2nd Circ. Doubts NY's Power To Regulate Nuclear Discharge

By Gautama Mehta

A Second Circuit panel appeared skeptical of a New York law banning a decommissioned nuclear power plant's waste from being discharged into the Hudson River, asking pointed questions on Thursday on why those discharges are not part of the plant's operations.

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FERC Makes Further Moves To Speed Up Gas Project Reviews

By Keith Goldberg

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday issued a pair of proposals aimed at speeding up its approval of gas infrastructure projects by narrowing the scope of the agency's environmental reviews.

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Colo. Panel Upholds Agency's Emissions Monitoring Rule

By Rachel Konieczny

The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld a state agency's rule on emissions monitoring Thursday, wholly rejecting a challenge by environmental groups that contended the rule allows most polluters to escape certain monitoring requirements by paying a fee.

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Calif. Asks DC Judge To Void EPA's 'Unlawful' Waiver Moves

By Linda Chiem

California has asked a D.C. federal judge to void the Trump administration and congressional Republicans' "manifestly unlawful" use of the Congressional Review Act to make Clean Air Act waivers for the Golden State subject to rescission by lawmakers.

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Louisiana Asks Justices To Undo Stay In Coastal Damage Suit

By Ganesh Setty

Louisiana urged the U.S. Supreme Court to erase a Fifth Circuit stay of a remand order preventing one of its parishes from litigating coastal damage claims against an oil and gas company in state court, arguing the "comity essential to our federalism" was disrupted.

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DHS Can't Waive Laws For Big Bend Wall, Texas Judge Says

By Elaine Briseño

A federal judge in Texas halted construction of a border wall in the Big Bend sector, finding that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security likely exceeded its authority to waive legal requirements in an area with comparatively low illegal entry.

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GKN Says Insurers Owe Defense In Overheated Tank Suits

By Danielle Ferguson

GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems Inc. told a California federal court Thursday that its insurers are improperly refusing to honor their duty to defend the company in lawsuits and a civil investigation stemming from the overheating of a storage tank and subsequent evacuation of residents in Orange County.

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Troutman Adds Energy Pro In Texas From Gov't In-House Role

By Lynn LaRowe

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP has strengthened its energy regulatory practice with an Austin, Texas-based partner who came aboard from an in-house role at the Lower Colorado River Authority.

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Calif. PFAS Pesticide Reporting Law Raises Cos.' Legal Risks

A new California law requiring public reporting of how registered pesticides containing intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are used across the state could increase regulatory scrutiny — and provide a road map for litigation involving growers, applicators, distributors, pesticide manufacturers and upstream chemical suppliers, say attorneys at O'Melveny.

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Parsing The Latest Signals On FTC Section 5 Enforcement

Federal Trade Commission cases brought over the last several years and Commissioner Mark Meador’s recent call for stand-alone Section 5 enforcement suggest businesses should prepare for continued scrutiny of conduct beyond traditional antitrust violations, particularly in essential goods, technology and labor markets, say attorneys at Axinn.

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Mayer Brown Lands 2 Sheppard FDA Partners

By Tracey Read

Mayer Brown LLP has bolstered its life sciences capabilities with two former Sheppard partners, including that firm's former U.S. Food and Drug Administration practice leader.

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Greenberg Traurig Hires Sidley Private Funds Atty In Chicago

By Jack Rodgers

Greenberg Traurig LLP has hired a former Sidley Austin LLP counsel, who spent nearly a decade before her last law firm position working with Balyasny Asset Management in a range of related legal roles, the firm recently announced.

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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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White & Case Taps 47 Partners In Largest US Class Since 2022

By Ashish Sareen

White & Case LLP has elevated 47 lawyers to its partnership, its largest promotion round since a record 59 lawyers became partners at the start of 2022.

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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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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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Ex-Legal Tech Co. Exec Says Pregnancy Got Her Fired

By George Woolston

A legal technology company abruptly fired its director of partnerships after it learned she was pregnant, and has since withheld a nearly $40,000 bonus, according to a lawsuit lodged in New Jersey state court.

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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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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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Monopoly Allegations Test ABA's Role In Legal Education

By Emma Cueto

The American Bar Association is facing mounting claims that the council responsible for law school accreditation acts as a monopoly, an accusation levied amid a broader, politicized battle over the future of legal education.

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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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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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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 states' attorneys and judges, their alcohol and drug use, and barriers to getting them care.

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San Benito Foods Deal Gets Early OK, With Notice Concerns

By Jonathan Capriel

A California federal judge has given her initial blessing to a nearly $1 million deal that would end a Monterey Bay area township's lawsuit against a tomato cannery that claimed the cannery's noxious odors diminished their property values.

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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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