The Data Privacy And AI Developments That Shaped 2025

By Allison Grande

The past year delivered a pair of major jury verdicts against Meta and Google in two of the first data privacy cases to head to trial, while a controversial effort quickly materialized and gained steam at the federal level to block states from regulating emerging artificial intelligence technologies. 

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9th Circ. Takes Up IPhone Buyers' Class Decertification

By Bryan Koenig

The Ninth Circuit has summarily agreed to let consumers appeal what they had described as the "death knell" district court ruling that decertified their class of iPhone users that was expected to reach 200 million members in an antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies.

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PHH's $29.5M Kickback Deal Gets Final OK After 17 Years

By Rae Ann Varona

After 17 years of litigation, a certified class of homeowners got the final stamp of approval in California federal court for a $29.5 million settlement with PHH Mortgage and its captive reinsurer, both of which homeowners alleged received unlawful kickbacks from premiums paid for mortgage insurance.

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Meta Mostly Defeats 'Bricked' Devices False Ad Suit, For Now

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal judge has explained his decision to toss the bulk of a proposed class action alleging Meta Platforms Inc. deceptively sold video-calling devices it later "bricked" by dropping software support, although he refused to toss an unfair competition claim and gave the consumers the opportunity to take another stab at the complaint.

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Cadence Bank Seeks 1st Nod For $5.25M Data Breach Deal

By Emilie Ruscoe

Cadence Bank has reached a $5.25 million deal to end negligence claims it faced in multidistrict litigation over the May 2023 breach of file transfer application MOVEit, a consumer affected by the breach has informed a Boston federal judge.

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Borrowers Win Cert. In NC Mortgage Phone Payment Fees Suit

By Hayley Fowler

A North Carolina federal judge has certified a class of North Carolina borrowers who claim their loan servicer charged them exorbitant processing fees for paying their monthly mortgage by phone, finding there are common questions that are best resolved in a class action.

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DraftKings Beats Suit Over Calif. Gambling Ban, For Now

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge said during a hearing Friday he plans to toss with leave to amend a proposed class action alleging DraftKings' Daily Fantasy Sports games and others violate California's ban on sports betting, while calling the case "significant" for "clearly" implicating public policy and the California penal code.

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Atty Says Anti-SLAPP Law Scuttles Ex-Law Partner's Case

By Christine DeRosa

Attorney Andrew Garza and his new firm, Claggett Sykes & Garza LLC, have invoked Connecticut's anti-SLAPP law in an attempt to dismiss litigation by his former law partner Ryan McKeen, one of several lawsuits between the partners after the dissolution of their firm, Connecticut Trial Firm LLC.

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Analysis

More Pardon Seekers Going 'Straight To The White House'

By Phillip Bantz

A nonprofit's unusual plan to make a mass pardon request directly to the Trump administration highlights burgeoning optimism among white collar defendants about their chances of securing relief, and a recognition that the clearest path to clemency no longer runs through the traditional channels.

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Analysis

The Telecom Developments That Defined 2025

By Christopher Cole

As Republicans took the reins of the Federal Communications Commission this year, the commission wasted little time filling a wish list of industry demands, from axing older regulations to launching plans to relax limits on media consolidation, streamline Space Bureau paperwork and put the kibosh on unwanted cable billing rules.

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Senate Bill Would Direct Extra BEAD Funds To AI

By Nadia Dreid

Congress has a lot of ideas about what should happen with funds that states were allocated as part of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, but end up not using — the newest one is turning those dollars toward workforce development related to artificial intelligence.

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Dems Push For Scrutiny Of Compass' $1.6B Anywhere Buy

By Grace Dixon

Democratic senators urged the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to scrutinize Compass Inc.'s $1.6 billion buy of rival broker Anywhere Real Estate Inc., saying further consolidation could drive commissions higher and squeeze out remaining competitors.

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Fed Seeks Input On Limited Master Accounts For Fintechs

By Aislinn Keely

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday took another step toward rolling out what are known as skinny master accounts for fintech firms, requesting public feedback on a special purpose Reserve Bank account prototype "tailored to the risks and needs of institutions focused on payments innovation."

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Michigan's 5 Biggest Court Rulings Of 2025

By Carolyn Muyskens

Michigan courts had a memorable year in 2025, issuing rulings that extended protections against automatic life sentences to young adults, struck down abortion restrictions and pulled the plug on criminal cases related to President Donald Trump's so-called fake elector plot.

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Ill. Judge Trims Claims Over Mondelez Cocoa Sourcing Label

By Lauraann Wood

A California consumer can pursue claims that Mondelez International illegally led customers to believe that the snack giant sources its cocoa ethically, but only for Oreo and Toblerone products, an Illinois federal judge ruled.

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Amazon Settles Customer's Heating Pad Burns Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

Amazon has reached a deal ending a lawsuit seeking to hold it liable for second-degree burns and an infection a woman suffered after using a heating pad she purchased on the platform, sold to her by a third party.

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GM Says Brake Defect Suit Fails Because Cars Were Repaired

By P.J. D'Annunzio

General Motors asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to dismiss a putative class action accusing the automaker of selling vehicles with defective brake systems, arguing because the plaintiffs had their vehicles repaired by the carmaker's dealers, no harm was done.

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NY Judge Urged To Deny Pot Club Owners' Reconsideration

By Jonathan Capriel

A New York federal judge shouldn't reconsider an order that allowed state law enforcement to continue conducting searches and seizures of Empire Cannabis Clubs locations and shutting them down, state officials argued Friday, saying the business owners failed to add anything new for the court to examine.

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AI Note-Taking Software Stores Voice Data, Ill. Suit Says

By Lauraann Wood

Artificial intelligence software that provides transcription and other meeting assistance on platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams illegally collects, stores and uses individuals' biometric voice data without their informed consent, according to a lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court.

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Brief

Iowa Appeals Schwab Antitrust Deal After Objections

By Sarah Jarvis

Iowa's attorney general has appealed to the Fifth Circuit a Texas federal judge's final approval of a settlement ending an antitrust class action suit over The Charles Schwab Corp.'s merger with TD Ameritrade, following the Hawkeye State's previous objection claiming the deal offered class members insufficient relief.

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Brief

Sbaiti Adds Longtime Plaintiffs' Atty From Seeger Weiss

By Andrea Keckley

Sbaiti & Co. PLLC has hired a former Seeger Weiss LLP partner to chair its consumer protection practice group and co-chair its mass tort practice group.

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Changes In Crypto, Cybersecurity Defined NY Banking In 2025

The major takeaways from 2025 in New York banking policy involve updated guidance, regulations and requirements primarily affecting innovation and digital banking, in areas such as cybersecurity, virtual currencies, and buy now, pay later programs, say attorneys at Steptoe.

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A 6th Circ. Snapshot: 3 Cases That Defined 2025

With more than a thousand opinions issued this year, three rulings from the Sixth Circuit stood out for the impact they'll have on the practice of civil procedure, including a net neutrality decision, a class certification standards ruling and an opinion about vulgarity in school, say attorneys at Ice Miller.

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The CFTC's Road Ahead Under Newly Confirmed Chair

Michael Selig's Dec. 18 confirmation as U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair comes at a critical juncture, as the agency is poised to gain oversight over the crypto industry and increase its jurisdictional mandate covering prediction markets, says Elizabeth Lan Davis at Davis Wright.

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How Fractional GCs Can Manage Risks Of Engagement

As more organizations eliminate their in-house legal departments in favor of outsourcing legal work, fractional general counsel roles offer practitioners an engaging and flexible way to practice at a high level, but they can also present legal, ethical and operational risks that must be proactively managed, say attorneys at Boies Schiller.

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Hogan Lovells, Cadwalader's Divergent Paths Led To Deal

By Aebra Coe

The blockbuster combination between Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP announced this past week involves two law firms that have charted very different paths in recent years. Here, a look at what events led up to the firms joining together at the deal table.

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4 Stories That Shaped Civil Rights, Access To Justice In 2025

By Marco Poggio

Civil rights and access to justice advocates faced mounting pressure in 2025, as President Donald Trump's return to office drove aggressive immigration enforcement, deep cuts to criminal justice funding, renewed Supreme Court scrutiny of the Voting Rights Act, and a steep increase in executions.

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Federal Courts Not Subject To FOIA, DC Judge Rules

By Jake Maher

The conservative litigation group America First Legal Foundation cannot demand documents from the federal Judicial Conference of the U.S. and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Freedom of Information Act because they are not executive agencies, a D.C. federal judge ruled Thursday.

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Wis. Judge's Conviction In ICE Case Tees Up Legal Battle

By Ryan Boysen

The conviction of a Wisconsin state judge for obstructing ICE officers is just the start of what will likely be a long legal battle, with major questions over judicial immunity, the evidence at hand and the meaning of "corrupt" yet to be decided.

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Justices Let Immigration Judges' Free Speech Suit Continue

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration has failed to show it will be irreparably harmed by a Fourth Circuit decision that revived immigration judges' lawsuit challenging restrictions on their ability to speak publicly.

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Florida Supreme Court Approves Limits For Non-Lawyer Roles

By Madison Arnold

The Florida Supreme Court has signed off on a rule change to spell out that nonlawyers at a law firm cannot supervise the work of attorneys or perform policymaking duties that affect the practice of law.

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Keesal Young Drops Part Of Stradley Ronon Poaching Suit

By Madison Arnold

Keesal Young & Logan wants to drop part of its California state court lawsuit alleging Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP unlawfully recruited 10 of its attorneys.

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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 the designer of an 88-facet diamond bring a copyright claim against a luxury watch retailer, collapsed firm Axiom Ince bring legal action against the solicitors' watchdog, and the Post Office hit with compensation claims from two former branch managers over their wrongful convictions during the Horizon information technology scandal.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

In one of the stories in corporate legal news from the past week, almost half of the in-house legal professionals in a recent survey said they were either actively or passively seeking new jobs, citing stress, a struggle to build multidisciplinary teams and anxiety around artificial intelligence.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Five firms lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the D.C. Circuit reinstated an order that blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from freezing grants for climate change projects.

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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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