Trials

  • May 14, 2024

    Tort Report: Mass Tort Settlements Beset By Crooked Claims

    Fraud attempts during the settlement claims process for class actions and mass torts highlighted by a new report and an $82 million verdict in a drunk driving crash suit lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

  • May 14, 2024

    Pool Co. Pleads For Reprieve From Asset Freeze To Pay Attys

    A Chinese manufacturer of swimming pool products and its American subsidiary are seeking a temporary respite from a court-ordered asset freeze intended to ensure they pay a multimillion-dollar verdict, saying they need to pay legal fees and other trial costs in the interim.

  • May 14, 2024

    Ga. Justices Wary Of Gov't Listening To Atty-Client Calls

    The Georgia Supreme Court seemed inclined during oral arguments Tuesday to find that a man convicted of assault had his Sixth Amendment rights violated because a detective and a prosecutor listened to his jailhouse phone calls with his attorney.

  • May 14, 2024

    Coverage Recap: Day 13 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

    Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Tuesday, day 13 of the trial.

  • May 14, 2024

    Feds Say Bannon Must Start Prison Term After Losing Appeal

    Prosecutors asked a District of Columbia federal judge Tuesday to order Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon to begin his four-month prison sentence for defying a congressional subpoena, now that the D.C. Circuit has rejected his appeal.

  • May 14, 2024

    What's Behind 'Nuclear' Verdicts? Skeptical Juries, Attys Say

    Jurors becoming more skeptical of corporations are handing down sky-high verdicts, and trial attorneys say it's forcing a shift in the strategies they employ as they aim to score — or prevent — so-called nuclear verdicts.

  • May 13, 2024

    Irked Autonomy Judge Vents On HP Fraud Trial's Slow Pace

    U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Monday blasted lawyers for the government and two former Autonomy Corp. PLC executives in a criminal fraud case over the trial's slow progress, saying he's "annoyed," but also "complicit" because he "did not take more of a controlling posture."

  • May 13, 2024

    Jackson, Sotomayor Would Have Taken Up Jury Pool Dispute

    U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented Monday from the other justices' refusal to review a case in which a defendant and his counsel were excluded from attending initial juror qualification in his capital murder case, calling the circumstances "significant and certworthy."

  • May 13, 2024

    NJ Fraudster Gets More Prison Time, Owes $6M For Tax Evasion

    A New Jersey man who was convicted of dodging taxes on more than $16 million he stole from securities fraud victims was handed a six-year prison sentence — most of which will be served simultaneously with his fraud sentence — and ordered to pay over $6 million in restitution during a Garden State federal court hearing Monday in which he denied the crimes. 

  • May 13, 2024

    Wall Fraud Conviction Affirmed Despite Juror-Prosecutor Tie

    The Second Circuit on Monday affirmed the conviction of a Colorado man found to have siphoned online donations meant to fund a Southern border wall, saying the fact that a federal prosecutor had mentored a juror's daughter didn't warrant vacating the conviction.

  • May 13, 2024

    Feds Urge 9th Circ. To Allow Ex-MLBer's Reneged Plea At Trial

    An assistant U.S. attorney told a Ninth Circuit panel Monday that a jury should hear about a plea agreement former Los Angeles Dodgers star Yasiel Puig signed where he admitted lying to federal investigators about an illegal gambling operation even though he pulled out of the agreement.

  • May 13, 2024

    Dunn Says Calif. Bar Shouldn't Have Brought Ethics Charges

    Ousted California State Bar executive Joseph Dunn has moved to dismiss his ethics case over alleged lies regarding expenditures for a trip to Mongolia, arguing the charges should have never been brought as a prior investigation regarding the expenditures closed in 2014 and found no grounds to take disciplinary actions against him.

  • May 13, 2024

    NC Agency Atty Guilty Of Permitting 'Coercive' Custody Deals

    The former attorney for a North Carolina county's social services department was convicted of obstruction of justice in connection with the agency forcing parents to sign "coercive" child custody agreements that put children into abusive homes and violated constitutional rights, Attorney General Josh Stein announced Monday.

  • May 13, 2024

    Judge Invokes Barney As Shower Co. Seems Stuck On Purple

    A shower building material maker that suffered a $5.5 million trademark loss over its use of the color purple and eventually settled the suit is likely violating that settlement, an Illinois federal judge said Monday, though he held off formally ruling so the parties could work out the issue. 

  • May 13, 2024

    IBM Won't Get Jury Trial In $1.5B Chip Contract Fight

    IBM can't present its claims that a microchip maker swindled it into entering into semiconductor contracts and never followed through to a jury, after a New York state court ruled that those contractual agreements contain enforceable waivers of jury trial rights.

  • May 13, 2024

    Diaz Reus Attys Dodge Sanctions Over Last-Minute Dismissal Bid

    Citing a lack of good cause for sanctions, a south Florida federal judge determined Monday that shareholders in a Venezuela-linked bank cannot penalize Miami-based Diaz Reus & Targ LLP lawyers over allegations they delayed an expected October 2023 trial in a suit alleging the bank's directors breached their fiduciary duty.

  • May 13, 2024

    Ex-Banker Tied To Murdaugh Says Juror Issue Merits Retrial

    A former banker who was convicted of helping ex-attorney and convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh steal clients' money has urged the Fourth Circuit to give him a new trial, arguing two jurors were unconstitutionally removed.

  • May 13, 2024

    Uber, Lyft Put Driver Work Fight In Reverse As Trial Begins

    A high-stakes battle over the employment status of drivers for Uber and Lyft kicked off in Massachusetts on Monday, as the companies sought to flip the government allegations by arguing that the ride-hailing giants work for their drivers, not the other way around.

  • May 13, 2024

    'Gamesmanship' Lecture Launches Menendez Bribery Trial

    The corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez started Monday with a stern admonition from U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein after the government and defense lawyers squabbled over pretrial disclosures, and a message that the jury may be in for a long haul. 

  • May 13, 2024

    Semisubmersible Co. CEO Convicted Of Fraud, Fleeing Law

    The CEO of a semisubmersible manufacturer has been convicted by a Hawaii federal jury of financial fraud, witness tampering and attempting to escape law enforcement in one of his company's ocean vessels.

  • May 13, 2024

    Cohen Says Trump Knew Hush Money Records Were False

    Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen took the witness stand Monday in the ex-president's New York criminal case, testifying that his longtime "boss" directed him to make hush money payments to alleged paramours and that Trump later agreed to the "legal services" label for a six-figure reimbursement despite seeing paperwork that showed otherwise.

  • May 13, 2024

    Archegos Boss Blew $36B, But It Was His To Lose, Jury Told

    The founder of fallen hedge fund Archegos argued to a Manhattan federal jury Monday that charges of distorting markets and lying fall short because he believed in his $36 billion investment strategy but was upended by COVID-19 financial fallout.

  • May 13, 2024

    Coverage Recap: Day 12 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

    Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Monday, day 12 of the trial.

  • May 10, 2024

    Epic Judge Raises Eyebrows About Apple's New 27% App Fee

    The California federal judge overseeing Epic's antitrust case against Apple challenged the terms the tech giant is using to comply with her order to allow app developers to send users to outside payment platforms, saying Friday that Apple appears to be trying to maintain its past revenue with a new 27% fee.

  • May 10, 2024

    Wash. Judge Doubles Hospital System's Penalty In Wage Case

    A Washington state judge has ordered a healthcare system to pay nearly $230 million to 33,000 workers, doubling the damages a jury awarded to the employees in April based on the company's "willful" violations of wage law.  

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform

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    The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Shows Need For Proffer Terms Negotiation

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    The Fifth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Shah decision, holding that a defendant breached his proffer agreement, illustrates why defense attorneys should insist on negotiating the terms of such agreements with prosecutors to protect their clients at trial, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • How And Why Your Firm Should Implement Fixed-Fee Billing

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    Amid rising burnout in the legal industry and client efforts to curtail spending, pivoting to a fixed-fee billing model may improve client-attorney relationships and offer lawyers financial, logistical and stress relief — while still maintaining profit margins, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Independence Needs Defense Amid Political Threats

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    Amid recent and historic challenges to the judiciary from political forces, safeguarding judicial independence and maintaining the integrity of the legal system is increasingly urgent, says Robert Peck at the Center for Constitutional Litigation.

  • How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies

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    Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.

  • Strategic Succession Planning At Law Firms Is Crucial

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    Senior partners' reluctance to retire, the rise of the nonequity partner tier and generational differences in expectations are all contributing to an increasing number of departures from BigLaw, making it imperative for firms to encourage retirement among senior ranks and provide clearer leadership pathways to junior attorneys, says Laura Leopard at Leopard Solutions.

  • 2nd Circ. OT Ruling Guides On Pay For Off-The-Clock Work

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    While the Second Circuit’s recent holding in Perry v. City of New York reiterated that the Fair Labor Standards Act obligates employers to pay overtime for off-the-clock work, it recognized circumstances, such as an employee’s failure to report, that allow an employer to disclaim the knowledge element that triggers this obligation, say Robert Whitman and Kyle Winnick at Seyfarth.

  • How Zero-Point Offender Change Should Work Retroactively

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    After the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted to make its new zero-point offender amendment retroactive, counsel should understand several key issues for further advocacy, including arguments for a time-served sentence, to prevent unwarranted sentencing disparities, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • How Zero-Point Offender Change Will Work Prospectively

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    The U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent amendment, making defendants with zero criminal history points eligible for reduced sentences, is an important step toward decarceration, and counsel should understand how to effectively advocate for its application going forward, say attorneys at the Law Offices of Alan Ellis.

  • Maximizing Law Firm Profitability In Uncertain Times

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    As threats of an economic downturn loom, firms can boost profits by embracing the power of bottom-line management and creating an ecosystem where strategic financial oversight and robust timekeeping practices meet evolved client relations, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Reminds Attys That CBP Can Search Devices

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    The Fifth Circuit’s recent Malik v. Department of Homeland Security decision adds to the chorus of federal courts holding that border agents don’t need a warrant to search travelers’ electronic devices, so attorneys should consider certain special precautions to secure privileged information when reentering the U.S., says Jennifer Freel at Jackson Walker.

  • The Likable Witness: 6 Personality Archetypes To Cultivate

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    During pretrial witness preparation sessions, a few key methods can help identify the likable personality type a witness intuitively expresses, which can then be amplified at trial to create an emotional connection with jurors, says Gillian Drake at On Trial Associates.

  • Avoiding The Ethical Pitfalls Of Crowdfunded Legal Fees

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    The crowdfunding of legal fees has become increasingly common, providing a new way for people to afford legal services, but attorneys who accept crowdsourced funds must remember several key ethical obligations to mitigate their risks, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • The Likable Witness: Key Traits And Psychological Concepts

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    Though witnesses must appear credible to juries, they should also be likable in order to make an emotional connection, and certain gestural, behavioral and psychological aspects of their testimony can be modified to improve their perceived likability, says Gillian Drake at On Trial Associates.

  • How Juror Questions Are Changing Civil Trials In Texas

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    Jurors in Texas are becoming increasingly involved during civil trials by submitting written questions for the judge or attorneys to ask witnesses — and given this new reality, attorneys must understand best practices for avoiding potential pitfalls at trial and beyond, say Daniella Main and Mia Falzarano at Alston & Bird.

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