Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ohtani's Ex-Interpreter To Plead Guilty In Betting Scam

By Alex Lawson

The former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges Wednesday in connection with a scheme to steal nearly $17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers star to pay off debts he amassed through an illegal gambling operation.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AI Art Cos. Fight Uphill To Toss Artists' Copyright Suit

By Craig Clough

Attorneys for four companies that make or distribute software that creates images with text prompts urged a California federal judge Wednesday to rethink his tentative opinion to allow some claims by a proposed class of artists to move forward, with one warning it could lead to hundreds of thousands of similar suits.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Tribes And Groups Urge 9th Circ. To Uphold TikTok Ban Pause

By Crystal Owens

Free speech and internet advocacy groups, as well a Native American nonprofit and two tribes, are urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court's decision that blocks Montana from banning social app TikTok, arguing that First Amendment protections include such media platforms.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Film Investor Wins $19M Verdict Against Producer

By Carolina Bolado

A Canadian film producer was hit Wednesday with a more than $19 million jury verdict after he failed to show up at trial in Florida federal court over claims he allegedly defrauded an investor out of millions of dollars meant to fund several productions.

Verdict attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Truth Social Backer's Insider Trading Alibi In Jury's Hands

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal jury weighed charges Wednesday against a Florida investor accused of fueling a $23 million insider trading scheme that exploited confidential plans to take Truth Social public, after the defense argued it was someone else who tipped speculators.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Simpson Thacher-Led Silver Lake Lands $20.5B For 7th Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Technology-focused private equity shop Silver Lake, advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, announced Wednesday the closing of its seventh flagship fund after securing $20.5 billion from investors, beating out the amount raised in its predecessor fund by about half a billion dollars.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Split 6th Circ. Says Digital Media TM Case Has To Stay In Tenn.

By Andrew Karpan

The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday held that a trademark fight between two companies that digitally preserve home movies, photos and other media will have to play out in a Tennessee federal court, after the panel split over how many customers are enough to extend jurisdiction in the trademark dispute.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Madison Square Garden Escapes Federal Suit Over Facial ID

By David Steele

A proposed class action challenging Madison Square Garden's use of facial recognition to ban attorneys from its properties was dismissed Wednesday, with a New York federal judge ruling that contracting with the third-party provider of the software did not break the law.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NAR Magazine Subscribers Drop Data-Selling Claims

By Isaac Monterose

A proposed class has mediated and permanently dismissed claims in Michigan federal court accusing the National Association of Realtors of illegally selling, exchanging and renting the personal data of subscribers to the NAR's Realtor magazine.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AGs Blast Federal Data Privacy Law's Proposed State Override

By Allison Grande

California joined attorneys general from more than a dozen other states and Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to urge Congress to ensure that proposed federal data privacy legislation sets a "floor, not a ceiling" that would preserve more stringent protections states have enacted and allow them to add new laws to address rapid technological developments. 

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Apple Judge Skeptical Tech Giant Complying With Epic Order

By Bonnie Eslinger

The California federal judge overseeing Epic's antitrust suit against Apple reacted skeptically Wednesday to an Apple executive's claim that it has fully complied with her order aimed at allowing app developers to send users to outside payment platforms, saying some of Apple's new rules appear to "stifle competition."

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Google Fights Subpoena On Texas Amid Ad Tech MDL

By Ali Sullivan

Google is urging a New York federal judge overseeing sweeping multidistrict litigation over the tech giant's alleged monopoly in digital advertising to stamp out a subpoena seeking discovery from Texas in related litigation in the Lone Star State.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Quinn Emanuel Atty Says Asset Freeze Hurt Outcome Defense

By Lauraann Wood

The U.S. government's overreach in restraining millions more than it could reasonably trace back to a $1 billion fraud by Outcome Health prevented the company's former CEO from hiring Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP attorneys to defend the charges like he originally wanted, an Illinois federal judge heard Wednesday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AMC Objector Says Chancery Settlement Lacked Due Process

By Leslie A. Pappas

An AMC Entertainment Inc. stockholder who opposed a class settlement that the company reached with other shareholders to end Chancery Court litigation over a controversial share conversion told Delaware's Supreme Court Wednesday that the deal should be unwound for lack of due process.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FTX Says Full Recovery Coming Based On 2022 Crypto Price

By Yun Park

Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. has claimed its proposed Chapter 11 plan would be able to pay creditors in full with a $13 billion distribution that exceeds the estimated allowable $11.2 billion in claims, but the payout is based on the value of cryptocurrency in November 2022, when the exchange filed for bankruptcy protection. 

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?

Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

Proposed Rule attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

How Courts Are Interpreting Fed. Circ. IPR Estoppel Ruling

In the year since the Federal Circuit’s Ironburg ruling, which clarified the scope of inter partes and post-grant review estoppel, district court decisions show that application of IPR or PGR estoppel may become a resource-intensive inquiry, say Whitney Meier Howard and Michelle Lavrichenko at Venable.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »