Analysis

Insider Trading Case Shows BigLaw Associate Vetting Gaps

By Chris Villani

A BigLaw attorney who was able to move through three major firms while allegedly orchestrating a massive insider trading scheme may have been aided by relatively loose hiring practices for associates that firms may consider strengthening moving forward, recruiting experts told Law360.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'Pig Butchering' Crypto Scam Victim Seeks $962K From IRS

By Kat Lucero

An Ohio man told a district court that the Internal Revenue Service wrongly denied his tax deduction claim for a loss of over $800,000 from a cryptocurrency "pig butchering" scheme despite the extensive documentation of the fraud he said he provided to the agency.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Algorithms In Senate Spotlight After Social Media Suit Losses

By Emily Field

Lawyers and parents on Wednesday urged lawmakers to strengthen protections for children online, focusing on the addictiveness of social media algorithms after two recent trial losses for Big Tech.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Meta Starts NM Defense As Midtrial Win Bid Fails

By Cara Salvatore

A judge denied Meta a midtrial win Thursday morning over harm to underage social media users, prompting the social media giant to call an executive to begin building a defense case that platform changes requested by New Mexico's attorney general are unnecessary or even counterproductive.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

New Bill Would Ban Chinese Point-Of-Sale Tech For DOD

By Nadia Dreid

The U.S. Department of Defense would be banned from using any Chinese-made point-of-sale technology — devices like those that allow people to tap their cards to pay — in its buildings, if one Republican congressman gets his way.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

United Rentals, Ex-Worker Strike Deal In Noncompete Suit

By Aaron Keller

United Rentals Inc. on Thursday asked a Connecticut federal judge to approve a permanent injunction blocking a former North Carolina salesperson from working for a competitor within 100 miles of United's Raleigh branch office through mid-January 2027, ending a 4-month-old noncompete suit.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Google Says DOJ's Search Win Can't Help Yelp Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Google urged a California federal judge on Wednesday not to let Yelp invoke the U.S. Department of Justice's D.C. search monopoly win in the local search provider's own antitrust case, arguing that the two lawsuits look at the interconnection between local and general search through fundamentally different lenses.

Response attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Fed. Circ. Won't Eye Part Of Columbia's Axed $600M IP Win

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit said Thursday it won't take up Columbia University's request for it to reconsider a portion of a panel decision by the appellate court that discarded a nine-figure patent judgment against the maker of Norton antivirus software.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Cheerleading Co. Gets Final OK For Data Breach Settlement

By Ganesh Setty

A Texas federal court on Thursday gave final approval for a $1.1 million class action settlement to resolve claims that cheerleading apparel company Varsity Brands Inc. failed to prevent and address a data breach impacting nearly 66,000 people.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Pierson Ferdinand Cybersecurity Litigator Joins Clark Hill

By Adrian Cruz

Clark Hill PLC announced Thursday that an experienced cybersecurity and privacy litigator has joined the firm's San Francisco office from Pierson Ferdinand as a partner.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AG Watch: Reconciling 2 Maryland Data Privacy Statutes

In-house counsel should map the interplay between the Maryland Online Data Privacy Act's strictly necessary standard to deliver a requested service, and the Protection From Predatory Pricing Act's exemption of consent-based pricing within loyalty programs, before the state attorney general begins enforcement on the latter in October, says Erek Barron at Mintz.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Framing AI Risk Management In The Art World

With gallery professionals indicating a widening gap between operational adoption of artificial intelligence and cultural acceptance of AI as an art medium, certain intellectual property, privacy and governance considerations are becoming critical for art industry stakeholders, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

New Cuba Sanctions Raise Risks For Foreign Banks, Cos.

President Donald Trump's bold move leveling secondary sanctions against Cuba expands enforcement risk for foreign banks and companies with no U.S. nexus, signaling that non-U.S. businesses should reassess related transactions, counterparties and exposure as regulators test this broader authority, say attorneys at Troutman.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Series

Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ Asserts Broad Power In BigLaw Executive Order Appeal

By Jared Foretek

A Trump administration attorney told the D.C. Circuit on Thursday that the courts have no authority to review the president's decision to revoke someone's security clearance for any reason, including race, religion, or even refusal to pay a $1 million bribe.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump's 8th Circ. Pick Clears Senate Panel Vote

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Eighth Circuit, who represented the president in the cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, advanced to the full Senate on Thursday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Thomas Urges Defense Of Constitution At Judicial Conference

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged attendees at the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference on Thursday to "stand up" for the U.S. Constitution and to see the positives in the country, despite its flaws, on its 250th birthday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fenwick Hit With FTX Suit In DC Over $525M Losses

By Emily Lever

A group of former FTX customers has sued Fenwick & West LLP in federal court in Washington over its work representing FTX from 2018 to 2022, seeking to recover more than $525 million for losses stemming from the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NYC Bar Endorses Random Audits For Law Firm Accounts

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association's Professional Discipline Committee on Thursday threw its support behind a statewide bill to institute a random audit program for law firm financial accounts.

Report attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ogletree Fights Atty's Discovery Bid For DQ Push In Bias Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

A Georgia federal court should deny a bid for discovery aimed at disqualifying Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC from defending a security company against discrimination claims because the request stems from the plaintiff's lawyer's "personal grievances," the company said Thursday.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Lover's Ex-Wife Fights Sinema's Request For Therapy Notes

By Abigail Harrison

A bid by former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to unearth notes and communications from a therapist working with her lover's ex-wife should be summarily denied, as the ex-wife, Heather Ammel, told a North Carolina federal court Thursday that the request is a clear overreach.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

8th Circ. Backs Dismissal Of Horse Breeder's Malpractice Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

The Eighth Circuit said a federal judge was right to dismiss a malpractice suit a Minnesota horse breeder brought against Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP and one of its former attorneys for mishandling malpractice cases against three other firms.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »