Bid For DQ From FCA Suit Over AI Use 'Drastic,' Relator Says

By Emily Sawicki

The unexpected disclosure that an expert witness misused artificial intelligence should not be enough to essentially doom a False Claims Act fraudulent billing suit, the case's relator told a Salt Lake City federal judge, arguing a sanctions bid brought by the anesthesiologist defendants is "grossly disproportional" to the error he already sought to rectify.

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Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook Sues Trump To Block Firing

By Alison Knezevich

Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook filed suit in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday challenging President Donald Trump's "unprecedented and illegal attempt" to remove her from her position.

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Justices Asked To Limit Private Investment Fund Suits

By Jessica Corso

A group of investment funds seeking to fend off a challenge from an activist investor are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a ruling in the case that would end the ability of private parties to file contractual disputes under the Investment Company Act.

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Kimberly-Clark To Pay $40M Over Adulterated Surgical Gowns

By Katryna Perera

Kimberly-Clark agreed to pay up to $40 million to resolve federal prosecutors' criminal charge that the multinational consumer goods and personal care company sold adulterated surgical gowns and conducted fraudulent testing on the gowns to avoid having to submit a new premarket notification to the FDA.

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Wash. Sen. Opposes Full-Term Role For State's New US Atty

By Courtney Bublé

The newly installed interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington at this juncture has not been nominated for the full-term role, but one of the state's Democratic senators is already vowing to prevent his confirmation.

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Lawyer Accused Of Bribing DEA Agent Cuts Deal To End Case

By Pete Brush

A Florida criminal defense attorney accused of bribing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent for law enforcement tips entered into an agreement Thursday with Manhattan federal prosecutors that will see charges against him dropped in a year.

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Hollywood Producer Stole $12M From Films, Others, Feds Say

By Hailey Konnath

A Hollywood producer was arrested Wednesday in South Carolina and accused of stealing $12 million from film projects and others by misappropriating funds and forcing productions to pay for COVID-19 testing that never occurred, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

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Unicoin Says SEC's $100M Fraud Suit 'Twists' Its Disclosures

By Aislinn Keely

Crypto firm Unicoin told a New York federal judge that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's claim that it ran a $100 million fraud is based on "cherry-picked" statements taken out of context and "ignores" the firm's warnings to investors within its own disclosures with the agency.

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ATM Network Investment Was $700M Ponzi Scheme, Suit Says

By Sydney Price

Four individuals have been hit with a proposed class action from an investment advisory firm, accusing them of using purported investments in ATM networks to run a $700 million Ponzi scheme.

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Ex-Fugees Rapper Ordered To Pay $6.5M In Loan Dispute

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia federal judge has ruled that former Fugees rapper Prakazrel Samuel "Pras" Michel must repay $6.5 million to a lender that accused him of fraudulently selling his music catalog while it was being held as collateral.

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Compliance Atty Who Duped Lender Wants New Trial

By Emily Sawicki

A compliance lawyer convicted of pilfering from a $20 million line of credit that a subsidiary of Emigrant Bank extended to his tax-lien business has asked a Manhattan federal judge to order a new trial, arguing that prosecutors' evidence is insufficient and that the charges were "multiplicitous," in violation of the Fifth Amendment.

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Baltimore Med Mal Atty Appeals $25M Extortion Conviction

By Parker Quinlan

A medical malpractice attorney in Baltimore who was convicted in federal court in April of attempting to extort $25 million from the University of Maryland Medical System has asked the Fourth Circuit to review his conviction, saying he was unfit to represent himself at trial.

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Fla. Parts Broker Sentenced To Prison For Invoice Scheme

By Tom Lotshaw

A Florida federal judge Thursday sentenced an aircraft parts broker who admitted to netting $375,000 from a scheme involving falsified invoices to serve 12 months and one day in prison.

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Illinois Atty Gets 2½ Years For Tax Fraud, Scripting Testimony

By Lauraann Wood

A former Chicago attorney who covered up $1 million in payments to his romantic interest and tried scripting his bookkeeper's initial trial testimony has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

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9th Circ. Qualified Immunity Ruling May Limit Phone Searches

Though the Ninth Circuit affirmed police officers’ qualified immunity claims in Olson v. County of Grant earlier this year, it also established important Fourth Amendment precedent on the use of cellphone extractions that will apply more broadly in criminal investigations and prosecutions, say attorneys at The Norton Law Firm.

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Patterns And Trends In Publicly Filed Insider Trading Policies

An assessment of insider trading policies filed by over 60 issuers reveals a range of common approaches and a few differences with respect to key policy terms, including the parties covered, the scope of prohibited activities and the exceptions to these prohibitions, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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2nd Circ. Ruling Gives Banks Shield From Terrorism Liability

A recent Second Circuit dismissal strengthens the position of international banks facing claims they indirectly helped terrorist organizations and provides clearer guidance on the boundaries of secondary liability, but doesn't provide absolute immunity, say attorneys at Freshfields.

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How 9th Circ. Customs Ruling Is Affecting FCA Litigation

The Ninth Circuit’s recent Island Industries decision holding that the U.S. Court of International Trade doesn’t have exclusive jurisdiction over whistleblower suits involving import duties has set the stage for the False Claims Act to be a key weapon on the customs enforcement battlefield, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

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Series

Coaching Cheerleading Makes Me A Better Lawyer

At first glance, cheerleading and litigation may seem like worlds apart, but both require precision, adaptability, leadership and the ability to stay composed under pressure — all of which have sharpened how I approach my work in the emotionally complex world of mass torts and personal injury, says Rashanda Bruce at Robins Kaplan.

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Law360 Pulse Exclusive: The Billable Hour

In this package, Law360 Pulse explores the demand for rainmakers, the continued increase of hourly rates and whether artificial intelligence will finally kill the billable hour. For all Law360 readers, click to access a sample story: Why This Small-Firm Lawyer Charges $3,000 Per Hour.

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JAG Corps Sent To DC To Fill 'Critical Vacancies'

By Courtney Bublé

Military attorneys are being sent to prosecute crimes in Washington, D.C., as the Trump administration seeks to beef up prosecutions in the nation's capital as part of the federal surge of law enforcement.

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Q&A

'Be Careful,' New Mich. Chief Judge Tells Attys When Using AI

By Danielle Ferguson

Just weeks into the job, the new chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan is navigating challenges like an uptick in cases and the need for another magistrate judge, and has a word of warning for attorneys using artificial intelligence in their practice.

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Analysis

M&A Attys Hand Tasks To 'Machines' In Careful Embrace Of AI

By Al Barbarino

Artificial intelligence is no longer just a back-office tool in mergers and acquisitions legal work, but is increasingly embedded in core deal processes that help attorneys manage due diligence, draft agreements and assess risk.

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DOJ Targets BigLaw, Big Tech For Antitrust 'Gamesmanship'

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official singled out technology platforms and the BigLaw attorneys who represent them Friday for "gamesmanship" by hiding key information from merger and conduct investigators, and announced a special task force "to tackle abuses that arise in our investigations."

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Fifth Circuit vacated a pair of Biden-era regulations aimed at bolstering transparency in the short-selling market.

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Panel Nixes Buzbee Win Against Atty Who Aided Campaign

By Madison Arnold

A Texas state appeals court has reversed a $765,000 summary judgment awarded to personal injury lawyer Tony Buzbee in a dispute with an attorney who said she was never paid for her contributions to his 2019 Houston mayoral campaign.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Is AI killing the billable hour — here's what general counsel need to know about how the use of artificial intelligence is affecting law firms' billing model. Anthropic has agreed to a deal to end copyright suits brought by authors who said their works were illegally used to train the company's large language model. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.​

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DOJ Swears In 3 New Board Of Immigration Appeals Members

By Britain Eakin

The Executive Office for Immigration Review announced Friday that three new Board of Immigration Appeals members — Sheila E. Gallow, Marcos Gemoets and Kathleen K. Volkert — were sworn in during a ceremony on Thursday.

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Colorado Law Firm Faces Class Action Over Data Breach

By Zach Dupont

A Colorado law firm was hit with a proposed class action in federal court after a Utah woman claimed that the firm didn't take ample measures to protect the personal information of more than 5,000 people, which was stolen in a data breach earlier this year.

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Scores On July Bar Exam Rise Amid Dip In Test Takers

By Tracey Read

The number of examinees passing the multistate bar exam in July continued to gain momentum, with near record highs seen this summer over the past 12 years, according to an announcement from the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

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Exclusive

'I'm Flabbergasted': Fla. Atty's Accusers Rip Bar For Inaction

By Phillip Bantz

More than a year after it began receiving complaints that a Florida lawyer was ghosting clients, the state bar has yet to take action — highlighting what experts call a slow-moving process that can fail to keep pace with expansive alleged frauds.

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Law360 Names Attys Who Moved Up The Firm Ranks In Q2

A promotion to partner or election to practice group chair means a slew of new responsibilities and also lots of well-deserved recognition. Law360 reveals the list of attorneys whose commitment to legal excellence earned them highly coveted spots in the law firm leadership ranks. Find out if your old legal friends — or rivals — moved up in the second quarter of the year.

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Hub Hires: Prince Lobel, Rubin And Rudman, Weil

By Chris Villani

The dog days of summer did little to slow the churn in the Boston legal market. Prince Lobel added a veteran cybersecurity lawyer, Rubin and Rudman made a pair of partner hires, and Weil added more attorneys from Latham.

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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 Prosecco DOC Consortium bring an intellectual property claim against a distributor, the Serious Fraud Office bring a civil recovery claim against the ex-wife of a solicitor jailed over a £19.5 million fraud scheme, and law firm Joseph Hage Aaronson & Bremen LLP sue its former client, the bankrupt Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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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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Split Fed. Circ. Backs Limits On Presidential Tariff Powers

By Hailey Konnath

The Federal Circuit held Friday that President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs were improperly imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which it said makes no mention of "tariff," "duties" or "tax."

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