit filed in New York federal court.

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Atty Sanctioned For AI Hallucinations In Workers' Comp Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

A New Jersey appellate court on Friday ordered an attorney to pay $1,000 in sanctions for failing to rectify AI-hallucinated case citations pointed out to him in an appeal concerning reimbursement sought by a workers' compensation carrier.

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Brief

Amazon Swaps MoFo In, Perkins Coie Out In Cooker Suit

By Ben Adlin

Amazon.com LLP switched counsel Friday in a customer's product defect suit accusing the retail giant of selling a faulty pressure cooker that allegedly malfunctioned and caused her severe burns, substituting two Morrison Foerster LLP attorneys in place of an outgoing Perkins Coie LLP lawyer.

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Apple hit back at a tech company's wireless charging patent claim, a flurry of businesses bring COVID-19 pandemic insurance claims as a key deadline draws closer and Ipulse Partners LLP file a claim against a luxury yacht company it represented in a trademark dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

A federal judge has stopped the Pentagon from dropping AI giant Anthropic from the government's supply chain, and Latham & Watkins ranked first in a survey of in-house legal leaders on which law firms are most helpful in developing business, followed by King & Spalding, Jones Day and Ropes & Gray.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The Lanier Law Firm, Kiesel Law LLP, Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP and Beasley Allen Law Firm lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California state jury in a bellwether trial found Meta and Google liable for harming the mental health of a woman who says she became addicted to their social media platforms as a child.

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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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Mich. Judge Signals No Stay If Attys Exit Retaliation Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge said Friday she is not inclined to pause a long-running sexual harassment suit again if counsel for an attorney who is suing her ex-mentor and former firm are allowed to withdraw, telling the parties, "We've been here. We've done this," as she heard arguments over a motion to exit the case.

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Mayer Brown's $21M Fee Bid In RI Truck Tolls Suit Rebuffed

By Linda Chiem

A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday rebuffed Mayer Brown LLP's bid for $21 million in attorney fees for representing the commercial trucking industry's lead trade group in long-running litigation over the state's truck tolling program, saying the American Trucking Associations ultimately was not the "prevailing party."

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