After a better-than-expected increase in global trade in 2025 due in part to the frontloading of imports and artificial intelligence spending, the World Trade Organization is projecting a nosedive in 2026 trade growth because of energy price shocks driven by the Middle East conflict.
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TOP NEWS

WTO Projects Slowed 2026 Trade Growth Due To Iran War

By Jack McLoone

After a better-than-expected increase in global trade in 2025 due in part to the frontloading of imports and artificial intelligence spending, the World Trade Organization is projecting a nosedive in 2026 trade growth because of energy price shocks driven by the Middle East conflict.

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Colorado Fights DOE Order To Keep Coal Plant Running

By Keith Goldberg

Colorado is the latest state to challenge U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright's use of his emergency authority to keep fossil fuel power plants open, asking the D.C. Circuit to overturn his order to keep running a coal-fired plant.

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Firms Must Face Discovery In $102M Award Feud

By Caroline Simson

A New York federal judge on Friday permitted Levona Holdings to closely scrutinize declarations provided by attorneys with Greenberg Traurig LLP and Reed Smith LLP as it pursues sanctions against the firms following the court's vacatur of a $102 million arbitral award procured through fraud.

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POLICY & REGULATION

White House Pushes Congress To Override State AI Laws

By Courtney Bublé

The White House directed Congress to preempt "burdensome" state laws on artificial intelligence in a legislative framework released Friday.

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US, Japan Agree To Develop Critical Mineral Trade Plan

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. and Japan have committed to working together to develop trade policies related to protecting supply chains of critical minerals and their downstream industries, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced.

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OIL AND GAS

Ex-Fla. Rep Denied 11th-Hour Depo In Foreign Agent Case

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge Friday denied a former congressman's requests to depose a key witness and have the government turn over interview notes before the start of a trial on charges of failing to register as a Venezuelan foreign agent, saying the defense counsel can still ask questions on cross-examination.

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UTILITIES AND POWER

Texas Biz Court Hears Arguments On $50M ERCOT Charge

By José Luis Martínez

The Texas business court on Friday considered whether a power scheduler must cover roughly $50 million in charges assessed against a commercial electricity supplier by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas after reserve capacity tied to an industrial customer was not submitted during Winter Storm Uri in 2021.

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MINING

Davis Polk, Skadden Lead UK Mining Firm's Upsized $60M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

London-based Guardian Metal Resources PLC began trading Friday in the U.S. after raising $60 million in its initial public offering.

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PEOPLE

Nelson Mullins Launches Venezuela-Focused Practice

By Adrian Cruz

Following the recent U.S. military operations in Venezuela and citing the rapidly changing geopolitical situation developing inside the country, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP has launched a practice group dedicated to advising clients in the South American nation, according to a firm announcement Friday.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

CFTC's No-Action Relief Fuels Energy Market Competition

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently launched a pilot program aimed at expanding access to energy markets, reflecting a shift toward supporting robust derivatives markets that balance regulatory safeguards with the needs of commodity end users, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

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PRACTICAL GUIDANCE

5 Tips For Navigating Your Firm's All-Attorney Summit

Law firm retreats should be approached strategically, as they present valuable opportunities to advance both the firm's objectives and attorneys' professional development through meaningful participation, building and strengthening internal relationships, and proactive follow-up, says James Argionis at Cozen O’Connor.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

DOJ Rebuked Over Lack Of Candor For 'Imperious Client'

By Jack Karp

A Florida federal judge has rebuked government attorneys for failing to be up-front about legal authority that contradicts their position in a habeas case, warning them not to let their "imperious client" get between them and their ethical obligations.

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The Hypnosis That Helped Send A Man To Death Row

By Marco Poggio

The capital murder conviction of Charles Don Flores, a man on Texas’ death row, hinged on a courtroom identification by a witness who had previously undergone hypnosis. His lawyers are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, after Texas’ top court shot down his claims that the hypnosis session contaminated the witness’s memory and tainted her identification.

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Ore. Atty Sanctioned $10K For Brief With Fabricated Citations

By Hailey Konnath

An Oregon appellate court has ordered an attorney to pay $10,000 for filing an opening brief containing fabricated case citations, quotations that "do not exist anywhere in Oregon case law" and other inaccuracies, according to an opinion.

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Where Calif. State Courts Landed On Generative AI Use Rules

By Emily Sawicki

The majority of California's 58 superior courts — together making up the country's largest trial court system — have decided to greenlight the use of generative artificial intelligence in their work this year, a Law360 investigation found.

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Legal Sector Bracing For Impact Of Del. Corp. Law Changes

By Rose Krebs

Now that the Delaware Supreme Court has signed off on controversial corporate law amendments, the legal industry is anxiously awaiting the real-world impacts of those changes, panelists at Tulane University Law School's Corporate Law Institute said on Friday.

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Roundup

Balancing The Scales: $3M Jury Verdict, GEO Appeal Denial

By Orlando Lorenzo

A Philadelphia federal judge rejected bids to disturb a $3 million jury award and impose sanctions on plaintiff's counsel arising from proceedings he described as "near-daily Festivus celebrations, where everyone got to air their grievances 'for the sake of the record'" and a Detroit man saw his murder conviction vacated after 27 years due to the case's reliance on a coerced confession and a lack of physical evidence, among other access to justice stories you may have missed.

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Bondi Keeps Ousted Wisconsin US Atty With New Title

By Lauren Berg

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi swapped Brad D. Schimel's title from interim U.S. attorney to first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in order to keep him in charge of the office after his tenure expired earlier this week.

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Beasley Allen Can't Halt DQ Ruling In J&J Talc Litigation

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state appeals court has refused to pause its decision disqualifying the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing plaintiffs in multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, according to a court order.

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Up Next At High Court: Late Ballots And 'Last-Mile' Drivers

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will kick off its March oral arguments session by reviewing disputes over the validity of state laws allowing late-arriving mail-in ballots to be counted in federal elections and whether "last-mile" delivery drivers qualify for the transportation worker exemption to the Federal Arbitration Act. 

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Top SEC Enforcer Signals Continuity After Ryan Departure

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's acting enforcement chief said Friday that the agency will continue to "focus on quality over quantity" when it comes to the cases it brings, projecting continuity with his predecessor's approach after her abrupt departure from the agency earlier this week.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen an ex-professional footballer revive a dispute with Charles Russell Speechlys, Virgin Media face a group data protection claim after hundreds of thousands of customers' personal details were exposed online for months, and Mishcon de Reya sued by a real estate private equity firm founded by a former Morgan Stanley executive.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Major shareholder groups sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act. In the meantime, some attorneys think the sanctions that judges are issuing to lawyers over AI-generated errors won't be enough to stop the problem. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Baron & Budd PC, Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP and Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit revived a major hospital chain's False Claims Act suit accusing large pharmaceutical companies of massive overcharges in a prominent drug discount program.

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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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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AXA Investment Managers SA

AXA SA

AXA XL Ltd.

AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd.

AbbVie Inc.

Adventist Health System Inc.

Air Canada

Amazon.com Inc.

American Academy of Pediatrics

American International Group Inc.

Anthropic PBC

Apple Inc.

Associated Press

AstraZeneca PLC

Aviva SA

BASA Resources Inc.

Bank of America Corp.

Barings LLC

Barron's

Bay Area Legal Services Inc.

BlackRock Inc.

British American Tobacco PLC

Christian Dior SA

DHL International GmbH

Dassault Systemes SE

Deutsche Bank AG

EDF Energy PLC

Earthjustice

Edison Electric Institute Inc.

Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc.

Engie

Engie Resources

Environmental Defense Fund Inc.

FTI Consulting Inc.

Fendi SRL

Flowers Foods Inc.

GE Vernova Inc.

Google LLC

Hiscox Ltd.

Hitachi Ltd.

Investments Ltd.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Johnson & Johnson

KFC Corp.

Korn Ferry International

LVMH Moet Hennessy

LexisNexis Legal & Professional

LinkedIn Corp.

Litasco SA

Microsoft Corp.

Morgan Stanley

National Storage Affiliates Trust

OAO Lukoil

OpenAI OpCo LLC

Oregon State Bar

Pacific Investment Management Co. LLC

Pizza Hut Inc.

Platte River Power Authority

Practising Law Institute Inc.

Public Citizen Inc.

Public Storage

RELX PLC

RLK Solicitors Ltd.

Royal College of Nursing

Sanofi

Sierra Club

State Street Corp.

Suncor Energy Inc.

Tesla Inc.

Texas Rangers

The Dallas Morning News Inc.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The Hain Celestial Group Inc.

The Vanguard Group Inc.

TikTok Inc.

TripAdvisor Inc.

Twitter Inc.

UBS Group AG

Virgin Media Inc.

Vote Solar

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Arroyo Law Firm

Baker Botts

Baker McKenzie

Barnes & Thornburg

Baron & Budd

Beasley Allen

Bernstein Litowitz

Birketts LLP

BonelliErede

Buck Keenan

Charles Russell Speechlys

Clement & Murphy

Clifford Chance

Collyer Bristow

Covington & Burling

Cozen O'Connor

DLA Piper

Davenport Law Firm PC

Davis Polk

Debevoise & Plimpton

Edwin Coe

Elman Freiberg

Enyo Law

Epstein Becker

Faegre Drinker

Fried Frank

Gibson Dunn

Goodwin Procter

Gordon Rees

Goulston & Storrs

Greenberg Traurig

Gupta Wessler

Hill Dickinson

Hogan Lovells

Holland & Knight

Howard Kennedy LLP

Jenner & Block

Jones Day

Jones Walker LLP

K&L Gates

Kessler Topaz

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Lowenstein Sandler

McDermott Will & Schulte

Mishcon de Reya

Moore & Van Allen

Morrison & Foerster

Morvillo Abramowitz

Nelson Mullins

Norton Rose

O'Melveny & Myers

Patterson Belknap

Paul Weiss

Penningtons Manches

Perkins Coie

Powers Pyles

Quinn Emanuel

Rabin & Lopez

Reed Smith

Reynolds Porter

Robbins Geller

Shakespeare Martineau

Sidley Austin

Sills Cummis

Skadden Arps

Sonder & Clay

Stephenson Harwood

Susman Godfrey

Wachtell Lipton

Walden Macht

Ward Hadaway

Weil Gotshal

White & Case

WilmerHale

Winston & Strawn

Zeiler Rechtsanwalte

gunnercooke LLP

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Supreme Court

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Colorado Attorney General's Office

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Companies House

Delaware Court of Chancery

European Union

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Reserve System

Mississippi Secretary of State

New Jersey Supreme Court

New York City Police Department

Office of Foreign Assets Control

Oregon Department of Justice

Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Permanent Court of Arbitration

Public Utility Commission of Texas

Texas Attorney General's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

Wisconsin Supreme Court

World Trade Organization