The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's general counsel for the past 4½ years is poised to leave at the end of the month, the New York agency confirmed Friday, but emphasized her departure was planned and not the result of a news article alleging the MTA's legal costs surged under her tenure.
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TOP NEWS

MTA Says Top Atty's Exit Was Planned, Not Forced Over Costs

By Lauren Berg

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's general counsel for the past 4½ years is poised to leave at the end of the month, the New York agency confirmed Friday, but emphasized her departure was planned and not the result of a news article alleging the MTA's legal costs surged under her tenure.

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Judge Says GEO, Not ICE, Controls Detention Center Access

By Britain Eakin

A Washington federal judge rejected claims from GEO Group that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement controls access to an ICE detention center in the state and ordered GEO to allow state inspectors into portions of the center it controls.

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GAO Faults VA's 3-Year Cutoff In $2.4M Contract Review

By Elaine Briseño

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs improperly evaluated the proposals of vendors competing for a support services contract by ignoring past experience that was older than three years.

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ENFORCEMENT

MassDOT, Contractors Ignored Environmental Rules, AG Says

By Julie Manganis

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation and a group of private contractors working on a nearly complete bridge project just outside Boston have violated multiple state environmental laws and regulations, exposing workers and nearby residents to asbestos and other hazardous materials, the state's attorney general alleged in a lawsuit launched Friday.

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Keystone Pipeline Operator To Pay $30M For Kansas Oil Spill

By Hailey Konnath

The Keystone Pipeline's owner and operator has agreed to pay a $26.8 million civil penalty plus $3 million for natural resource restoration projects in Kansas for a 2022 rupture of the pipeline that spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil, according to a Friday announcement.

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LITIGATION

Calif. Judge Blocks Grant Conditions Over DEI, Immigration

By Ganesh Setty

A California federal judge blocked the Trump administration from imposing grant funding conditions on California and Oregon municipalities concerning immigration enforcement and its opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, finding the conditions likely encroach on Congress' spending powers.

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Texas Co.'s Defense Of UAE Unit Not Covered, Insurer Says

By Hope Patti

An excess insurer said it owes no coverage to an environmental company for costs incurred in defending its United Arab Emirates-based subsidiary against arbitration in Singapore, telling a Delaware state court that the subsidiary does not qualify as an insured under the policy.

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Defense Contractor Accuses Rival Of Trade Secret Theft

By Elaine Briseño

A defense technology contractor has accused a former employee of stealing its trade secrets to help a competing business build a similar product that allows the retrieval of data when a reliable internet connection is not available.

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States' Stopgap Suit Aims To Shield K-12 Mental Health Grants

By Rachel Riley

Washington and 14 other states launched a preemptive lawsuit Friday to stop the Trump administration from ending federal grants for mental health programming in public schools, seeking to preserve the funding if the U.S. Department of Education succeeds in asserting new grounds for canceling the grants in a related case.

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PEOPLE

Six-Person Public Affairs Team Joins Taft From Ice Miller

By Adrian Cruz

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP has announced that the firm expanded its public affairs strategies group with the hire of six former Ice Miller LLP attorneys and legal professionals including two partners and a pair of vice presidents.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

CFIUS' Mandate Misses Foreign Risk In Project Subcontracts

Recent calls for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review equity transactions like the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. deal miss a consequential oversight gap — CFIUS' inability to review the subcontracting layer of U.S. infrastructure projects, says Thibaut Giret at Alstef Group.

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Roundup

The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Over 2,600 Attys, Professionals Urge Blocking Blanche As AG

By Emma Cueto

More than 2,600 lawyers and legal professionals on Friday urged lawmakers to oppose the nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general, saying Blanche's dismissal of the idea that the U.S. Department of Justice should be independent from the White House and his record as interim attorney general make him unfit for the role.

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HHS' Ex-GC Committed Ethics Violations, Watchdog Says

By Craig Clough

A watchdog organization filed a complaint Thursday with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General seeking an investigation into former HHS general counsel Michael Stuart over alleged federal ethics violations, saying it appears he failed to divest from prohibited financial holdings and made prohibited investment purchases after taking office.

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Atty's 'Fabricated Quotes,' 'Reliance on AI' Panned By Judge

By Craig Clough

A New York magistrate judge struck a brief Friday filed by an attorney representing a client suing Roc Nation after finding that it included numerous fabrications that may have resulted from artificial intelligence hallucinations, noting that the attorney has been "repeatedly" sanctioned or warned by multiple courts for the same behavior. 

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11th Circ. Refers Atty For Discipline Over Suspected AI Entries

By Katherine Smith

The Eleventh Circuit on Friday referred an attorney for potential discipline over a brief he filed in a client's retaliation lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections, ruling that the attorney failed to explain how several defective quotes and citations ended up in the brief.

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Baker Donelson Wins $45K From Tenn. Firm Over AI Misuse

By Lynn LaRowe

Tennessee personal injury firm Reaves Law Firm PLLC must pay more than $45,000 in attorney fees to Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC over Reaves Law's misuse of artificial intelligence in a federal malpractice suit against Baker Donelson.

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Davis Wright Atty Hit With Sanctions After Winning Sanctions

By Jeff Overley

After defending six-figure sanctions of plaintiffs lawyers for "a reckless course of prolonging litigation," a Davis Wright Tremaine LLP attorney is facing his own six-figure sanctions, with a California magistrate judge finding he "unnecessarily burdened" opposing counsel despite warnings dating back years about "improper litigation tactics."

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Oura Health Swaps In Sidley For Quinn After Ex-CEO's DQ Bid

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge granted Oura Health's request to swap in Sidley Austin LLP for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP in breach-of-contract litigation by the fitness tracker company's former CEO after the ex-executive sought to disqualify Quinn Emanuel for purportedly having access to his confidential data.

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NY Nonprofits Want ICE Docs On Courthouse Arrest Policies

By Stewart Bishop

Nonprofit groups suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over courthouse arrest policies pressed a Manhattan federal judge to force the agency to produce documents and testimony concerning arrests it conducts outside immigration courts after the agency's revised policy concerning such arrests in Manhattan was put on hold.

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Brooklyn Legal Aid Provider's Union Sets Strike Deadline

By Andrea Keckley

The union for the Brooklyn Defender Services has voted to authorize a strike if it doesn't reach an agreement with managers by the morning of July 16.

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11th Circ. Upholds Airline's Win In COVID Discrimination Case

By Irene Spezzamonte

A group of workers for a commercial airline and a related entity failed to support their claims that the companies' COVID-19 pandemic-era policies discriminated against their religious beliefs, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Friday, while sharply criticizing their attorney for his misuse of artificial intelligence.

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UChicago Law Takes On AI With Phone And Laptop Ban

By Matt Perez

The University of Chicago Law School will prohibit the use of electronic devices such as laptops, tablets and phones in all first-year law school sections and courses as part of new policies dictating the use of artificial intelligence at the school.

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4 Takeaways From Probe Of Feb. 2025 Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco

By Emily Sawicki

Poor implementation of the February 2025 California Bar Exam resulted in millions of dollars in extra costs and negatively affected "a significant portion" of test-takers, according to a new report by the California State Auditor.

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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 lawyer Ian Rosenblatt launch legal action against music mogul Simon Cowell, Boohoo face a fresh investor claim after previously facing allegations that it feigned ignorance of labor abuses in its supply chain, and an ex-Tory MP and his chief of staff sued by their former employer. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week: The SEC chair said this year's corporate proxy season saw none of the "dire predictions" some had forecast, and in a recent survey, hundreds of law firm leaders said they're increasingly losing clients, citing problems in delivering their legal services.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Greene Broillet & Wheeler LLP and Ludd & Ludd lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a San Diego jury ordered Hyatt to pay $15.5 million over the death of a guest who was left uncontacted for a day after failing to check out.

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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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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Arnold & Porter

Baker Botts

Baker Donelson

Barack Ferrazzano

Benesch

Blank Rome

Brownstein Hyatt

Bursor & Fisher

CM Law LLP

Charles Russell Speechlys

Cleary Gottlieb

Cohen & Gresser

Cole Scott & Kissane

Colson Hicks

Covington & Burling

Crowell & Moring

DAC Beachcroft

DLA Piper

Davis Polk

Davis Woolfe

Davis Wright Tremaine

Debevoise & Plimpton

Dovel & Luner

Dynamis LLP

Emery Celli

Fox Williams

Freeths LLP

Gibson Dunn

Greene Broillet

HSF Kramer

Harris Solicitors

Hill Dickinson

Hogan Lovells

Holland & Knight

Ice Miller

Jenner & Block

Jones Day

Joseph Greenwald & Laake

Katsky Korins

Kennedys Law LLP

Kilpatrick Townsend

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Knobbe Martens

Kopecky Schumacher

Kuit Steinart

Lankler Siffert

Latham & Watkins

Logan Vance

MSB Solicitors

Martin LLP

Mayer Brown

McCarter & English

McDermott Will & Schulte

Memery Crystal

Patterson Belknap

Paul Weiss

Phelps Dunbar

Pinsent Masons

Quinn Emanuel

Quintairos Prieto

Reaves Law Firm PLLC

Reed Smith

Reichman Jorgensen

Renne Public Law Group

Reynolds Porter

Richards Layton

Rosenblatt Solicitors

Rosing Pott

Sabatini Law Firm PA

Sidley Austin

Sive Paget

Smith Krivoshey

Snell & Wilmer

Squire Patton

Stephens Scown

Stephenson Harwood

Stinson LLP

T. A. Blackburn Law PLLC

TLT LLP

Tacopina Seigel

Taft Stettinius

Veale Wasbrough

Venable LLP

Ward Hadaway

Wiley Rein

Williams Leininger

Winston Taylor

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AT&T Inc.

AbbVie Inc.

African Communities Together

American Civil Liberties Union

American Public Health Association

Ankura Consulting Group LLC

Anthropic PBC

Apple Inc.

Applied Medical Resources Corp.

AstraZeneca PLC

Atlas Air Inc.

Avangrid Inc.

Big Lots Inc.

BigHand Ltd.

Boyer Co.

British American Tobacco PLC

Brooklyn Defender Services

CECO Environmental Corp.

CRA International Inc.

Campaign Legal Center

Center for Family Representation Inc.

Cisco Systems Inc.

Cisneros

Compass Lexecon LLC

Cox Communications Inc.

Credit Karma LLC

George Washington University

Gerson Lehrman Group Inc.

Google LLC

Iberdrola SA

KPMG International

LVMH Moet Hennessy

Learning Resources Inc.

LinkedIn Corp.

Long Island Rail Road Co.

Make the Road New York

MasterCard Inc.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA

Medtronic PLC

Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Monsanto Co.

New York Civil Liberties Union

New York Post

New York University

North American Securities Administrators Association

Pfizer Inc.

ROC Nation LLC

Radisson Hotels International

Red Bull GmbH

SentencingStats.com Inc.

Skydance Media LLC

SoftBank Group Corp.

Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

State Bar of California

StoneTurn Group LLP

Tesla Inc.

The Catholic University of America

The District of Columbia Bar

The Hain Celestial Group Inc.

The Kroger Co.

TikTok Inc.

Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

United Airlines Holdings Inc.

United Auto Workers

Verizon Communications Inc.

Vineyard Wind LLC

Visa Europe

Walmart Inc.

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Wells Fargo & Co.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Bureau of Industry and Security

City and County of San Francisco, California

Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Competition Appeal Tribunal

Delaware Court of Chancery

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Federal Communications Commission

Florida Department of Corrections

Internal Revenue Service

International Chamber of Commerce

International Trade Commission

Kansas Department of Health and Environment

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection

Massachusetts Department of Transportation

National Institutes of Health

New York County District Attorney's Office

Ohio Department of Public Safety

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

Texas Supreme Court

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California

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

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Department of Transportation

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

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

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

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

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

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

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

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

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Government Accountability Office

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

Washington Attorney General's Office

Washington Department of Health