Q&A

Womble Bond Atty, NC Bar Leader, Talks DEI, Digital Courts

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Bar Association has welcomed a new president amid a year of major change, including an election in November with a host of judicial races; the continued push to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry; and the massive undertaking of digitizing the state's court records system.

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Ex-Defender Says Judiciary Reform Study Buoys Bias Suit

By Hayley Fowler

A former public defender who accused the federal judiciary of flubbing its investigation of her sexual harassment claim has doubled down on her request for the court to take notice of a recent study promoting judiciary workplace reforms, hitting back at her opponent's attempt to discredit the report's relevance.

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Amazon Contractors Say Partner Broke Deal, Cut Them Out

By Travis Bland

Two owners of an Amazon deliveries contractor have alleged in North Carolina's Business Court that a third partner pushed them out of the company to keep their cut of profits, asking for a court declaration that the third partner violated their business agreement.

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NC High Court Signals End To College Building Access Row

By Travis Bland

The Tar Heel State's Supreme Court this week unpaused a legal battle between North Carolina State University and a cancer-stricken professor after the two said they had resolved a dispute over testing for carcinogens in a campus building.

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6th Circ. Judge Questions GM's Arbitration Argument Delay

By Danielle Ferguson

A Sixth Circuit judge pressed General Motors on Thursday about why it waited three years to argue that some plaintiffs were bound by arbitration agreements in a class action over allegedly defective transmissions, saying a major car company should be aware most consumers sign such contracts.

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Brief

4th Circ. Vacates FTC Loss After Novant Bows Out Of Merger

By Hayley Fowler

The Fourth Circuit has agreed to vacate a North Carolina federal judge's ruling allowing Novant Health's planned $320 million hospital merger to advance after the Federal Trade Commission secured an emergency injunction on appeal that effectively killed the deal.

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Brief

Celeb Video Platform Cameo Fined $100K Over Paid Promos

By Elliot Weld

Celebrity video platform Cameo will pay $100,000 as part of a 30-state settlement over claims it failed to inform customers that its advertising service for businesses involved paid promotions.

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Analysis

How Being A Female Litigator May Aid Harris' Presidential Bid

By Aebra Coe

Female litigators regularly confront implicit biases and double standards when it comes to "their appearance, voice, attire, demeanor and their advocacy," according to the author of an American Bar Foundation research report on first chair trial lawyers.

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'Terrible Decisions': Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Gets 5 Years

By Carla Baranauckas

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer was sentenced Friday in a New Jersey state court to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution for embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax.

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Analysis

How Barrett Became The High Court's Justice To Watch

By Katie Buehler

Justice Amy Coney Barrett has revealed a unique trifecta of caution toward overly broad opinions, devotion to the factual record and concern for the practical effects of court rulings that separates her from the other right-leaning justices and contains the potential to broker more moderate rulings in future terms.

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Cadwalader Suing Lloyd's Over Cyberattack Coverage Denial

By Lynn LaRowe

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP has filed suit against insurer Lloyd's of London in North Carolina state court, alleging the company has failed to reimburse the law firm for expenses related to a November 2022 data breach.

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Attys Face Sanctions For Fake Citations In Whistleblower Suit

By Rachel Rippetoe

A Virginia federal judge has asked lawyers representing a plaintiff in a whistleblower case to defend why they should not be sanctioned for including seemingly fabricated case sources in a brief objecting to a protective order, questioning whether it was a case of "ChatGPT run amok."

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Ex-Thompson Hine Atty Says Firm Can't Oppose NY Jurisdiction

By Xiumei Dong

Former Thompson Hine LLP income partner Rebecca Brazzano fired back at efforts by two firm partners to dismiss her lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, contending among other arguments that they waived their right to contest personal jurisdiction by filing another motion that attempts to force arbitration that didn't raise the jurisdiction issue.

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Cuomo Harassment Document Fight Heads To NY Appeals Court

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan judge on Friday allowed both the New York attorney general and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to appeal parts of a decision requiring the state to produce unredacted transcripts of some witness interviews in the sexual harassment investigation that led to Cuomo's resignation.

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Rutgers Fights Contempt Bid By Student Who Filed Bias Suit

By Rose Krebs

Rutgers University wants a New Jersey state court to reject a bid by a law school student who filed a discrimination suit against it to hold the school in contempt for moving ahead with disciplinary measures against him, arguing there is "no basis" to grant the request.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Boyden Gray PLLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the full Fifth Circuit struck down as unconstitutional the Federal Communications Commission's system for subsidizing telecommunications service for rural and low-income users.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

What a news week! President Joe Biden started it off by announcing he would not seek re-election, but then said he would push for reform of the U.S. Supreme Court in his remaining time. And the Boeing Co. confirmed it has finalized its agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to one count of criminal conspiracy to defraud, related to safety issues and two fatal plane crashes.

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen U.K. band The 1975 face action by Future Sound Asia after its performance in Malaysia resulted in a festival's cancelation, Spectrum Insurance hit by The Motoring Organization following their dispute over information misuse, and a former police constable pursue defamation against a colleague for allegedly instigating a campaign of harassment against her. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Assa Abloy Resolves DOJ Merger Monitor Dispute

By Bryan Koenig

Assa Abloy told a D.C. federal judge that it's agreed "in principle" on how a monitoring trustee will review its compliance with a U.S. Department of Justice merger lawsuit settlement, resolving a simmering dispute over its complaints of an open-ended multimillion-dollar investigation.

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Georgia Judge Won't Block Prosecutor Oversight Commission

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia judge has rejected an attempt to temporarily block a new state commission created to investigate and discipline state prosecutors, finding it doesn't violate Georgia's constitution.

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SEC Sues Banker And Ex-Prosecutor Alleging $1.6M Fraud

By Rae Ann Varona

A Georgia banker fraudulently bilked approximately $1.6 million from unsuspecting investors for "furs and furniture" and other expenses while a former Florida prosecutor ignored several red flags when holding on to the investments, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission told a Georgia federal court.

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Colorado's New Chief Justice Sworn In

By Daniel Ducassi

Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez started her three-year term leading the Colorado Supreme Court on Friday after being sworn in during a closed-door ceremony.

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Girardi Can't Show Ex-CFO's Spending Habits In Fraud Trial

By Gina Kim

Jurors in Tom Girardi's upcoming fraud trial won't hear details about the spending habits of Girardi Keese's former CFO, who's accused of a "side fraud" that bilked millions without Girardi's knowledge, after a California federal judge agreed with prosecutors Friday that the evidence appears more prejudicial than probative.

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Hunter Biden's Attys Made 'False Statements,' Judge Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

The California federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden's criminal tax trial threatened to sanction the presidential son's lawyers Wednesday, saying they made "false statements" in a motion to dismiss that cited a Florida federal judge's order disqualifying the special prosecutor in Donald Trump's classified documents case.

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