Employment

  • January 29, 2026

    Michigan Fights Airline Group's Challenge To Sick Law

    A Michigan law providing employees with earned sick time should stay in place because it has no impact on airlines' prices, routes or services, the state has argued, urging a federal court to turn down a national airline trade group's bid to halt the law.

  • January 29, 2026

    Casey's, Store Managers Settle Overtime Suit

    Casey's General Stores and managers reached a settlement in a collective action alleging the convenience store chain and two subsidiaries misclassified them as exempt from overtime pay, according to an Indiana federal judge's order.

  • January 29, 2026

    4th Circ. Wary Of Kicking Up 'Sandstorm' On Deferred Comp.

    The Fourth Circuit appeared reluctant Thursday to revive a proposed class action brought against Bank of America and Merrill by an ex-financial adviser who said he was shorted deferred compensation, as judges questioned whether federal benefits law applied to payments that looked like bonuses.

  • January 29, 2026

    Ex-Civil Rights Chief For Mass. District Returns To Seyfarth

    Seyfarth Shaw LLP has hired the first and only chief of the Civil Rights Unit at the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office, bringing back a former associate who stayed in touch through the firm's alumni program.

  • January 29, 2026

    Colo. Mining Co. Denied Workers Overtime, Ex-Welder Says

    A Colorado mining company rounded employees' hours, forced them to work off the clock and failed to include bonuses in their overtime rates, according to a proposed collective action filed in federal court.

  • January 29, 2026

    From TikTok To The Courtroom, The Rise Of Lawfluencers

    A growing group of legal influencers with huge followings say social media use is helping them expand their practices along with their brands and offering marketing lessons that even BigLaw can learn from.

  • January 28, 2026

    Trade Secret Filings Hit Record High In 2025, Report Finds

    Trade secret litigation reached an all-time high in 2025, with more than 1,500 federal cases filed for the first time ever, according to a new report by legal analytics firm Lex Machina, which also highlights trends about damages, the busiest courts and the law firms most frequently involved.

  • January 28, 2026

    Biogen Can't Escape Amended Antitrust Suit Over MS Drug

    Biogen Inc. must face health plans' claims that it bribed pharmacy benefit managers to stifle generics competition for its multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera, after an Illinois federal judge found Wednesday that the plans' latest amended complaint in their consolidated antitrust litigation corrects her prior concerns with the pleadings.

  • January 28, 2026

    Unions Say FEMA Staff Cuts Threaten Disaster Readiness

    A coalition of unions, nonprofit organizations and local governments that are challenging the Trump administration's federal worker layoffs and agency reorganizations asked a California federal judge Tuesday for permission to add the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a defendant, saying ongoing staff cuts threaten its legally mandated responsibility to respond to disasters.

  • January 28, 2026

    Ex-Google Engineer's Trade Secret Theft Case Goes To Jury

    Software engineer Linwei Ding "stole, cheated and lied" when he worked at Google LLC, taking its artificial intelligence trade secrets to help himself and China, a California federal prosecutor told jurors Tuesday, urging them to convict him of economic espionage and trade secret theft.

  • January 28, 2026

    Washington State University Ignored Red Flags Before Murders, Suit Says

    Despite numerous red flags, Washington State University failed to take appropriate steps to prevent criminology teaching assistant and doctoral candidate Bryan Kohberger from murdering four University of Idaho students, parents of the slain students claim in a lawsuit removed to federal court in Seattle on Tuesday.

  • January 28, 2026

    IT Co.'s Arbitration Pact Undercut Class Rights, 9th Circ. Says

    TEKsystems Inc. engaged in misleading and coercive actions when it provided an arbitration pact to technology recruiters seeking unpaid overtime nearly two years after they lodged their suit, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday, affirming a California federal court decision.

  • January 28, 2026

    Chancery Awards $50M To Arxada In Trade Secrets Case

    Chemicals company Arxada on Wednesday was awarded more than $50 million in damages and expenses in its lawsuit in Delaware's Court of Chancery claiming the owner of a company it bought took its trade secrets with his family to form a competitor.

  • January 28, 2026

    Krispy Kreme Reaches $1.6M Deal Over Employee Data Breach

    Krispy Kreme has agreed to a $1.6 million settlement to resolve a consolidated proposed class action that accused the doughnut chain of failing to protect current and former employees' personal information from a November 2024 data breach, according to a filing in North Carolina federal court.

  • January 28, 2026

    Concrete Co. Not Exempt From NJ Sick Leave Law, Panel Says

    New Jersey suppliers can't rely on an exemption for the construction industry to avoid complying with the state's Earned Sick Leave Law, an appellate panel found Wednesday as a matter of first impression, finding the law only allows builders to claim the exemption to the law.

  • January 28, 2026

    1st Circ. Says Ex-Cop Proves No Bias In Retaliation Suit

    The First Circuit backed the dismissal of an ex-Boston cop's retaliation suit claiming the department shared her disciplinary records with prospective employers because of her accusations that police leaders buried her claims of rape by a fellow officer, ruling she hadn't provided any evidence of bias.

  • January 28, 2026

    NM Bill Could Shield Medical Cannabis Users From Job Bias

    Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico's Legislature are looking to redefine employment rules for medical cannabis patients to prohibit bosses from taking adverse actions for lawful off-duty use but allow them to restrict use for certain roles or carry out discipline for impairment at work.

  • January 28, 2026

    Alito Rejects Bid To Pause 3rd Circ.'s Computer Fraud Ruling

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday denied a debt collection agency's request to stay a Third Circuit decision that found the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act does not support claims against employees who share work passwords.

  • January 28, 2026

    No Class Cert. For Ex-NFL Players In Benefits Challenge

    Ten former NFL players suing the league's disability plan for denying them benefits were turned down for class certification on Wednesday by a Maryland federal judge, who said the group failed to show the commonality of the proposed class' claims.

  • January 28, 2026

    6th Circ. Seems Unlikely To Ax Prof's Pregnancy Bias Win

    A Sixth Circuit panel appeared unmoved Wednesday by Michigan Technological University's effort to undo a former professor's pregnancy bias win but also skeptical of resurrecting additional bias and pay disparity claims that had been trimmed from the case prior to trial.

  • January 28, 2026

    Conn. Justices Question 'Double Recovery' In Asbestos Case

    Several Connecticut Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared uneasy with the thought of a mesothelioma patient's estate and widow receiving a "double recovery" from private settlements and workers' compensation law payments in an illness involving both workplace and at-home asbestos exposure sources.

  • January 28, 2026

    PBGC Reports Rosy Outlook For Single, Multiemployer Plans

    The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.'s program backstopping the nation's private-sector pension plans reported another year of healthy finances, with an end-of-fiscal-year surplus of more than $64 billion, the agency said.

  • January 28, 2026

    Employee Exodus Prompts CEO Defamation Lawsuit

    Employees moving from one Turkish company to another has led to a $5.5 million defamation lawsuit between the CEOs of their American affiliates, according to a complaint filed in a federal court in Pennsylvania.

  • January 28, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Won't Revive MasterCard Trade Secret Claims

    The Federal Circuit declined to revive trade secret theft claims Wednesday brought by a MasterCard unit against two former McKinsey consultants, agreeing with a lower court that the company had failed to identify the alleged trade secrets with enough specificity.

  • January 28, 2026

    Company Seeks Damages Despite Invalid Noncompetes

    The Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday probed how far employers can go in enforcing noncompete and nonsolicitation clauses tied to lucrative equity awards, pressing both sides in a dispute between Fortiline Inc. and Patriot Supply Holdings Inc. and a group of former executives on whether companies should be able to recover damages for alleged breaches even when lower courts have found the underlying restraints unenforceable.

Expert Analysis

  • Del. Dispatch: Key 2025 Corporate Cases And Trends To Know

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    The Delaware corporate legal landscape saw notable changes in 2025, spurred by amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law, ubiquitous artificial intelligence fervor, boardroom discussion around DExit, record shareholder activism activity and an arguably more expansive view of potential Caremark liability, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • Series

    Nature Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nature photography reminds me to focus on what is in front of me and to slow down to achieve success, and, in embracing the value of viewing situations through different lenses, offers skills transferable to the practice of law, says Brian Willett at Saul Ewing.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practical Problem Solving

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    Issue-spotting skills are well honed in law school, but practicing attorneys must also identify clients’ problems and true goals, and then be able to provide solutions, says Mary Kate Hogan at Quarles & Brady.

  • How Workforce, Tech Will Affect 2026 Construction Landscape

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    As the construction industry's center of gravity shifts from traditional commercial work to infrastructure, energy, industrial and data-hosting facilities, the effects of evolving technology and persistent labor shortages are reshaping real estate dealmaking, immigration policy debates and government contracting risk, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Opinion

    A Uniform Federal Rule Would Curb Gen AI Missteps In Court

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    To address the patchwork of courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence, curbing abuses and relieving the burden on judges, the federal judiciary should consider amending its civil procedure rules to require litigants to certify they’ve reviewed legal filings for accuracy, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.

  • Calif. AG's No-Poach Case Reflects Tougher Antitrust Stance

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    This month, California’s attorney general resolved the latest enforcement action barring the use of no-poach agreements, underscoring an aggressive antitrust enforcement trend with significant increases in criminal and civil penalties, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • 3 Defense Strategies For Sporadically Prosecuted Conduct

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    Not to be confused with selective prosecutions, sporadic prosecutions — charging someone for conduct many others do without consequences — can be challenging to defend, but focusing on materiality, prosecutorial motivations and public opinion can be a winning strategy, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • 2025 Noncompete Developments That Led To Inflection Point

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    Employers must reshape their approaches to noncompete agreements following key 2025 developments, including Delaware's rejection of blue-penciling and the proliferation of state wage thresholds, say attorneys at Gunderson Dettmer.

  • Series

    The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Integrating Practice Groups

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    Enacting unified leadership and consistent client service standards ensures law firm practice groups connect and collaborate around shared goals, turning a law firm merger into a platform for growth rather than a period of disruption, says Brian Catlett at Fennemore Craig.

  • Tapping Into Jurors' Moral Intuitions At Trial

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    Many jurors approach trials with foundational beliefs about fairness, harm and responsibility that shape how they view evidence and arguments, so attorneys must understand how to frame a case in a way that appeals to this type of moral reasoning, says Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Opinion

    Supreme Court Term Limits Would Carry Hidden Risk

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    While proposals for limiting the terms of U.S. Supreme Court justices are popular, a steady stream of relatively young, highly marketable ex-justices with unique knowledge and influence entering the marketplace of law and politics could create new problems, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • Insuring Equality: 3 Tips To Preserve Coverage For DEI Claims

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    Directors and officers and employment practices liability are key coverages for policyholders to review as potentially responsive to the emerging liability threat of Trump's executive orders targeting corporate diversity, equity and inclusion policies and practices, says Micah Skidmore at Haynes Boone.

  • The SEC Whistleblower Program A Year Into 2nd Trump Admin

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's whistleblower program continues to operate as designed, but its internal cadence, scrutiny of claims and operational structure reflect a period of recalibration, with precision mattering more than ever, say attorneys Scott Silver and David Chase.

  • 6 Laws For Calif. Employers To Know In 2026

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    California's legislative changes for 2026 impose sweeping new obligations on employers, including by expanding pay data reporting, clarifying protections related to bias mitigation training and broadening record access rights, but employers can avoid heightened exposure by proactively evaluating their compliance, modernizing internal systems and updating policies, says Alexa Foley at Gordon Rees.

  • Series

    Knitting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Stretching my skills as a knitter makes me a better antitrust attorney by challenging me to recalibrate after wrong turns, not rush outcomes, and trust that I can teach myself the skills to tackle new and difficult projects — even when I don’t have a pattern to work from, says Kara Kuritz at V&E.

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