Michigan

  • October 03, 2025

    The Roberts Court At 20: How The Chief Is Reshaping America

    Twenty years after John Roberts became the 17th chief justice of the United States, he faces a U.S. Supreme Court term that's looking transformative for the country and its institutions. How Justice Roberts and his colleagues navigate mounting distrust in the judiciary and set the boundaries of presidential authority appear increasingly likely to define his time leading the court.

  • October 03, 2025

    Off The Bench: QB Wins In Court, 'Poaching' Feud Heats Up

    In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA's bid to overturn a football player's eligibility falls short, a transgender athlete wants a potential landmark U.S. Supreme Court case stopped, and a $55 million feud between two athletic conferences continues.

  • October 03, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Paul Weiss, Cravath

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, video game maker Electronic Arts agrees to be acquired by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners; online mortgage giant Rocket closes its acquisition of rival Mr. Cooper Group; and Berkshire Hathaway acquires international energy company Occidental's chemical business.

  • October 03, 2025

    Mich. Defends Refugee Service Contract Choices In Bias Suit

    Two Michigan departments told a federal judge that a court order requiring the state to preserve a Christian nonprofit's refugee aid contracts while it pursues a religious liberty lawsuit against them would be both inappropriate and pointless.

  • October 02, 2025

    Mich. Panel Says Probationer's Text Barrage Wasn't Stalking

    A Michigan appeals panel has ordered the acquittal of a man who was convicted of stalking for incessantly texting his probation officer's work cell phone at all hours of the day and night about probation-related matters, saying "rambling" messages are not a crime.

  • October 02, 2025

    Flagstar Customers Want OK On $31M Data Breach Deal

    A proposed class alleging Flagstar Bank didn't protect customer and employee information from two data breaches asked a Michigan federal judge Wednesday to give the initial approval for a $31.5 million settlement to resolve the case.

  • October 02, 2025

    Mich. Judge Says State Must Face Edenville Dam Trial

    A Michigan claims court judge has cleared the way for a January trial on Michigan's liability for the collapse of a privately owned dam that unleashed widespread flooding, denying the state's bid to end the litigation.

  • October 02, 2025

    HNI Gives Enforcers More Time On $2.2B Steelcase Deal

    Workplace furnishing and residential building product manufacturer HNI Corp. has given antitrust enforcers additional time to review its planned $2.2 billion purchase of office, home and learning environment solutions maker Steelcase for potential competition concerns.

  • October 02, 2025

    Apple IP Suit Stayed As Appeal In Samsung Case Plays Out

    A California federal judge on Thursday stayed litigation claiming certain Apple touchscreen products infringe a Michigan company's patent, while the same company appeals a separate case against Samsung, but the judge tipped his hand by saying the Samsung judge's opinion tossing that dispute "made perfect sense to me."

  • October 02, 2025

    Mass. Court Denies States' Bid To Block ACA Subsidy Cuts

    A Massachusetts federal court has rejected a bid by a coalition of 21 states to stay implementation of a rule that will cut Affordable Care Act subsidies and enforce enrollment restrictions, saying the states hadn't shown imminent or irreparable harm from the policy's costs or possible coverage losses.

  • October 02, 2025

    Toshiba Seeks Trial Time Limits In $500M Hydro Plant Case

    Toshiba Corp. urged a Michigan federal judge on Wednesday to set time limits for a trial over claims that one of its units botched a $500 million upgrade to a power plant owned by DTE Electric Co. and Consumers Energy, saying the complicated case is one that "cries out" for such constraints.

  • October 02, 2025

    Tenn. 'Gag Order' Ruling Against Atty Axed After Rule Change

    The Sixth Circuit has vacated a decision that a Nashville attorney lacked standing to challenge a since-rescinded Middle District of Tennessee rule restricting lawyers' so-called extrajudicial statements.

  • October 02, 2025

    Michigan OKs Anti-Bias Rule For Judges, Delays Atty Version

    Michigan's top court adopted a rule Wednesday prohibiting judges from acting with bias or prejudice but held back a companion rule for lawyers for more deliberation.

  • October 01, 2025

    States Say DOJ Can't Tie Victim Service Funds To Immigration

    Several state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Justice in Rhode Island federal court Wednesday over new restrictions prohibiting them from using federal funding that supports crime victims to provide services to "removable aliens," in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution's spending clause.

  • October 01, 2025

    Accellion Breach Plaintiffs Get Cert. For Narrow Subclasses

    A California federal judge has agreed to allow plaintiffs to proceed with five subclasses in their dispute with Accellion over allegations the company failed to protect against cyberattacks on its file-sharing software, while finding that a lack of "cohesion" doomed their chances to certify a broader negligence class of roughly 5 million breach victims. 

  • October 01, 2025

    EPA Seeks Dismissal Of Flint Bellwethers, Says It's Not Liable

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has defended its timing of using its authority to issue a Safe Drinking Water Act order regarding lead in the city of Flint's water, urging a Michigan federal judge to dismiss claims from bellwether plaintiffs who alleged the agency was negligent in its response to the crisis.

  • October 01, 2025

    Mich. Panel OKs Fine For Atty's Gender-Based Slur At Judge

    A Michigan appellate panel has affirmed a $7,500 fine for a lawyer who called a judge a vulgar term during a virtual hearing, rejecting the lawyer's defense that he thought he had closed out of the video call when he made the remark.

  • October 01, 2025

    6th Circ. Axes NCAA Appeal After Waiver Keeps QB Playing

    The NCAA's appeal of the injunction that allowed Vanderbilt University's Diego Pavia to play football this season was dismissed Wednesday by a unanimous Sixth Circuit panel that raised several ongoing antitrust concerns about college sports.

  • October 01, 2025

    First Brands Can Tap $1B DIP As It Seeks Stability In Ch. 11

    A Texas bankruptcy judge Wednesday gave interim approval to car parts maker First Brands' $1.1 billion debtor-in-possession loan, freeing up $500 million in funds, after a stalled refinancing and limited liquidity pushed it to Chapter 11.

  • October 01, 2025

    NY Judge Undoes Order Freeing NFL's Lions From IP Suit

    A New York federal judge has reversed an order that let the Detroit Lions football team out of a suit brought by a photographer who says the team modeled a statue of Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders on his photo.

  • October 01, 2025

    6th Circ. Reverses Immunity For Officers Who Injured Inmate

    A Sixth Circuit panel said a trial court was wrong to use qualified immunity to toss a Michigan prisoner's suit alleging his constitutional rights were violated when corrections officers slammed him to the ground and fractured his foot in two places.

  • October 01, 2025

    Mich. Judge Slashes RICO Claims Against Mortgage Lender

    A Michigan federal judge has dismissed the bulk of a proposed class action accusing United Wholesale Mortgage of forcing mortgage brokers to originate loans with UWM instead of shopping around for the best options for borrowers.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ford Loses Bid To Overturn $13M Verdict In IP Dispute

    A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday said he wouldn't touch a verdict awarding $13 million to a California-based vehicle technology supplier that alleged Ford Motor Co. profited from misappropriating a trade secret related to the supplier's interface module product, finding the jury had "substantial" evidence to find in favor of the tech company.

  • October 01, 2025

    3 Firms Guide Rocket Merger To Close With $14.2B Valuation

    Online mortgage giant Rocket has finished its all-stock purchase of rival Mr. Cooper Group with help from Paul Weiss, Wachtell and Bradley Arant, noting Wednesday the now-$14.2 billion deal has a higher price tag because stock values have risen since the merger's announcement.

  • September 30, 2025

    Pharmacist Gets 35 Months For 'Insidious' $11M Drug Scheme

    A pharmacist was sentenced on Tuesday to 35 months in prison for his role in a plot to file fraudulent prescriptions for specialty drugs that were later sold for profit, costing Medicare and an insurer at least $5.6 million and earning the pharmacist and his wife more than $11 million.

Expert Analysis

  • How Attys Can Use AI To Surface Narratives In E-Discovery

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    E-discovery has reached a turning point where document review is no longer just about procedural tasks like identifying relevance and redacting privilege — rather, generative artificial intelligence tools now allow attorneys to draw connections, extract meaning and tell a coherent story, says Rose Jones at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Playing The Violin Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing violin in a string quartet reminds me that flexibility, ambition, strong listening skills, thoughtful leadership and intentional collaboration are all keys to a successful legal practice, says Julie Park at MoFo.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Self-Care

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    Law schools don’t teach the mental, physical and emotional health maintenance tools necessary to deal with the profession's many demands, but practicing self-care is an important key to success that can help to improve focus, manage stress and reduce burnout, says Rachel Leonard​​​​​​​ at MG+M.

  • Birthright Opinions Reveal Views On Rule 23(b)(2) Relief

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    The justices' multiple opinions in the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 27 decision in the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. CASA, shed light on whether Rule 23(b)(2) could fill the void created by the court's decision to restrict nationwide injunctions, says Benjamin Johns at Shub Johns.

  • ABA Opinion Makes It A Bit Easier To Drop A 'Hot Potato'

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    The American Bar Association's recent ethics opinion clarifies when attorneys may terminate clients without good cause, though courts may still disqualify a lawyer who drops a client like a hot potato, so sending a closeout letter is always a best practice, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

  • FMLA Expansion Sees State Progress Despite Federal Barriers

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    Recent legislative efforts to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act reflect workers' growing demand for work-life balance, but as federal proposals continue to face significant hurdles, states have stepped in, creating a labyrinth of leave laws and compliance headaches for multistate employers, say attorneys at FordHarrison.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • What Businesses Need To Know To Avoid VPPA Class Actions

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    Divergent rulings by the Second, Sixth and Seventh Circuits about the scope of the Video Privacy Protection Act have highlighted the difficulty of applying a statute conceived to regulate the now-obsolete brick-and-mortar video store sector in today's internet economy, say attorneys at DTO Law.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • What Baseball Can Teach Criminal Attys About Rule Of Lenity

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    Judges tend to assess ambiguous criminal laws not unlike how baseball umpires approach checked swings, so defense attorneys should consider how to best frame their arguments to maximize courts' willingness to invoke the rule of lenity, wherein a tie goes to the defendant, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

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