Business of Law

  • May 22, 2025

    'Circular Firing Squad' Is Stalling Romance Case, Judge Says

    A Texas federal judge told Jackson Walker LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP that they were stuck in a "circular firing squad" in a debate over whether the former CEO of a defunct barge company could sue the firms over a former bankruptcy judge's secret romance with an attorney.

  • May 22, 2025

    As Trump Wields FCA, Whistleblowers May See 'Dollar Signs'

    The Trump administration's plan to use the False Claims Act to target diversity programs and alleged civil rights fraud steers a well-worn statute into uncharted territory, and could spur significant whistleblower activity amid high-profile battles with Harvard University, BigLaw firms and other institutions, experts told Law360.

  • May 22, 2025

    Justices Allow Trump To Fire NLRB, MSPB Members, For Now

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled two fired members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board cannot return to work while they challenge President Donald Trump's authority to fire them without cause, handing the president a win in his crusade against a 90-year-old precedent limiting his power to fire employees at independent agencies.

  • May 22, 2025

    Fox Rothschild, Litigation Funder Sued Over NJ Crash Loans

    A former client is suing a Perth Amboy, New Jersey, personal injury firm, a litigation funder and Fox Rothschild LLP for allegedly steering him into multiple loans during his car accident suit with exorbitant interest rates that left him owing more money than his settlement was worth.

  • May 22, 2025

    BigLaw Firms Insist Trump Deals Are Legal, Don't Alter Values

    Nine BigLaw firms including Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP have written to members of Congress defending controversial agreements they made with the Trump administration to avoid executive orders targeting the firms, according to letters obtained by Law360 on Thursday.

  • May 22, 2025

    Ex-Troutman Atty Drops Retaliation Suit Against Major Lindsey

    An associate attorney who sued Major Lindsey & Africa LLC alleging the legal recruiter refused to work with her due to her underlying race discrimination suit against Troutman Pepper permanently dropped her suit Thursday.

  • May 22, 2025

    Del. Considering Exam Alternatives For Admitting Attys To Bar

    Delaware's judiciary announced Thursday that the state's Supreme Court is establishing a task force that will make recommendations by next year if the First State should pursue alternative pathways other than having to take an exam for attorneys to gain admission into its bar.

  • May 22, 2025

    US Trustee, Jackson Walker Might Mediate Fee Case

    The U.S. Trustee's Office and Jackson Walker LLP told a Texas federal judge Thursday they are open to mediating the watchdog's bid to have the law firm forfeit fees from more than 30 cases overseen by a former bankruptcy judge who was romantically involved with a onetime firm partner.

  • May 22, 2025

    High Court Declines To Narrow Reach Of Federal Fraud Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday held that using deceptive means to induce a business transaction may still be a crime even if the defendant doesn't seek to cause economic loss, a departure from earlier decisions that have narrowed the scope of federal fraud statutes.

  • May 22, 2025

    Split Supreme Court Blocks 1st Religious Charter School

    A deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court left in place Thursday an Oklahoma state court ruling barring the launch of the nation's first religious charter school, leaving open questions about the constitutionality of excluding religious groups from participating in publicly funded charter school programs.

  • May 21, 2025

    Littler, Tech Exec Settle Suit Over Firm's 'Unlawful' Advice

    Littler Mendelson PC has settled a tech executive's lawsuit claiming she was suspended and, eventually, fired after the company followed the "unlawful" advice of Littler attorneys, according to a dismissal order issued Tuesday in New York federal court.

  • May 21, 2025

    The Status Of Biden-Era Immigration Suits: A Roundup

    Following the presidential transition, the U.S. Department of Justice moved to dismiss suits brought by the Biden administration challenging state immigration enforcement measures in Texas, Iowa and Oklahoma, leaving the status of those cases up in the air.

  • May 21, 2025

    Judge Warns Attys Using AI To 'Advocate — Not Hallucinate'

    A Florida federal judge on Tuesday sanctioned two attorneys in a shipping contract dispute for filing a brief that included a nonexistent case citation added by artificial intelligence, warning lawyers that they must "carefully evaluate, elucidate and advocate — not hallucinate" in their legal briefs.

  • May 21, 2025

    Immigrant Groups Appeal Denied Bid To Halt IRS-ICE Deal

    Immigrant advocacy groups on Wednesday appealed a D.C. federal judge's order denying their bid to block the IRS from sharing taxpayer data with immigration enforcement agencies, with their counsel warning "it will be too late" once the information is shared.

  • May 21, 2025

    Girardi's Son-In-Law Was No 'Babe In The Woods,' Feds Say

    The Chicago federal judge presiding over a summer client theft trial against Girardi Keese founder Tom Girardi's son-in-law should not limit the government's case based on positions it took during Girardi's California trial because its positions are consistent, and the cases are charged differently, prosecutors argued Wednesday.

  • May 21, 2025

    SF Law Firms' Ex-CFO Gets 3 Years For Embezzling $1.3M

    A former chief financial officer of two San Francisco law firms was sentenced to just over three years in prison Wednesday for stealing more than $1.3 million from the firms and others, after one firm's founder said the defendant appeared to enjoy "stabbing us all in the back."

  • May 21, 2025

    Ford Hits Calif. Firms With RICO Suit Over Lemon Law Billing

    The Ford Motor Co. sued several California-based law firms and lawyers in Los Angeles federal court Wednesday, accusing them of conspiring to overcharge clients and defraud major automotive manufacturers by more than $100 million by submitting falsely inflated time sheets in thousands of consumer protection cases.

  • May 21, 2025

    Democrats Wary of Nominees' Pledge To Honor Court Orders

    Nominees for top roles at the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fended off questions from Democrats on Wednesday about the Trump administration's willingness to defy court orders and pledged that the White House would at least follow rulings of the Supreme Court.

  • May 21, 2025

    Apologetic NJ Atty Gets 21 Months For $350K COVID Fraud

    A New Jersey attorney sentenced to 21 months in federal prison on Wednesday for claiming he was a business in order to receive nearly $350,000 earmarked for small businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic apologized to the court for the "embarrassment" he caused to the legal profession.

  • May 21, 2025

    $1.8M From Legal Industry Fuels NYC Mayor's Race

    The legal industry poured at least $1.79 million into this year’s election for New York City mayor, the majority going to incumbent Eric Adams, attorney Jim Walden and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Law360 Pulse found.

  • May 20, 2025

    'Not A Denny's': 5th Circ. Judge Chides High Court Stopwatch

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday expedited a case brought by Venezuelans who are accused of being gang members and who are challenging the use of a 1798 wartime law to deport them to an El Salvador prison, with one judge chastising the U.S. Supreme Court's majority for allowing the appeal to move forward.

  • May 20, 2025

    Dem Lawmakers Reintroduce Supreme Court Ethics Bill

    Two Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday reintroduced bills in the House and Senate that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt a binding ethics code and create new recusal and disclosure standards for the nine justices.

  • May 20, 2025

    DOJ Watchdog Asked To Probe AG's Trump Media Stock Sales

    Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday urged the U.S. Department of Justice's inspector general to investigate Attorney General Pam Bondi's sale of millions of dollars' worth of shares in Trump Media just ahead of the stock market plunging.

  • May 20, 2025

    SEC Chair Says Staff Exits Have Left Holes In Agency

    U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins told Congress Tuesday that the agency has lost hundreds of employees in recent months due to voluntary buyouts and early retirement incentives, and that some now-missing expertise will need to be replaced. 

  • May 20, 2025

    Injunction On Trump Order Limited To Perkins, Judge Clarifies

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday clarified the scope of her injunction blocking President Donald Trump's executive order targeting Perkins Coie LLP, explaining that her ruling prohibits the president from directing government agencies to investigate only Perkins Coie's employment practices and not the other BigLaw firms.

Expert Analysis

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

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    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    After Chevron: New Lines Of Attack For FCA Defense Bar

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    Loper Bright has given defense counsel new avenues to overcome the False Claims Act elements of falsity and scienter, as any FCA claim based upon ambiguous statutory terms can no longer stand solely on agency regulations to establish the statute's meaning, which is itself necessary to satisfy the FCA's basic requirements, says Elisha Kobre at Bradley Arant.

  • Series

    Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Delegation Of Authority And Tax Regulators

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    The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service will face higher standards following Loper Bright’s finding that courts should determine whether agency rules meet the best possible interpretation of the tax code, as well as the scope of the authority delegated by Congress, says Edward Froelich at McDermott.

  • Lawyers Can Take Action To Honor The Voting Rights Act

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    As the Voting Rights Act reaches its 59th anniversary Tuesday, it must urgently be reinforced against recent efforts to dismantle voter protections, and lawyers can pitch in immediately by volunteering and taking on pro bono work to directly help safeguard the right to vote, says Anna Chu at We The Action.

  • Series

    After Chevron: What Loper Bright Portends For The NLRB

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court has a long history of deferring to the National Labor Relations Board's readings of federal labor law, the court's Loper Bright v. Raimondo decision forces courts to take a harder look at the judgment of an agency — and the NLRB will not be immune from such greater scrutiny, says Irving Geslewitz at Much Shelist.

  • Series

    After Chevron: NRC Is Shielded From Loper Bright's Effects

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Loper Bright v. Relentless decision brought an end to Chevron deference, Congress' unique delegation of discretionary authority to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will likely insulate it from the additional judicial scrutiny that other federal agencies will face, say Ryan Lighty and Scott Clausen at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    After Chevron: ERISA Challenges To Watch

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    The end of Chevron deference makes the outcome of Employee Retirement Income Security Act regulatory challenges more uncertain as courts become final arbiters of pending lawsuits about ESG investments, the definition of a fiduciary, unallocated pension forfeitures and discrimination in healthcare plans, says Evelyn Haralampu at Burns & Levinson.

  • How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market

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    Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Slowing Down AI In Medical Research

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision overturning the Chevron doctrine may inhibit agencies' regulatory efforts, potentially slowing down the approval and implementation of artificial intelligence-driven methodologies in medical research, as well as regulators' responses to public health emergencies, say Ragini Acharya and Matthew Deutsch at Husch Blackwell.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uncertainty In Scope Of ITC Oversight

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's long-standing jurisprudence on some of the most disputed and controversial issues is likely to be reshaped by the Federal Circuit, which is no longer bound by Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, say Kecia Reynolds and Madeleine Moss at Paul Hastings.

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