High Court Remands Geofencing Cases In Wake Of New Rules

By Parker Quinlan

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered Texas' highest criminal court and the Eleventh Circuit to take fresh looks at a pair of criminal convictions in light of the justices' ruling this week that geofence warrants demanding smartphone users' location data are "searches" under the Fourth Amendment.

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Atlas Data's Daniel's Law Notices Not Spam, Judge Rules

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey federal court has found that Atlas Data Privacy Corp.'s flurry of thousands of takedown notices do not constitute a "spam attack," dismissing counterclaims brought by database providers alleging that the company was abusing a New Jersey judicial privacy law in violation of state and federal statutes.

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Meta Social Media Addiction MDL Headed For August Trial

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal judge has mostly denied dueling motions for summary judgment in litigation brought by multiple states claiming Meta intentionally designed its products to be addictive, rejecting Meta's attempts to ditch the case and teeing it up for an August advisory jury trial.

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Chamber Backs Circle's Bid To Dismiss $280M Drift Hack Suit

By Katryna Perera

The Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday urged a Massachusetts federal judge to throw out claims Circle Internet Group enabled fraudsters to drain $280 million in digital assets from crypto project Drift Protocol in an April Fools' Day exploit, arguing Circle cannot be held liable because third parties misused its platform.

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SAG-AFTRA Wants House Panel To Advance AI Deepfakes Bill

By Elliot Weld

The president of actors union SAG-AFTRA spoke to a congressional subcommittee Tuesday to press the need for a bill to allow for the removal of deepfakes from the internet, framing the advent of digital replicas of people as a fundamental alteration in the methods of human interaction that cannot be ignored by lawmakers.

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Patients Say Colo. Health Network Didn't Secure HIV Data

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado healthcare organization that operates as the state's largest source of services and programs for people impacted by HIV did not protect patients' private information in a cyberattack, according to three proposed class actions filed in state court.

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UNC Escapes Bias Suit From Native American Ex-Professor

By Grace Elletson

A federal judge tossed Tuesday a Native American professor's suit claiming the University of North Carolina declined to renew his contract because he was a vocal critic of the institution, ruling he failed to rebut UNC's argument that he lost his job for changing course material without permission.

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NY Defamation Carveout Hinges On Causation, Not Labels

A New York federal court's decisions in two cases involving tortious interference claims, and the recent Second Circuit ruling in Satanic Temple v. Newsweek Digital, highlight that the dispositive question for alleged defamation is whether injury flows through reputation or through direct interference with a relationship, says attorney Andrea Natale.

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Series

Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

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Law Firm Mergers Level Off As Risks Tick Up

By Aebra Coe

Despite two large law firm combinations closing this week, deal announcements flatlined to a near-decade-low in the first half of the year as law firms face a patchwork of risks including geopolitical volatility, private equity interest and uncertainty around artificial intelligence in law. However, activity is expected to pick up by year-end.

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Brief

Texas Federal Judge Requires Confirmation Of AI Checks

By Emily Sawicki

Attorneys and self-represented parties appearing before U.S. District Judge Ernest Gonzalez of the Western District of Texas are now required to certify that they have independently verified the contents of any filings created or edited using artificial intelligence.

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Hogan Lovells Cadwalader Sees 'Opportunity' In Boston

By Chris Villani

With the official launch of Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, Boston attorneys at Hogan Lovells are expecting the firm to be able to leverage Cadwalader's strengths and some of the Hub's unique traits in what they call a truly "additive" merger.

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5 NYC Legal Service Provider Union Contracts Have Expired

By Andrea Keckley

The collective bargaining agreements for five New York City-based indigent defense and civil legal aid providers expired at the end of the day Tuesday as multiple unions reported outstanding points of contention in their negotiations.

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Withers Promotes 12 Partners In US, UK, Singapore

By Christine DeRosa

International law firm Withers has appointed a dozen new partners across three countries, nearly half of whom are based in the United States.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of June

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Bayer, Harley-Davidson and PBS. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from June.

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Littler Adds Ex-Morgan Lewis Labor Litigator In California

By Matt Perez

Littler Mendelson PC, which primarily deals in employment and labor law practice representing management, announced on Tuesday the hiring of a former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP attorney as a shareholder in its Walnut Creek, California, office.

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PCAOB Names Ex-Venable Partner As GC

By Jessica Corso

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has named a former Venable LLP partner as its new general counsel, where he will be tasked with providing legal advice to an agency that is currently undergoing leadership changes.

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Wash. Atty Loses Bid For Jury In Dispute Over Bar Sanctions

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington lawyer sanctioned and disciplined for bringing a "frivolous" election suit in 2021 against then-Gov. Jay Inslee has lost her bid to have her ethics charges heard by a jury, with a state appeals panel finding no error in a trial court's ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to take on the disciplinary matter.

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Judiciary Dems Seek DOJ Replies Before Blanche Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Ahead of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing for the permanent position, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding he provide answers to their outstanding oversight inquiries.

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4 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In June

By Julie Manganis

An advisory firm's failure to register as a broker before diving into work on a $2.1 billion take-private deal last year has cost it, while emails and text messages took center stage in several other disputes pending in Massachusetts state court in June.

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Watchdog Says DOL Needs Better Info Sharing Controls

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's lack of controls over information sharing between subagencies and nongovernmental entities, including law firms and legal advocacy organizations, may have unfairly advantaged those parties with privileged investigative information, an agency watchdog reported, though use of the practice has dropped off. 

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