Chipotle Replaces Legal Chief Amid Leadership Moves

By James Mills

Chipotle Mexican Grill has promoted its chief human resources officer, announcing Monday that she is now also the restaurant chain's chief legal officer.

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Starbucks Misled Patrons On Coffee Supplier Ethics, Suit Says

By Rachel Riley

Two consumers are targeting Starbucks for touting "100% Ethical Coffee Sourcing" on product labels despite reports of forced labor and other human rights violations on supplying farms around the world, according to a proposed class action launched in Washington state federal court Tuesday.

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'Sazerac Stitches' TM Too Similar To Sazerac, Fed. Circ. Says

By Ivan Moreno

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a trademark tribunal's refusal to register "Sazerac Stitches" for a variety of home goods and decor items because of potential confusion with the distilled spirits and cocktail accessories sold by Sazerac Brands LLC.

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'America's Coffee' Doesn't Mean Made In US, Black Rifle Says

By Gina Kim

Black Rifle Coffee has urged a California federal judge to toss claims it deceives consumers into believing its beans are harvested in the U.S., arguing the American flag and slogan "America's Coffee" on its packaging don't indicate geographic origin, but rather invoke the company's patriotic mission and support for U.S. military vets. 

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DOJ Fights For May Trial Against Agri Stats

By Bryan Koenig

Justice Department attorneys pushed a Minnesota federal judge in oral arguments Tuesday to let them go to trial in May on claims that Agri Stats' protein industry reports help major producers hike prices, arguing they're entitled to leapfrog private plaintiffs and the company cannot toss or winnow their allegations.

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NJ Gov. Signs Bill Regulating Intoxicating Hemp Products

By Mike Curley

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed into law a bill regulating the sale of intoxicating hemp products, closing what the bill's sponsors called a loophole that allowed them to be sold without oversight.

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Lawmakers Eye 2-Year Delay On Hemp Ban Implementation

By Sam Reisman

A bipartisan group of Congress members led by Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., on Tuesday introduced a bill that would delay implementation of a national ban on most hemp products by an additional two years.

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Credit-Card Fight Heats Up As Trump Backs Swipe Fee Bill

By Jon Hill

Bankers moved swiftly Tuesday to push back on President Donald Trump's late-night endorsement of legislation that he said will stop "out of control" credit-card swipe fees, his latest broadside against the credit card industry that has lenders on the defensive over costs.

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NC Judge Leery Of Early Exit Bid In Produce Co. ESOP Suit

By Hayley Fowler

A North Carolina federal judge seemed disinclined Tuesday to toss a lawsuit alleging a "cabal" of lawyers, private equity firms and their founders conspired to drain a produce company's employee stock ownership plan of its value, noting it's a fact-intensive case that will likely require discovery.

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Celebrity-Owned NY Entertainment Venue Hit With Wage Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A New York City sports and entertainment venue owned by Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake improperly relied on a tip credit, kept a portion of employees' gratuities and paid overtime at the wrong rate, according to a proposed class and collective action filed in New York federal court.

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Hemp Co. Accuses Rival Of Using Pot-Based THC, Not Hemp

By Mike Curley

Hemp-derived cannabinoid company CCT Sciences LLC is suing a competitor in Florida federal court, alleging that despite the rival's claims of using "natural" hemp-derived THC, it instead uses illegal cannabis derivatives in its products.

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2026 Enforcement Trends To Expect In Maritime And Int'l Trade

The maritime and international trade community should expect U.S. federal enforcement to ramp up in 2026, particularly via Office of Foreign Asset Control shipping sanctions, accelerating interagency investigations of trade fraud, and U.S. Coast Guard narcotics and pollution inspections, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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5 E-Discovery Predictions For 2026 And Beyond

2026 will likely be shaped by issues ranging from artificial intelligence regulatory turbulence to potential evidence rule changes, and e-discovery professionals will need to understand how to effectively guide the responsible and defensible adoption of emerging tools, while also ensuring effective safeguards, say attorneys at Littler.

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No Jury Yet In Goldstein Trial, But Celeb Witnesses Possible

By Jared Foretek

Day two of jury selection in Tom Goldstein's tax and mortgage fraud case wrapped without a jury being seated Tuesday, but did reveal that the government could call celebrities Tobey Maguire and Kevin Hart to the stand.

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Ex-Duane Morris Tax Partner Charged With Murdering Wife

By Hailey Konnath

A former tax partner at Duane Morris LLP's Chicago office has been charged with killing his wife a little more than a year ago, according to an announcement made Tuesday by Illinois prosecutors.

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Beasley Allen Talc Work Sends 'Bad Signal,' J&J Says

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson's talc unit told a New Jersey appeals panel on Tuesday that a lower court's ruling permitting Beasley Allen Law Firm attorneys to represent plaintiffs in multicounty litigation over its talc-based baby powder "sends a very bad signal" to the state bar.

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Ex-Atty, Others Charged In Staged New Orleans Crash Scheme

By Hope Patti

A disbarred attorney was hit with new charges claiming that he induced a witness to commit perjury and obstructed justice in the federal investigation of an insurance scam involving staged car crashes in the New Orleans area.

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Halligan Blasts Court's 'Inquisition' Over US Atty Status

By Ryan Boysen

Lindsey Halligan said Tuesday that she is still the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia despite a recent ruling to the contrary, dismissing a federal judge's questions about why she's still using the title as an "inquisition" and a "gross abuse of power."

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Approach The Bench: Judge Bough On Ethics

Years of experience as a plaintiff's attorney influenced U.S. District Judge Stephen Bough's disclosure rules for litigators appearing in his court.

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DLA Piper Can't Counsel Hudson Hotel In Ch. 11, Judge Says

By Alex Wittenberg

A Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday rejected a bid by two bankrupt entities tied to the former Hudson Hotel to retain DLA Piper LLP as special counsel in their Chapter 11 case, saying the law firm's work for the entities' lender presented a conflict of interest.

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Sen. Whitehouse Presses AG On Boasberg Complaint Results

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., ranking member of the courts panel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the results of the disciplinary complaint she filed against Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia when the investigation wraps up.

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Jack Smith To Testify Publicly Next Week

By Courtney Bublé

Former special counsel Jack Smith is slated to testify publicly before the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 22 after, according to his attorney, having been "ready and willing" to do so for a while.

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4th Circ. Combines DOJ Appeals Of Comey, James Dismissals

By Jack Karp

The Fourth Circuit has granted the Trump administration's request to combine its previously separate appeals of the dismissals of prosecutions against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

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