USTR Seeking 'Outcomes' On DSTs, Stronger USMCA Rules

By Dylan Moroses

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told a U.S. House of Representatives panel Wednesday that efforts to eliminate digital service taxes implemented by jurisdictions across the world continue to be prioritized by President Donald Trump's administration, and potential tariff actions are ready in waiting.

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Commerce Opens Path For Canadian, Mexican Metal Tariff Cut

By Jack McLoone

Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum producers that commit to expanding their U.S. domestic production capacity and provide the goods to U.S. automotive manufacturers can apply to have the 50% tariff rate on the metals halved, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Wednesday.

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Nintendo Customers Jump In On Tariff Refund Suits

By Jack McLoone

Video game giant Nintendo stands to make "windfall profits" through refunds of President Donald Trump's now-invalidated global tariff regime since those costs were actually passed on to consumers, a proposed class action in Washington federal court said, joining the chorus of customers looking to secure tariff-related refunds.

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Justices Won't Move Mich. Pipeline Suit To Federal Court

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to overturn a Sixth Circuit decision that rebuffed Enbridge's efforts to transfer from state court to federal court a lawsuit from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel seeking to shut down a pipeline between the U.S. and Canada.

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Brief

CIT Backs Expanded Scope For Chinese Cabinet Duties

By Jack McLoone

Certain wooden cabinets and vanities completed in Vietnam and Malaysia with components manufactured in China were correctly found to be in-scope of duty orders on such products from China, the U.S. Court of International Trade said Wednesday, sustaining two U.S. Department of Commerce determinations.

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Oura Hit With New Patent Suit Over Fitness Wearables

By Adam Lidgett

Zepp Health has hit Oura Health with a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas accusing the Finnish company of infringing a series of patents on wearable fitness devices, the latest salvo in a wider patent fight between the companies.

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D.C. Judge Pauses Smurfit's $473M Venezuela Award Suit

By Joyce Hanson

A D.C. federal judge has agreed to keep alive litigation aimed at enforcing a $473 million arbitral award against Venezuela, even though the country has so far ignored the case, ruling Dutch packaging company Smurfit successfully showed dismissal would hurt its enforcement efforts.

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Judge Agrees To Pause PetroSaudi $380M Award Suit

By Joyce Hanson

A California federal judge has paused litigation filed by the U.S. government over a $380 million arbitral award issued to a PetroSaudi unit purportedly tied to funds embezzled from Malaysia, ordering a stay while the question of company control remains in limbo.

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$16B YPF Argentina Feud Will Go To Arbitration

By Caroline Simson

Investors in Argentina's largest oil and gas exploration company confirmed to a New York federal judge Tuesday that they will pursue arbitration in their $16 billion fight with the country, and are now seeking permission to use discovery obtained in the case in the parallel claim.

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WIPO Head Gets Another Term To Lead UN Agency

By Adam Lidgett

World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Daren Tang has been reappointed to the position after being nominated by its coordination committee earlier this year to again lead the United Nations agency.

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Womble Bond Hires Ex-White & Case RE Atty For Partner Role

By Isaac Monterose

Womble Bond Dickinson has hired a former White & Case LLP partner who specializes in real estate financing and private capital market deals for a partner role in its New York City office, the firm recently announced.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: How To Draft Pleadings

Most law school graduates step into their first jobs without ever having drafted a complaint, answer, motion or other type of pleading, but that gap can be closed by understanding the strategy embedded in every filing, writing with clarity and purpose, and seeking feedback at every step, says Eric Yakaitis at Haug Barron.

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Norton Rose Faces $100M Suit Over Withdrawn Patent App

By Celeste Bott

Norton Rose Fulbright was sued in Illinois state court Tuesday by an advertising tech company claiming that the law firm mishandled a patent application and caused it to be deemed withdrawn, but kept the company in the dark about the loss of its valuable patent rights for over a year.

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Lockheed Birth Defect Trial Judge 'Disappointed' By Attys

By Cara Salvatore

A Florida federal judge said Tuesday he's "puzzled and disappointed" in counsel who appear "unprepared" on the eve of trial in a suit by children who blame their birth defects on Lockheed Martin's chemical handling practices at an Orlando defense system manufacturing and research facility.

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Hunter Biden Blasts Winston & Strawn Tactics In Fee Row

By Emily Sawicki

As a discovery dispute between Hunter Biden and Winston & Strawn LLP drags on amid a suit over allegedly unpaid legal bills, the former president's son accused the BigLaw firm, which once represented him in a Delaware criminal case and other matters, of resorting to "what is uncomfortably close to an ad hominem attack" against him.

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Analysis

Bondi's Proposed Rule Change May Shield Her In Ethics Case

By Phillip Bantz

A federal rule change that Pam Bondi proposed before she was fired as U.S. attorney general could stymie an ethics complaint against her in Florida, which is expected to be refiled after the state bar declined to take up the case during her tenure, experts say.

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Messner Reeves Accused Of $8.3M Trust Account Fraud

By Zach Dupont

Colorado law firm Messner Reeves LLP was hit with a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court from five businesses claiming it stole more than $8 million from them in a fraudulent loan scheme involving a now-defunct sports arena and hotel project in Las Vegas.

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Alston & Bird Says Goliath Investors Can't Claim Malpractice

By Carolina Bolado

Alston & Bird LLP urged a Florida federal court on Wednesday to toss a malpractice suit claiming the firm facilitated a $328 million cryptocurrency scam at Goliath Ventures Inc., arguing that the proposed class of Goliath investors who brought the suit were never clients of the firm.

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Analysis

House GOP Again Pushes Data Privacy Bill To Override States

By Allison Grande

House Republicans on Wednesday took their latest crack at establishing a cohesive nationwide data privacy framework, floating legislation that would give consumers more control over their personal information while preempting a growing patchwork of state laws, although early criticisms indicate that the issues that have long stymied these efforts persist.

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330+ Groups Urge DOJ To Restore Immigration Aid Staff

By Courtney Bublé

More than 300 legal services providers, faith-based institutions and community groups are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to fully restore a program that allows nonlawyers to assist low-income and indigent persons in immigration proceedings.

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Acting DOJ Inspector General Tapped For Permanent Post

By Jack Karp

President Donald Trump has nominated the U.S. Department of Justice's acting inspector general, who investigated the FBI's probe into Trump's links with Russia, to remain in that role on a permanent basis, according to a White House announcement.

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Paint Co. Says Injury Firm Used Stolen Data To Solicit Clients

By Abigail Harrison

A paint company has asked a North Carolina federal court to boot the opposing counsel in a putative data breach class action, accusing them of finding stolen data on the dark web and using it to solicit potential plaintiffs before victims were even notified of the breach.

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