BofA Will Pay $72.5M In Deal Ending Epstein Ties Allegations

By Hailey Konnath

Bank of America agreed to pay $72.5 million to put to rest a proposed class action alleging the bank helped facilitate Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes, according to a motion for preliminary approval of the deal filed in New York federal court Friday.

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Split Fed Gives Morgan Stanley OK For European Arm Reorg

By Jon Hill

The Federal Reserve has narrowly granted its permission for Morgan Stanley to turn its European Union banking arm into a unit of its insured U.S. bank, a move that sharply divided the central bank's board amid concerns about straining the federal bank safety net.

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Credit Suisse Gets Bondholders' NJ RICO Claim Axed

By Katryna Perera

An investor lawsuit accusing Credit Suisse of concealing its financial strains leading up to its takeover by UBS AG was trimmed by a New York federal judge, who found the suit failed to support its New Jersey racketeering claim.

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NYC Sheds FDIC's Claim For Silicon Valley Bank Tax Refund

By Sanjay Talwani

A D.C. federal court said Friday it does not have the authority to order New York City to issue a tax refund sought by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in its capacity as receiver of the failed Silicon Valley Bank.

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Ex-Husch Blackwell CIO Joins Wells Fargo As AI Exec

By Matt Perez

Blake Rooney, who spent the past eight years as the chief information officer of Husch Blackwell LLP, announced through a LinkedIn post on Friday that he would be joining Wells Fargo & Co. as its artificial intelligence business executive for legal, public affairs and internal audit.

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Kansas City Fed Pressed For Kraken Account Approval Terms

By Aislinn Keely

The ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee asked the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City to share more information about its decision to grant crypto firm Kraken Financial access to Fed payment rails, including what limits it imposed on the new type of tailored master account.

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FCC Told It Can't Make Foreign Call Centers Speak English

By Nadia Dreid

The National Creditors Bar Association is not pleased with the Federal Communications Commission's plans to pass new rules that would require companies to make sure their foreign call center operators speak "American Standard English," saying the agency has no power over foreign employees.

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Bank Says Ex-Execs Fired For Conduct, Not Whistleblowing

By Sydney Price

Florida community bank First National Bank of Pasco told a federal judge that two former executives who claim they were fired for blowing the whistle on banking law violations were actually fairly terminated, and one of the plaintiffs did not even participate in the alleged whistleblowing.

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Brief

United Bank's $2M Deal In ESOP Suit Clears Final Hurdle

By Kellie Mejdrich

A Georgia federal court granted final approval Friday to United Bank Corp.'s $2 million class action settlement ending allegations that it unlawfully ousted ex-workers from an employee stock ownership plan and cut them out of proceeds from a $23.3 million dividend.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Apple hit back at a tech company's wireless charging patent claim, a flurry of businesses bring COVID-19 pandemic insurance claims as a key deadline draws closer and Ipulse Partners LLP file a claim against a luxury yacht company it represented in a trademark dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Polsinelli Hires Practice Head From McDermott In NY

By Andrea Keckley

Polsinelli PC has hired a longtime McDermott Will & Schulte LLP attorney to co-lead its special situations and alternative investment practice, saying the move "further advanc[es] the firm's strategic focus on private credit, distressed investing, and complex restructuring matters."

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When 'Qualified Transferees' Can Chill UCC Foreclosures

A recent New York state court decision in a closely watched real estate dispute in WWP Mezz LLC v. WWP Mezz Investment Co. is a reminder to lenders, and a warning to borrowers, of the Uniform Commercial Code foreclosure's immense power as a lender remedy, says Joshua Wurtzel at Schlam Stone.

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8 Tariff Refund Questions For Restructuring Professionals

For restructuring and turnaround professionals, seeking refunds following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act raises several questions about how to capture legitimate recoveries while protecting an enterprise from the consequences of its own history, says Jonny Frank and Laura Greenman at StoneTurn, and Andrew Popescu at Province.

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Series

Watching Hallmark Movies Makes Me A Better Lawyer

I realize you may be judging me for watching, and actually enjoying, Hallmark Channel movies, but the escapism and storylines actually demonstrate qualities and actions that lead to an efficient, productive and positive legal practice, says Karen Ross at Tucker Ellis.

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Firms Targeted By Trump Urge DC Circ. To Uphold EO Rulings

By Alison Knezevich

Four law firms targeted last year by President Donald Trump urged the D.C. Circuit on Friday to affirm lower court rulings that struck down executive orders restricting their ability to practice law, saying the directives blatantly violate the Constitution.

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Ex-Williams & Connolly Clerk Accused Of Posting Client Info

By Hailey Konnath

A former Williams & Connolly LLP clerk has been posting confidential firm information — including client information and work email exchanges — and he's threatening to "keep leaking" the materials, which he called "a fun read," according to a suit filed in District of Columbia Superior Court.

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BigLaw Races To Capture Expanding Fund Finance Market

By Kevin Penton

Debt financing work at the fund level has long been dominated on the lender side by attorneys from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, Haynes Boone and Mayer Brown LLP, but other firms are increasingly crafting formal practices and poaching fund finance stars from the more established players.

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NJ Federal Judge DQs Beasley Allen In J&J Talc MDL

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey federal judge has disqualified the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing hundreds of plaintiffs in sprawling multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, holding that the firm violated ethics rules by collaborating with former outside counsel for J&J, a ruling the law firm has vowed to appeal.

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Apollo, BlackRock Deny Asking Kirkland To Abandon Optimum

By Tracey Read

Apollo, Ares, BlackRock and other major financial companies have denied Optimum Communications' claims accusing them of "bullying" Kirkland & Ellis LLP into withdrawing as the telecommunications company's transaction counsel to get revenge for a collusion lawsuit filed in New York federal court.

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Atty Sanctioned For AI Hallucinations In Workers' Comp Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

A New Jersey appellate court on Friday ordered an attorney to pay $1,000 in sanctions for failing to rectify AI-hallucinated case citations pointed out to him in an appeal concerning reimbursement sought by a workers' compensation carrier.

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Brief

Amazon Swaps MoFo In, Perkins Coie Out In Cooker Suit

By Ben Adlin

Amazon.com LLP switched counsel Friday in a customer's product defect suit accusing the retail giant of selling a faulty pressure cooker that allegedly malfunctioned and caused her severe burns, substituting two Morrison Foerster LLP attorneys in place of an outgoing Perkins Coie LLP lawyer.

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Judiciary Nixes Amicus Disclosure Reform Over Potential Chill

By Emily Sawicki

The federal judiciary has been asked not to move forward with a plan to add to amicus brief disclosure requirements designed to curb "dark money" groups from bankrolling amicus briefs, after rules committee chairs pulled the recommendation over concerns of a possible chilling effect.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

A federal judge has stopped the Pentagon from dropping AI giant Anthropic from the government's supply chain, and Latham & Watkins ranked first in a survey of in-house legal leaders on which law firms are most helpful in developing business, followed by King & Spalding, Jones Day and Ropes & Gray.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The Lanier Law Firm, Kiesel Law LLP, Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP and Beasley Allen Law Firm lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California state jury in a bellwether trial found Meta and Google liable for harming the mental health of a woman who says she became addicted to their social media platforms as a child.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Mich. Judge Signals No Stay If Attys Exit Retaliation Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge said Friday she is not inclined to pause a long-running sexual harassment suit again if counsel for an attorney who is suing her ex-mentor and former firm are allowed to withdraw, telling the parties, "We've been here. We've done this," as she heard arguments over a motion to exit the case.

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Mayer Brown's $21M Fee Bid In RI Truck Tolls Suit Rebuffed

By Linda Chiem

A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday rebuffed Mayer Brown LLP's bid for $21 million in attorney fees for representing the commercial trucking industry's lead trade group in long-running litigation over the state's truck tolling program, saying the American Trucking Associations ultimately was not the "prevailing party."

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