Analysis

Meta Loss Shows Time Not On Enforcers' Side In Tech Cases

By Bryan Koenig

Meta's triumph over a Federal Trade Commission antitrust case Tuesday hinged on a D.C. federal judge's finding that the company lacks a monopoly in the present day, highlighting some of the challenges of using slow-moving litigation to challenge fast-moving markets.

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FirstEnergy Must Pay $250M In Ohio Bribery Scandal Fallout

By George Woolston

FirstEnergy Corp.'s Ohio utilities were ordered to pay a combined $250.7 million in restitution to customers and civil forfeitures by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as part of the commission's investigation in response to the massive bribery scheme behind a $1.3 billion bailout for two nuclear energy plants.

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SEC Walks Away From SolarWinds Data Breach Case

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday that it was voluntarily dismissing a lawsuit accusing software developer SolarWinds Corp. and its chief information security officer of failing to warn investors about lax cybersecurity standards prior to suffering a massive data breach.

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FCC Rescinds Contested Biden-Era Cybersecurity Ruling

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday reversed a ruling made late in the Biden administration that required new steps from telecoms to beef up cybersecurity, even as an FCC Democrat decried the move as gutting the agency's response to the Salt Typhoon cyberattack.

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Fed's Cook Says AI Could Either Steady Wall Street Or Rig It

By Hailey Konnath

Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook said Thursday that the use of artificial intelligence in algorithmic trading in financial markets has the potential to improve on current trading, but it also has the potential to create "risks that are difficult to monitor or mitigate."

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Renewed Federal Push To Block State AI Laws Faces Backlash

By Allison Grande

The Trump administration is pushing to revive a failed effort to stop states from regulating artificial intelligence systems, drawing opposition from California's data privacy regulator, consumer advocates and others that argue it's crucial for states to retain their ability to put guardrails on the emerging technology in the wake of continued federal inaction.

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Conn. Faces Tough 2nd Circ. In 3M PFAS Enforcement Dispute

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

A Second Circuit panel on Thursday appeared receptive to 3M's argument that Connecticut's state lawsuit accusing it of polluting the environment with forever chemicals contained in consumer products actually belongs in federal court, where a similar lawsuit against the company is playing out.

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Meta Will Pay $190M, Change Policies To End $8B Privacy Suit

By Hailey Konnath

Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to pay $190 million, as well as enhance its whistleblower program and implement a new code of conduct and insider trading policy, as part of a proposed settlement in an $8 billion privacy suit tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to several new filings Thursday.

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CFPB Will Shift Remaining Lawsuits Over To DOJ

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be handing off its enforcement lawsuits and other litigation to the U.S. Department of Justice as the Trump administration prepares for the consumer agency to run out of money, Law360 has learned.

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'Not Well-Taken': 2nd Bid To Halt CFPB Energy Loan Rule Fails

By Jon Hill

A Florida federal judge on Thursday smacked down a lender trade group's renewed bid to halt a Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule that will tighten standards on clean-energy home improvement loans, calling the emergency request wasteful and "not well-taken."

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Trump's CFTC Pick Selig Advances To Senate Floor

By Aislinn Keely

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission will advance to the U.S. Senate floor after a Thursday agriculture committee vote on Michael Selig's nomination passed along party lines.

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SEC's Uyeda Says ERISA Needs Litigation Reform To Curb Suits

By Jessica Corso

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member Mark Uyeda called for litigation reform Thursday aimed at stopping lawsuits filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act that he said discourage retirement plan fiduciaries from investing in the private markets.

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Bank Says Ex-Compliance Chief's Suit Belongs In Fla., Not NJ

By Sydney Price

First National Bank of Pasco has urged a New Jersey federal judge to either toss a lawsuit its former chief compliance officer brought alleging he was fired without just cause or transfer it out of the state, arguing that any misconduct in question, if they occurred, were described to have taken place in Florida.

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Crypto Orgs. Call On White House To Spur Agency Guidance

By Aislinn Keely

A coalition of more than 65 crypto-focused organizations penned a letter to President Donald Trump asking the White House to encourage federal agencies to stop prosecuting developers of decentralized software, exempt decentralized projects from certain rules and clarify tax treatment.

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Ex-SDNY Chief Rejects Claim Of Broken FTX Plea Promise

By Pete Brush

Former interim Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon told a federal judge Thursday that she never promised crypto lobbyist Michelle Bond any kind of no-prosecute deal as the government negotiated a guilty plea with Bond's husband, former FTX executive Ryan Salame.

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FERC Looks To Put LNG Project Work On A Faster Track

By Keith Goldberg

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday said it will explore speeding up its permitting of liquefied natural gas projects by creating a blanket authorization process for certain project activities that wouldn't require individual approvals.

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1st Circ. Sends Maine's 3M PFAS Suit Back To Federal Court

By Mike Curley

A First Circuit panel has sent a suit from the state of Maine against 3M Co. over so-called forever chemical contamination back to federal court, saying its disclaimer that it wasn't pursuing federal claims does not on its own put the case in state court.

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Ex-Ill. Speaker Madigan Disbarred After Bribery Conviction

By Celeste Bott

The Illinois Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday disbarring former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who consented to the disbarment after he was convicted earlier this year on charges claiming he used his official position to steer business to his now-defunct personal law firm.

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Conn. Agency GC Tried To 'Mislead The Court,' Judge Says

By Michele Gorman

A Connecticut judge said Wednesday that he notified ethics officials after finding the general counsel of the state's utilities authority tried to mislead the court and opposing counsel over deleted text messages in a rate dispute with a pair of natural gas suppliers.

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Fugees' Pras Gets 14 Years For Illegal Political Donation

By Rae Ann Varona

Former Fugees rapper Prakazrel "Pras" Michel was sentenced Thursday to 14 years in prison for illegally funneling money from a Malaysian billionaire into former President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and later lobbying the first Trump administration on behalf of China.

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EEOC Warns Employers Not To Favor Workers On H-1B Visas

By Grace Elletson

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a document flagging legal risks for businesses that give preferences to foreign workers over Americans, saying job ads including phrases like "H-1B preferred" could violate federal anti-discrimination law.

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Texas Sues Bristol-Myers For Alleged Drug Misrepresentations

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Office of the Attorney General sued pharmaceutical companies Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi in Texas state court, claiming Thursday the companies failed to disclose that a lucrative blood thinner used to prevent heart attacks and strokes does not work as well on certain minority patients.

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10th Circ. Weighs Colo. Law On Healthcare Sharing Plans

By Rachel Konieczny

A Tenth Circuit panel grappled Thursday with how the court should interpret a Colorado law requiring entities not authorized to offer insurance in the state to report certain information about their healthcare sharing plans, in an appeal by a religious trade group challenging the law's constitutionality.

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FTC Withdraws In-House GTCR Merger Case

By Matthew Perlman

The Federal Trade Commission withdrew its administrative case challenging GTCR BC Holdings LLC's acquisition of a medical coatings supplier to consider whether to drop the case entirely after an Illinois federal judge refused to put the merger on hold.

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State AGs Want Further HPE-Juniper Integration Barred

By Bryan Koenig

The Democratic state attorneys general challenging the controversial U.S. Department of Justice settlement clearing Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks want a California federal judge to bar the companies from "further integration" while they push the court to reject the deal outright.

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Pharma Cos. Seek Early Win In States' Price-Fixing Lawsuit

By Aaron Keller

A collection of states failed to prove an overarching conspiracy among 25 separate pharmaceutical companies to fix the prices of generic drugs, most of them dermatology formulations, the drugmakers argued Wednesday in support of a bid for an early win on one element of dozens of antitrust claims.

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Va. Defends Ban On Unauthorized Flavored E-Cigarettes

By Mike Curley

The Virginia attorney general and tax commissioner are urging a federal judge to throw out a suit challenging the state's ban on flavored e-cigarettes that are not approved by federal regulators, saying the plaintiffs have no standing to sue and the ban complies with federal law.

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Subletting Co. Settles NYC's Illegal STR 'Matchmaker' Claims

By Isaac Monterose

A subletting company has agreed to resolve claims that it was used as a "'matchmaker'" of sorts for advertising and setting up illegal short-term rentals in New York City, the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement announced.

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Conservative Group Tells Justices Pot Ban Is Unconstitutional

By Mike Curley

Conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity Foundation is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a petition in a case challenging the Controlled Substances Act's prohibition on state-legal cannabis, saying a 20-year-old precedent wrongly expanded Congress's power to regulate commerce.

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The Ins And Outs Of Decentralized Digital Asset Exchanges

As decentralized digital asset exchanges lack intermediaries, and so remain susceptible to fraud and market manipulation, ​​​​​​​an understanding of their design is crucial to help market participants avoid fraudulent practices such as liquidity rug pulls, says Swati Kanoria at Charles River.

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How Cos. Should Prepare For Prop 65 Listing Of Bisphenols

California regulators are moving toward classifying all p,p'-bisphenol chemicals as causing reproductive toxicity under Proposition 65, which could require warning notices for a vast range of consumer and industrial products, and open the floodgates to private litigation — so companies should proactively review their suppy chains, says Gregory Berlin at Alston & Bird.

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Contradictory Rulings Show Complexity Of Swaps Regulation

Recent divergent rulings, including two by the same Nevada judge, on whether the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling laws when applied to event contracts traded on U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated markets illustrate the uncertainty regarding the legality of prediction markets, say attorneys at Akin.

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How New Law Transforms Large-Load Power Projects In Texas

S.B. 6 — the new Texas law that revises state regulations for large electrical loads and related behind-the-meter projects — introduces higher up-front costs for developers and more flexible operating models for large-load customers, but should provide the certainty needed for greater investment in generation, say attorneys at Sidley.

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Rule Amendments Pave Path For A Privilege Claim 'Offensive'

Litigators should consider leveraging forthcoming amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which will require early negotiations of privilege-related discovery claims, by taking an offensive posture toward privilege logs at the outset of discovery, says David Ben-Meir at Ben-Meir Law.

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Series

My Miniature Livestock Farm Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Raising miniature livestock on my farm, where I am fully present with the animals, is an almost meditative time that allows me to return to work invigorated, ready to juggle numerous responsibilities and motivated to tackle hard issues in new ways, says Ted Kobus at BakerHostetler.

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Bonus Spotlight

Law Firms Begin Upping The Ante For Associate Bonuses

By Tracey Read

Trial boutique Wilkinson Stekloff LLP is exceeding the year-end associate bonus scale set by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, announcing bonuses late Wednesday that are 150% of market.

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Analysis

Trump's Epstein Directive Puts SDNY Prosecutor In A 'Pickle'

By Phillip Bantz

Manhattan chief federal prosecutor Jay Clayton appears to have been backed into a "horrible" corner with a "no-win" outcome as a result of a directive from President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, experts say.

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Comey Says DOJ's Conduct 'Shocks The Conscience'

By Hailey Konnath

James Comey on Thursday reiterated his request that the U.S. Department of Justice be forced to disclose all grand jury materials related to his indictment, noting the government has conceded that the grand jury never saw the operative indictment and saying the purported misconduct "shocks the conscience."

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NJ Panel Expands Scope Of Ex-Reed Smith Atty's Bias Claims

By Rose Krebs

A New Jersey appellate panel on Thursday ruled that a former Reed Smith LLP attorney is entitled to pursue more damages and obtain expanded wage data in her gender discrimination suit against the firm, saying a trial court incorrectly applied certain statutes when it limited the damages and data she could seek.

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X Corp. Ends $90M Fee Suit Against Wachtell

By James Mills

X Corp. has ended its California state lawsuit against Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz over $90 million in legal fees tied to the fight over Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, according to a court filing.

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Senate Panel OKs Miss. Judge, US Atty Nominees After Delay

By Courtney Bublé

After weeks of holdup, nominees for Mississippi federal courts and U.S. attorneys were voted out of committee on Thursday, following an impasse between Republican senators.

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Brief

Senate Passes Bill To Protect State Judges From Threats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to beef up security for state and local judges.

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DOJ Antitrust Chief Says Agriculture A 'Top Priority'

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official said enforcers have already opened several investigations in the agriculture sector, including into meatpackers at the direction of President Donald Trump, and called the industry a "top priority" for the agency.

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