Public Policy

  • January 28, 2026

    Mass. Disbars Pot Shop Lawyer Convicted In Bribery Scheme

    A Massachusetts attorney convicted of attempting to bribe a Boston-area police chief to endorse his client's pot shop license has been disbarred, according to a notice released by the state's bar this week.

  • January 28, 2026

    3rd Circ. Appears Skeptical Of Quest's Early Win In 401(k) Suit

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday pressed attorneys defending Quest Diagnostics Inc.'s pretrial defeat of a proposed class action from workers who alleged that their 401(k) savings were drained by underperforming investment funds, spotlighting the parties' disagreement over whether the lab company followed its own investment policy statement.

  • January 28, 2026

    Mich. Clears Way For High School Athletes To Earn NIL Money

    High school athletes in Michigan will now be allowed to profit off their name, image and likeness after state authorities unveiled a policy change to expand and emphasize "personal branding activities" for students.

  • January 27, 2026

    Judiciary Panel Gets Earful On Legal Financing, Subpoenas

    Plans to overhaul federal rules involving recusal and subpoenas fueled spirited debate Tuesday before a judiciary panel, as prominent lawyers outlined forceful views on transparency in third-party litigation funding as well as relaxed policies for serving court documents and obtaining trial testimony.

  • January 27, 2026

    Sen. Bennet Seeks To Limit ICE Powers

    U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., announced on Tuesday that he's working on a bill to impose more guardrails on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after two individuals were fatally shot by immigration enforcement agents over the last month in Minneapolis.

  • January 27, 2026

    NTSB Torches FAA In DCA Midair Collision Probe

    The Federal Aviation Administration for years ignored repeated warnings of close calls and mismanaged high-volume helicopter and commercial jet traffic at one of Washington, D.C.'s busiest airports, as the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday flagged "systemic failures" that led to January 2025's midair collision.

  • January 27, 2026

    Language Access Bill Targets Trump's English-Only Order

    Four members of Congress have introduced a bill that would protect language access at federal agencies for millions of people in the United States with limited English, saying an executive order by President Donald Trump declaring English as the official U.S. language wrongly minimizes multilingual services.

  • January 27, 2026

    Rwanda Sues UK Over Payments In Failed Migrant Deal

    The Republic of Rwanda has launched international arbitration proceedings against the United Kingdom as the African nation tries to secure payment for a scrapped migrant agreement, alleging the U.K. refused to disburse remaining payments to it when the controversial deal got called off.

  • January 27, 2026

    EPA Says Enviro Groups Lack Standing To Fight Review Rule

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the environmental groups challenging the agency's "project accounting" method for triggering air pollution review at industrial facilities lack the standing to pursue their fight, claiming that the challengers identified no harm at all from the agency's denial of their reconsideration bid.

  • January 27, 2026

    Work Shutdown In Sight For $16B NY-NJ Rail Tunnel Project

    Officials leading construction of the $16 billion Gateway Tunnel project connecting New York and New Jersey said Tuesday that they are preparing to shut down construction next week unless the Trump administration restores funding.

  • January 27, 2026

    Jersey Shore Motels Fight Prom Season Rental Limits

    Jersey Shore motel owners told a Garden State appellate panel on Tuesday that it should apply strict scrutiny to their argument that a municipal ordinance prohibiting anyone under the age of 21 from booking a motel room during prom season is unconstitutional.

  • January 27, 2026

    6th Circ. Says Ky. Social Media Law Needs Closer Look

    The Sixth Circuit on Monday determined that a trial court should not have blocked a Kentucky law requiring sex offenders to use their legal names on social media, ruling a lawsuit alleging the law amounts to a violation of freedom of speech needs a more "demanding, comprehensive" review.

  • January 27, 2026

    Squires Cements Deshpande's Role As Top PTAB Judge

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires has named Kalyan Deshpande to serve as the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's chief judge.

  • January 27, 2026

    Texas AG Says Nurse Practitioner Is Shipping Abortion Drugs

    The Texas attorney general told a state court that a Delaware-based nurse practitioner and the organization she operates have shipped abortion pills to Texas, saying Tuesday that the defendants have publicly acknowledged that they send abortion pills to the Lone Star State.

  • January 27, 2026

    7th Circ. Probes Firm's Oral Agreement To Fees From Fund

    Two Seventh Circuit judges on Tuesday pressed a Ballard Spahr LLP attorney to address why his firm didn't secure in writing that an investment fund would foot the legal bills of one of its officers, as the law firm is arguing to the appellate court that it has a valid claim to legal fees in the fund's bankruptcy proceedings based on an oral agreement.

  • January 27, 2026

    Consumers Energy Seeks $42M For DOE Order Compliance

    Michigan utility Consumers Energy Co. has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to let it recoup nearly $42 million in costs to comply with a controversial U.S. Department of Energy emergency order to keep a coal-fired power plant running.

  • January 27, 2026

    Colo. Labor Official Defends Public Union Law Constitutionality

    A Colorado labor official and Gov. Jared Polis urged a federal judge Monday to toss a county's lawsuit challenging a state law expanding organizing rights for county employees, saying the law does not infringe on the First Amendment or on the federal regulation of private sector labor rights.

  • January 27, 2026

    CBP's Medical Care Oversight Needs Improvement, GAO Says

    A report issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection sometimes failed to provide proper medical oversight for certain people in its custody, violating its own policies and guidance for medical care.

  • January 27, 2026

    Judge Taps Ex-CIA, Corrections Pro To Clean Up NYC's Rikers

     A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday named a former Vermont corrections commissioner and ex-CIA officer to take the reins of New York City's troubled Rikers Island jail system as a "remediation manager," after yearslong efforts to clamp down on incidents of excessive force against the jail population.

  • January 27, 2026

    Texas Gov. Freezes New H-1B Hiring By Agencies, Colleges

    Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed certain state agencies and public colleges Tuesday to stop sponsoring new nonimmigrant workers under the federal H-1B visa program until mid-2027, unless they have explicit permission from the state's employment agency.

  • January 27, 2026

    Wis. Homeowners Challenge Tribal Tax Ruling At 7th Circ.

    A group of Wisconsin homeowners is asking the Seventh Circuit to revive its claims that local political jurisdictions of the Menominee Indian Tribe joined forces to increase the homeowners' tax burden, arguing a lower court was wrong to dismiss the case.

  • January 27, 2026

    White House Pushed To Back PTAB Rule Change Proposal

    Two groups representing inventors and startups have thrown their support behind the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposal to limit America Invents Act patent reviews, saying it will give patent owners certainty and also protect against foreign challenges to domestic patents.

  • January 27, 2026

    Investors Say Teva Can't Get Early Win In Price-Fixing Suit

    Investors guided by Highfields Capital told a Connecticut federal court that Teva Pharmaceuticals can't escape their claims that its alleged collusion with other drugmakers to artificially inflate the price of generic drugs also inflated stock prices, reasoning that Teva executives falsely attributed the company's performance to factors other than the alleged price-fixing.

  • January 27, 2026

    Adhesive Cos. Push Back On FTC Merger Concerns

    The makers of Loctite and Liquid Nails told a New York federal court that the Federal Trade Commission will be unable to show their planned $725 million merger will hurt competition for construction adhesives.

  • January 27, 2026

    Trump Admin's 'Irrational' Block On Wind Project Lifted

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday lifted a Trump administration freeze on the nearly complete Vineyard Wind offshore energy project, saying the government had likely flouted federal law by failing to explain a "disconnect" between its stated concerns about national security and its willingness to allow completed turbines to continue operating.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Nature Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.

  • Software Patents May Face New Eligibility Scrutiny

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    November guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, along with recent litigation trends from the Federal Circuit, may encourage new challenges in the USPTO and district courts to artificial intelligence and software patents that rely on generic computing functions without concrete details, say attorneys at Venable.

  • What Trump Order Limiting State AI Regs Means For Insurers

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    Last week's executive order seeking to preclude states from regulating artificial intelligence will likely have minimal impact on insurers, but the order and related congressional activities may portend a federal expectation of consistent state oversight of insurers' AI use, says Kathleen Birrane at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    A Uniform Federal Rule Would Curb Gen AI Missteps In Court

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    To address the patchwork of courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence, curbing abuses and relieving the burden on judges, the federal judiciary should consider amending its civil procedure rules to require litigants to certify they’ve reviewed legal filings for accuracy, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.

  • Investment Advisers Should Stay Apprised Of New AI Risks

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently issued annual examination priorities reiterate a host of regulatory implications for investment advisers using artificial intelligence tools, highlighting that meaningful ongoing due diligence can help mitigate both operational and regulatory surprises amid AI's rapid evolution, says Christopher Mills at Sidley.

  • New Rule Shows NRC Willing To Move Fast To Reform Regs

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    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to forgo public comment and immediately rescind certain rules governing adjudicatory procedures, federal tort claims and disclosure of licensee information signals the agency's intent to accelerate the regulatory streamlining efforts ordered by the president this spring, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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