Analysis

Permitting Bill Gives FERC A Bigger Enforcement Hammer

By Keith Goldberg

Recently introduced U.S. Senate permitting legislation proposes an unprecedented extension of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's enforcement reach into areas of electricity grid planning policy that have been traditionally overseen by states, experts say.

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Trump Waives Russia Sanctions, Tariff Law After Fuel Deal

By Dylan Moroses

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to suspend Russian sanctions and tariff provisions contained in a law passed earlier this year by Congress in response to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

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NCR, Hydropower Cos. Settle Michigan River Cleanup Fight

By Melanie Dorsey

NCR Voyix Corp. and two hydropower companies have reached a settlement resolving litigation over whether sediment released during a reservoir drawdown complicated the cleanup of a Michigan Superfund site contaminated by decades of paper mill waste, according to a joint notice filed in Michigan federal court.

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Analysis

Could A Criminal Sentencing Case Upend Loper Bright?

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is concerned that a ruling instructing trial courts to defer to the U.S. Sentencing Commission's interpretation of federal sentencing guidelines could blow a "pretty big hole" in the court's recent rejection of deference doctrines. His colleagues, however, don't appear as perturbed.

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China Tightens Export Controls On AI, Biotech Technologies

By Dylan Moroses

China will add 40 new products spanning across the artificial intelligence, biotechnologies and photovoltaic sectors to a pre-export registration requirements list, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced Friday.

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Analysis

Expect These Post-Midterm Probes If The Hill Changes Hands

By Phillip Bantz

The top investigative priorities of a potentially Democratic-controlled Congress are coming into sharper focus with the midterms weeks away and could impact an array of companies and individuals in technology, finance and energy, experts say.

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Brief

Commerce Eyes UK Assembly In China Saw Blade Duty Probe

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Department of Commerce will investigate whether Chinese duties should apply to an importer's diamond saw blades that domestic competitors allege are misrepresented as arriving from the United Kingdom, according to a notice published Friday. 

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Nikola Ex-CEO Says FBI Agent's Tweets Spooked Witness

By Emily Lever

Trevor Milton, the founder and former CEO of Nikola Corp., has sued an FBI agent and a witness who testified against him at his New York federal court trial, accusing them of working together in a coordinated campaign to intimidate a witness in Milton's defense via personal attacks on social media.

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Brief

GAO Finds Workforce Slump In Nuclear Weapons Agency

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a new report Friday finding that the agency responsible for managing the country's nuclear weapons stockpile has seen its number of mission-critical employees continue to drop amid the highest workload since the Cold War.

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Dykema Adds Energy Atty, Trial Lawyer In Houston

By Lynn LaRowe

Dykema Gossett PLLC announced Thursday that it has added two senior counsel in Houston, an oil and gas transactional lawyer who previously worked in-house for Marathon Oil and a litigator who came aboard from regional law firm MehaffyWeber PC.

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Challenges On The Horizon For Illinois Data Center Projects

Illinois has more data centers in operation or under construction than all but five other states — but such projects face growing litigation threats and a range of state and local legislative proposals that could hinder further development of these facilities in the Land of Lincoln, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

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CFIUS Annual Report Reveals Enforcement Trends

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' recently published annual report to Congress shows that it is increasingly focused on nonnotified transactions, mandatory filing compliance, critical technologies and postclosing mitigation enforcement across the full life cycle transactions, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

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Womble Bond Reports Data Breach Exposing Personal Info

By Jake Maher

Womble Bond Dickinson was hit with a data breach in August that revealed personal information to an unauthorized third party, the firm said in a notice with the Massachusetts state government this week.

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Suing The Trump Admin Can Have Massive Impact, Attys Say

By Bonnie Eslinger

Lawyers representing clients against the federal government spoke Friday about the challenges and rewards of such litigation in the Trump era, with plaintiff-side powerhouse Elizabeth Cabraser pointing to the potential for massive impact, including one case in which she successfully got more than a billion dollars in grant funding reinstated.

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Dems Press Kirkland Again For Details Of $125M Trump Deal

By Courtney Bublé

A trio of congressional Democrats once again accused Kirkland & Ellis LLP of subverting their oversight requests into the $125 million deal the firm cut with the Trump administration last year.

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Brief

Cooley Reportedly Matches Milbank Pay Scale Starting In '27

By Matt Perez

Cooley LLP will reportedly increase U.S. associate base compensation in line with the pay scale set by Milbank LLP in June beginning on Jan. 1.

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Google Class Attys Get $22.7M Despite Hourly Rate Rebuke

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has approved Google's $68 million class action settlement to resolve a long-running privacy suit, including class counsel's requested $22.67 million fee award, commending the parties' hard work while also criticizing a plaintiffs attorney's "patently unreasonable" proposed $3,000 hourly rate.

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Google Users' $85M Fee Ask Stalls Over 'Utterly Lacking' Bill

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge on Thursday rejected an $85 million attorney fee request following a $700 million settlement in a consumer-led case against Google, ruling that counsel's submitted billing records are "utterly lacking in information demonstrating what work was done and for what purpose," while granting leave to amend the request.

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Fla. High Court Says 'COVID Brain' Can't Excuse Atty Blunder

By David Minsky

The Florida Supreme Court found an attorney guilty of misconduct over his lack of candor when questioned about an interaction with his own witness in a paternity trial, saying there's no way "COVID brain" caused him to violate a sequestration rule and lie to a judge. 

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Attys Can Still Protect Voting Rights During The Midterms

By Cara Bayles

With the midterm elections approaching, a coalition of local and national nonprofits are seeking volunteers, especially lawyers, to safeguard the vote during an election with more states in play as battlegrounds and growing anxiety about federal interference in local elections.

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Survey Of Ill. Attys Reveals Mental Health Struggles, Stigma

By Celeste Bott

A survey of nearly 7,000 Illinois lawyers found roughly 20% rated their mental health as fair or poor, according to an Illinois Supreme Court commission report documenting the toll of workplace stress on the state's attorneys and judges, their alcohol and drug use, and barriers to getting them care.

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Balancing The Scales: Criminal Appeals, Sentencing Rules

By Orlando Lorenzo

The Second Circuit has been ordered to take another look at a murder-for-hire conviction in light of the high court's new miscarriage-of-justice exception for criminal appeal waivers, and the top courts in Pennsylvania and Michigan will look at the retroactivity of new sentencing rules. Here, Law360 highlights access to justice stories arising from litigation, verdicts and judgments you may have missed.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Schlichter Bogard LLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the full Eleventh Circuit overturned decades-old precedent that took a strict view of when federal benefits law claims could be brought in court.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The top investigative priorities of a potentially Democratic-controlled Congress are coming into sharper focus with the midterms just weeks away and could impact companies in various sectors. In the meantime, one BigLaw firm formed a board to oversee the use of artificial intelligence and evaluate proposals from its practice groups and sectors. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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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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