Public Policy

  • July 08, 2026

    NC Treasurer Can Now Tap Private Attys To Rep Pension Plans

    A bill that crossed the North Carolina governor's desk Tuesday will let the state treasurer hire private outside counsel to represent the state's retirement systems instead of relying on attorneys in the state Department of Justice.

  • July 08, 2026

    K&L Gates Adds Ex-CFTC Chief Counsel From Willkie Farr

    K&L Gates LLP has brought on a Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP attorney who is a former chief counsel to ex-Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson, the firm said Wednesday.

  • July 08, 2026

    California Judge Says Tribe Can't Stop Wild Horse Roundup

    A California judge said the U.S. Department of the Interior can remove hundreds of horses from a 200,000-acre protected habitat after determining that an Indigenous nation's efforts to block the endeavor fail because evidence proves the tribe didn't respond to the federal agency's repeated attempts to consult with it.

  • July 08, 2026

    Boston Jumps Into Social Media Addiction MDL

    The city of Boston said Wednesday it has joined the sweeping multidistrict social-media-addiction litigation against Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat.

  • July 08, 2026

    NC Will Tax Prediction Markets, Nix Break For Data Centers

    North Carolina will become the latest state to tax prediction markets, in addition to increasing taxes on sports betting and rolling back a tax break for data centers, under a budget signed by its governor.

  • July 08, 2026

    EU Duty On Indonesian Fatty Acids Too High, WTO Says

    The European Union's anti-dumping margin on fatty acids imported from Indonesia exceeds the margin that should have been set under World Trade Organization standards, a WTO panel said Wednesday while rejecting other concerns raised by Indonesia.

  • July 08, 2026

    Vax Skeptics Push To Advance Publisher Boycott Claims

    A vaccine skepticism advocacy group once tied to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a D.C. federal court it's considering a mandamus petition to move forward its lawsuit claiming news organizations colluded with social media platforms to censor rivals.

  • July 08, 2026

    IRS Targets Certain Annuity Trusts As Potential Tax Shelters

    The IRS unveiled final rules Wednesday designating certain charitable remainder annuity trusts as reportable transactions because they involve abusive tax avoidance practices, subjecting participants to potential penalties if they do not disclose such arrangements.

  • July 08, 2026

    Greenberg Traurig Hires Former Commerce Dept. Deputy

    Greenberg Traurig LLP has hired a former deputy undersecretary in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, who joined the firm as a senior director to work with several of its practices, the firm has announced.

  • July 08, 2026

    Ore. Court Denies Tax Break For Church Leader's Home

    An Oregon church leader's residence that is also used for storage of religious products and other activities does not qualify for a property tax exemption as a house of worship, the state tax court said, affirming the finding of a local assessor.

  • July 08, 2026

    4 Colorado Cases To Watch For The Rest Of 2026

    A federal judge's ruling on whether the Trump administration can move U.S. Space Command's headquarters from Colorado to Alabama and a jury's determination of liability for a private prison operator in a forced labor class action are among the Colorado court cases to watch in the coming months. Here, Law360 looks at four Colorado cases to watch for during the rest of 2026.

  • July 07, 2026

    DOJ's 2020 Fulton County Election Staff Subpoena Quashed

    A Georgia federal judge Tuesday quashed a U.S. Department of Justice grand jury subpoena for names and other information of those in Fulton County who worked during the 2020 general election, saying it was too late for the DOJ to possibly prosecute anyone for any related election crimes.

  • July 07, 2026

    Immigration Policy Marked By Uncertainty So Far In 2026

    Immigration policy in the first half of 2026 was confusing and unpredictable as attorneys navigated sudden and drastic policy shifts, including a requirement for green card hopefuls to apply from abroad and a freeze on immigration benefits for people from countries under a travel ban.

  • July 07, 2026

    Kalshi Says Federal Law Bars Wash. 'Gambling' Clampdown

    Prediction market KalshiEX LLC urged a Washington state judge on Monday to reject state officials' effort to halt the company's operations under Washington gambling laws, arguing that federal law preempts the regulatory effort and that Washington has failed to show that the platform has caused meaningful harm.

  • July 07, 2026

    Illinois Cases To Watch In 2026: Midyear Report

    Mead Johnson is set to go to trial this summer in the first case to make it to a jury in multidistrict litigation claiming baby formula caused a serious gut illness in premature infants, while the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago is facing a possible sanctions hearing over prosecutorial misconduct allegations in two Illinois cases on attorneys' radar for the rest of the year.

  • July 07, 2026

    Baltimore County Defends Bid For Bridge Economic Losses

    Baltimore County has told a Maryland federal judge that it's entitled to recover "concrete and calculable" economic damages and search-and-rescue expenses over the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster, rejecting efforts to slash damages owed by the owner and manager of the cargo ship that rammed into the bridge.

  • July 07, 2026

    US Illegally Sharing Asylum Seekers' Info With Iran, Suit Says

    The Trump administration is giving the Iranian government the confidential information of Iranians seeking asylum in the United States, ignoring risks to the asylum-seekers' safety, a legal advocacy group alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in D.C. federal court.

  • July 07, 2026

    Connecticut And New Haven Deny Interfering With ICE Agents

    Connecticut and the city of New Haven said a suit from the federal government challenging policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement should be tossed, arguing that the policies do not interfere with or prevent federal immigration officers from carrying out their duties.

  • July 07, 2026

    AT&T Asks FCC To Retire Copper Lines In 600 More Places

    There are more than 600 locations across the country where AT&T's copper phone lines have been disrupted — by theft, accident or natural disaster — and the company is hoping the Federal Communications Commission will give it the green light to leave them as they are.

  • July 07, 2026

    Trump Seeks High Court Rehearing In Carroll Case

    President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to let stand a jury's $5 million verdict finding he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room.

  • July 07, 2026

    FTC Warns 7 Retailers About Unqualified 'U.S. Origin' Claims

    The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that it has notified seven retail businesses that sell drums, industrial laser machinery and e-cigarettes that they may be making unqualified "Made in  the USA" or "Made in Texas" claims about their respective products, and have advised them to comply with the agency's labeling rules. 

  • July 07, 2026

    Sony Bank's Crypto Charter Bid Clears 1st OCC Hurdle

    Sony's online banking unit is a step closer to setting up a crypto-focused U.S. trust company with a preliminary conditional charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

  • July 07, 2026

    States Sue Again Over New Limits On Homeless Housing Aid

    A coalition of 21 states and the District of Columbia took the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development back to court on Tuesday over the Trump administration's renewed effort to restrict funding for programs that provide permanent housing and support services to homeless people.

  • July 07, 2026

    9th Circ. Appears Icy Toward Calif. Captive Meeting Law

    The Ninth Circuit seemed hesitant Tuesday to unblock a 2-year-old California law that prohibits employers from punishing workers for skipping what are commonly known as captive audience meetings in which companies convey views about political or religious topics, with two judges suggesting that the statute infringes on employers' free speech rights.  

  • July 07, 2026

    5th Circ. Says Gov't May Be Liable For Steward's Truck Hit

    A Fifth Circuit panel said Tuesday that the government may owe damages to a woman a Customs and Border Protection agent and union officer struck with his truck, reversing a ruling that he was on an errand outside the scope of his work.

Expert Analysis

  • How DOJ Is Approaching Monitorship After Signaling Limits

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    As the U.S. Department of Justice keeps more monitors in place than expected, a look at the matters in which prosecutors are maintaining oversight reveals the sort of companies enforcers might trust to self-remediate, and also those that may receive independent supervision, say attorneys at Kendall Brill.

  • Opinion

    DHS' World Cup Influencer Warning Overreads Visa Law

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    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s reported position that foreign influencers covering the 2026 World Cup need work visas if their content is monetized runs contrary to both legislative intent and long-standing precedent that structure the visa inquiry around labor market substitution, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

  • 3 Steps For Banks As Section 1071 Rule Finally Becomes Final

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    Some community banks and other lenders will get some breathing room in the final Section 1071 rule exempting them from small business lending reporting duties, but other reporting institutions should update applications, systems and staff training ahead of the 2028 compliance date, says Memrie Fortenberry at Jones Walker.

  • Why DOE Isn't Phasing Out Appliance Efficiency Regs

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    While the U.S. Department of Energy recently acted on President Donald Trump's 2025 executive order requiring it to consider sunsetting many energy regulations, the DOE has not proposed phasing out efficiency standards for appliances and industrial equipment — but it could pursue other approaches to ease such requirements, say attorneys at HWG.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

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    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: June Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses five recent rulings from cases involving allegations of internet data misuse, consumer fraud claims, immigration, insurance and First Amendment violation claims.

  • Justices' FCC Fine Ruling May Weaken Agency Leverage

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T upheld the commission's forfeiture framework as consistent with Jarkesy, but it is also likely to reduce the effectiveness of the commission’s forfeiture proceedings as a collection and deterrence tool, say attorneys at Venable.

  • Takeaways From 1st Del. Ruling Applying Moelis Amendments

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    Delaware corporations should carefully review contractual arrangements and governance documents following the Court of Chancery's recent enforcement of a non-Delaware forum selection clause in a CEO's employment agreement under 2024 amendments to the state's General Corporation Law, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

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    An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

  • Google Antitrust Case Puts Spotlight On De Facto Exclusivity

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    Mozilla's recent amicus filing in U.S. v. Google arguing that its agreement to make Google the default search engine did not amount to de facto exclusivity highlights the growing debate over traditional indicators of exclusivity, with implications for any business that uses rebates, preferred contracts or volume incentives, says Chris Gowen at WilmU Farnan School of Law.

  • Justices' Montgomery Ruling Doesn't Expand Shipper Liability

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    Whether negligent hiring liability claims against shippers will increase after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II is anyone's guess, but the ruling itself will have no impact on shippers' actual liability in personal injury claims relating to trucking accidents, says Ronald Leibman at McCarter & English.

  • GHG Rescission Undermines State Climate Suit Preemption

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    As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the fate of state climate litigation in Suncor Energy Inc. v. Boulder County, it must confront the fact that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rescission of its greenhouse gas endangerment finding has also removed the foundation for federal preemption of state climate suits, says attorney Gregg Goldfarb.

  • Constructing AI Compliance Plans As State Laws Diverge

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    With Colorado, Connecticut and the federal government recently announcing wildly different approaches to artificial intelligence regulation, creating a workable compliance program means addressing overlapping obligations using shared systems rather than separate silos, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • How McDonnell Still Shapes Bribery Defense Strategy

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    The pending federal bribery allegations against Washington, D.C., Council member Trayon White Sr. highlight for defense counsel the importance of overcoming the “official act” requirement established by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in McDonnell v. U.S., and juries' critical role in distinguishing between official and unofficial acts, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Assessing Issues The CFTC's Sports Betting Rules May Face

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently proposed a rule to consolidate its control of sports bets made on prediction market trading platforms, but problems may arise from possible conflicts between the proposed changes and state laws — and maybe even the Commodity Exchange Act itself, says David Slovick at Kopecky Schumacher.

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