Environmental

  • July 20, 2026

    Trump Demands Review Of Judges' Science Manual

    President Donald Trump has escalated a recent controversy over a scientific manual for federal judges that has been around for over three decades. 

  • July 20, 2026

    Immunity Shields Conn., Ex-Enviro Chief From Coverage Fight

    A Connecticut federal court dropped the state and its former environmental commissioner from a dispute over coverage for a developer accused of unlawfully encroaching on and destroying public land, finding that the state defendants are shielded by the Eleventh Amendment's grant of sovereign immunity.

  • July 20, 2026

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    The Delaware Chancery Court last week tackled disputes involving intellectual property, corporate control, fiduciary duties, artificial intelligence, trust administration and cryptocurrency litigation.

  • July 17, 2026

    Law Firm Says Marketer Is On The Hook For Unwanted Calls

    A North Carolina plaintiffs firm facing a lawsuit alleging unwanted calls were made to those on the National Do Not Call Registry says a marketing company should be on the hook for damages, urging a federal court not to allow the vendor to hide behind a predecessor's bankruptcy.

  • July 17, 2026

    Calif. Air District Can Be Sued Under Clean Air Act, Judge Says

    A federal judge ruled Friday that the Clean Air Act allows a coalition of environmental groups to sue an agency that controls air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley even though it is a government regulator.

  • July 17, 2026

    Judge Says OMB Can't Change Grant Terms After Award

    A Massachusetts federal judge said Friday the Trump administration cannot rely on a shift in policy to retroactively change the terms of already awarded grants in order to justify canceling them.

  • July 17, 2026

    Don't Miss It: Willkie, Orrick Steer Hot Deals

    A lot can happen in the world of mergers and acquisitions and equity fundraising over the course of a couple of weeks, and it's difficult to keep up with all the deals.

  • July 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Rekindles Idaho Logging Review Dispute

    The Ninth Circuit revived a conservation group's suit against the U.S. Forest Service over an environmental review of an Idaho logging project, ruling that the group should have been allowed to raise an argument it had not raised during an earlier administrative process.

  • July 17, 2026

    Conn. Justices Bar Town From Killing Errant Forest Tax Break

    A Connecticut municipal assessor did not have the authority to terminate a property tax break for forest use that was erroneously granted, the state Supreme Court said Friday, suggesting that state lawmakers could clarify the law on the matter.

  • July 17, 2026

    States Ask To Join Fight Against DOD Wind Project Blockage

    Nearly 20 states have told an Oregon federal judge they want in on a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's decision to block land-based wind projects in the U.S. from moving forward.

  • July 17, 2026

    Rivian Hit With Chancery Derivative Suit Over EV Demand

    A Rivian Automotive Inc. stockholder has filed a derivative lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court accusing the electric-vehicle maker's current and former directors and officers of misleading investors about customer demand, production growth and the company's path to profitability, allegedly exposing Rivian to significant legal costs and potential liability.

  • July 17, 2026

    Top 4 Enviro Policies To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

    The second half of 2026 may see the outcome of federal efforts to speed up construction timelines via federal rulemaking and in Congress, and the resolution of open questions around how the repeal of a foundational climate regulation will impact energy policy. Here are four key policy areas that are on environmental attorneys' radar.

  • July 17, 2026

    Judge Denies Bid To Fast-Track Alaska Refuge Road Ruling

    An Alaskan district judge is asking the federal government, the state of Alaska and an Indigenous corporation to provide an anticipated construction timeline for a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

  • July 17, 2026

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

    The past week in London has seen Snapchat and Dolby press on with a fresh infringement claim in their ongoing patent battle, The Telegraph face an intellectual property claim by a photo archive, a group of international human rights barristers and chambers sued, and oil business Equinor embroiled in a contract dispute with BP after recently acquiring full ownership in their offshore project. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • July 16, 2026

    Northrop's $75M LA Contamination Deal Gets Preliminary OK

    A California federal judge Thursday preliminarily approved a $75 million class deal struck mid-trial by Northrop Grumman and residents of a Los Angeles suburb who accused the aerospace company of contaminating their properties, a day after hundreds of the neighborhood's residents filed a similar lawsuit in state court.

  • July 16, 2026

    Dominican Republic Calls $44M Asset Hunt Premature

    The Dominican Republic pointed to ongoing settlement proceedings in urging a Washington, D.C., federal judge to deny a billionaire businessman's bid to conduct discovery aimed at uncovering the country's assets for seizure to satisfy a nearly $44 million arbitral award.

  • July 16, 2026

    Feds Tell 11th Circ. It Can't Hear BP Offshore Drilling Case

    The federal government has told the Eleventh Circuit it doesn't have jurisdiction to hear an appeal from conservation groups challenging the Trump administration's approval of BP PLC's Kaskida offshore oil and gas drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico.

  • July 16, 2026

    Mich. Renews Enbridge Line 5 Permit, Tribes Vow Fight

    Michigan environmental regulators reissued key state permits for Enbridge Energy's proposed Great Lakes Tunnel project, allowing the company to continue pursuing approvals needed to replace the aging Line 5 pipelines beneath the Straits of Mackinac, while tribal leaders and environmental groups vowed to challenge the decision.

  • July 16, 2026

    FERC Pushes Reliability Standards For Data Centers

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday pressed for the continued development of reliability standards for power-hungry data centers and other computational loads, and ordered two western grid operators to report on coordination efforts at the seams of their operations.

  • July 16, 2026

    Air Force Lt. Col. Says Housing Sickened Him, Family

    U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Travis Allen and his wife are suing companies that provide privatized housing to military service members in Texas federal court, saying that despite being assured the housing was safe and properly maintained, their home had a host of problems that harmed Allen and his daughter's health.

  • July 16, 2026

    Chancery Lets Discovery Proceed In Bikini Atoll Trust Suit

    The Delaware Chancery Court has ruled that Fifth Third Bank must participate in discovery in litigation accusing Arden Trust Co. of mismanaging two congressionally created trust funds for displaced Bikini Atoll residents, while putting on hold Arden's separate claim seeking indemnification from the bank until the underlying case is resolved.

  • July 16, 2026

    Holland & Knight Adds DLA Piper Industrials Sector Co-Chair

    Holland & Knight LLP announced that it has hired the former U.S. co-chair of DLA Piper's industrials sector as a partner in New York.

  • July 16, 2026

    Whidbey Has To Notify Lummi Nation Before Digging

    A Washington federal judge has ordered Whidbey Telephone to give a tribe notice before resuming ground-disturbing work on a federally funded broadband project that had disturbed remains of the tribe's ancestors.

  • July 15, 2026

    ESA 'Harm' Rollback Defies 50-Year Precedent, Groups Say

    The Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and a half dozen other environmental groups have become the latest to challenge the Trump administration's new definition of "harm" under the Endangered Species Act, initiating a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to restore the meaning that's been the prevailing interpretation for 50 years.

  • July 15, 2026

    Circuit-By-Circuit Guide To The US Supreme Court's Term

    Federal appeals courts had wide-ranging successes and struggles during the U.S. Supreme Court's recently completed term: One had its best showing in years following its worst showing in years; one felt déjà vu after recently starting to find favor with the justices; and one saw its reputation for independence occupy a rare role in the Supreme Court spotlight.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Regulatory Gaps May Fuel FCA Enforcement Action

    Author Photo

    The intersection of artificial intelligence and False Claims Act enforcement presents legal risk for government contractors across several industries, particularly in the absence of a federal regulatory framework explicitly governing its development and use, say attorneys at O’Melveny.

  • AI Agents Will Test The Bounds Of Expert Witness Rules

    Author Photo

    Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence does not address whether a testifying expert must be human, but as the rule’s amended admissibility framework intersects with the accelerating capabilities of agentic AI, courts may be forced to confront whether AI-generated expertise fits within existing evidentiary doctrine, says Steven Cordero at Akerman.

  • What New PFAS Rule Means For Tracking And Disclosure

    Author Photo

    In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's publication of its rule adding PFHxS-Na to the Toxics Release Inventory, companies should identify this substance in their facilities and supply chains, and prepare for disclosures to both regulators and the public, says Ayodeji Ayolola at Gordon Rees.

  • Reel Justice: 'Project Hail Mary' Can Aid Cross-Examination

    Author Photo

    In the new science fiction film, "Project Hail Mary," a character understood that survival depended on eliminating ambiguity — a useful lesson that trial lawyers can implement by asking statements that are delivered in the form of a question during cross-examination, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

  • AI-Proofing Class Action Notices From Pro Se Objection Surge

    Author Photo

    Class action practitioners should prepare for a likely surge in artificial intelligence-enabled pro se objections by implementing several practical strategies to navigate this shift, says Britany Wessan at Almeida Law Group.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

    Author Photo

    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • What Jury Holdouts Can Teach Trial Lawyers About Strategy

    Author Photo

    Though a hung jury can be a disappointment, a psychological understanding of jury holdouts can help trial lawyers shape their damages arguments and understand leadership and group composition as a function of jury selection, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • 'Mobile' Sources For On-Site Generation May Be A Risky Bet

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering treating large on-site generators used at data centers as mobile rather than stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, a significant policy change that would leave developers that adopt this solution at risk of regulatory reversals, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

    Author Photo

    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • EPA Listing Signals New Scrutiny Of Drugs In Drinking Water

    Author Photo

    The recent publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest draft drinking water contaminant list highlights pharmaceuticals as a category of concern, marking the start of a process that could shape future research priorities, monitoring requirements, and federal and state actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

    Author Photo

    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • Md. Justices' State Climate Tort Ban May Shape National Path

    Author Photo

    The Maryland Supreme Court’s recent ruling that federal law preempted state-level deceptive marketing tort claims brought by several municipalities could offer the U.S. Supreme Court a road map to use in the pending Suncor Energy v. Boulder County case to exclude states from the business of regulating global emissions, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

    Author Photo

    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

    Author Photo

    While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

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 Environmental archive.