The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm recently issued updated enforcement guidance that highlighted the agency's goal of shifting to focus more on breaches of the fiduciary duty of loyalty under federal benefits law. Here are three things experts said stood out about the DOL's update.
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THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Analysis

What To Know About DOL's Benefits Enforcement Update

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm recently issued updated enforcement guidance that highlighted the agency's goal of shifting to focus more on breaches of the fiduciary duty of loyalty under federal benefits law. Here are three things experts said stood out about the DOL's update.

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DOL's Warning For Proxy Advisers Acts On A Trump Order

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits division cautioned Wednesday that proxy advisory firms may be providing advice that could make them fiduciaries under federal law, following through on a directive that President Donald Trump issued in December.

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Aluminum Co. Settles Trans Worker's Suit Over Health Plan

By Patrick Hoff

A subsidiary of Kaiser Aluminum has agreed to resolve a lawsuit claiming it discriminated against transgender employees by excluding coverage for medical treatments related to gender-affirming care from its health plan, according to a filing in Washington federal court.

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LITIGATION

Brief

Risk Agency Drops Munich Re Suit Over Sex Abuse Coverage

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut municipal risk financing agency has dropped a short-lived federal lawsuit seeking coverage from Munich Reinsurance America Inc. in an underlying sexual abuse lawsuit against a local school board.

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Cvent Investors Reach $12M Deal To End Take-Private Suit

By Katryna Perera

Stockholders of cloud-based event management technology provider Cvent Holding Corp. have reached a $12 million settlement with the company, its top brass and its controlling shareholder over claims that they breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the company's $4.6 billion take-private sale to affiliates of Blackstone Inc.

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Judge Limits Evidence In Revived Deloitte Trade Secret Case

By Ivan Moreno

A West Virginia federal judge has narrowed the evidence prosecutors can present at trial in a revived trade secret case against two former Deloitte employees, curtailing use of an internal investigative report from the company they joined and restricting how "trade secrets" may be used to describe allegedly confidential materials.

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SURVEYS

The 2026 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey: Where Do You Stand?

How is your work-life balance? Are you content with your compensation and opportunities for advancement at work? Take the 2026 Law360 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey and share your thoughts.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Fraud Enforcement, Sentencing Face Unusual Convergence

The Trump administration’s newly created task force to eliminate fraud and the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recent proposals to scale back certain elements of the federal sentencing framework seem to point in opposite directions, creating a collision of policy priorities that may reshape how fraud cases are charged, negotiated and sentenced for years to come, says David Tarras at Tarras Defense.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Sotomayor Apologizes For 'Hurtful' Comments About Kavanaugh

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor publicly apologized Wednesday for comments she made at a University of Kansas appearance earlier this month criticizing Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

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Justice Jackson Slams Court's 'Oblivious' Emergency Orders

By Lauren Berg

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson this week slammed her conservative colleagues' use of the court's emergency docket, which has repeatedly benefited the Trump administration, saying that such "scratch-paper" orders don't acknowledge the harms that can follow such decisions, making the orders "seem oblivious and thus ring hollow."

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Consumer Cases Drive Class Action Spike, Report Says

By Y. Peter Kang

Federal class action filings spiked in 2025 after nearly a decade of relative stability, fueled by a surge in consumer protection lawsuits tied to data breaches, digital commerce and online accessibility claims, according to a new report from Lex Machina.

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Hogan, Cadwalader Partners Vote To Forge Ahead With Merger

By Marialuisa Taddia

Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader said Wednesday that their partners have voted in favor of their merger ahead of the scheduled launch of the combined law firm on July 1.

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Winston & Strawn Must Face $1.7B GloriFi Malpractice Suit

By Vince Sullivan

A Chapter 7 malpractice suit brought by the trustee of fintech company GloriFi asserting $1.7 billion in damages from a failed initial public offering mostly survived a motion to dismiss late Tuesday, with a Texas bankruptcy judge saying the trustee sufficiently pled breach claims against law firm Winston & Strawn.

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Trump's 8th Circ. Pick Pressed On Leonard Leo Ties

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Eighth Circuit, who represented Trump in the two cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, came under scrutiny Wednesday for his affiliation with groups linked to longtime Federalist Society executive and Republican fundraiser Leonard Leo.

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Jones Day DQ'd From Vanderbilt Case Over Pre-Ch. 11 Work

By Vince Sullivan

A New York bankruptcy judge disqualified law firm Jones Day from representing talc producer Vanderbilt Minerals in its Chapter 11 case Wednesday, saying the firm's prior work for the larger Vanderbilt corporate family raises questions about its disinterestedness.

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John Eastman Disbarred Over Bid To Overturn 2020 Election

By Rae Ann Varona

California's highest court on Wednesday ordered the disbarment of California attorney John Charles Eastman, who a state bar court found had helped plan and promote President Donald Trump's strategy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

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ICE Arrest Memo Switch Looks 'Specious,' Judge Says

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday revived an effort by civil rights groups to block immigration courthouse arrests, citing what he called an apparently deceptive Trump administration move to disclaim its earlier litigation position.

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Historical Groups Fight To Save White House Records

By Jared Foretek

Historians are asking a D.C. federal judge for an injunction that would force the Trump White House to preserve official records after administration attorneys declared the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional.

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Trump Defends DOJ Investigation Of 'Incompetent' Fed Chair

By Jon Hill

President Donald Trump expressed support Wednesday for the U.S. Department of Justice continuing to investigate Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over the Fed's headquarters renovation, saying the government must "find out what happened" with the project's $2.5 billion price tag.

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DOJ Atty Slapped With $250 Sanction For Missed Deadlines

By Tom Lotshaw

A California federal judge hit a U.S. Department of Justice attorney with a $250 sanction for repeatedly missing deadlines in a noncitizen's habeas corpus case, rejecting his assertions that his need to juggle tasks under a 300-plus caseload should excuse him.

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Former Judge To Head New NJ Attorney Readmission Board

By Jake Maher

The New Jersey Supreme Court announced this week the lineup of a new committee that will consider disbarred attorneys' applications for readmission, with a former state court judge of over 20 years at the head of the board.

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Promo that reads Law360 Pulse 2026 AI Survey

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Baker & Hostetler

Bernstein Litowitz

Block & Leviton

Bond Schoeneck

Brown Rudnick

Caplin & Drysdale

Carlton Fields

Davis Polk

Dorsey & Whitney

Emery Celli

Friedman Oster

Gallo Vitucci

Gibbs & Bruns

Gordon Rees

Gottlieb & Associates PLLC

Hogan Lovells

Howd & Ludorf

J.J. Conway Law

Jackson Lewis PC

Jones Day

Kirkland & Ellis

Labaton Keller

Leon Cosgrove

Milberg PLLC

Miller Waxler

Morgan Lewis

O'Melveny & Myers

Potter Anderson

Reardon Scanlon

Ross Aronstam

Saxena White

Sellitti Nogay

Seward & Kissel

Sirianni Youtz

Stein Saks

Thomas Combs

Watkins Calcara

Wilentz Goldman

Winston & Strawn

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

African Communities Together

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

American Civil Liberties Union

Apple Inc.

Blackstone Inc.

Cvent Inc.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd.

Federalist Society

Glass Lewis & Co. LLC

Institutional Shareholder Services Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Kaiser Aluminum Corp.

Lex Machina Inc.

LexisNexis Legal & Professional

LinkedIn Corp.

Make the Road New York

New Jersey State Bar Association

New York Civil Liberties Union

R.T. Vanderbilt Holding Co. Inc.

RELX PLC

State Bar of California

Stockton University

The University of Alabama System

Vanderbilt Minerals LLC

Vista Equity Partners Management LLC

Walmart Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Supreme Court

Delaware Court of Chancery

Employee Benefits Security Administration

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Executive Office of the President

Federal Reserve System

Federal Trade Commission

New Jersey Supreme Court

Risk Management Agency

Texas Attorney General's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Sentencing Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of New York

United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia