Public Policy

January 05, 2026
Wayne County, Mich., Chief Judges Focus On Tech, Safety

The new chief judge for Michigan's largest and busiest circuit court and his immediate predecessor tell Law360 that judicial safety, technology and staffing are the most pressing issues facing the court as they start the year.
January 05, 2026
Calif. Tribe Sues IHS Over Opioid Center Compact Denial

A California tribe is asking a federal court to order the Indian Health Service to approve a proposed agreement for an opioid treatment center, arguing that the funding is desperately needed after multiple tragedies due to drug addiction in and outside its reservation.
January 05, 2026
Legal Asst., Law Firm Drop Claims In NM Pregnancy Bias Suit

A New Mexico-based personal injury law firm and a legal assistant agreed to drop retaliation and defamation claims in her lawsuit alleging she was forced to resign after disclosing her pregnancy, according to a federal magistrate judge's order filed in federal court.
January 05, 2026
Ex-CTA Worker Fights New Trial Ordered Over Jury Instruction

A former Chicago Transit Authority employee who prevailed at trial last year on claims that he was unlawfully fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds is asking an Illinois federal judge to reconsider his decision to order a new trial, after the judge found he'd erred in instructing the jury.
January 05, 2026
Cravath Int'l Security Atty Joins Davis Polk In New York

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP has hired a Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP national security lawyer who spent years in public service with the Treasury Department and who served as director for international trade and investment at the National Security Council and the National Economic Council, the firm announced Monday.
January 05, 2026
ITC Probing Claims Of Unfairly Priced Mexican Strawberries

The U.S. International Trade Commission announced Monday that it is investigating allegations made by a coalition of Florida farms that imported Mexican winter strawberries are being sold at less than fair value.
January 05, 2026
Trump Backs Biden's Medicare Drug Price Law At High Court

The Trump administration is defending the Biden-era Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the justices to deny AstraZeneca's petition challenging the program as unconstitutional.
January 05, 2026
Countries Reach Deal To Exempt US From Pillar 2 Tax

Nearly 150 countries finalized the details Monday of a safe harbor that would effectively exempt U.S. companies from a 15% global minimum tax known as Pillar Two, following months of international negotiations and retaliatory tax threats from the U.S.
January 05, 2026
Ga. Judge Denies Early Exit In Protester's Defamation Suit

A Georgia federal judge has denied Atlanta's ex-police chief's bid to escape a defamation suit from a protester who says he was falsely accused of being a violent gang member, ruling that the suit sufficiently substantiated that the chief deliberately lied in public statements.
January 05, 2026
Federal Workers Fight Gender-Affirming Coverage Rollback

A group of federal employees has filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, saying the decision to end coverage for certain gender-affirming medical procedures under the workers' health insurance plans amounted to unlawful sex bias.
January 05, 2026
Ind. House Bill Floats Transfer Tax On Real Estate Investment

Indiana would establish a transfer tax on entities that manage funds pooled from investors in single-family residences under a bill introduced Monday in the state House of Representatives.
January 02, 2026
9th Circ. Says Dormant Commerce Clause Doesn't Cover Pot

A Ninth Circuit panel Friday rejected arguments by a would-be cannabis retail operator that said state and local residency requirements on marijuana business licenses are unconstitutional, ruling that the U.S. Constitution's dormant commerce clause doesn't apply to the cannabis industry because it's still illegal under federal law.
January 02, 2026
Trump Tells HieFo To Divest Chip Assets, Citing Security Risks

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered California-based high-efficiency photonics company HieFo Corp. to divest digital chips and wafer assets it bought from Emcore Corp., saying a Chinese citizen's control of HieFo poses national security risks.
January 02, 2026
Bitfinex Hacker Says He's Been Released From Prison

Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein says he's out of prison early after provisions of a criminal justice reform law shortened his five-year sentence for laundering stolen bitcoin worth billions of dollars.
January 02, 2026
Miss. Tells Justices Election Laws Not Limited By Past

Mississippi urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to uphold a law allowing state election officials to count mail-in ballots that arrive late but are postmarked by Election Day, arguing a lower court's finding that the law conflicts with federal statutes is inconsistent with the U.S. Code and historical practice.
January 02, 2026
NYC Puts Foot Down On Landlord's Ch. 11 Plan, Sale

New York City wants to pump the brakes on the reorganization and sale of a group of debtors affiliated with Pinnacle Group, arguing the landlord cannot sell its buildings until it corrects code violations in what the city's new mayor called its "most neglected buildings."
January 02, 2026
Empire, Ørsted Sue To Overturn Offshore Wind Suspension

Two energy companies moved to block the Trump administration's latest order halting offshore wind projects, arguing that the announcement came with "no plausible justification" and claiming that they were given no chance to address the administration's concerns beforehand.
January 02, 2026
Top Property Insurance Trends To Watch In 2026

Homeowners insurance investigations, a novel climate suit accusing oil majors of contributing to high premiums, and a California action accusing carriers of collusion are some of the top property insurance matters attorneys will be watching next year.
January 02, 2026
Malpractice Claims Are Timely, Pardoned Law Grad Argues

A Vanderbilt Law School graduate who alleges his former criminal defense attorneys convinced him to take an unjust plea deal for assault in 2009 told a Connecticut court that his legal malpractice claims couldn't have been brought before he received an absolute pardon in 2023 — and as such aren't time-barred.
January 02, 2026
AGs Get DOJ-HPE Docs, But Not Internal Gov't Comms

The U.S. Department of Justice and Hewlett Packard Enterprise must produce all the communications between them discussing the settlement resolving a DOJ merger challenge, a California federal judge ruled Wednesday, giving a coalition of Democratic attorneys general an important but not unlimited peek into the controversial deal.
January 02, 2026
Mass. Home Rightly Valued As Completed, Board Says

A Massachusetts home cannot have its property value lowered despite the homeowner's assertion that the home was not fully built at the time of the assessment, the state tax board ruled.
January 02, 2026
Hilton Hotel Tax Valuation Rightly Cut, Minn. Justices Told

Minnesota's tax court was correct in reducing the tax valuations of a Hilton hotel and convention center, which included a $70 million drop in one year, the property owner told the Minnesota Supreme Court.
January 02, 2026
Court Reverses TPS Terminations Over DHS Procedural Errors

A California federal court has vacated Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's termination of temporary protected status for immigrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal, finding that she failed to consult other agencies and conduct an objective review of conditions inside those countries.
January 02, 2026
Rapist Had Felony History When Bar Hired Him, Suit Says

A woman has sued the Cask 'n Flagon, a landmark Boston bar near Fenway Park, for $15 million in Massachusetts state court, alleging it ignored or missed an employee's past conviction for violent crimes when it hired him in 2022, shortly before he sexually assaulted the woman inside a restroom.
January 02, 2026
Calif. ABS Fee Sharing Ban Cleared To Kick Off In 2026

A new California law banning alternative business structure fee sharing with out-of-state law firms owned by nonattorneys has been allowed to go into effect after a Los Angeles federal court rejected an attorney's bid to temporarily block its enforcement ahead of the new year.

Expert Analysis

How OECD Tax Update Tackles Mobile Workforce Complexity

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s recently updated model tax convention — a recalibration of international tax principles in response to an increasingly mobile workforce — should prompt companies to reevaluate cross-border operations, transfer pricing policies and tax controversy strategies, say attorneys at Eversheds.
Reviewing 2025's Most Pertinent Wiretap Developments

2025 was a remarkable year in the world of web tracking wiretapping litigation, not only for the increased caseload but also because of numerous developing theories of liability, with disputes expected to continue unabated in 2026, say attorneys at Squire Patton.
2025 Legal Milestones That Will Shape Psychedelics Sector

As 2025 draws to a close, psychedelic drug development stands at an inflection point, experiencing unprecedented momentum through recent sweeping regulatory changes and landmark clinical milestones, amid rapidly evolving regulatory expectations, say Odette Hauke at Odette Alina LLC and Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell.
M&A Midmarket Shows Resilience Amid 2025 Challenges

Midmarket mergers and acquisitions showed a slight decline in volume but climbed in value for much of 2025, particularly in the private equity space, indicating that the middle market M&A environment is cautious but steady heading into 2026, say attorneys at Stoel Rives.
Del. Dispatch: Key 2025 Corporate Cases And Trends To Know

The Delaware corporate legal landscape saw notable changes in 2025, spurred by amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law, ubiquitous artificial intelligence fervor, boardroom discussion around DExit, record shareholder activism activity and an arguably more expansive view of potential Caremark liability, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
Series

Nature Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Nature photography reminds me to focus on what is in front of me and to slow down to achieve success, and, in embracing the value of viewing situations through different lenses, offers skills transferable to the practice of law, says Brian Willett at Saul Ewing.
2025 Brought A New Paradigm For Federal Banking Regulation

A series of thematic shifts defined banking regulation in 2025, including a fundamental reform of prudential supervision, a strategic easing of capital constraints, steps to streamline merger reviews, and a new framework for fair access and entrants seeking to offer banking services, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
What 2025 Transpo And Logistics Legal Trends Mean For 2026

2025 was challenging for the transportation and logistics sector, with emergent trends including dramatic federal policy shifts, developments in tort risk, and a host of mergers and acquisitions — but a review of these themes offers a useful playbook for where the industry is headed in 2026, says Jonathan Todd at Benesch.
How Cos. Can Roll With NY's New Algorithmic Pricing Rules

Despite uncertainty from New York’s new ban on artificial intelligence and computer algorithms for setting rents, and efforts to further restrict individualizing prices based on consumers' personal data, property managers, software providers and merchants can take several steps to stay compliant, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.
2025 State AI Laws Expand Liability, Raise Insurance Risks

As 2025 nears its end, claims professionals should be aware of trends in state legislation addressing artificial intelligence use, as insurance claims based on some of these liability-expanding statutes are a certainty, say attorneys at Wiley.
Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Practical Problem Solving

Issue-spotting skills are well honed in law school, but practicing attorneys must also identify clients’ problems and true goals, and then be able to provide solutions, says Mary Kate Hogan at Quarles & Brady.
Crypto In 2025: From Federal Deregulation To State Action

The cryptocurrency enforcement landscape evolved in 2025, marked by federal deregulatory trends and active state attorney general enforcement, creating both opportunity and risk for businesses navigating the digital asset market, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.
How CFTC Enforcement Shifted In 2025 And What's Next

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission pivoted sharply under acting Chairman Caroline Pham in 2025, resulting in a pared-back enforcement docket, sweeping policy changes intended to provide greater transparency, and a renewed focus on fraud prevention and maintaining market integrity for the CFTC's core markets, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.
Learning From 2025 FCA Trends Targeting PE In Healthcare

False Claims Act enforcement trends and legislative developments from this year signal intensifying state and federal scrutiny of private equity's growing footprint in healthcare, and the urgency of compliance, says Lisa Re at Arnold & Porter.
Reviewing 2025's State And Federal AI Regulations

In light of increasing state and federal action to oversee the use of artificial intelligence, companies that develop or deploy the technology should keep abreast of current and forthcoming AI laws and consider their applicability to their business activities, says Jessica Brigman at Spencer Fane.