Massachusetts

  • June 05, 2026

    USDA Food Assistance Conditions Halted By Mass. Judge

    A Massachusetts federal judge Friday blocked the U.S. Department of Agriculture from conditioning funding for programs like school lunches and food assistance on compliance with Trump administration policies on gender, women's sports, diversity and immigration.

  • June 05, 2026

    Rail Co. Loses DC Circ. Appeal Challenging State Forest Law

    The D.C. Circuit rejected Grafton & Upton Railroad Co.'s effort to preempt a Massachusetts town's claim over forest land the railroad wants to use for a new transloading facility, finding Friday that the federal Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act doesn't preempt a state right-of-first-refusal law.

  • June 05, 2026

    Developers Say Bank Shared Financials On Debt Buyer Site

    A pair of well-known Boston real estate developers claimed in a lawsuit Friday that Eastern Bank and debt marketplace DebtX publicly disclosed personal financial statements they had submitted in support of a commercial real estate loan.

  • June 05, 2026

    Taxation With Representation: Simpson Thacher, Fried Frank

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. takes Taylor Morrison Home Corp. private, global real estate investment company Kennedy Wilson forms a residential joint venture with Netherlands pension services provider APG, and Wellington Management acquires Hartford Funds from insurer The Hartford.

  • June 05, 2026

    Sister Of Former Mass. Pol Sentenced For Role In Job Fraud

    The sister of a former Massachusetts state senator will spend two years on supervised release for lying to a grand jury investigating the politician for fraud, a federal judge ordered on Friday.

  • June 05, 2026

    ITC Opens Patent Probe Of Imported Pickleball Paddles

    The U.S. International Trade Commission announced it is opening an investigation into pickleball paddles made by Franklin Sports and 19 other companies that a Maryland manufacturer alleges violate two of its patents.

  • June 05, 2026

    Judge Slams Gov't For 'Pretextual' Immigration Filing Pause

    A Rhode Island federal judge ruled on Friday that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' indefinite hold on processing immigration applications for individuals from the 39 countries on President Donald Trump's travel ban list is unlawful.

  • June 05, 2026

    Town Official Stole $200K In Little League Funds, Feds Say

    A Massachusetts town official used his access to a payment system for youth sports umpires to embezzle more than $200,000, federal prosecutors said Friday in announcing his indictment on wire fraud and tax charges.

  • June 04, 2026

    Draft House Bill Aims To Set Federal AI Regulatory Standard

    A bipartisan pair of House members Thursday released a draft proposal to create a federal framework for AI governance that would require large developers to take steps to address and disclose "catastrophic" risks while prohibiting states from crafting or enforcing laws "targeting the development of AI models" for three years.

  • June 04, 2026

    Interior Dept. Must Face Suit Over National Park Sign Removal

    Conservation groups have standing to challenge the removal of information about climate change, slavery and Indigenous history from national park sites and can proceed with their lawsuit, a Massachusetts federal judge said Thursday.

  • June 04, 2026

    Compass Under Antitrust Probe After $1.6B Anywhere Deal

    New York state has launched an antitrust investigation into Compass Inc. after the country's biggest real estate brokerage announced last year that it would acquire Anywhere Real Estate, the second-largest brokerage, in a $1.6 billion deal.

  • June 04, 2026

    Texas AG Says ActBlue 'Fraud' Outweighs Free-Speech Concern

    Counsel for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged a skeptical Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday not to block an enforcement action against Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, arguing any "incidental" infringement of the group's First Amendment rights is outweighed by alleged evidence that it violated a Texas consumer protection law.

  • June 04, 2026

    Live Nation Remedies Discovery To Wait On New Trial Motions

    A New York federal judge said that state attorneys general will have to wait on discovery to bolster their bid for a Live Nation Entertainment Inc. breakup, preferring to first tackle the live music giant's bid to upend jury findings faulting the company for monopolizing the industry.

  • June 04, 2026

    Karen Read Sues Police For Lax Oversight Of 'Unfit' Officers

    Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman acquitted last year of killing her police officer boyfriend in a trial that garnered national attention, said in a suit filed Thursday that police agencies were negligent for entrusting the case to "biased and corrupt" officers whose private messages were filled with bigoted language.

  • June 03, 2026

    Medtronic Unit Must Face Bellwether Hernia Mesh Claims

    A Massachusetts federal judge has largely cleared the way for bellwether claims in multidistrict litigation over Covidien's hernia mesh, finding that a reasonable jury could find the Medtronic subsidiary failed to adequately warn physicians about certain risks.

  • June 03, 2026

    Mass. Judge Says DOJ Trans Care Memo Suit Can Proceed

    A challenge to a Trump administration directive calling for providers of gender-affirming care to be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice will proceed after a Massachusetts federal judge said Wednesday that the states that filed suit have already demonstrated harm from the federal government's actions.

  • June 03, 2026

    Judge Questions Terms Of Student Loan Forgiveness Change

    A Massachusetts federal judge considering whether to block a new Trump administration rule that could kick millions of public sector and nonprofit employees out of a student loan forgiveness program repeatedly pressed a government lawyer Wednesday on the precise criteria the U.S. Department of Education would use to decide who is no longer eligible.

  • June 03, 2026

    GE Vernova Unit Appeals Vineyard Wind Work Order

    The principal contractor for the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm is appealing a Massachusetts state court decision denying its renewed bid to quit the project and move the dispute to arbitration.

  • June 03, 2026

    BigLaw Insider Trading Defendants Have Big-Name Legal Help

    An insider trading case involving nonpublic information prosecutors say was stolen from some of the largest law firms in the U.S. has ensnared more than two dozen defendants, many of whom have turned to lawyers with notable clients including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione.

  • June 03, 2026

    Mass. Lawyer Admits To $5M Client Fund Theft

    A Massachusetts attorney on Wednesday pled guilty in Boston to stealing client funds, in his second tangle with the law after being convicted of campaign finance violations several years ago.

  • June 03, 2026

    1st Circ. Panel Seems Poised To Uphold RI Drug Pricing Law

    The majority of a First Circuit panel seemed unlikely Wednesday to upend a Rhode Island law that blocks drug manufacturers from imposing restrictions on healthcare providers and contract pharmacies in a federal prescription drug discount program, appearing unconvinced of an argument that states can't interfere with federal government programs. 

  • June 03, 2026

    Education Advocacy Groups Settle Ex-Director's Bias Suit

    A group of Democratic educational advocacy organizations settled claims that they fired their former Massachusetts director after she complained about a new CEO's treatment of women and outreach to conservative groups.

  • June 03, 2026

    Paul Weiss, Weil Steer $1.9B Wellington-Hartford Funds Deal

    Boston-based Wellington Management has agreed to acquire Hartford Funds from insurer The Hartford in a deal valued at about $1.9 billion, with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP advising, the companies said Wednesday.

  • June 02, 2026

    'Citizenship Lists' For Mail Voting Worry Mass. Judge

    A federal judge in Boston had tough questions on Tuesday for a lawyer defending President Donald Trump's executive order tightening mail voting rules, flagging concerns that voters could be disenfranchised by the changes.

  • June 02, 2026

    Mass. Judge Says State Dept.'s Visa Pause Likely Unlawful

    A Massachusetts federal judge has blocked the U.S. Department of State from imposing a nationality-based immigrant visa pause on a Bangladeshi man seeking to come to the U.S. to support his elderly and ailing U.S. citizen father, ruling that the challenged pause is likely unlawful.

Expert Analysis

  • Prepping For White House's Proposed AI Framework

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    The artificial intelligence legislative framework issued by the White House last month reframes the policy landscape, creating a number of near-term developments for companies to track as congressional committees attempt to convert the framework into legislative text, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    State Bars Need To Get Specific About AI Confidentiality

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    Lawyers need to put actual client information into artificial intelligence tools to get their full value, but they cannot confidently do so until state bars offer clear, formal authority on which plan tiers of the three most popular generative AI tools are safe to use when sharing specific client details, says attorney Nick Berk.

  • Opinion

    Judicial Restraint Anchors Constitutional Order

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    Contrasting opinions in two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Trump v. CASA and Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections — demonstrate how the judiciary’s constitutionally entrusted role can easily be preserved or disrupted, and invite renewed attention to the enduring importance of judicial restraint, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • What's Missing From Latest Gov't Claims Against Harvard

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    The most interesting thing about the Trump administration’s recent civil rights enforcement efforts targeting Harvard University is its decision not to assert violations of the False Claims Act when given the opportunity, despite signals that its enforcement efforts will include use of the federal FCA, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • Series

    Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

  • State FARA Laws Pose Unique Constitutional Challenges

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    Several states have recently enacted foreign agent registration and disclosure regimes that were modeled after the Foreign Agents Registration Act, but these state laws raise several constitutional questions, including concerns about preemption, speech and petition, and vagueness, says Alexandra Langton at Covington.

  • Determining When Engineered Biologics May Be Patentable

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Regenxbio v. Sarepta, concluding that engineered cells with DNA from different organisms are not patent-ineligible natural phenomena, raises questions surrounding what framework courts will use to evaluate the patent eligibility of engineered biologics moving forward, says Robert Frederickson at Goodwin.

  • Getting The Most Out Of Learning And Development Programs

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Junior associates can better develop the legal, business and interpersonal skills they need for long-term success by approaching their firms’ learning and development programs armed with five tips for getting the most out of these resources, says Lauren Hakala at Reed Smith.

  • Proposed Oracle Act Tests NY's Prediction Markets Clout

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    New York's proposed Oracle Act could if passed force a high-stakes showdown over event contracts in the prediction markets as well as state gambling laws, and legal practitioners should closely monitor litigation, parallel developments in other states, Commodity Futures Trading Commission rulemaking and congressional action, says Linda Goldstein at CM Law.

  • Opinion

    AI Presents A Make-Or-Break Moment For Outside Counsel

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    The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence by corporate legal departments is forcing a long-overdue reset of the relationship between inside and outside counsel, and introducing a significant opportunity to shed frustrating inefficiencies and strengthen collaboration for firms willing to embrace the shift, says Intel Chief Legal Officer April Miller Boise.

  • State Carbon Cost Disparities Are Pivotal In Data Center Siting

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    When choosing U.S. data center locations, developers must carefully consider the patchwork of state and regional carbon emission pricing regimes that are layered on top of the federal permitting framework, creating compliance cost differentials that could add up to billions of dollars, say attorneys at Davis Graham.

  • Series

    Watching Hallmark Movies Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    I realize you may be judging me for watching, and actually enjoying, Hallmark Channel movies, but the escapism and storylines actually demonstrate qualities and actions that lead to an efficient, productive and positive legal practice, says Karen Ross at Tucker Ellis.

  • Keys To Federal Carbon Compliance In Data Center Siting

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    Recent statements from the White House and state governors about making data centers pay for their own power infrastructure have underlined the importance of choosing locations, generation technologies and deal structures to optimize carbon, permitting and compliance costs, say attorneys at Davis Graham.

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