Appellate

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Won't Eye Claim Fed. Circ. Revived Waived Argument

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from a doctor who argued that the Federal Circuit wrongly upheld the rejection of his application for a patent on a COVID-19 treatment by reviving arguments that he claimed the patent office had waived.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Pass On Exxon Mobil $14M Clean Air Act Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an en banc Fifth Circuit opinion that upheld $14.25 million in air pollution fines against Exxon Mobil Corp.

  • June 30, 2025

    Supreme Court Won't Take On CWA Suit Over Wash. Port Regs

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into a dispute between a Washington state port and an environmental group over whether citizen suits seeking to enforce state permitting conditions that go beyond the Clean Water Act can proceed in federal court.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Allow Chinese Co. To Access Micron's Code Records

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Micron Technology Inc.'s efforts to block a Chinese semiconductor maker from accessing paper copies of sensitive source code during patent infringement litigation.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Pass On Free Speech Challenge To Ga. Strip Club Tax

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not review a decision by Georgia's highest court that said a state tax on strip clubs that's used to fund efforts to address child trafficking does not violate the First Amendment.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Won't Review Taxing Of Power Plant On Tribal Land

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a power company's claims that federal law protects a power plant it owns on tribal land in Arizona from property taxes.

  • June 30, 2025

    High Court Takes Up $1B Copyright Fight Over ISPs' Liability

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday granted a petition for certiorari from Cox Communications Inc. that asked the justices to review a Fourth Circuit's conclusion that telecom companies can be liable for copyright infringement for providing an internet connection that leads to music piracy online.

  • June 30, 2025

    High Court To Hear Fight Over Investment Fund Suits

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case that could limit the ability of private parties to assert contract violations against investment funds, with one activist investor accusing several closed-end funds of shutting it out of its voting rights.

  • June 30, 2025

    Justices Take On Enbridge Pipeline Remand Fight

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review a Sixth Circuit decision that found Enbridge Energy LP missed a statutory deadline to transfer to federal court a lawsuit from Michigan's attorney general seeking to shut down one of the company's pipelines.

  • June 27, 2025

    Paxton Names Morgan Lewis Partner Texas Solicitor General

    Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP partner William Peterson will serve as Texas' new solicitor general while the state's outgoing solicitor general, Aaron Nielson, will head to the University of Texas School of Law as a tenured professor, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday.

  • June 27, 2025

    Texas Justices OK Methodist Church's Suit Against SMU

    The Texas Supreme Court found the United Methodist Church has the right to sue Southern Methodist University over its attempted split, but in a Friday opinion drew short of saying the university filed false paperwork as part of the breakup.

  • June 27, 2025

    Logging Co. Cleared In $73M Trial Over Firefighter's Death

    A jury cleared R&T Logging of Oregon Inc. of liability Friday in a $73 million trial over the death of a firefighter and EMT in an accident in which an employee of the logging company's trucking partner was driving drunk.

  • June 27, 2025

    Texas Justices Say Paxton Can Keep Jan. 6 Records

    The Texas Supreme Court found that Attorney General Ken Paxton does not have to cough up his communications during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, saying in a Friday opinion only the state's high court may issue orders compelling executive officers to certain actions.

  • June 27, 2025

    Ga. Panel Says Court's Tech Glitch Shouldn't Kill Appeal

    The Georgia Court of Appeals on Friday revived a tenant's appeal of an eviction action, saying the trial court wrongly dismissed the matter when it failed to explain why evidence of a delay caused by the court's electronic filing system did not save the appeal.

  • June 27, 2025

    Ill. High Court Says State Handgun Laws Comply With Bruen

    A split Illinois Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the state's requirement that handgun owners maintain both a concealed weapon permit and a separate Firearm Owner's Identification Card is legal and not preempted by a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • June 27, 2025

    Fed Circ. Passes On VA, Veteran Dispute Over GI Bill Benefits

    A three-judge Federal Circuit panel said it lacked jurisdiction to step into an ongoing GI Bill dispute as a long-serving veteran challenges an education benefits denial that purportedly flies in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down last year.

  • June 27, 2025

    NY Man Wins New Trial Over Jury Instruction Issue

    A man who was convicted of criminal weapons possession for firing a gun on a Brooklyn street was granted a new trial by the New York state appeals court, which found a trial court hadn't explained to the jury that it was sometimes legal to snatch a gun in self-defense.

  • June 27, 2025

    DC Circ. Backs NLRB Ruling In GWU Hospital Bargaining Case

    The D.C. Circuit on Friday upheld a National Labor Relations Board ruling finding George Washington University Hospital bargained in bad faith with a Service Employees International Union local, saying evidence supported the board's conclusion that the hospital did not expect its proposals to lead to an agreement.

  • June 27, 2025

    6th Circ. Vacates Class Cert. In GM Transmission Defect Suit

    The full Sixth Circuit on Friday unraveled class certification for drivers claiming General Motors LLC sold vehicles with defective transmissions that caused the cars to shudder and shake on the road.

  • June 27, 2025

    2nd Circ. Mulls Arguments In NY Atty Grievance Privacy Suit

    A Second Circuit panel has questioned whether a pathway exists to limit the scope of "presumptive public access" to attorney grievance documents in New York, as the panel considers the state's appeal of a federal district court ruling that would make records related to attorney misconduct cases public.

  • June 27, 2025

    Groups Quickly Switch Tactics In Birthright Citizenship Cases

    Just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court limited federal judges' ability to issue nationwide injunctions Friday, groups challenging the constitutionality of President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship executive order fired off a volley of new lawsuits, switching their legal actions to class action complaints.

  • June 27, 2025

    Del. Supreme Court Upholds Ruling In $5.5M Earnout Dispute

    Delaware's highest court offered no long goodbye Friday to data management venture STX Business Solutions LLC's appeal for a revival of buyer breach claims in a suit dismissed by the Court of Chancery in October.

  • June 27, 2025

    NC Appeals Court Urged To Back Firing Of General Counsel

    North Carolina's body of independent administrative law judges is urging the state appeals court to reject its former general counsel's bid to revive his claims that his politics got him fired, arguing that his position is exempt from certain workplace protections.

  • June 27, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Upholds Win For Lyft On Vehicle Monitoring Patents

    The Federal Circuit said it won't undo Lyft's lower court win in litigation where it was accused of infringing a pair of Quartz Auto Technologies LLC patents, rejecting arguments that a judge misinterpreted the patent claims.

  • June 27, 2025

    Pregnancy Loss Draws Police Scrutiny Following Dobbs

    The nation's abortion debate has played out in civil courtrooms and state capitols across the country since the overturning of Roe v. Wade three years ago. But the battle is also emerging in another arena: the criminal courts.

Expert Analysis

  • What Del. Supreme Court LKQ Decision Means For M&A Deals

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    The Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in LKQ v. Rutledge greatly increases the enforceability of forfeiture-for-competition provisions, representing an important affirmation of earlier precedent and making it likely that such agreements will become more common in M&A transactions, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • 10 Arbitrations And A 5th Circ. Ruling Flag Arb. Clause Risks

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    The ongoing arbitral saga of Sullivan v. Feldman, which has engendered proceedings before 10 different arbitrators in Texas and Louisiana along with last month's Fifth Circuit opinion, showcases both the risks and limitations of arbitration clauses in retainer agreements for resolving attorney-client disputes, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.

  • How High Court's Cornell Decision Will Affect ERISA Suits

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Cunningham v. Cornell, characterizing prohibited transaction exemptions as affirmative defenses, sets the bar very low for initiating Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation, and will likely affect many plan sponsors with similar service agreements, says Carol Buckmann at Cohen & Buckmann.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    The first quarter of 2025 was filled with the refinement of old theories in the property and casualty space, including in vehicle valuation, time to seek appraisal and materials depreciation, says Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling May Aid Consistent Interpretation Of ADA

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    In Tudor v. Whitehall Central School District, the Second Circuit joined the majority of circuits by holding that an employee's ability to perform their job without an accommodation does not disqualify them from receiving one, marking a notable step toward uniform application of the Americans with Disabilities Act nationwide, says Michelle Grant at Wilson Elser.

  • EPA's Proposed GHG Reform Could Hinder Climate Regulation

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    The Trump administration will reconsider the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's landmark 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding, which could leave the U.S. federal government with no statutory authority whatsoever to regulate climate change or greenhouse gas emissions, says David Smith at Manatt.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: The Value Of Unified State Licensing

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    Texas' proposal to become the latest state to license paraprofessional providers of limited legal services could help firms expand their reach and improve access to justice, but consumers, attorneys and allied legal professionals would benefit even more if similar programs across the country become more uniform, says Michael Houlberg at the University of Denver.

  • Fed. Circ. In March: Forfeiting Claim Construction On Appeal

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    The Federal Circuit's decision in Wash World v. Belanger last month confirms the importance of fair notice to the district court when determining forfeiture of an argument on appeal in the context of patent claim construction, allowing appellants to better gauge the appropriate framing of arguments that may be presented, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • 1st Circ. Ruling May Slow SEC Retail Investment Advice Cases

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    The First Circuit's recent ruling, finding the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission did not substantiate its $93.3 million fine against a retail investment adviser, may raise the threshold on materiality findings in these cases and add a speed bump resulting in fewer such actions, say attorneys at Weil.

  • 10 Soft Skills Every GC Should Master

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    As businesses face shifting regulatory and technological uncertainty, general counsel will need to strengthen certain soft skills to succeed, from admitting when they make a mistake to maintaining a healthy dose of dispassion, says Douglas Brown at Manatt.

  • 6 Criteria Can Help Assess Executive Branch Actions

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    With new executive policy changes announced seemingly every day, several questions can help courts, policymakers and businesses determine whether such actions are proper, effective and in keeping with our democratic norms, say Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Fed Circ.'s PTAB Ruling Highlights Obsolete Rationale

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in In re: Riggs shines a new light on its 2015 decision in Dynamic Drinkware v. National Graphics, and raises questions about why the claim support requirement established by Dynamic Drinkware exists at all, say attorneys at Patterson Belknap.

  • Traversing The Shifting Sands Of ESG Reporting Compliance

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    Multinational corporations have increasingly found themselves between a rock and a hard place attempting to comply with EU and California ESG requirements while not running afoul of expanding U.S. anti-ESG regimes, but focusing on what is material to shareholder value and establishing strong governance can help, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

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    Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.

  • Tracking The Evolution In Litigation Finance

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    Despite continued innovation, litigation finance remains an immature market with borrowers recieving significantly different terms as lenders learn to value cases, which firms need a strong handle on to ensure lending terms do not overwhelm collateral value, says Robert Wilkins at Lightfoot Franklin.

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