Public Policy

  • January 05, 2026

    Bank Fights Sanctions Bid In Jail Debit Card Fee Suit

    Central Bank of Kansas City said it should not face sanctions for failing to produce certain documents in a suit brought by a group of formerly incarcerated people accusing it of charging excessive fees on prepaid debit cards, arguing the suit should take direct action against the bank's contractors instead.

  • January 05, 2026

    EU Sets Default Emission Levels For Carbon Border Tax

    The European Union released default levels of greenhouse gas emissions that importers must use to calculate liabilities for the newly enforced carbon border adjustment mechanism when they lack reliable information on the emissions associated with producing covered products.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • AG Watch: Texas Junk Fee Deal Shows Enforcement Priorities

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    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's recent $9.5 million settlement with online travel agency website Booking Holdings for so-called junk fee practices follows a larger trend of state attorneys general who have taken similar action and demonstrates the significant penalties that can follow such allegations, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • 10th Circ. Dissent May Light Path For Master Account Access

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    While the Tenth Circuit's majority in Custodia Bank v. Federal Reserve Board recently affirmed Federal Reserve banks' control over master account access, the dissent raised constitutional questions that could support banks seeking master accounts in future litigation, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

  • Calif. AG's No-Poach Case Reflects Tougher Antitrust Stance

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    This month, California’s attorney general resolved the latest enforcement action barring the use of no-poach agreements, underscoring an aggressive antitrust enforcement trend with significant increases in criminal and civil penalties, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • A Look At The Wave Of 2025 Email Marketing Suits In Wash.

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    Since the Washington Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Old Navy in April, more than 30 lawsuits have alleged that a broad range of retailers across industries sent emails that violate the Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act, but retailers are unlikely to find clear answers yet, says Gonzalo Mon at Kelley Drye.

  • 3 Defense Strategies For Sporadically Prosecuted Conduct

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    Not to be confused with selective prosecutions, sporadic prosecutions — charging someone for conduct many others do without consequences — can be challenging to defend, but focusing on materiality, prosecutorial motivations and public opinion can be a winning strategy, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • 2025 Noncompete Developments That Led To Inflection Point

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    Employers must reshape their approaches to noncompete agreements following key 2025 developments, including Delaware's rejection of blue-penciling and the proliferation of state wage thresholds, say attorneys at Gunderson Dettmer.

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