FDIC Review Flags 'Patriarchal' Workplace, Chief's 'Temper'

By Jon Hill

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s workplace culture has suffered "far too long" from sexual harassment, discrimination and other abuses that higher-ups failed to adequately address, according to a report released Tuesday that is drawing renewed calls for FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg's exit.

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CFPB Fines Chime Financial Over Delayed Consumer Refunds

By Sarah Jarvis

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday ordered fintech company Chime Financial to pay more than $4.5 million for allegedly leaving thousands of its users waiting weeks and sometimes months for their balance refunds after their accounts were closed.

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PNC Bank Entitled To Atty Fees In Defamation Suit, Court Says

By Katryna Perera

The Georgia Court of Appeals granted an appeal by PNC Bank to receive attorney fees from a customer-launched defamation suit it defeated, finding that the award is mandatory under Georgia law while also ruling that the bank does not have to turn over documents requested by the suing customer.

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Top Dem Cuts Cuellar Slack Not Given Santos, Menendez

By Courtney Bublé

House Democratic leadership has continued its defense of Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, following the recent bribery indictment against him and his wife, saying the situation is different from the indictments last year against Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

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Russian Charged Over $100M LockBit Ransomware Scheme

By Elliot Weld

Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they have charged a Russian national with founding and heading the prolific ransomware group LockBit, which is accused of stealing more than $100 million from its victims.

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Chase Aims To Sink Florida Law Firm's $100K Wire Theft Suit

By Madison Arnold

JPMorgan Chase Bank NA has asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a Florida law firm, saying it is not responsible for the $100,000 payment that a client mistakenly transferred to a fraudster instead of the firm's account at the bank.

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Lender Shanks Bid To Halt Ga. Golf Course Auctions

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia federal judge on Tuesday denied successive efforts from a lender to wrest control of the assets of an Atlanta-area golf club owner, whom attorneys for the lender describe as a "serial fraudster" likely to abscond with his assets while still owing millions on a 2023 loan.

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Ex-Tugboat CEO Can't Reinstate $75M Defamation Verdict

By Mike Curley

A Washington state appeals panel won't let the former CEO of boating company Harley Marine Services Inc. reinstate a $75 million defamation verdict against his former business partners, finding that the comments that formed the basis for the verdict are covered under the state's "absolute" litigation privilege.

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Past FDIC Exec Is Troutman Pepper's Latest Davis Wright Hire

By Andrea Keckley

Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP said Monday that a former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. executive is the fourth bank regulatory lawyer to join the firm this year, reuniting with multiple previous Davis Wright Tremaine LLP colleagues.

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Ex-SEC Trading And Markets Atty Rejoins Davis Wright In DC

By Jack Rodgers

A former 30-year veteran of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's division of trading and markets, has left retirement to rejoin the ranks of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP as an of counsel in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Monday.

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Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

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A Recipe For Growth Equity Investing In A Slow M&A Market

Carl Marcellino at Ropes & Gray discusses the factors bolstering appetite for growth equity fundraising in a depressed M&A market, and walks through the deal terms and other ingredients that set growth equity transactions apart from bread-and-butter venture capital investing.

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What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

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Opinion

SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule

Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.

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Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

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Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

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Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

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ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

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ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

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Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

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Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

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Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

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Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

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NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

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Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

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Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

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Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

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