9th Circ. Redo Raises New Issues On Abortion Coverage Law

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel that previously sided with Washington in a church's challenge to a state law mandating employer health coverage of abortion services voiced fresh concerns about both sides' positions when revisiting the case Thursday, roughly six months after rescinding the initial opinion without explanation.

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Trump Admin Can't Undo Block On Drug Rebate Program

By Carolyn Muyskens

A First Circuit panel has refused to lift a district judge's block on a Trump administration plan to pilot a rebate model for a federal drug discount program that benefits low-income patients, saying the federal government is unlikely to win its appeal.

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Organ Procurer Says CMS Rule Will Toss Industry Into Chaos

By Mark Payne

A North Carolina-based organ procurement organization wants a federal court to toss aside a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule taking effect this year that will alter how organ procurers are certified, arguing the rule pits them against one another in a "Hunger-Games-style" competition.

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Brief

Texas AG Says P&G Is Updating Kid Fluoride Crest Label

By Emily Field

The Texas attorney general said Wednesday that Procter & Gamble has agreed to place information about the recommended amount of fluoride toothpaste for children on its packaging in order to show the accurate amount on its Crest toothpaste for children.

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FTC Battles Edwards On Eve Of Heart Valve Merger Deadline

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission asked a D.C. federal judge for a last-minute extension on an order blocking Edwards Lifesciences' $945 million acquisition of JenaValve Technology Inc., fearing difficulty with unscrambling the egg if the block expires Friday, the judge rejects its merger challenge and the deal closes before the agency can appeal.

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Wash. Justices Take Up Pixel Privacy Suit Against Hospital

By Rachel Riley

The Washington Supreme Court has taken up a group of parents' bid to revive their proposed class action accusing Seattle Children's Hospital of sharing their private data with Facebook parent company Meta by installing its Pixel browser tracking tool on the hospital's public-facing website.

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Walgreens Gets $392K Sanction Against Blue Cross Insurers

By Rae Ann Varona

A Chicago federal judge on Thursday ordered a host of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers to pay Walgreens more than $392,000 in attorney fees and expenses for discovery misconduct in their suit that accuses the drugstore company of fraudulently overcharging for prescription drugs.

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Ardent Health Investors Sue Over Revenue Accounting Issues

By Sydney Price

Tennessee-based healthcare provider Ardent Health Inc. was hit with a proposed shareholder class action accusing it of misleading investors about the collectability of accounts receivable and the sufficiency of the company's malpractice liability insurance, saying shares fell over 30% several weeks ago after the company reported disappointing earnings due to those issues.

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Aetna Must Cover Gender-Affirming Surgery, Conn. Court Told

By Aaron Keller

Two individuals from a proposed class of transgender women on Thursday urged a Connecticut federal judge to stop Aetna from refusing to cover gender-affirming facial reconstruction to treat severe depression, anxiety and, in one case, suicidal thoughts, saying the insurer committed sex discrimination while claiming the surgeries were purely cosmetic.

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Dentists Look To Fill Holes After Delta Dental Class Cert. Denial

By Celeste Bott

Dentists targeting an alleged $13 billion antitrust scheme by Delta Dental and its members are asking an Illinois federal court for permission to amend their complaint after the court refused to grant their bid for class certification last year.

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Ex-Budget Official's Atty Stays On Case At Judge's Urging

By Aaron Keller

Despite an order allowing him to withdraw over a $65,000 fee dispute, a lawyer for former Connecticut budget official Konstantinos Diamantis late on Thursday agreed to remain on a case after a federal judge urged him to consider seeking payments under the Criminal Justice Act.

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2 Firms Guide Eli Lilly's $1.2B Ventyx Biosciences Acquisition

By Al Barbarino

Eli Lilly and Co. has agreed to acquire Ventyx Biosciences Inc., a San Diego-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, for about $1.2 billion in cash, with Ropes & Gray LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC advising.

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Cooley-Led Eir Partners Wraps $1B Health Tech Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Cooley LLP-advised private equity shop Eir Partners Capital LP on Thursday announced that it wrapped its third fund with $1 billion of investor commitments, which will be used to invest in health technology and technology-enabled services businesses.

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Brief

Husch Blackwell Expands With 18-Person Immigration Team

By Aebra Coe

Husch Blackwell LLP has hired an 18-person immigration team made up of two lawyers, eight paralegals and eight business professionals from an Illinois boutique, the firm announced this week.

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Cooley Adds Longtime Sidley Healthcare Attorney In DC

By Alison Knezevich

A longtime Sidley Austin LLP attorney has moved to Cooley LLP's global life sciences and healthcare regulatory practice in Washington, D.C. 

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How 11th Circ.'s Zafirov Decision Could Upend Qui Tam Cases

Oral argument before the Eleventh Circuit last month in U.S. ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates suggests that the court may affirm a lower court's opinion that the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act are unconstitutional — which could wreak havoc on pending and future qui tam cases, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Key Trends For Life Sciences Cos. To Watch In 2026

Following a year of drastic change at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, two themes are likely to drive the coming year — a commitment to lowering the cost of drugs and an inherent tension between the priorities of the health agencies and the broader administration, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

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Series

Muay Thai Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Muay Thai kickboxing has taught me that in order to win, one must stick to one's game plan and adapt under pressure, just as when facing challenges by opposing counsel or judges, says Mark Schork at Feldman Shepherd.

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Law Firms Closed 2025 With Continued 'Appetite For Hiring'

By Tracey Read

The legal sector continued to defy hiring expectations in spite of uncertainty in the U.S. economy as 2025 drew to a close.

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NY Courts Open To Attys Using AI To Prep Filings

By Andrea Keckley

Lawyers should not be barred outright from using artificial intelligence tools to prepare court documents, a New York court system advisory committee said in its annual report on Thursday.

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New Trade Group Joins Litigation Finance Lobbying Fight

By Ryan Boysen

A new trade group for litigation funders has launched with the aim of enlisting personal injury and mass tort attorneys in a fight against proposed federal laws that it says could threaten the $16 billion litigation finance industry.

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Bruce Fein Unauthorized To Represent Maduro, Atty Says

By Rachel Rippetoe

When constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein entered an appearance as counsel for former Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro on Tuesday, it was without having ever spoken to the client, according to a Thursday filing by Maduro's attorney Barry Pollack seeking to remove Fein from the case.

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Roundup

Up Next At High Court: Pollution Lawsuits & Trans Athletes

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will kick off the new year by hearing disputes over the constitutionality of state laws banning transgender female athletes from female-only sports and whether state or federal courts are the proper forum for lawsuits seeking to hold major oil companies accountable for harm caused by their oil production activities along Louisiana's coast. 

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Goldberg Segalla Fights Ex-IP Co-Chair's $4M Arbitration Bid

By Theresa Schliep

An arbitration fight Goldberg Segalla LLP initiated against a former co-chair of its intellectual property group over proceeds from transferred cases spilled into New York state court, where the firm is seeking relief from his counterclaims that it shorted him nearly $4 million in compensation.

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Jones Day To Help Restore David Bowie's Old London Home

By Jamie Lennox

Jones Day's charitable foundation will help to restore the childhood home of musical icon David Bowie before it opens to the public in late 2027, the historical trust leading the project said Friday.

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NJ Justices Nix Atty Registration Fee Hike After Bar Pushback

By Rose Krebs

The New Jersey Supreme Court has rejected a request to raise the annual registration fee for attorneys after the state's bar association complained that a proposed $27 hike for certain attorneys, following prior year increases, was too much at a time when they and their firms face "significantly increasing operational costs."

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Gov't Can't Use NYT Article As Evidence In Goldstein Trial

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Friday barred prosecutors from pre-admitting Thomas Goldstein's statements in a New York Times article as evidence in the SCOTUSblog co-founder's tax fraud trial, but she left open the possibility for the government to call either Jeffrey Toobin, the article's author, or a Times fact-checker, as a witness.

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Calif. Wage Suit Settles Months After Atty Admits To AI Mishap

By Emily Sawicki

A proposed wage and hour class action that drew the legal world's attention in November after the plaintiff's counsel admitted to using a half-dozen artificial intelligence tools to prepare a botched motion has now ended, with a Northern California federal judge granting a joint dismissal following a settlement agreement.

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Comey, James Fight DOJ Push To Combine Dismissal Appeals

By Jack Karp

Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James are pushing back against federal prosecutors' effort to consolidate their currently separate appeals of the beleaguered prosecutions against the pair at the Fourth Circuit.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen a collapsed investment firm revive a $15 million dispute with a hedge fund, major Hollywood studios bring an IP claim against the U.K.'s largest internet providers over illegal streaming, and the Department of Health and Social Care sue the law firm and barrister representing it in a pharma competition damages case.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

In technology, the increasing use of artificial intelligence by legal departments will be a major concern for general counsel seeking to control costs in the New Year. And in labor matters, the National Labor Relations Board has a new general counsel along with a quorum and is ready to start deciding cases again.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed a ruling in which Apple beat claims it illegally blocked third-party access to Apple Watch medical data so it could create rival software.

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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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