Washington

  • December 05, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Unfreeze Trump Cuts To Student Mental Health

    The Ninth Circuit rejected the Trump administration's effort to undo a lower court's pause on federal funding reductions to K-12 mental health services, siding with a coalition of 16 states seeking to preserve programs established in the wake of high-profile school shootings.

  • December 05, 2025

    Justices Take Up Venue Dispute In Twitter Saudi Agent Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to consider an ex-Twitter employee's appeal of his conviction for secretly acting as an agent of the Saudi government, taking up what the petition called a deep circuit split over whether the government can bring charges for certain crimes virtually "anywhere."

  • December 05, 2025

    Energy Dept. Defends $7.5B Grant Cuts In Political Bias Case

    The U.S. Department of Energy has urged a federal judge in Washington not to block its termination of energy project grants worth more than $7.5 billion, arguing there is no merit to claims alleging the federal government unconstitutionally targeted funds for Democratic-leaning states.

  • December 05, 2025

    ERISA Recap: 4 Rulings Worth Paying Attention To From Nov.

    The Ninth Circuit striking down a class action win for transgender employee health plan participants who said their gender-affirming care denials were discriminatory is just one noteworthy Employee Retirement Income Security Act ruling from November. Here's a recap of that ruling and three others.

  • December 05, 2025

    High Court To Review Trump's Birthright Order

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to review the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, after lower courts unanimously found the order to contradict the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

  • December 05, 2025

    American Bridge Loses Seattle Convention Center Dispute

    A Washington federal judge has found American Bridge Co. "solely responsible" for months of delays in a Seattle convention center project, concluding that the firm botched a steel work subcontract from the start and broke its promises to the general contractor, a joint venture between Clark Construction Group and Lease Crutcher Lewis.

  • December 05, 2025

    CDC Panel Ends Recommendation Of Hepatitis B Shot At Birth

    A panel of federal vaccine advisers on Friday voted to lift a long-standing recommendation that all newborns be given vaccinations for hepatitis B.

  • December 04, 2025

    Crypto Investors Fight To Revive Ripple Suit At 9th Circ.

    A certified class of investors urged the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to revive allegations Ripple Labs violated securities laws through unregistered sales of digital-token XRP, arguing the lower court misapplied the Ninth Circuit's SEC v. Murphy precedent in granting Ripple summary judgment under a three-year statute of repose.

  • December 04, 2025

    Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

    Is the False Claims Act constitutional? Will Mark Zuckerberg be deposed in high-profile privacy litigation? Did a major drugmaker's shenanigans cost investors nearly $7 billion? That's a small sample of the intriguing legal questions we're exploring in this preview of December's top appellate action.

  • December 04, 2025

    Wash. Justices Reject Judge's Removal Over Staff Treatment

    Washington's highest court on Thursday unanimously declined to remove a Bremerton Municipal Court judge that the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct said mistreated court staff and attorneys, with a majority of the justices ruling instead to censure and suspend Judge Tracy S. Flood for 30 days.

  • December 04, 2025

    Starbucks Wants 2nd Shot To Nix Investors' 'Triple Shot' Suit

    Starbucks is asking a Seattle federal judge to reconsider a ruling last month that flushed all but four claims in a proposed securities class action against the coffee giant, aiming to dismiss entirely the shareholder suit accusing company executives of lying about a struggling "reinvention" campaign.

  • December 04, 2025

    Starbucks Hit With Another Suit Over Uniform Reimbursement

    Starbucks employees sued the coffee giant in California federal court Thursday accusing it of refusing to reimburse them for hundreds of dollars they spent to buy apparel that comply with the company's new uniform requirements and for using their personal mobile devices for work-related matters.

  • December 04, 2025

    9th Circ. Says Species' Competing Interests Impact ESA Cases

    The Ninth Circuit has ruled that when a court-ordered injunction would protect one animal or plant covered by the Endangered Species Act but harm another, the court must weigh their "competing" interests before taking action.

  • December 04, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Google Maps Antitrust Suit

    A Ninth Circuit panel gave short shrift Thursday to app-makers trying to revive a proposed antitrust class action accusing Google of locking out rival maps products, rejecting the appeal because Google doesn't actually bar "the use or display of non-Google maps content to a Google Map."

  • December 04, 2025

    CDC Vaccine Committee Punts Hepatitis B Vote Again

    Federal vaccine advisers on Thursday put off a vote on changing guidelines for a long-used hepatitis B vaccine for infants, delaying again a decision expected to have wide-ranging ramifications for national childhood vaccine policy in the U.S.

  • December 04, 2025

    9th Circ. To Decide Agents' Immunity In Fatal Ariz. Shooting

    An Arizona federal judge has agreed to let three U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents pause a lawsuit against them until the Ninth Circuit weighs in on whether they are immune from the suit claiming they wrongfully shot and killed a Tohono O'odham Nation man.

  • December 04, 2025

    Sunday Ticket Subscribers Claim NFL Added Late Arguments

    The National Football League improperly introduced new arguments into their defense of the decision to dismiss the $4.7 billion verdict in their favor in the Sunday Ticket antitrust trial last year, a group of subscribers told the Ninth Circuit.

  • December 04, 2025

    Pharma Cos. Denied Early Win In States' Price-Fixing Suit

    Twenty-six pharmaceutical companies failed to secure a quick win on overarching conspiracy claims in an antitrust case by the attorneys general of Connecticut and most other states, with a federal judge finding the "substantial bulk of evidence" points toward a broad industry scheme to fix 98 dermatology drug prices.

  • December 04, 2025

    9th Circ. Says ERISA Preempts UnitedHealth Claims Fight

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday backed a California federal court's decision to toss a medical collector's allegations of underpaid claims and state contract law violations by a UnitedHealth Group unit, agreeing that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act preempted the collector's suit.

  • December 04, 2025

    Oregon Labor Peace Law Unconstitutional, 9th Circ. Told

    Cannabis companies that brought a successful challenge to an Oregon state law requiring marijuana businesses to have labor peace agreements told the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday the law was unconstitutional and preempted.

  • December 04, 2025

    Former Live Nation Workers See 401(k) Fee Suit Tossed

    A California federal judge tossed a suit from two Live Nation ex-workers alleging excessive fees in their employee 401(k) plan, following the Ninth Circuit in August saying the workers hadn't specifically appealed the lower court's holding that the ticket sales company could enforce a class action waiver.

  • December 03, 2025

    OpenAI Can't Scrap Injunction In TM Suit Over 'IO' Name

    OpenAI can't undo an injunction won by IYO Inc. that temporarily blocked it from using the "IO" trademark in certain circumstances involving acquired competitor IO Products, after the Ninth Circuit concluded on Wednesday that the parties' marks only differ by one letter and sell similar AI-related products.

  • December 03, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Adidas Investors' Suit Over Ye Collab

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed an Oregon federal court's decision to toss investors' proposed class action accusing Adidas of failing to disclose the risks of relying on the rapper Ye for a multibillion-dollar fashion partnership, concluding a lower court properly tossed the dispute.

  • December 03, 2025

    Wash. Defends Law Limiting Immigrants Working In Jails

    Washington state urged a federal judge to deny King County's attempt to block a law that imposes citizenship and immigration status requirements for local government corrections officers, arguing that it passes legal muster and may soon change anyway.

  • December 03, 2025

    Hagens Berman Must Give Apple, Amazon Ethics Pros Docs

    Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP must give Apple and Amazon all the communications it shared with outside ethics experts as the firm fought allegations that it hid a consumer plaintiff's desire to exit an antitrust case, a Washington federal judge has ruled.

Expert Analysis

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • Justices Rethink Minimum Contacts For Foreign Entities

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    Two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Devas v. Antrix and Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, suggest that federal statutes may confer personal jurisdiction over foreign entities that have little to no contact with the U.S. — a significant departure from traditional due process principles, says Gary Shaw at Pillsbury.

  • Gauging The Risky Business Of Business Risk Disclosures

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    With the recent rise of securities fraud actions based on external events — like a data breach or environmental disaster — that drive down stock prices, risk disclosures have become more of a sword for the plaintiffs bar than a shield for public companies, now the subject of a growing circuit split, say attorneys at A&O Shearman.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • Birthright Opinions Reveal Views On Rule 23(b)(2) Relief

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    The justices' multiple opinions in the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 27 decision in the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. CASA, shed light on whether Rule 23(b)(2) could fill the void created by the court's decision to restrict nationwide injunctions, says Benjamin Johns at Shub Johns.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • Plan For Increased HSR Info Sharing With Wash. Antitrust Law

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    Washington's merger notification requirements, effective later this month, combined with the Federal Trade Commission's new Hart-Scott-Rodino Act rules, will result in greater information sharing among state and federal agencies, making it important for merging parties to consider their transaction's potential state antitrust implications early on, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • How High Court Ruling Can Aid Judgment Enforcement In US

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    In CC/Devas (Mauritius) v. Antrix, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that only two steps are required to keep a foreign sovereign in federal court, making it a little easier for investors to successfully bring foreign states and sovereign-owned and -controlled entities into U.S. courts, says Kristie Blase at Felicello Law.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • One Year On, Davidson Holds Lessons On 'Health Halo' Claims

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    A year after the Ninth Circuit's Davidson v. Sprout Foods decision — which raised the bar for so-called health halo claims — food and beverage companies can draw insights from its finding, subsequently expanded on by other courts, that plaintiffs must be specific when alleging fraud in healthfulness marketing, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

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