California

  • January 20, 2026

    9th Circ. Revives Malpractice Suit Against Bankruptcy Atty

    The Ninth Circuit Tuesday reinstated a California woman's malpractice lawsuit against her bankruptcy attorney, but said the bankruptcy court needs to significantly narrow the permission to sue it granted to the debtor.

  • January 20, 2026

    Iranians, Sudanese Sue To Unfreeze Work Permit Processing

    Thirty-one Iranians and one Sudanese national have sued the Trump administration to force U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to process their pending work permit applications, alleging the agency unlawfully put them on hold under directives for nationals of travel-ban countries.

  • January 20, 2026

    Justices Ask If Hawaii 'Vampire Law' Violates 2nd Amendment

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared skeptical of a Hawaii law that makes it illegal for people to bring firearms onto private property open to the public without the owner's express permission.

  • January 20, 2026

    Sandisk Inks Deal To License Memory Patents

    Computer technology company Sandisk has been granted a license to a portfolio of patents owned by a flash memory technology company, a move that came just after the parties agreed to end a patent dispute in California federal court.

  • January 20, 2026

    Applied Materials Settles Patent Fight On Eve Of Calif. Trial

    Chipmaking equipment company Applied Materials has settled its lawsuit in California federal court that sought a finding that it didn't infringe a pair of technology patents that had also been at issue in a $4 billion patent case where a jury cleared Samsung of infringement.

  • January 20, 2026

    Justice Jackson Slams Fee Waiver Ban For Indigent Prisoners

    The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday rejected three pro se indigent prisoners' bids to file petitions to the court without fees and permanently barred them from seeking fee waivers from the high court, decisions that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called "foolish" in a passionate dissent.

  • January 20, 2026

    FTX Trust Hit With Sanctions After Ch. 11 Donation Fight Loss

    The FTX Recovery Trust is facing sanctions after losing its bid to claw back a $650,000 bonus given to an employee of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange that was earmarked for charitable purposes, with a Delaware bankruptcy judge saying the trust's efforts were harmful to all parties involved.

  • January 20, 2026

    Judge Won't Toss Stanford Daily Suit Over Student Removals

    A California federal judge has declined the government's bid to dismiss a suit from Stanford University's student newspaper challenging the Trump administration's targeting of foreign students with pro-Palestinian views for removal, ruling that the paper and two students have standing to sue.

  • January 20, 2026

    5th Circ. Urged Not To Transfer Google Antitrust Case

    Mobile analytics software company Branch Metric urged the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday not to transfer from Texas to California its case accusing Google of monopolizing mobile device search markets, saying the case has sufficient connections to the Lone Star State.

  • January 20, 2026

    Massumi & Consoli Lands M&A Pro In Los Angeles

    Massumi & Consoli LLP announced Monday that it has added an attorney who previously operated his own talent management business for athletes and also spent time at Paul Hastings LLP and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP to enhance its capacity to handle mergers and acquisitions.

  • January 20, 2026

    Netflix Revises $83B Warner Bros. Deal To All Cash

    Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery have revised their $82.7 billion merger agreement into an all-cash deal, a move that could ease shareholder concerns over the prior stock component's susceptibility to market fluctuations.

  • January 20, 2026

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    The Delaware Chancery Court wrapped up last week with a mix of deal litigation, governance fights and disclosure battles, including a proposed settlement over a contested medical device sale, a merits dismissal tied to a $2 billion biotech exit and dueling lawsuits over Paramount Skydance's pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery.

  • January 20, 2026

    Cracker Barrel Workers Push Justices To Hear Collective Fight

    Cracker Barrel servers urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up an appeal of a Ninth Circuit decision that only Arizona employees could opt in to a collective suit over tipped wages, rebutting the restaurant chain's arguments that a circuit split on the issue will resolve itself.

  • January 20, 2026

    Justices Won't Hear Audi, VW Bid To Limit Calif. Jurisdiction

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear Audi AG and Volkswagen AG's bids to limit when foreign manufacturers, whose products are sold through a U.S. distributor, are subject to specific personal jurisdiction in American state courts for product liability and personal injury claims.

  • January 16, 2026

    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2025, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • January 17, 2026

    Up Next At High Court: Fed Firing & Gun 'Vampire Rules'

    The Supreme Court will begin a short argument week Tuesday, during which the justices will consider President Donald Trump's authority to fire a Democratic Federal Reserve governor over allegations of mortgage fraud, as well as the ability for states to presumptively bar gun owners from carrying firearms onto private property open to the public unless the property owner explicitly allows it. 

  • January 17, 2026

    Real Estate Recap: Cannabis Landlords, Global Deals, ACREL

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including how potential changes to federal marijuana regulation could affect landlords, the largest global real estate deals of 2025, and a chat with the new president of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

  • January 16, 2026

    SEC Fines Adviser Over Black Rifle Coffee SPAC Deal Conflict

    Engaged Capital LLC was fined $200,000 by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and agreed to a censure Friday over allegations the investment adviser failed to disclose conflicts of interest related to a special purpose acquisition company merger with Black Rifle Coffee Co. in 2022.

  • January 16, 2026

    Calif. Defeats Trump Admin Suit Demanding Private Voter Data

    A federal judge has thrown out the U.S. Department of Justice's suit claiming that California is required to fork over statewide voter registration lists with voters' driver's license and Social Security numbers, calling the Trump administration's request "antithetical to the promise of fair and free elections."

  • January 16, 2026

    9th Circ. Upholds Ax Of RNC Suit Over Google Email Filtering

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to revive the Republican National Committee's lawsuit accusing Google of illegally sending RNC fundraising emails to Gmail users' spam folders, finding that the committee had failed to establish the type of user relationship necessary to sustain its claims. 

  • January 16, 2026

    Stolen Google AI Info Valuable To Rivals And China, Jury Told

    Federal prosecutors questioned a foreign policy expert and an MIT computer science professor Friday in the trial of an ex-Google engineer accused of stealing AI trade secrets to help China, seeking to show that artificial intelligence is a major priority for the Chinese government and that Google's technology was nonpublic and extremely valuable.

  • January 16, 2026

    Immigrant Visa Pause Could Test Limits Of Executive Power

    The Trump administration's indefinite pause on immigrant visas for applicants from 75 countries may test the outer bounds of executive control over visa issuance and prompt court battles in a rarely litigated area of immigration law.

  • January 16, 2026

    Littler Adds Epstein Becker Employment Litigator In Calif.

    Littler Mendelson PC announced that an attorney from Epstein Becker Green is joining its Century City, California, office as a shareholder, bringing a wealth of experience in employment law. 

  • January 16, 2026

    Calif. AG Orders xAI To Stop Enabling Sexualized Deepfakes

    California's attorney general on Friday sent xAI a cease and desist letter demanding the artificial intelligence company immediately stop the creation and distribution of nonconsensual, sexualized deepfakes, days after U.S. senators announced they had demanded that leading tech companies disclose how they are preventing such images on their platforms.

  • January 16, 2026

    Calif. Resident Pleads Guilty To Shipping AI Chips To China

    A Chinese national living in Southern California pled guilty Friday in Los Angeles federal court to a conspiracy charge for unlawfully exporting computer chips for artificial intelligence applications worth "tens of millions of dollars" to China.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

    Author Photo

    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • How A 9th Circ. False Ad Ruling Could Shift Class Certification

    Author Photo

    The Ninth Circuit's July decision in Noohi v. Johnson & Johnson, holding that unexecuted damages models may suffice for purposes of class certification, has the potential to create judicial inefficiencies and crippling uncertainties for class action defendants, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • What To Know About Interim Licenses In Global FRAND Cases

    Author Photo

    Recent U.K. court decisions have shaped a framework for interim licenses in global standard-essential patent disputes, under which parties can benefit from operating on temporary terms while a court determines the final fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms — but the future of this developing remedy is in doubt, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

    Author Photo

    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Compliance Tips Amid Rising FTC Scrutiny Of Minors' Privacy

    Author Photo

    The Federal Trade Commission has recently rolled out multiple enforcement actions related to children's privacy, highlighting a renewed focus on federal regulation of minors' personal information and the evolving challenges of establishing effective, privacy-protective age assurance solutions, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Insights From Recent Cases On Navigating Snap Removal

    Author Photo

    Snap removal, which allows defendants to transfer state court cases to federal court before a forum defendant is properly joined and served, is viewed differently across federal circuits — but keys to making it work can be drawn from recent decisions critiquing the practice, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

    Author Photo

    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • Workday Case Shows Auditing AI Hiring Tools Is Crucial

    Author Photo

    Following a California federal court's recent decisions in Mobley v. Workday signaling that both employers and vendors could be held liable for discriminatory outcomes from artificial intelligence hiring tools, companies should consider two rigorous auditing methods to detect and mitigate bias, says Hossein Borhani at Charles River Associates.

  • Tips For Cos. Crafting Enforceable Online Arbitration Clauses

    Author Photo

    Recent rulings from the Ninth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California indicate that courts are carefully examining the enforceability of online arbitration clauses, so businesses should review the design of their websites and consider specific language next to the "purchase" button, say attorneys at DTO Law.

  • 7 Lessons From The Tractor Supply CCPA Enforcement Action

    Author Photo

    The California Privacy Protection Agency's recent enforcement action targeting Tractor Supply for alleged violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act provides critical insights into the compliance areas that remain a priority for the California regulator, including businesses with significant consumer interactions, say attorneys at Troutman.

  • Parody Defendants Are Finding Success Post-Jack Daniel's

    Author Photo

    Recent decisions demonstrate that, although the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Jack Daniel's v. VIP Products did benefit trademark plaintiffs by significantly limiting the First Amendment expressive use defense, courts also now appear to be less likely to find a parodic work likely to cause confusion, says Andrew Michaels at University of Houston Law Center.

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • Trader Joe's Ruling Highlights Trademark Infringement Trends

    Author Photo

    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Trader Joe's Co. v. Trader Joe's United explores the legal boundaries between a union's right to advocate for workers and the protection of a brand's intellectual property, and illustrates a growing trend of courts disfavoring early dismissal of trademark infringement claims in the context of expressive speech, say attorneys at Mitchell Silberberg.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

    Author Photo

    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • What 9th Circ.'s Rosenwald Ruling Means For Class Actions

    Author Photo

    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Rosenwald v. Kimberly-Clark has important implications around the Class Action Fairness Act and traditional diversity jurisdiction — both for plaintiff-side and defense-side class action litigators — and deepens the circuit split concerning the use of judicial notice to establish diversity, says Grace Schmidt at DTO Law.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the California archive.