Former DLA Piper Associate Alleges Ex-Partner Raped Her

By Lynn LaRowe

A former Boston-based DLA Piper associate on Monday launched a state lawsuit alleging she was raped at the firm's Delaware office by a former partner purportedly known for heavy drinking and inappropriate workplace conduct toward female subordinates.

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High Court Won't Hear Illinois County's ADA Back Pay Appeal

By Vin Gurrieri

The U.S. Supreme Court declined an invitation Monday from Cook County, Illinois, to review a Seventh Circuit ruling that said a former corrections officer can seek back pay after winning a disability discrimination verdict.

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Employee-Related Charges Against Goldstein Are Tossed

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge has dismissed several charges against SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein related to employees at his law firm, agreeing that prosecutors had failed to establish a clear rule for determining whether employees are legitimate for tax purposes.

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Wells Fargo Bucks CFO's Deposition In Disability Bias Suit

By Hayley Fowler

Wells Fargo wants to block the deposition of its chief financial officer in a senior finance manager's disability bias lawsuit, saying he has no personal knowledge of the claims underpinning her allegations and suggesting that her attorney's "behavior" needs "curtailing."

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Judge Tosses Ex-Delta Worker's 'Bare-Bones' Breaks Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A Washington federal judge tossed a proposed class action accusing Delta Air Lines of understaffing that forced workers to miss meal and rest breaks, ruling on Monday that the plaintiff's "bare-bones allegations" were insufficient to allow the suit to proceed.

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Performance Issues Doom Worker's ADA Suit, 11th Circ. Says

By Grace Elletson

The Eleventh Circuit backed the dismissal Monday of a Miami-Dade County worker's disability bias suit claiming she was fired from its animal services division after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, ruling she failed to undermine the county's position that she was terminated for repeated performance issues.

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9th Circ. Backs Honeywell Over Engineer's Retaliation Claims

By Ganesh Setty

The Ninth Circuit rejected an ex-Honeywell engineer's challenge to her firing after voicing concerns about avionic software that was part of a Boeing defense contract, finding any potential fraud to the government was too far removed to support a retaliation claim.

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Brief

Fla. Health Clinic Chain Settles EEOC Age Bias Probe

By Jack McLoone

A healthcare provider with multiple clinics in Florida will pay $64,000 after a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation found reasonable cause to conclude that the company fired a worker over his age, the EEOC said Monday. 

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EEOC, PepsiCo Reach $270K Deal To End Vision Bias Suit

By Vin Gurrieri

PepsiCo will pay $270,000 to end suit by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging it fired a blind call center employee after refusing to find a screen-reading tool compatible with its software system that would allow the worker to do his job, according to a North Carolina federal court filing.

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Fired Black Delta Worker Ends Race Bias, Retaliation Suit

By Grace Elletson

A Black former Delta Air Lines employee dropped his suit claiming the airline fired him for voicing concerns that he was paid less than his non-Black colleagues, according to a filing in Georgia federal court.

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NY AG Says UPS Was Grinch With Seasonal Workers' Wages

By Irene Spezzamonte

UPS "played the Grinch" by failing to pay seasonal workers it hires between October and January for work they performed outside their shifts, leading to millions in unpaid wages and overtime, New York Attorney General Letitia James said Monday.

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Brief

Ex-BAE Engineer Loses Retaliation Claim In Md. Jury Trial

By Irene Spezzamonte

A former engineer for BAE Systems did not prove that he engaged in protected activity in his suit claiming that the company fired him after raising concerns about his overtime pay, a Maryland federal jury found Friday.

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2nd Circ. Won't Revive Ex-Basketball Players' NIL Claims

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Second Circuit on Monday refused to revive a putative class action filed by former college basketball players claiming the NCAA unjustly profited from use of their names and images years after their careers ended, saying the "continuing violation doctrine" doesn't apply and the suit was filed too late.

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Full 5th Circ. Denies Nexstar's Bid To Overturn Union Order

By Katherine Smith

The full Fifth Circuit declined to reconsider a panel decision to back a National Labor Relations Board order requiring Nexstar to start bargaining with a newly installed Communications Workers of America affiliate at two of its Denver television stations.

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2025 Noncompete Developments That Led To Inflection Point

Employers must reshape their approaches to noncompete agreements following key 2025 developments, including Delaware's rejection of blue-penciling and the proliferation of state wage thresholds, say attorneys at Gunderson Dettmer.

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Calif. AG's No-Poach Case Reflects Tougher Antitrust Stance

This month, California’s attorney general resolved the latest enforcement action barring the use of no-poach agreements, underscoring an aggressive antitrust enforcement trend with significant increases in criminal and civil penalties, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

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Tapping Into Jurors' Moral Intuitions At Trial

Many jurors approach trials with foundational beliefs about fairness, harm and responsibility that shape how they view evidence and arguments, so attorneys must understand how to frame a case in a way that appeals to this type of moral reasoning, says Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

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3 Defense Strategies For Sporadically Prosecuted Conduct

Not to be confused with selective prosecutions, sporadic prosecutions — charging someone for conduct many others do without consequences — can be challenging to defend, but focusing on materiality, prosecutorial motivations and public opinion can be a winning strategy, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.

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Series

The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Integrating Practice Groups

Enacting unified leadership and consistent client service standards ensures law firm practice groups connect and collaborate around shared goals, turning a law firm merger into a platform for growth rather than a period of disruption, says Brian Catlett at Fennemore Craig.

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Bonus Spotlight

Elsberg Baker Exceeds, Cohen Ziffer Matches Atty Bonuses

By Tracey Read

Trial boutique Elsberg Baker & Maruri PLLC announced Monday that its associates will earn up to $226,250 in extra cash this year.

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'Hardworking' 9th Circ. Senior Judge Sandra Ikuta Dies At 71

By Hailey Konnath

Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta of the Ninth Circuit, who has been semi-retired since early November, died on Dec. 7 at the age of 71, exactly one month after assuming senior status, according to the Federal Judicial Center.

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ABA Flags AI Fears: Making Attys 'Worse At Their Jobs'

By Steven Lerner

The erosion of skills for junior associates, deepfakes as evidence in court and the lack of technical knowledge in law firms were among the top fears and challenges listed by the American Bar Association in a new report about artificial intelligence in the legal profession.

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Ex-US Attys Say Pardons, Loyalty Demands Hurt Rule Of Law

By Adrian Cruz

A bipartisan group of former U.S. attorneys spoke publicly Monday on their concerns regarding the direction the U.S. justice system has taken since the start of the second Trump administration and the potential risks that may pose to the rule of law.

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Arbitration Ruling Stands In Morgan & Morgan Class Action

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia federal judge said Monday she won't backtrack on her decision to send a malpractice lawsuit from a former client of Morgan & Morgan PA to arbitration, once again rejecting his arguments that his proposed class claims were exempt from an agreement to arbitrate disputes.

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Atty Seeks To Block Law Banning Fee-Sharing With ABS Firms

By Emily Sawicki

The attorney challenging a California law that blocks fee-sharing with out-of-state law firms owned by nonlawyers has petitioned for enforcement of the law to be suspended before it is set to go into effect on Jan. 1.

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Judge Won't Boot Bondi-Appointed Prosecutor In LA

By Emily Sawicki

A federal judge has refused to reconsider his ruling disqualifying Bill Essayli from holding the role of U.S. attorney but allowing him to serve as the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, finding that Essayli's appointment by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi is valid.

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Judge Willing To Take 'Heat' For Blocking ICE Arrest, Jury Told

By Nate Beck

A Wisconsin judge was willing to "take the heat" for using a staff hallway to usher an unauthorized immigrant out of her courtroom, a federal jury heard Monday, as a defense attorney argued she can't be found guilty by association just because someone in her courtroom tried to flee immigration agents.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jeff Montgomery

Litigation in Delaware's Court of Chancery sprawled from a dispute over control of banana plantations along Africa's Congo River to a fight over the late musician Prince's estate last week. Along the way, a court ruling rejected a motion for a quick decision favoring Blue Bell Creameries director and officer calls for liability releases in a tainted ice cream saga that dates to 2015.

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