Public Policy

  • October 20, 2025

    Give Small Jails More Time On FCC Rate Caps, Rep. Says

    A U.S. lawmaker representing a swath of rural Virginia said the Federal Communications Commission needs to give small jails more time to comply with rate caps on inmate phone calls.

  • October 20, 2025

    3rd Circ. Suspects Process 'Circumvention' In US Atty Role

    The Third Circuit on Monday seemed inclined to back a district court's finding that the U.S. Department of Justice's designation of President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor violated federal law, with one jurist suggesting the appointment raised "serious constitutional implications."

  • October 20, 2025

    Pa. AG To Continue Grid Fight After PUC Bows Out

    Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday sought to continue the appeal of a Third Circuit decision invalidating the state Public Utilities Commission's denial of a permit for a transmission project after the agency's chairman said he feared the appeal's outcome could weaken state authority.

  • October 20, 2025

    Trade Court OKs Gov't Nixing Duties On Chinese Tile

    The U.S. Department of Commerce correctly found composite tile from China outside the scope of duties ordered on imported ceramic tile after twice failing to support its determination with sufficient evidence, according to an opinion issued by the U.S. Court of International Trade on Monday.

  • October 20, 2025

    Seminary Settles Sex Bias Suit With Ex-Ministry Director

    A Pittsburgh Presbyterian seminary has agreed to settle a former interim director's suit claiming she was fired out of gender bias and for raising complaints that the seminary pushed a racially discriminatory background check policy, according to federal court filings.

  • October 20, 2025

    Red States Back Alaska In High Court Fishing Regs Dispute

    Twenty Republican-led states and leaders of the Arizona Legislature are backing Alaska in its U.S. Supreme Court bid to undo a Ninth Circuit order that barred it from opening part of the Kuskokwim River to all fishers, telling the justices that there are detrimental consequences flowing from the appellate court's decision.

  • October 20, 2025

    NJ Panel Tosses Challenge To Jersey City Plaza Renovation

    A New Jersey appellate court rejected an appeal for a suit that challenged the renovation of a Jersey City plaza, ruling that the appeal is moot because the renovation project is finished and the plaintiffs don't want to get rid of the renovations.

  • October 20, 2025

    EEOC Says It Hasn't Issued Layoff Notices Amid Shutdown

    The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has not laid off workers during the government shutdown and will not do so per an order blocking the federal government from terminating employees during the lapse in funding, the agency told a California's federal court.

  • October 20, 2025

    Guam Fund Seeks OK To Appeal Loss Of Military Leave Suit

    A retirement fund for Guam government employees asked a Guam federal judge to let it appeal an order finding the fund and the U.S. territory liable for shortchanging pension contributions for employees who take paid leave while serving in the military.

  • October 20, 2025

    More Fed. Workers Added To TRO Blocking Shutdown Layoffs

    A California federal judge who blocked the Trump administration from laying off workers from two unions representing thousands of federal workers has expanded her temporary restraining order to include three more unions and also clarified that the order covered workers with union contracts that the administration is seeking to ditch.

  • October 20, 2025

    Justices Decline NY Schools' Bid To Block AG's Assault Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied certiorari to a New York school district in a suit brought by the state's attorney general alleging the district failed to investigate or respond to reports of rape and sexual assault, which had previously been revived by the Second Circuit.

  • October 20, 2025

    Top Court Won't Hear Chicago Hospital's Medicaid Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a decision by the full Seventh Circuit holding that a Chicago hospital can't sue the state of Illinois to force the managed care organizations it contracts with to make timely Medicaid payments, rejecting a petition that argued another case on the high court's docket "will likely decide the outcome" in this one.

  • October 20, 2025

    High Court To Hear Case Asking If Drug Users Can Have Guns

    The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Monday to address "a four-way circuit conflict" over whether it is legal to prevent users of drugs — including marijuana, which the majority of states have legalized in some fashion — from possessing firearms.

  • October 20, 2025

    Justices Reject Pollution Case In La.'s Black Communities

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review the Fifth Circuit's decision to revive a lawsuit accusing a Louisiana local government of steering hazardous industrial facilities into Black communities.

  • October 17, 2025

    'Small Tobacco' Cos. Challenge Va. Ban On Flavored Vapes

    Virginia vape companies are looking to stop the state from enforcing a ban on flavored e-cigarettes endorsed by "Big Tobacco," calling the law unconstitutional because it runs afoul of the supremacy clause by having state officials enforce federal tobacco law, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.

  • October 17, 2025

    DC Circ. Denies DOJ Bid For Shutdown Delay In CFPB Case

    The D.C. Circuit said Friday it will not delay briefing in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau layoffs case as the government shutdown drags on, rejecting a Trump administration request for a deadline extension tied to the lapse in federal funding.

  • October 17, 2025

    California AG Sues Plastic Bag Makers Over Recycling Claims

    California's attorney general on Friday sued three plastic bag manufacturers in state court for allegedly selling nonrecyclable plastic bags despite claiming to meet the Golden State's recyclability standards, but said four other producers agreed to stop sales in the state as part of a settlement resolving similar allegations.

  • October 17, 2025

    Trump Orders Truck Tariffs, Expands Auto Rebate Program

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to begin anticipated tariffs on heavy and medium trucks on Nov. 1, while expanding a program that domestic auto manufacturers are already utilizing for rebates to existing tariffs on auto vehicles.

  • October 17, 2025

    Texas Youth Join Big Tech In Challenging New App Store Law

    Advocacy group Students Engaged in Advancing Texas has joined tech industry giants in challenging the Lone Star State's new law requiring app store owners to verify users' ages and block minors from downloads and purchases without parental consent, arguing the measure illegally imposes restrictions on protected speech and information.

  • October 17, 2025

    Injury Law Roundup: Uber Wins Bellwether Sex Assault Trial

    In our inaugural Injury Law Roundup, juries in the Golden State were busy as Uber won a closely watched sexual assault trial and Johnson & Johnson got crushed with a near $1 billion verdict in a talc case, while Boies Schiller Flexner LLP admitted to an artificial intelligence gaffe in a sex-assault-related case. Here, we put Law360 readers on notice of what's been recently trending in personal injury and medical malpractice news.

  • October 17, 2025

    Trump Urges Top Court To Lift Ill. Guard Deployment Ban

    The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court Friday to pause a court order barring it from sending the National Guard to Chicago, asserting the judge had no business impeding the president's decision that troops are needed to protect federal immigration agents there.

  • October 17, 2025

    Chamber Urges 5th Circ. To Rehear Ex-Bank CEO's FDIC Case

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other libertarian advocacy groups urged the Fifth Circuit on Friday to reconsider a panel ruling shielding the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s in-house courts from a constitutional challenge, arguing the decision defies U.S. Supreme Court precedent and leaves bank officials "trapped in the bureaucratic machinery" of juryless agency prosecutions.

  • October 17, 2025

    11th Circ. Affirms Toss Of Alabama Jail Sexual Assault Suit

    A divided Eleventh Circuit on Friday upheld a lower court win by administrators of an Alabama jail who were sued by former inmates over alleged sexual abuse suffered at the hands of their jailers, finding the former inmates failed to show a link between the administrators and the alleged abuse.

  • October 17, 2025

    Colorado Landowners Win Class Cert. In Oil Well Cleanup Suit

    Colorado landowners accusing the oil and gas company HRM Resources LLC of transferring oil and gas well rights to a now-defunct smaller company in an attempt to avoid cleanup obligations won class certification in Colorado federal court Friday.

  • October 17, 2025

    Florida Court Backs County's Switch To At-Large Voting

    A Florida state appeals court greenlit a county's resident-approved referendum to discard single-district elections and to switch back to an at-large voting system, ruling that the language listed in the ballot measure properly followed state law. 

Expert Analysis

  • 2 Rulings Highlight IRS' Uncertain Civil Fraud Penalty Powers

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    Conflicting decisions from the U.S. Tax Court and the Northern District of Texas that hinge on whether the IRS can administratively assert civil fraud penalties since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in SEC v. Jarkesy provide both opportunities and potential pitfalls for taxpayers, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.

  • SEC Fine Signals Crackdown On Security-Based Swap Dealers

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent fine against MUFG Securities is unique because it involves a non-U.S. security-based swap dealer complying with U.S. laws based on the election of substituted compliance, but it should not be dismissed as a one-off case, says Kelly Rock, formerly at the SEC.

  • Junior Attys Must Beware Of 5 Common Legal Brief Mistakes

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Junior law firm associates must be careful to avoid five common pitfalls when drafting legal briefs — from including every possible argument to not developing a theme — to build the reputation of a sought-after litigator, says James Argionis at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Expect DOJ To Repeat 4 Themes From 2024's FCPA Trials

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    As two upcoming Foreign Corrupt Practice Act trials approach, defense counsel should anticipate the U.S. Department of Justice to revive several of the same themes prosecutors leaned on in trials last year to motivate jurors to convict, and build counternarratives to neutralize these arguments, says James Koukios at MoFo.

  • As Student Loan Outlook Dims, What Happens To The Banks?

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    While much of the news around the student loan crisis focuses on the direct impact on young Americans' decreasing credit scores, the fate of the banks themselves — and the effect on banking policy — has been largely left out of the narrative, says Madeline Thieschafer at Fredrikson & Byron.

  • How Trade Fraud Task Force Launch Furthers Policy Goals

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    A new cross-agency trade fraud task force is the latest in a series of Trump administration efforts to leverage agency relationships in pursuit of its trade policy goals, and its creation signals a further uptick in customs enforcement, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Keys To Extended Producer Responsibility Compliance

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    As states' extended producer responsibility laws come into effect, reshaping packaging obligations for businesses, regulated entities should ensure they register with a producer responsibility organization, understand state-specific deadlines and obligations, and review packaging to improve recyclability and reduce compliance costs, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • Digital Asset Report Opens Doors For Banks, But Risks Linger

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    A recent report from a White House working group discussing digital asset market structure signals how banks may elect to expand into digital asset custody, trading and related services in the years ahead, but the road remains layered with challenges, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: How And Why Training Must Evolve

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    Empowering paralegals through new models of education that emphasize digital fluency, interdisciplinary collaboration and human-centered lawyering could help solve workforce challenges and the justice gap — if firms, educators and policymakers get on board, say Kristine Custodio Suero and Kelli Radnothy.

  • 5 Real Estate Takeaways From Trump's Sweeping Tax Law

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    Changes to the Internal Revenue Code included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will have a range of effects on real estate sponsors, investors and real estate investment trusts — from more compliance flexibility around taxable REIT subsidiary limits to new considerations raised by a key retaliatory tax provision that was left out, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Evaluating The Current State Of Trump's Tariff Deals

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    As the Trump administration's ambitious tariff effort rolls into its ninth month, and many deals lack the details necessary to provide trade market certainty, attorneys at Adams & Reese examine where things stand.

  • Series

    Playing Softball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My time on the softball field has taught me lessons that also apply to success in legal work — on effective preparation, flexibility, communication and teamwork, says Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty.

  • 5 Years In, COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Landscape Is Shifting

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    As the government moves pandemic fraud enforcement from small-dollar individual prosecutions to high-value corporate cases, and billions of dollars remain unaccounted for, companies and defense attorneys must take steps now to prepare for the next five years of scrutiny, says attorney David Tarras.

  • How Securities Test Nuances Affect State-Level Enforcement

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    Awareness of how different states use their securities investigation and enforcement powers, particularly their use of the risk capital test over the federal Howey test, is critical to navigating the complicated patchwork of securities laws going forward, especially as states look to fill perceived federal enforcement gaps, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Mastering Time Management

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    Law students typically have weeks or months to prepare for any given deadline, but the unpredictability of practicing in the real world means that lawyers must become time-management pros, ready to adapt to scheduling conflicts and unexpected assignments at any given moment, says David Thomas at Honigman.

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