DOL's Benefits Arm Describes New Enforcement Focus

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm Thursday outlined a shift in its enforcement priorities, including by ending a focus on employee stock ownership plans.

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House OKs Restricting ESG Investment In 401(k) Plans

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. House of Representatives greenlighted a bill Thursday that would restrict how retirement plan managers can consider environmental, social and governance issues when picking investments, codifying a 2020 U.S. Department of Labor rule requiring a sole focus on financial risk factors.

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Brief

$332M Colgate-Palmolive Pension Deal Nabs Final Nod

By Grace Elletson

A New York federal judge handed final approval to a $332 million deal ending a class action accusing Colgate-Palmolive of shorting retirees who opted for lump-sum payments, but has yet to rule on the pensioners' attorneys' bid for $99 million in fees.

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Loses 3rd Circ. Appeal In CBA Fight

By Emily Brill

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has lost its latest bid to duck an injunction compelling it to restore its 2014-17 collective bargaining agreement, with the full Third Circuit refusing to reconsider a panel's decision to issue the injunction in 2025.

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Air Force Asks Justices Not To Hear COVID Vax Back Pay Case

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Air Force urged the U.S. Supreme Court to not hear a reservist's bid for back pay after he refused to follow its now-overturned COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds, arguing its sovereign immunity bars compensatory damages claims. 

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IRS Updates Guidance For Retirement Plan Safe Harbors

By Anna Scott Farrell

The Internal Revenue Service on Thursday updated its guidance to retirement plan administrators for notifying beneficiaries of rollover distributions, saying the changes are meant to align with legislative changes from 2022.

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Murphy's Legacy: Tackling Some Of NJ's 'Intractable' Issues

By George Woolston

When New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy took office, he had his pick of policy challenges that had plagued the Garden State for years. The state's pension fund had been underfunded for decades, municipalities had been locked in litigation over their affordable housing obligations, and the state's public transit system needed a major overhaul.

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Ex-CEO Of COVID Vax Maker Accused Of Insider Trading

By Sarah Jarvis

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday sued the former CEO of healthcare contractor Emergent BioSolutions Inc., alleging insider trading amid troubles manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine, while signing a $900,000 settlement with the company over its approval of an executive trading plan.

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Fla. Eye Clinics To Pay $6M Over False Medical Billing Claims

By David Minsky

Five Florida ophthalmology clinics have reached settlements with the government over allegations that they filed false claims to Medicare and Medicaid, agreeing to collectively pay nearly $6 million to resolve accusations that the clinics billed the federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary eye procedures.

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Judge Orders Recalculation In Steel Co. Benefit Suit

By Katherine Smith

An ironworkers' union local must prepare a revised audit regarding how much a reinforced-steel contractor still owes in unpaid fringe benefit contributions on behalf of ironworkers who traveled from out of state to work on a construction project in Detroit, a Michigan federal court has ruled.

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Brief

Ambulance Co. Will Pay $225K To Settle OT Suit

By Benjamin Morse

An Illinois ambulance services company will pay $225,000 to end a suit alleging it violated wage law by only paying employees overtime when they worked more than 80 hours in a two-week period, according to a federal judge's order approving the deal.

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4 Ways GCs Can Manage Growing Service Of Process Volume

As automation and arbitration increase the volume of legal filings, in-house counsel must build scalable service of process systems that strengthen corporate governance and manage risk in real time, says Paul Mathews at Corporation Service Co.

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Series

Fly-Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Much like skilled attorneys, the best anglers prize preparation, presentation and patience while respecting their adversaries — both human and trout, says Rob Braverman at Braverman Greenspun.

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As Goldstein Trial Begins, Gov't Points To 'Lavish' Lifestyle

By Jared Foretek

An accountant for billionaire investor Alec Gores said that Thomas Goldstein had suggested he open a foreign account for Gores' poker-related transactions or even classify him as a professional player for tax purposes, although Gores was just getting started in the high-stakes poker world.

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Simpson Thacher Offers Stipend To Lure Summer Associates

By Tracey Read

In an effort for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to attract top students who want to pursue public interest work, the firm said it will pay a stipend of $42,500 for the 2026-2027 cycle for those who opt to spend their 1L summer in a qualifying public service, government, academic, in-house legal or nonprofit role.

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Calif. Justices Order Prosecutors To Explain Alleged AI Errors

By Dorothy Atkins

The California Supreme Court has ordered Nevada County prosecutors to explain to a lower court why they shouldn't be sanctioned for "apparent serial submission" of artificial intelligence-generated briefs with nonexistent legal citations in multiple criminal proceedings.

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Judiciary AI Rule Draws Fire As Judges Get Deepfakes Survey

By Jeff Overley

Federal judiciary policymakers heard extensive concerns Thursday regarding high-profile plans to formally screen evidence generated with artificial intelligence, and they set the stage for more feedback by preparing an AI survey for every federal trial judge.

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ICE Detention Facilities Nearly Doubled Last Year, Report Says

By Tom Lotshaw

An American Immigration Council report said the Trump administration detained record numbers of noncitizens last year, most without criminal records, and held them in a rapidly expanding network of facilities that could soon rival the federal criminal prison system.

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Fla. High Court Opens Door To Non-ABA Accrediting Entities

By Carolina Bolado

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday changed the bar exam admission requirements to allow graduates of law schools accredited by entities other than the American Bar Association to sit for the Florida bar exam.

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5th Circ. Revives Allstate's Fraud Suit Over Car Crash Billing

By Gina Kim

The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday revived Allstate's racketeering suit alleging doctors and personal injury lawyers unleashed a barrage of unnecessary treatments for car accident patients and caused Allstate to pay $4.7 million in claims, finding the insurer sufficiently pled details about the conspiracy and specifics surrounding each allegedly fake medical billing.

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Sens. Advance Indiana Judge Nominee Grilled Over Sermons

By Courtney Bublé

A federal judicial nominee for Indiana who came under scrutiny by a Republican senator for his past sermons as an ordained elder was voted out of committee Thursday alongside five other judicial nominees.

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Trump US Atty Pick In NM Bumped To First Assistant

By Emily Sawicki

A New Mexico federal judge has ruled the Trump-appointed interim U.S. Attorney for New Mexico is not validly serving in the role but declined to disqualify the prosecutor from a slate of cases pending in the district, instead determining the lawyer may continue to work in the federal prosecutor's office as first assistant.

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Wash. Judges To Pick US Atty As Floyd's Term Set To Expire

By Gina Kim

The chief judge for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday announced the court's intent to select a U.S. attorney to serve on a temporary basis if President Donald Trump's pick, Charles Neil Floyd, who has been serving on an interim basis, isn't confirmed by the Senate by next month. 

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