Business of Law

April 12, 2024
Trump Trial's Anonymous Jury Signals Sacrifice Of Service

As jury selection begins Monday in the criminal trial of former president Donald Trump, the panel's identities will remain shielded from the public and the media. So-called anonymous juries are relatively new and rare, but they're being used more and more for high-profile cases in an age of doxxing and political polarization.
April 12, 2024
Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after an Illinois federal jury found that Amazon owes $525 million in damages for infringing three patents covering cloud data storage technology.
April 12, 2024
Panama Papers Attys Deny Money Laundering At Trial

Two attorneys who ran the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama, at the center of a 2016 leak that produced multiple convictions for tax evasion, pled not guilty with 27 others to money-laundering charges as a trial began in Panama, according to prosecutors.
April 12, 2024
NY Court System Launches Panel To Study AI Risks, Rewards

New York's state court system has announced a new statewide advisory panel to study how the potential implementation of artificial intelligence could improve justice in the Empire State, as well as ways to avoid ethical risks posed by the new technology.
April 12, 2024
DC Circ. Upholds Jan. 6 Rioter's 52-Month Sentence

The DC Circuit on Friday affirmed a judgment and 52-month sentence against a Texas militia leader who pled guilty to assaulting a law enforcement officer during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, saying the judge had acted within his discretion in applying certain enhancements.
April 12, 2024
The Week In Trump: Catch Up On The Ex-President's Cases

Donald Trump and his legal team proved that they are nothing if not persistent as they repeatedly tried — and failed — to hit the brakes on the former president's porn star hush money trial in Manhattan.
April 12, 2024
GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

Key congressional leaders announced a surprising deal on a national data privacy framework, and a Republican congressman said he plans to ask the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to push back the compliance timeline for controversial rules governing corporate climate disclosures. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.
April 12, 2024
Kevin Carey, Bankruptcy Bench 'Legend,' Dies At 69

Former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey, who served on the Delaware bench for 14 years and was hailed as a "legend in the bankruptcy world," died Thursday at the age of 69.
April 12, 2024
Trump Voir Dire Aims To Keep Ballot Box Out Of The Jury Box

As jury selection begins Monday in the first-ever criminal trial against a former president, experts say both the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and lawyers for Donald Trump will rely on voir dire questioning and social media sleuthing to keep out jurors who'd use their civic duty to "have a stronger vote in the next presidential election."
April 11, 2024
Orrick To Pay $8M To Settle Data Breach Litigation

A proposed class of data-breach victims asked a California federal judge Thursday to greenlight an $8 million settlement with Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in litigation over a March 2023 data breach that purportedly exposed Social Security numbers and other personal information of more than 638,000 individuals.
April 11, 2024
Leonard Leo Rebuffs Senate Judiciary Committee Subpoena

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, served influential conservative and longtime Federalist Society executive Leonard Leo with a subpoena on Thursday as part of his U.S. Supreme Court ethics probe, which Leo is refusing to comply with.
April 11, 2024
Jewish Attys Sue Union Over Dues After Pro-Palestine Stance

A public defenders union violated the First Amendment by forcing two Jewish attorneys who oppose its pro-Palestine rhetoric to continue paying dues, the New York City-based attorneys claimed in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, naming the city and their employer as defendants as well.
April 11, 2024
Tax Controversy Quintet Joins Bradley Arant In Atlanta

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that it hired a five-person tax controversy team from Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry highlighted by the addition of three experienced partners, including two former Internal Revenue Service trial attorneys.
April 11, 2024
Calif., NY And SD Judicial Nominees Advance To Full Senate

Four judicial nominees were voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, including one scrutinized for his affiliation with the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the group's position on hot button issues.
April 11, 2024
OJ Simpson's Jury Was Sequestered. Why Not Trump's?

Unlike jurors in the murder case of O.J. Simpson, the 12 Manhattanites picked to hear criminal charges against Donald Trump likely won't be sequestered during the trial — easing psychological and financial burdens but potentially exposing them to outside pressures.
April 11, 2024
Ex-Ellenoff Grossman Atty Faces Possible Firing Suit Remand

A former Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP associate's suit saying she was fired for protesting sexual harassment should return to state court, a New York federal judge recommended, saying the federal court can't enforce arbitration pacts invalidated by a 2022 amendment to the Federal Arbitration Act.
April 10, 2024
UC Berkeley Law Dean Defends Ejecting Protester From Home

University of California, Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky on Wednesday defended actions he and his wife, Berkeley law professor Catherine Fisk, took to try to stop a Muslim law student's protest at their home during a dinner for graduating students after an online video of the incident went viral.
April 10, 2024
Nationwide Injunctions Spike Politicizes Judiciary, Study Says

Nationwide injunctions have dramatically increased in recent years, particularly during the Trump administration, a trend that has politicized the judiciary and risks further politicization without reforms, according to a study published in the Harvard Law Review on Wednesday.
April 10, 2024
USPTO Outlines Possible Pitfalls For Attorneys Using AI

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday detailed risks facing attorneys using artificial intelligence, warning that they must ensure that filings are accurate and humans played a role in inventions, which attorneys say illustrates that ethical rules are unchanged in the AI era.
April 10, 2024
Dems Introduce Bill To Codify Policy Barring Judge Shopping

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., along with 37 other Democratic and two independent senators, introduced legislation on Wednesday to codify the new Judicial Conference of the United States policy against judge shopping after pushback from Republicans and a Texas court.
April 10, 2024
Chicago Man Wants New Judge In Facebook Defamation Suit

A Chicago-area resident suing Meta over allegedly false sexual misconduct accusations on an "Are We Dating the Same Guy?" Facebook page wants a different judge to handle his case, arguing his current judge's "extensive professional relationship" with Meta's counsel warrants her recusal.
April 10, 2024
Trump Fails Again To Halt NY Trial Over Claim Judge Is Biased

Donald Trump on Wednesday tried and failed for the third time in as many days to delay his upcoming hush-money trial, after arguing the judge should be removed for supposed bias and that the judge's rules were preventing him from defending himself.
April 10, 2024
Former NYCBA President, Proskauer Partner Dies At 94

Robert M. Kaufman, a former New York City Bar Association president, longtime Proskauer Rose LLP partner and Holocaust survivor, died on Monday at the age of 94, according to the law school where he served on the Board of Trustees.
April 10, 2024
Alston & Bird Pushes Arbitration Of COVID Vax Claims

Alston & Bird LLP urged a Georgia federal court to reject a former aide's objection to a magistrate judge's recommendation to force her to arbitrate her claims alleging she was fired after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
April 10, 2024
Ex-Reed Smith Atty Can't DQ Judge In Bias Suit Against Firm

A former Reed Smith LLP attorney failed in her bid to have a New Jersey state judge disqualified from her gender discrimination suit against the firm, with the judge on Wednesday turning down her argument that he improperly reviewed a certification from the firm's general counsel.

Expert Analysis

Atty-Client Privilege Arguments Give Justices A Moving Target

Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case regarding the scope of the attorney-client privilege appeared to raise more questions about multipurpose counsel communications than they answered, as the parties presented shifting iterations of a predictable, easily applied test for evaluating the communications' purpose, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
5 Gen X Characteristics That Can Boost Legal Leadership

As Generation X attorneys rise to fill top roles in law firms and corporations left by retiring baby boomers, they should embrace generational characteristics that will allow them to become better legal leaders, says Meredith Kahan at Whiteford Taylor.
6 Questions For Boutique Firms Considering Mergers

To prepare for discussions with potential merger partners, boutique law firms should first consider the challenges they hope to address with a merger and the qualities they prioritize in possible partner firms, say Howard Cohl and Ron Nye at Major Lindsey.
5 Tips For Adding Value To Legal Clients' Experience In 2023

Faced with a potential economic downturn this year, attorneys should look to strengthen client relationships now by focusing on key ways to improve the client experience, starting with a check-in call to discuss client needs and priorities for the coming year, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
6 Ways To Avoid Compounding Errors When Practicing Law

For lawyers and law firms, inevitable human error can lead to claims of malpractice or ethical violations, but the key is to avoid exacerbating mistakes by adding communication failures, conflicts of interest or insurance coverage losses, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.
What Will Keep Legal Talent Professionals Up At Night In 2023

Hybrid work environments, high demand for lateral hires and a potential slowdown of the economy defined 2022 in the always-busy marketplace for legal talent, and as BigLaw looks at the year ahead, there are five major sources of concern for the teams charged with securing and retaining that talent, say advisers at Baretz+Brunelle.
The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from the "great resignation" to potential expansion of attorney-client privilege.
Remote Work: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

In 2022, Law360 Expert Analysis writers examined how remote and hybrid work is affecting the legal industry and many areas of law, including employment, cybersecurity, patent venue, immigration and tax.
The Most-Read IP Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

IP Law360 guest experts dug into sanctions on Russia, Elizabeth Holmes' trade secret defense, and other key topics including non-fungible tokens, patent examiner classification and inventor testimony in a busy 2022.
Artificial Intelligence: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This has been a hugely transformative year for artificial intelligence, with rapid advancements in AI capabilities raising a variety of novel legal questions that Law360 Expert Analysis writers explored, including copyright conundrums, murky legal rights and the troubling possibility of deepfake evidence.
Perspectives

The Most-Read Access To Justice Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Law360 guest experts weighed in on a broad slate of emerging access to justice issues last year, ranging from evidence of ineffective counsel to opportunities for nonlawyers to provide legal help and the presumption of innocence.
ESG: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This year, as many companies embraced environmental, social and corporate governance strategies, Law360 Expert Analysis discussions revolved around increasing scrutiny from investors, regulators and state attorneys general, and the influx of anti-ESG bills and litigation.
The Metaverse: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

As the metaverse became a popular destination to explore new business opportunities this year, it raised regulatory questions, with Law360 guest experts discussing risk assessments and compliance procedures across various industries, and NFT issues related to intellectual property, privacy and securities law.
The Most-Read Employment Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This year, issues related to noncompetes, no-poach enforcement and abortion access were among the most popular employment law topics in Law360's Expert Analysis section.
Trial Tips: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Law360 guest experts offered commentary on the high-profile trials of 2022 and highlighted best practices for attorneys, such as key principles for sound closing arguments that win over jurors, strategies to help witnesses stay focused, and how to recognize the most common cognitive distortions that can cripple witnesses' testimony.