Analysis

Real Estate Attys 'Not Going In Blind' Amid Data Center Boom

By Chris Villani

The explosion of artificial intelligence has created a sharp demand for new data centers with no signs of slowing down, posing challenges that have some real estate attorneys turning to well-worn playbooks from other industries.

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Analysis

The Message From Delaware Courts: Change Is Coming

By Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's Supreme Court delivered a reminder to the state's corporation law ecosystem recently with a reversal of a Court of Chancery decision invalidating a 7-year-old stockholder agreement that granted broad corporate powers to investment bank Moelis & Co.'s founder.

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7th Circ. Grills Trump Admin Atty Over Definition Of Illegal DEI

By Celeste Bott

Seventh Circuit judges on Friday pushed an attorney for the Trump administration to define what kind of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives it deems illegal in requiring grant recipients to certify they don't promote DEI programs that violate anti-discrimination law, with one judge saying the unanswered question has caused "frustration" in litigation over the requirement.

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Warsh Clinches Trump's Nomination For Fed Chair

By Jon Hill

President Donald Trump is nominating former Federal Reserve Gov. Kevin Warsh to lead the central bank as its next chairman, elevating a critic of the Fed's leadership as the White House pushes against its traditional independence.

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Attys Rip Judge-Shopping Sanctions As Bid To 'Rewrite' Rules

By Jake Maher

Two Alabama attorneys who were sanctioned for allegedly judge shopping in a civil rights case urged the Eleventh Circuit to toss the sanctions Friday, arguing the judges accusing them were seeking to "rewrite" the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

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Senate Passes Gov't Funding Package; House Must Vote Next

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 71-29 on Friday to pass five of the remaining government funding bills for fiscal 2026 and a short tenure extension for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security bill to give lawmakers and the White House time to work on possible immigration enforcement changes.

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House To Vote On Reform Of Court Nondisclosure Orders

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., fumed at the House on Friday for trying to undo a provision that allows him and other senators investigated by special counsel Jack Smith to sue for damages and held up the government funding vote as a result. But a bill the House is poised to take up next week could alleviate some of his concerns.

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NC Bar Urges Panel To OK Atty Discipline For Account Misuse

By Emily Sawicki

The North Carolina State Bar is urging the state's appeals court to uphold the suspension of a Nash County lawyer over the alleged mishandling of his attorney trust account, arguing he admitted to the misconduct and did not show the state's ethics watchdog had abused its discretion.

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FTC Warns 42 Law Firms Of DEI 'Anticompetitive Collusion'

By Sarah Jarvis

The Federal Trade Commission announced Friday that it has sent warning letters to 42 major law firms for their purported participation in an outside diversity, equity and inclusion program, alleging their participation could constitute anticompetitive collusion.

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Brief

Bill Regulating Attorney AI Use Passes California Senate

By Emily Sawicki

A proposed California law that would regulate attorneys and arbitrators' use of generative artificial intelligence statewide has headed to the Assembly after the state Senate unanimously approved the measure.

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SEC Appoints New PCAOB Chair, Board Members

By Katryna Perera

A new chairman and three new board members have been appointed to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, according to an announcement from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

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DOE-Created Climate Panel Was Unlawful, Judge Rules

By Rae Ann Varona

A Massachusetts federal judge ruled Friday that the U.S. Department of Energy violated the law when it formed a climate change science advisory panel that environmental groups alleged was created to undermine findings on the harmful impact of greenhouse gas emissions.

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Mich. Can't Shake Residents' Water Suit Based On Timeliness

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan appellate court has allowed lead contamination claims from Benton Harbor residents to proceed, affirming that state officials did not make clear the level of danger in the city's water system for purposes of starting the clock on the statute of limitations.

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Trump Says Court Can't Review Rule Delay For Chemical Cos.

By Gina Kim

The Trump administration has urged a D.C. federal judge to nix a lawsuit by green groups that claim it violated the Clean Air Act by postponing emission standard compliance deadlines for 50 chemical manufacturing facilities, arguing they lack standing since they fail to sufficiently allege injury from all facilities that received exemption.

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Planned Parenthood Drops Medicaid Fight After 1st Circ. Loss

By Carolyn Muyskens

Planned Parenthood abandoned a legal challenge to a ban on Medicaid reimbursements for its clinics Friday, following a loss at the First Circuit, which upheld the ban in December.

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US Athlete Claims Rigged Qualifier Kept Her From Olympics

By Alex Lawson

Just a week before the Winter Olympics, American skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender is fighting to reclaim her spot in the competition, telling the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday that Canada sabotaged her in a qualifying race.

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Irish Luge Team Says Russians Iced Athlete Out Of Olympics

By Joyce Hanson

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said the Irish Luge Federation has appealed a decision to award athletes from Russia places in the women's singles competition for the upcoming Winter Olympics, claiming it ices an Irish athlete out of the games.

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Brief

Russian Skier's Appeal For Olympic Berth Too Late, CAS Says

By Tom Lotshaw

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Thursday that it could not entertain Russian cross-country skier Alexander Bolshunov's bid to compete in the Winter Olympic Games as an individual neutral athlete.

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'I Will Not Stop Now': Don Lemon Defiant After Arrest

By Craig Clough

A Los Angeles federal judge released journalist Don Lemon from custody Friday afternoon, rejecting a prosecutor's request that his travel be restricted after he was arrested Thursday on charges related to his coverage of a protest inside a Minnesota church. 

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Live Nation Plaintiff States Fight Plan To Stay Antitrust Claims

By Ben Adlin

Nearly three dozen states accusing Live Nation of stifling competition in the live entertainment industry urged a New York federal judge not to pause their state-law claims in order to focus on federal law, arguing that handling all claims at once "will be the most efficient approach."

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UP, Norfolk Southern Rip Rival BNSF's Merger Docs Demands

By Linda Chiem

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern have accused rival railroad BNSF Railway of trying to delay the regulatory review for their proposed $85 billion mega-merger by demanding that they share thousands more documents, emails and other operational details in what they called a "fishing expedition."

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Feds Say Suit To Block Trump From Painting Building Is Moot

By Isaac Monterose

The federal government asked a D.C. federal court to toss a lawsuit seeking to stop President Donald Trump from painting a historic building white, saying the president has already agreed to pause his plan until environmental reviews are completed.

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Labor Dept. Recovered $1.4B For Benefit Plans In Fiscal '25

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor reported $1.4 billion in recoveries for employee benefit plans in its latest enforcement report on Friday, an amount equal to what the agency has reported for the previous three fiscal years, although it had a significant uptick in funds recovered from abandoned plans.

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DOJ Requires Divestitures For Reddy Ice-Arctic Glacier Tie-Up

By Jared Foretek

The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division is forcing Reddy Ice to divest assets in five geographic areas in order to win approval for a $126 million acquisition of competitor Arctic Glacier.

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FTC Requires Facility Sales For $835M Healthcare Deal

By Matthew Perlman

The Federal Trade Commission reached an agreement Friday allowing Sevita Health to move ahead with an $835 million deal for BrightSpring Health Services Inc.'s community living business, conditioned on the sale of more than 100 facilities.

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Kroger, Albertsons Look To Block FTC Testimony Handover

By Cara Salvatore

Grocery giants Albertsons and Kroger asked a California federal judge to protect sensitive expert testimony that helped the Federal Trade Commission torpedo their planned merger in 2024, which a new FTC target said is urgently needed to show that the regulator is creating contradictory market analyses.

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FCC Urges Cos. To Tamp Down Ransomware Risks

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission called on companies to take tough measures against ransomware attacks and report data breaches and outages from cybersecurity incidents.

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Undersea Cable Cos. Seek Slash In FCC License Paperwork

By Christopher Cole

Submarine cable providers want the Federal Communications Commission to replace its current "ad hoc" procedure for approving license applications with one that's more streamlined and clearly spelled out in FCC rules.

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Calif. Senator Floats Bill To Expand Data Deletion Rights

By Allison Grande

A California senator is pushing to update the state's landmark data privacy law to expand the type of personal information that consumers can ask businesses to delete and to require companies to provide residents with more ways to submit data deletion, access and correction requests. 

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FTC Taps Goodwin Atty For Consumer Protection Deputy Role

By Emilie Ruscoe

A veteran of Goodwin Procter LLP has been tapped to serve as deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, the regulator announced.

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Baltimore Sues Payday Lender Dave Over 'Usurious' Loans

By Dorothy Atkins

The city of Baltimore sued Los Angeles-based lender Dave Inc. in state circuit court Friday, alleging that the financial technology company disguises high-interest payday loans as "overdraft services," while charging "astounding, usurious" annual percentage rates exceeding 2,500%, which is far above Maryland's 33% legal limit.

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Amazon Says Shoppers' Labeling Suit Is Corrupted By AI Errors

By Adrian Cruz

In customers' latest filing in their proposed class action accusing Amazon of failing to make required disclosures on dietary supplement product pages, the e-commerce giant alleges that the plaintiffs have submitted a document riddled with errors derived from the use of generative text.

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Virginia Senators Ask DHS IG To Investigate Surveillance Tech

By Ganesh Setty

Virginia's Democratic senators have urged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's inspector general to investigate the agency's technology procurement amid the Trump administration's immigration enforcement push, warning that DHS' various information collection tools put Americans' privacy rights under threat.

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Trump Orders Open Tariff Threat Over Oil Sales To Cuba

By Dylan Moroses

President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on imports from countries that sell oil to Cuba, according to an executive order published Thursday evening.

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Commerce Outlines USMCA Truck Tariff Discount Reporting

By Jack McLoone

The federal government Friday outlined criteria to meet and information that importers must provide on imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks to qualify for preferential tariff treatment under the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement.

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Trade Court Slams Gov't Bid To Dismiss Wood Shutter Case

By Jack McLoone

A U.S. Court of International Trade judge rejected the government's argument that a wood shutter company obscured the "true nature" of its challenge of the Department of Commerce's refusal to review duties on its products, saying the government didn't adequately explain how to make that determination.

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US Rebukes WTO Siding With China On Energy Tax Credits

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Trade Representative condemned the World Trade Organization's decision to side with China in a dispute over energy tax credits passed during former President Joe Biden's term Friday, calling the global body's dispute resolution mechanism inadequate.

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Brief

USTR Signs Trade Agreements With El Salvador, Guatemala

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. signed framework trade agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala, according to announcements from the U.S. Trade Representative's Office.

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DOL Adds More H-2B Visas For Imperiled Employers

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Department of Labor issued a temporary rule Friday making another 64,716 H-2B visas for seasonal, non-agricultural workers available for fiscal year 2026, but only to employers facing severe financial hardship.

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Feds Say Alleged $100K H-1B Fee Harm Only Speculative

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration asked a California federal judge to dismiss a suit challenging President Donald Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee, arguing it rests upon multiple what-ifs that deprive the groups that challenged the fee of standing.

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Immigrant Advocates Sue ICE Over Warrantless Entries

By Julie Manganis

A pair of immigrant advocacy groups filed suit Friday over a Trump administration policy memo advising Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that they may use force to enter private homes without a judicial warrant, calling it an illegal "home invasion policy."

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Brief

DC Administrative Judge Is Renominated To Superior Court

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has nominated Sharon Goodie, an administrative law judge in Washington, D.C., to be an associate judge on the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.

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Ex-Mass. Pol Gets Extra Month In Prison For Obstruction

By Julie Manganis

A former Massachusetts state senator who was two weeks from being released from prison on unemployment and tax fraud charges will spend an additional month in custody for misleading investigators, a federal judge ordered on Friday with "some misgivings."

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Ex-NC City Council Member Cops To COVID Fraud In Plea Deal

By Parker Quinlan

A former Charlotte City Council member reached a plea deal Friday in her North Carolina federal wire fraud case in which she admits to stealing COVID-19 business relief funds by submitting bogus applications to obtain money she later used to throw herself a birthday party.

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Ex-Fla. Rep. Says Prosecutor Has 'Personal Animus' In DQ Bid

By David Minsky

A former Florida congressman and a lobbyist charged with failing to register as foreign agents for Venezuela urged a federal court to disqualify an assistant U.S. attorney in the case, saying Friday that the prosecutor has a conflict of interest and "personal animus" toward defense counsel.

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Okla. Gov. Challenges AG's Tribal Hunting Policy Opinion

By Joyce Hanson

Oklahoma's governor and wildlife department have urged the Oklahoma Supreme Court to give them control over hunting and fishing rights on tribal reservation lands so they can issue state-managed permits, arguing that an opinion by the state's attorney general wrongly says federal law prohibits such permitting.

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Tribe's Cannabis Raid Claims Largely Survive Dismissal

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge has denied the bulk of two motions to dismiss a suit from the Round Valley Indian Tribes and three of its members alleging that their properties were illegally raided for growing cannabis, dismissing only the claims that law enforcement officers didn't have jurisdiction over the properties.

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CBD Cos. Say They're Wrong Defendants In Kratom Suit

By Mike Curley

Shaman Botanicals LLC and CBD American Shaman LLC are urging a California federal judge to throw out claims that they mislead consumers by failing to warn them that Soma Kratom products are dangerous and addictive, saying they're not affiliated with Soma Kratom in the first place.

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Former CMS Deputy Moves To Baker Donelson

By Jack Rodgers

The Trump administration's former Medicaid leader has affiliated himself with Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC as a strategic adviser, where the firm said he'll collaborate with its health and government solutions team across 12 states and the nation's capital.

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Aerospace And Defense Law: Trends To Follow In 2026

Some of the key 2026 developments to watch in aerospace and defense contracting law stem from provisions of this year's National Defense Authorization Act, a push to reform procurement, executive orders that announced Trump administration priorities, the upcoming Artemis space mission and continuing efforts to deploy artificial intelligence, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.

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3 Key Ohio Financial Services Developments From 2025

Ohio's banking and financial services sector saw particularly notable developments in 2025, including a significant Ohio Supreme Court decision on creditor disclosure duties to guarantors in Huntington National Bank v. Schneider, and some major proposed changes to the state's Homebuyer Plus program, says Alex Durst at Durst Kerridge.

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Viewing The Merger Landscape Through An HPE-Juniper Lens

If considerations beyond antitrust law were taken into account to determine whether Section 7 of the Clayton Act was violated in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise-Juniper Networks deal, then legal practitioners advocating deal clearance may now have to argue that deals should be justified by considerations not set forth in the merger guidelines, says Matthew Cantor of Shinder Cantor.

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Aviation Watch: Busy Skies, Tough Market For Airlines In 2026

After a turbulent year in the U.S. commercial aviation sector, demand for air travel and premium service shows no signs of slackening in 2026, with airlines facing the need to compete in a saturated market, while seeking opportunities for consolidation and pursuing other avenues to profitability, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

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4 Quick Emotional Resets For Lawyers With Conflict Fatigue

Though the emotional wear and tear of legal work can trap attorneys in conflict fatigue — leaving them unable to shake off tense interactions or return to a calm baseline — simple therapeutic techniques for resetting the nervous system can help break the cycle, says Chantel Cohen at CWC Coaching & Therapy.

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Paul Weiss Chair's Emails To Epstein Include Apollo Info

By Aebra Coe

Files released by the Department of Justice over the weekend belonging to the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein show a yearslong relationship between Epstein and Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp, which included dinners, phone calls and meetings, as well as communication related to Paul Weiss client Apollo Global Management.

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Ex-Goldstein Employee Claims Accountants Made Mistakes

By Jared Foretek

Defense attorneys for SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein presented evidence Monday that his firm's tax accountants made serious mistakes in tax filings for Goldstein's wife, Amy Howe, in 2021.

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6th Circ. Clears Judge Boasberg In DOJ Ethics Complaint

By Courtney Bublé

The complaint the U.S. Department of Justice filed against Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia has been dismissed.

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Analysis

Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

By Jeff Overley

What happened to a GOP donor's $250,000 Swiss watch? Can cigarette warnings show jarring medical images? Will a circuit split of "far-reaching importance" for arbitration get even wider? That's a taste of the oral argument menu we'll help you digest in this preview of February's top appellate action.

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Fenwick Reaches Deal In FTX Crypto Scam Suit

By Madison Arnold

Fenwick & West LLP and victims of the infamous FTX Trading Ltd. cryptocurrency scam are working toward a settlement in a case over the firm's alleged role in the trading platform's collapse.

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NYC Bar Opinion Warns Attys On Use Of AI Recording Tools

Attorneys who use artificial intelligence tools to record, transcribe and summarize conversations with clients should heed the New York City Bar Association’s recent opinion addressing the legal and ethical risks posed by such tools, and follow several best practices to avoid violating the Rules of Professional Conduct, say attorneys at Smith Gambrell.

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Watchdog Renews Halligan Bar Complaint After Court Rulings

By Emily Sawicki

The nonprofit Campaign for Accountability on Monday once again launched a bar complaint against former interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan in Virginia, after the Virginia State Bar declined to pursue an ethics investigation against the attorney last year, calling it a matter for the courts to determine.

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Brief

Judiciary Open As Usual Until Thursday Despite Shutdown

By Courtney Bublé

The federal judiciary has enough funding to sustain normal operations until Thursday, following the partial government shutdown that started at midnight on Saturday.

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DOJ Defends NJ US Atty Office Funding Amid Scrutiny

By Matthew Santoni

Defending the three-person leadership structure of New Jersey's federal prosecution operations since the departure of Alina Habba, an administrator told a federal court that two of the attorneys running the office are paid through the office's budget and the third is funded through the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

U.S. enforcers reached three new merger settlements, while the Federal Trade Commission successfully blocked a $945 million heart valve deal and lodged an appeal for its case targeting Meta's past acquisitions.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jeff Montgomery

A pair of new high-dollar suits in Delaware's Court of Chancery showed last week that post-deal stock appraisal suits still have legs, despite some efforts to reduce potential from deal-price gains challenges. The week ended with Delaware's justices nipping $100 million from the attorney fees owed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk from $176.2 million to roughly $70.9 million, rejecting part of a Court of Chancery fee calculation.

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The Top In-House Hires Of January

By Sue Reisinger

Legal department hires over the first month of 2026 included high-profile appointments at SiriusXM, at a host of West Coast tech companies including Microsoft and Meta, and at Black & Decker. Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from January.

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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