Analysis

Trump Pick Sets Stage For More Fights Over FCC's Power

By Christopher Cole

A move by the White House to fill the third Republican vacancy on the Federal Communications Commission — but leave a long-empty minority seat on the five-member board unfilled — sets up what will likely be more pitched battles over not only the FCC's powers, but its future composition.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

9th Circ. Enforces $2B Devas Satellite Award

By Caroline Simson

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday enforced an over $2 billion arbitral award issued to a satellite communications company, ruling for the first time that the legal concept that a dispute might be better heard elsewhere does not apply in cases seeking to enforce international arbitral awards.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

GAO Says Army Can't Bar Small Biz Teams From $50B Deal

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Army's prohibition on small businesses submitting proposals as teams to secure a potentially $50 billion contract aimed at establishing a marketplace for the acquisition of professional services goes against small business regulations, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said.

Decision attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SpaceX On Hunt For More Spectrum

By Nadia Dreid

SpaceX is hungry for more spectrum, telling the Federal Communications Commission it ought to set "aggressive, technology-agnostic" buildout milestones in order to get new wireless satellite services to market just as the company unveils plans to build its own terrestrial network.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Q&A

She Has A Point: Shutts & Bowen's Jodi-Ann Tillman

By Dani Kass

Jodi-Ann Tillman of Shutts & Bowen LLP was brought into patent infringement litigation over drum technology just months before trial, and her performance earned high praise from opposing counsel, Foley & Lardner LLP partner Laura Ganoza.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Lawmakers Probe Rare Earths Co. Over $620M DOD Loan

By Tom Lotshaw

Democratic lawmakers have asked the CEO of Vulcan Elements to address reports that a senior White House adviser pressed defense officials to loan the rare earths startup $620 million after a firm affiliated with Donald Trump Jr. invested in it.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Army Corps OKs Enbridge Tunnel Amid Line 5 Permit Fight

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit Wednesday allowing Enbridge Energy LP to tunnel beneath four miles of the Straits of Mackinac for its Line 5 oil pipeline, and environmental and tribal groups fighting the project say a recent Michigan Supreme Court decision bars the construction.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DC Court Says Firms' Fee Arbitration Pact Wasn't Coerced

By Caroline Simson

An appeals court has affirmed an arbitral award issuing a Washington, D.C., law firm zero fees in connection with efforts by defense contractor Wye Oak Technology Inc. to enforce a $120 million judgment against Iraq, rejecting the firm's argument that an underlying fee deal was coerced.

Decision attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Army Loses Bid For 4th Circ. Burial Remains Rehearing

By Crystal Owens

The Fourth Circuit won't rethink its decision that the U.S. Army must return the remains of two Indigenous children to the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska who have been buried at a former Indian boarding school cemetery in Pennsylvania for more than a century.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Norwegian Air Affiliates Seek Boeing Exec Depo In 737 Case

By Rachel Riley

Norwegian Air subsidiaries that claim Boeing duped them into a 737 Max deal by overstating the jets' safety urged a Washington federal judge Tuesday to order the deposition of a former Boeing executive, contending he has unique insight into information shared with top corporate leaders during the aircraft's development.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

WSJ Says Binance Sued Because It's Unhappy With Facts

By Stewart Bishop

The publisher of the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday urged a Manhattan federal judge to deep six a defamation suit brought by Binance over reporting about internal investigators at the crypto exchange who were allegedly fired after flagging Iranian sanctions violations, saying the company is just unhappy with the way the Journal reported the facts.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

How New Counter-Drone Rule Will Reshape Event Security

A new interim final rule on counter-unmanned aircraft systems creates one of the most structured regulatory frameworks yet adopted for mitigating unauthorized drone activity, with implications for law enforcement, airport and stadium operators, drone companies, and public event organizers, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump Picks Ex-Arkansas SG, Walmart Lawyer For 8th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has announced that he's looking to elevate Judge Lee Rudofsky of the Eastern District of Arkansas to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NYC Bar Committee Calls For Nationwide AI Rules Framework

By Andrea Keckley

A New York City Bar Association committee concluded in a policy paper published Wednesday that artificial intelligence tools "may assist legal work but cannot substitute for professional legal judgment," calling for a national framework to be built into the Model Rules of Professional Conduct governing its use.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NC Biz Court Bulletin: Judges Retire, HCA Suit Heads To Trial

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court dropped a host of heavy-hitting opinions in July ahead of two judicial retirements and a new chief judge rising in the ranks.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

JP Ward Attorney Exodus Delays Pa. Labor Trafficking Suit

By Matthew Santoni

A "staffing disruption" at the Pittsburgh law firm J.P. Ward & Associates led the firm to request a stay of a labor-trafficking case against hotels in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, after the firm was reduced to one attorney and two staff members, according to court filings.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

DOJ Fraud Division To Reach 500 Staffers This Month

By Courtney Bublé

By the end of the month, there will be about 500 attorneys and staff in the U.S. Department of Justice's new fraud division, with more to come as time goes on.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Latham Leads List Of Client Service 'All-Stars,' Report Says

By Ryan Boysen

Latham & Watkins LLP, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP all delivered exceptional client service in a fast-changing, high-pressure era where "the business decision is also the legal decision," a new report by BTI Consulting Group says.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »