Lessons From The Past For Weil's Final Curtain Call

By Rick Archer

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP leaders may have every reason to agree to an out-of-court wind-down, but dissolving such a storied law firm, which announced Wednesday it intends to shut down following an exodus of attorneys, is not as simple as a handshake among partners, experts said in interviews with Law360 on Wednesday.

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Google Cut Worker's Duties After Military Leave, Feds Say

By Vin Gurrieri

Google failed to reinstate a former employee to a similar role after he returned from a yearlong stint in the U.S. Army's Cyber Command unit and eventually laid him off, according to a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice filed Thursday in Manhattan.

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Wash. Jury Asked To Pin Blame For Fatal 2022 Seaplane Crash

By Rachel Riley

The owner of a seaplane involved in a deadly 2022 crash told a Washington state jury on Thursday that a design flaw caused the aircraft to plunge into the bay below, contending an affiliate of the plane's Canadian manufacturer owes $1.14 million for equipment destroyed in the crash.

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Judge Sinks Feds' Bid To Duck Prototype Competition Protest

By Tom Lotshaw

A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has denied the government's attempt to escape consolidated protests challenging the Navy's decision to eliminate two companies from an Other Transaction Authority competition involving unmanned surface vessel prototypes.

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Groups Drop Suit Over Trump's DEI Mandate For Contractors

By Grace Elletson

A coalition of organizations ended their challenge of an executive order from President Donald Trump that requires government contractors to disavow "racially discriminatory DEI activities," stating that while they lost their bid to freeze the order, they gained crucial clarity from the court about the directive's scope.

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FCC Seeks To Rev Up Satellite Device Coverage

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission advanced new rules Thursday that could open 25 megahertz of midband spectrum for new uses, including not only terrestrial wireless but potentially also direct-to-device coverage from satellites.

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FCC Agrees To Rules Targeting Some Foreign Test Labs

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to block recognition of equipment testing labs in countries that do not similarly recognize U.S.-based labs.

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Canada, UAE Sign Economic Partnership Agreement

By Jack McLoone

Canada and the United Arab Emirates have reached an agreement on a trade deal that is expected to double bilateral trade between the countries, up to CA$7 billion ($5 billion) annually, the Canadian government said, lauding the agreement as being reached in "record time."

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Brief

US Signs Key Sector Memorandums With Hungary, Finland

By Dylan Moroses

Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed memorandums with Finnish and Hungarian officials Thursday indicating that the U.S. will work together with those trading partners on key minerals, technology and energy policy matters.

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EU Head Affirms Ties With Canada As Member Talks Open

By Jack McLoone

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday reaffirmed the European Union's commitment to strengthening its ties with Canada at the opening of a summit to consider whether to adopt Canada as the EU's first-ever associate member.

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Brief

EU Pushes China For More Fair Trade Commitments

By Jack McLoone

The European Parliament's Committee on International Trade spent a three-day trip to China pushing for an expansion of a trade framework beyond a recently reached mutual understanding on hybrid vehicles, among other concerns, the committee said Thursday.

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Judge Rejects 'Kitchen Sink' Protest Of Optum DHA Deal

By Elaine Briseño

A Court of Federal Claims judge dismissed a protest challenging the Defense Health Agency's award of a $1.6 billion health services contract, finding the protestors spent too much time making various points instead of homing in on a winning argument.

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NJ Panel Says State Shields Military Leave Past Federal Cap

By MJ Koo

A New Jersey state appeals court on Thursday upheld a decision giving an Atlantic City police officer his job back after the city fired him for staying on military leave for more than five years, saying a federal five-year limit is a minimum, not a maximum.

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Navy Beats Clean Water Act Suit Over Fuel Discharges

By Madeline Lyskawa

A Hawaii federal judge ruled in favor of the U.S. Navy over an environmental group's claims it violated the Clean Water Act by discharging fuel into Pearl Harbor, saying there's no reasonable likelihood that the Navy will continue to do so.

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Gov't Urges Court To Dismiss $50B Ligado Takings Case

By Madeline Lyskawa

The federal government has urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to dismiss Ligado's attempt to secure $50 billion over claims the Pentagon prevented the company from using valuable spectrum rights it bought for exclusive use to build a terrestrial wireless network.

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Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Blast 'Absurd' Lone Pine Motion

By Mike Curley

Plaintiffs in massive multidistrict litigation over toxic water at the Camp Lejeune military base are urging a North Carolina federal court to reject the federal government's bid for a Lone Pine motion requiring claimants to submit proof of their claims, saying it would delay the litigation by years, if not decades, and cause the plaintiffs' costs to skyrocket.

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Bid Protest Spotlight: Bait-And-Switch, Scope, Performance

In this month's bid protest roundup, Michael Ols at MoFo offers takeaways from recent decisions examining bait-and-switch protest claims, the scope of a contractor teaming agreement and the use of an affiliate’s past performance.

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West Point Prof's Suit Tests Public Employee Speech Limits

A recent complaint in New York federal court alleging that West Point unlawfully terminated a professor who challenged a directive banning references to human causes of climate change could illuminate how academic freedom and public employee speech protections apply at a military academy, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

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Weil's Demise Sparks Shock, Reflection In The Legal World

By Alison Knezevich and Andrea Keckley

The stunning collapse of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP is the talk of BigLaw this week, as those in the industry grapple with how the powerhouse Wall Street firm could implode so quickly.

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'Leadership Vacuum' Preceded Weil's Collapse

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson and Aebra Coe

A series of leadership failures and strategic missteps preceded the precipitous downfall of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, sources told Law360 Pulse.

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Weil's Collapse Ends Firm's Long Run As Bankruptcy Leader

By Alex Wittenberg

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP helped pioneer modern bankruptcy practice and earned hundreds of millions of dollars leading many of the biggest Chapter 11 cases in U.S. history. Its collapse this week marks a stunning end to that legacy and reflects major changes in how law firms function today, attorneys told Law360.

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Troutman, Baker McKenzie Report Data Breaches

By Lynn LaRowe

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP and Baker McKenzie experienced data breaches last month as a result of social engineering attacks, according to notices submitted this week to the attorneys general offices in California and Texas.

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Morgan & Morgan Seeks To Block Celebrity Ad Ban In Florida

By Ryan Boysen

Personal injury giant Morgan & Morgan PA has asked a Florida federal court for a preliminary injunction to block a Sunshine State bar rule that forbids celebrity endorsements in attorney advertisements.

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