Recent headline-grabbing blunders with the February California bar exam represent a stumbling block in a yearslong effort to reshape the exam, with an eye toward equity and accessibility for the more than 10,000 applicants who sit for the exam each year.
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California Bar Exam Woes Latest Chapter In Ongoing Scrutiny

By Emily Sawicki

Recent headline-grabbing blunders with the February California bar exam represent a stumbling block in a yearslong effort to reshape the exam, with an eye toward equity and accessibility for the more than 10,000 applicants who sit for the exam each year.

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Alphabet, Investors Face Judge's Questions Over $500M Deal

By Lauren Berg

A California federal judge has questions about an investor settlement with Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., which agreed to earmark half a billion dollars over the next 10 years to overhaul its global compliance structure to resolve claims against company leaders of anticompetitive and monopolistic practices.

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Judge Warns Overeager Samsung, ZTE Attys Not To Bug Staff

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has issued a short, stern warning to counsel in Samsung's antitrust fight against ZTE over its standard essential patents' licensing practices, telling counsel not to contact court staff again about the status of their pending stipulation and noting "future improper communications to court staff may result in sanctions."

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Trump's Attack On Fed. Worker Unions Meets Skeptical Judge

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge Wednesday appeared open to temporarily blocking President Donald Trump's executive order reclassifying hundreds of thousands of federal workers to bar them from collective bargaining, calling the order "dramatic" and "unprecedented," and asking about the downsides of keeping the status quo until trial.

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State Farm Likely To Face 200K Calif. Homeowner Class

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated Wednesday that he'll likely certify a class of nearly 200,000 homeowners in litigation alleging that State Farm underpays property insurance claims by depreciating sales tax when calculating replacement costs, saying a common issue predominates and noting he'd sided with plaintiffs in a similar 2017 case.

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Reddit Execs Downplayed Google AI's Impact, Investors Say

By Lauren Berg

Reddit and its top brass downplayed the impact Google's artificial intelligence-generated search results had on the forum website's traffic and ad revenues, causing stocks to drop when the truth emerged about weakening revenues, according to an investor's proposed class action filed Wednesday in California federal court.

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BofA Judge Doubts Class Certification Bid In Unpaid PTO Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge doubted Wednesday whether a named plaintiff can adequately represent a proposed class of Bank of America employees who claim they weren't paid for unused vacation time when they left the bank, observing during a hearing that her individualized issues "could make her very differently situated."

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ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL

California Cities Say Enviro Group Destroyed Testing Data

By Mike Curley

The cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View, California, are asking a federal judge to sanction environmental group San Francisco Baykeeper in a suit alleging the cities allowed sewage into the bay, saying the group destroyed key evidence either by "conscious effort or gross negligence."

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Judge Says A Ruling Unfreezing Wind Projects May Be Pyrrhic

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge said on Wednesday he will allow key claims to move forward in a suit challenging the Trump administration's halt of wind farm project reviews, yet he suggested even if the plaintiffs ultimately prevail, the administration could still simply deny requests for permits and leases.

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PRODUCT LIABILITY

Hong Kong-Based Airline Sued Over Failed Takeoff To LA

By Jonathan Capriel

Plane passengers injured during a failed takeoff and "chaotic emergency evacuation" are suing Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., claiming the company failed to maintain equipment and properly train crew.

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PRIVACY & CONSUMER PROTECTION

9th Circ. Backs Papa John's Win Against Wiretapping Suit

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit refused to reinstate a customer's proposed class action accusing Papa John's of recording website visitors' activities in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, ruling Wednesday the pizza chain, as a party to the communications, can't be liable for spying on its own conversation. 

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Split 9th Circ. Partly Undoes Walmart Copyright Verdict

By Elliot Weld

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday reversed part of a jury's verdict that found Walmart had violated a sculptor's copyrights by selling knockoffs of her lamps, allowing the retail giant to escape paying her attorney fees for now.

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Netflix Gets Fed. Circ.'s Backing In Streaming Patent Fight

By Theresa Schliep

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that invalidated claims in a streaming patent challenged by Netflix while also vacating the board's decision to decline to scrub other claims.

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Fed. Circ. OKs Google's PTAB Win In Sonos Patent Fight

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday backed a Patent Trial and Appeal Board finding that claims in a Sonos music playback patent were invalid, handing a win to Google in a larger fight between the companies.

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EMPLOYMENT & BENEFITS

9th Circ. Tosses NLRB Order On Union Jurisdiction Dispute

By Beverly Banks

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday axed a National Labor Relations Board order barring a longshore union from going after maintenance work in the Port of Seattle that was awarded to the Machinists, with one judge inviting en banc review of appeals court precedent about work preservation defenses.

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Super Micro Can't Ditch Whistleblower Retaliation Suit

By Lauren Berg

Super Micro Computer cannot escape its former employee's claim that the information technology company unlawfully retaliated against him for acting as a whistleblower to report its misleading accounting practices and other misconduct, a California federal judge ruled Tuesday.

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WHITE COLLAR

Brief

Feds Want Pa. Inmate To Face $810K Tax Refund Case

By Aaron Keller

Massachusetts federal prosecutors want a Pennsylvania inmate returned to the Bay State by July to face claims he impersonated a corporate executive and swiped an $810,000 tax refund bound for a Stamford, Connecticut, investment firm.

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COMPETITION

DOJ Defends Using Written Depos In HPE-Juniper Merger Trial

By Jared Foretek

The U.S. Department of Justice is defending its proposal to include written deposition testimony into the record for its upcoming antitrust trial against Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks, saying that playing depositions live would waste crucial time in what is scheduled to be an eight-day trial.

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IMMIGRATION

Groups Say Feds Violate Flores With Lengthy Child Detention

By Rae Ann Varona

Children's and legal rights groups on Tuesday evening urged a California federal judge to enforce a decadesold settlement agreement governing the custody of immigrant children, saying migrant children today are being held for prolonged periods in unsafe and unsanitary "prison-like" conditions.

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Cities Sign On To Chicago's Suit Over DHS Funding 'Pause'

By Rachel Riley

Boston, Denver, San Francisco and Seattle have joined Chicago's federal lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of illegally suspending federal counterterrorism funding meant for urban areas, saying the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has failed to fulfill nearly $3 million in preapproved reimbursement requests.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

State Farm Rate Hike Portends Intensifying Insurance Crisis

The California Department of Insurance's unprecedented emergency approval of a 17% rate increase for State Farm General Insurance, the first interim rate relief granted before completing full actuarial justification, represents a regulatory watershed and establishes precedent that could fundamentally reshape insurers' response to climate-driven market instability, says Daniel Veroff at Merlin Law Group.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Teaching Yourself Legal Tech

New graduates often enter practice unfamiliar with even basic professional software, but budding lawyers can use on-the-job opportunities to both catch up on technological skills and explore the advanced legal and artificial intelligence tools that will open doors, says Alyssa Sones at Sheppard Mullin.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

'Absolutely Disgusting': Litigant's Stashed Gum Irks Judge

By Hailey Konnath

A Florida federal judge admonished a plaintiff for sticking her chewed gum to a courtroom table, leading to a federal prosecutor getting the gum stuck to her skirt later, calling it "absolutely disgusting" and saying he "never dreamed" he would have to "write an order like this."

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9th Circ. Backs 'Legitimate' Bar Membership Admission Rules

By Lauren Berg

The Ninth Circuit on Friday tossed a challenge to local rules in district courts in the circuit requiring lawyers to be bar members in the state where the court is located in order to seek general admission, saying admission rules aren't unconstitutional and there are several "legitimate reasons" for the rule.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton and Andrea Keckley

WilmerHale leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Federal Circuit vacated a $300 million patent infringement jury verdict against Apple, based on instructions by a Texas federal judge that the appellate court panel determined to be erroneous.

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Feature

Current And Former GCs Urge Law Grads To 'Rise Up'

By Michele Gorman

From sharing details about being part of the first class of female graduates at Washington and Lee University School of Law to explaining how a middle-school teaching job led to obtaining a law degree, five commencement speakers — all current or former general counsel — recently shared their wisdom for the next generation of attorneys.

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Trump Taps Atty Dropped By Biden For Eastern Ky. Fed. Court

By Ali Sullivan

President Donald Trump has announced plans to nominate former Kentucky Solicitor General Chad Meredith to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

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NJ Court Greenlights Beasley Allen Attys In Talc Litigation

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state judge will allow two Beasley Allen Law Firm attorneys to represent a California couple in their suit accusing Johnson & Johnson of selling carcinogenic talc-based baby powder and appear pro hac vice despite the company's vehement opposition.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

A new report showed a dip in the average size of corporate legal teams over the last year, and an attorney focused on special purpose acquisition companies is predicting the Trump administration's friendly stance on cryptocurrency will spawn a wave of new cryptocurrency-related ventures going public in the coming months. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Attys Face Sanctions For 'Sweeping' Copying Of Firm's Motion

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has ordered The Neil Jones Food Co.'s defense counsel to explain why she shouldn't sanction them for filing a dismissal motion that appears to plagiarize a losing motion filed by another firm in another case in the district, slamming the "sweeping copy and paste" conduct as "patently unacceptable."

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Pogust Goodhead face legal action from mining giant BHP Group, Trainline bring a procurement claim against the Department for Transport, Sworders auction house sue Conservative peer Patricia Rawlings, and Nokia hit with a patents claim by Hisense. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Addleshaw Goddard

Akin Gump

Aqua Terra Aeris

Arias Sanguinetti

Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Team, LLP

Barnard Iglitzin

Barnes & Thornburg

Beasley Allen

Beveridge & Diamond

Bingham McCutchen

Bird & Bird

Blackstone Chambers

Boni Zack

Boston Law

Bredhoff & Kaiser

Candey Ltd.

City of Chicago Department of Law

Clyde & Co

Coleman & Horowitt

Cooley LLP

Cotchett Pitre

Covington & Burling

Cozen O'Connor

DMH Stallard

DWF LLP

Dean Omar

Denlea & Carton

Dentons

Duane Morris

Edelsberg Law

Ellenoff Grossman

Faegre Drinker

Feinberg Jackson

Fieldfisher

Finnegan

Foley & Lardner

Freshfields

Fridman Fels

Fried Frank

Gibson Dunn

Gomerman Bourn

Gordons LLP

Gowling WLG

GrayRobinson

Hausfeld LLP

Holland & Knight

Jones Day

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Law Offices of Erin R. Opperman

Lee Sullivan Shea

Levy Firestone

Lewis Brisbois

Liddle Sheets

Lynch Carpenter

Mayer Brown

McDermott Will & Emery

McGuireWoods

Merlin Law Group

Milbank LLP

Mishcon de Reya

Moore Hill & Westmoreland

Morgan Lewis

Murray Law Firm LLC

O'Melveny & Myers

Orrick Herrington

Paul Weiss

Perkins Coie

Pogust Goodhead

Prince Lobel

Quarles & Brady

Quinn Emanuel

Reed Smith

Reynolds Porter

Ropes & Gray

Ross Aronstam

Rutan & Tucker

Ruttenberg IP Law

Scott&Scott

Seladore Legal

Shamis & Gentile

Sheppard Mullin

Sidley Austin

Simon Paschal

Skadden Arps

Slaughter and May

Squire Patton

Stewarts Law LLP

Stoel Rives

Stueve Siegel

Sycamore Law Inc

TLT LLP

Taylor Wessing

Troutman

Wachtell Lipton

Weinberg Roger

Welty Weaver

White & Case

Wiggin LLP

Wilkinson Stekloff

Willkie Farr

WilmerHale

Young Conaway

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Aetna Inc.

Alphabet Inc.

American Bar Association

American Federation of Government Employees

American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations

American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees

American International Group Inc.

Apple Inc.

Assicurazioni Generali

Associated Press

Association of Corporate Counsel

Astellas Pharma Inc.

Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.

BHP Group PLC

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA

Bank of America Corp.

Bertelsmann AG

Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.

Bloomingdale's Inc.

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp.

Broadcom Inc.

CA Technologies

California Fair Plan Association

Canaccord Genuity Group Inc.

Cantor Fitzgerald LP

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.

Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law

Chevron Corp.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

City Attorney of San Francisco

Council for Innovation Promotion

Duke University

Epic Games Inc.

ExamSoft Worldwide Inc.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Federation Internationale de Football Association

Ferring Pharmaceuticals

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.

Getty Images Holdings Inc.

Gilead Sciences Inc.

Google LLC

Harvard University

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

Hisense Co. Ltd.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

International Longshore & Warehouse Union

John Wayne Airport

Johnson & Johnson

Juniper Networks Inc.

Kinder Morgan Inc.

London Stock Exchange Group PLC

Major Lindsey & Africa LLC

Microsoft Corp.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

National Association of Government Employees

National Association of Insurance Commissioners

National Center for Youth Law

National Nurses United

Nav Technologies Inc.

Neil Jones Food Co.

Netflix Inc.

New York Yankees

Nokia Corp.

Northeastern University

Pacific Maritime Association

Papa John's International Inc.

PepsiCo Inc.

Point Mortgage Corp.

Purdue Pharma LP

Red Bull GmbH

Reddit Inc.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

San Francisco Baykeeper

Service Employees International Union

Shenandoah Life Insurance Company Inc.

Sonos Inc.

State Bar of California

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

Super Micro Computer Inc.

TC Energy Corp.

The Allstate Corp.

The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights

The PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

TikTok Inc.

Trainline

TransCanada Corporation

United Policyholders

University of Virginia

Walmart Inc.

Washington & Lee University

Wells Fargo & Co.

ZTE Corp.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Department of General Services

California Department of Insurance

California Supreme Court

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Insurance Office

Federal Trade Commission

House of Lords of the United Kingdom

International Trade Commission

Los Angeles Superior Court

National Institutes of Health

National Labor Relations Board

National Science Foundation

New Jersey Court

New Jersey State Ethics Commission

North Carolina Department of Justice

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Port of Seattle

Social Security Administration

U.S. Agency for International Development

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

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

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Department of State

U.S. Department of Transportation

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Department of the Treasury

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

U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon

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

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

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

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

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

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. General Services Administration

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court