Business of Law

  • September 12, 2025

    Fresh Angles On Display In ERISA Summer Filing Uptick

    Attorneys dealing with a rise in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases are paying close attention to a handful of recent suits with allegations that put a twist on traditional benefits disputes. Here, Law360 looks at three cases with fresh angles that lawyers are keeping an eye on.

  • September 11, 2025

    Retired Federal Judges Throw Shade On Shadow Docket

    Retired federal judges speaking at a Federal Bar Association panel in California Thursday criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's increasing use of "shadow docket" emergency rulings that offer little or no explanation, with retired Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford saying the high court has "an obligation to give more of a ruling."

  • September 11, 2025

    Trump Wants Fed Gov. Cook Out Before Next Rate Meeting

    The Trump administration asked the D.C. Circuit Thursday to halt a preliminary injunction barring the removal of Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook, urging the appellate court to fast-track its decision in an effort to block Cook from participating in a meeting regarding interest rates next week.

  • September 11, 2025

    Girardi's Atty, Judge Debate If His Conviction Is 'Debatable'

    A California federal judge pushed back Thursday on arguments by Tom Girardi's lawyer that he should be free on bond while he appeals his wire fraud conviction, saying that debating the case doesn't automatically mean it raises "fairly debatable" questions sufficient to meet the Ninth Circuit's standard for remaining free on appeal.

  • September 11, 2025

    Expert's AI Hallucinations Blamed On Attys' 'Willful Blindness'

    Utah anesthesiologists facing a False Claims Act fraudulent billing suit doubled down Wednesday on their bid to sanction and disqualify the whistleblower's counsel for not catching an expert witness report with numerous AI-generated fabrications, arguing the errors were so obvious that the failure to catch them constitutes "willful blindness."

  • September 11, 2025

    Ex-USPTO Solicitor Says Squires Is Better Than No One

    A former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office solicitor is asking the U.S. Senate to confirm John Squires as USPTO director, saying political accountability has become more important than finding a candidate who is right for the job.

  • September 11, 2025

    Legal Services Corp. Awards $5.5M To 19 For Pro Bono Work

    Nineteen legal services organizations across 15 states received a total of $5.5 million in awards to support their pro bono services for low-income Americans, the Legal Services Corp. announced Thursday.

  • September 11, 2025

    Federal Judges Faced Over 500 Threats Amid Rising Tensions

    More than 500 threats have been made to federal judges over the last year to over 300 distinct judges, according to data released by the U.S. Marshals Service.

  • September 11, 2025

    JCPenney Settles Fee Dispute Over Jackson Walker Romance

    The corporate entities formerly known as JCPenney on Thursday asked a Texas federal court to greenlight a $1.4 million settlement with Jackson Walker PC in a dispute concerning the romance of a partner with a bankruptcy judge, the latest and largest of several settlements to seek approval in recent months.

  • September 11, 2025

    US Attorneys, Judicial Noms Advance Amid Senate Tensions

    Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, faulted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday, for getting in the way of efforts by him and Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the committee's ranking Democrat, to expedite the confirmation of U.S. attorney nominees. 

  • September 11, 2025

    Atty Accused Of Cyberstalking Law Firm Partner, Another Atty

    A Texas attorney has been arrested for allegedly cyberstalking and threatening to kill two other attorneys, one of whom is believed to be a partner at Latham & Watkins LLP.

  • September 11, 2025

    Bill Giving White House More Control Of DC Judges Advances

    The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has advanced a bill on party lines that would abolish the commission in Washington, D.C., that vets and picks potential judicial nominees for the district's local courts.

  • September 11, 2025

    Lin Wood Can't Shake Trial Win For Ex-Partners

    Former attorney L. Lin Wood lost his bid to undo an approximately-$10 million award that he owes his ex-law partners relating to the breakup of their firm, with a Georgia state judge this week refusing to set aside a jury verdict in the case.

  • September 11, 2025

    2nd Circ. Says 9/11 MDL Firm Must Wait To Appeal Sanctions

    Sanctions imposed against a New York firm for leaking a document in violation of a protective order in the multidistrict litigation over the Sept. 11 attacks are too closely tied to the merits of the case for an appellate panel to consider tossing them, the Second Circuit has determined.

  • September 11, 2025

    Influencer Vows To Revive Malpractice Case Against Akin

    A social media influencer is planning to bring a malpractice suit in Texas state court against Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP after a federal judge found a lack of jurisdiction over claims that the firm mishandled a dispute over payment for participation in an amateur boxing competition.

  • September 11, 2025

    Cleary's Next Managing Partner To Focus On US Growth

    A New York-based corporate capital markets attorney is set to take over as Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP's managing partner at a time when the firm is already on a strong growth trajectory.

  • September 10, 2025

    Ga. Panel Says Privilege Can Cover Unlicensed In-House Atty

    The Georgia Court of Appeals said a trial court rightly found that Church's Chicken and its chief legal officer were protected by attorney-client privilege in a franchisee's contract suit, finding privilege can sometimes cover communications between a corporation and unlicensed in-house counsel.

  • September 10, 2025

    Trump Admin's Push To Sunset Energy Regs Faces Hurdles

    Legal obligations and practical challenges may hamstring the Trump administration's efforts to wipe out as many energy regulations as possible, making the moves vulnerable to lawsuits while creating uncertainty for the energy industry.

  • September 10, 2025

    Disney Says Forged Doc Aids $532K 'Moana' Sanctions Bid

    An attorney for Disney on Wednesday urged a California federal judge to issue $532,815 in sanctions against attorneys representing an animator who unsuccessfully alleged "Moana" lifted from his Polynesian adventure story, saying the lawyers knew or should have known a key document in the case is a forgery.

  • September 10, 2025

    Meet The Attys Now Fighting Judge Newman's Suspension

    Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's main attorney in the fight against her suspension from the appeals court has departed from the New Civil Liberties Alliance, leaving his former colleagues to head the litigation.

  • September 10, 2025

    Fla. Judge Gets First Dem Vote Of Trump's 2nd Term

    Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday became the first Democrat to vote for a judicial nominee of President Donald Trump's second term.

  • September 10, 2025

    Trump To Take Fed Gov. Cook's Removal Case To DC Circ.

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday told a Washington, D.C., federal judge that the government will appeal the judge's decision granting a temporary win to Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook in her challenge to the president's attempt to remove her from her position.

  • September 10, 2025

    Trump's Pick For Fed Board Seat Moves Ahead To Full Senate

    The U.S. Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday endorsed President Donald Trump's bid to install Stephen Miran, a top White House economist, at the Federal Reserve, advancing his nomination over Democratic objections that he would be a Trump loyalist rather than an independent central banker.

  • September 10, 2025

    Fired FBI Officials Claim 'Campaign Of Retribution' In New Suit

    Three former senior FBI officials sued the Trump administration in D.C. federal court on Wednesday, accusing FBI Director Kash Patel of politicizing the agency and firing them as part of a "campaign of retribution" in a bid to keep his own job.

  • September 10, 2025

    Wis. Judicial Commission Sued Over Confidentiality Rules

    Two conservative groups have sued the Wisconsin Judicial Commission over its policy of keeping all judicial misconduct complaints strictly confidential, claiming the policy violates the First Amendment and has stymied discussion of a complaint against a sitting state judge.

Expert Analysis

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata

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    Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Comparing Antitrust Outlooks Amid Google Remedy Review

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    As the U.S. Justice Department mulls potential structural remedies after winning its recent case against Google, increased global scrutiny of Big Tech leaves ex post and ex ante antitrust approaches ripe for evaluation, say Nishant Chadha at the Indian School of Business and Manisha Goel at Pomona College.

  • Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being

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    As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.

  • Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes

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    Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.

  • Series

    Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.

  • How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources

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    Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

  • How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment

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    Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.

  • Lawyers With Disabilities Are Seeking Equity, Not Pity

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    Attorneys living with disabilities face extra challenges — including the need for special accommodations, the fear of stigmatization and the risk of being tokenized — but if given equitable opportunities, they can still rise to the top of their field, says Kate Reder Sheikh, a former attorney and legal recruiter at Major Lindsey & Africa.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Series

    After Chevron: The Future Of OSHA Enforcement Litigation

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Loper Bright provides a blueprint for overruling the judicial obligation to defer to an agency's interpretation of its own regulations established by Auer, an outcome that would profoundly change the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s litigation and rulemaking landscape, say attorneys at Ogletree.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • Opinion

    Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits

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    With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.

  • How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program

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    During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.

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