Analysis

Top Product Liability Cases Of 2025

By Emily Field

The Fourth Circuit's decision to unravel an early landmark ruling in litigation over the opioid crisis in a suit brought by West Virginia counties against drug distributors tops Law360's list of product liability cases of the past year, as well as a loss for Tesla in a newsworthy trial over the automaker's Autopilot feature. Here's what other cases garnered attorneys' attention in 2025.

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Energy Transfer Wants Action On $345M Greenpeace Verdict

By Cara Salvatore

Energy Transfer begged a North Dakota state judge Thursday to enter final judgment on a $345 million defamation and property damage verdict over the Dakota Access pipeline protests, saying the case is "off the procedural map," and it heard from the judge an acknowledgment that it's taken over his professional life.

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Analysis

Top Trade Secrets Decisions Of 2025

By Ivan Moreno

The Ninth Circuit clarified the rules of engagement in trade secrets disputes with guidance on when confidential information must be precisely detailed during litigation, and jurors delivered a $200 million verdict against Walmart over product freshness technology. Here are Law360's picks for the biggest trade secrets decisions of 2025.

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Amazon Loses Bid To Upend AlmondNet's $136M Patent Win

By Rae Ann Varona

A Texas federal judge has denied Amazon's attempt to overturn a $136 million judgment against it, saying online advertising company AlmondNet had produced enough evidence to back a jury's verdict that Amazon infringed AlmondNet patents covering online ad space auctions.

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NY Jury In FARA Trial Over China Ties Says It's Deadlocked

By Stewart Bishop

The Brooklyn federal jury weighing the fate of a former top New York gubernatorial aide accused of secretly acting as a foreign agent for China said Thursday that it cannot reach a unanimous verdict, after five days of deliberations.

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Feature

The Biggest Rulings From A Busy Year At The 1st Circ.

By Chris Villani

The nation's smallest federal appellate panel punched above its weight in 2025, grappling with numerous suits against the Trump administration, high-profile criminal appeals, a $34 million legal fee bid and a hotly contested kickback law.

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Wis. Judge Guilty Of Felony For Obstructing ICE Arrest

By Nate Beck

A jury in Wisconsin federal court on Thursday found a judge guilty of a felony obstruction count after directing a defendant in her courtroom into a restricted hallway and away from a team of federal agents, in an act prosecutors said was a strike against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement powers.

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Biz Wants Samsung's $445M In Damages 'At Least' Doubled

By Elliot Weld

Collision Communications has asked a Texas federal judge to "at least" double the $445.5 million in damages it was awarded against Samsung by a jury in October, saying Samsung's copying was blatant and brazen enough to warrant a boost.

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NJ Panel Allows Lab Expert Substitution In Sex Assault Case

By Parker Quinlan

A New Jersey appeals court has upheld a man's conviction for sexual assault and criminal sexual contact, finding that because his attorneys failed to raise challenges during trial about how toxicology testimony was presented, he forfeited his right to appeal the issue.

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Judge Wants Live Nation Antitrust Trial Limited To 5 Weeks

By Bryan Koenig

A New York federal judge nudged the Justice Department and Live Nation during a hearing Thursday to limit next year's antitrust jury trial against the live entertainment giant to no more than five weeks, not the eight the government wants, although he left open the possibility for more time.

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Anti-Fluoride Win Merits $9.5M In Fees From EPA, Judge Told

By Bonnie Eslinger

Anti-fluoridation groups urged a California federal judge in a hearing Thursday to grant them $9.5 million in attorney fees for winning a 2024 decision that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "optimal" fluoride level for drinking water poses an unreasonable risk of lowering children's IQ. 

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Seattle Jury Awards $8.1M Over Fall During Operation

By Cara Salvatore

A Seattle jury awarded $8.1 million on Thursday over an Adobe manager's fall from an operating table, after hearing the plaintiff's experts testify that his life was irrevocably altered by permanent brain damage.

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$10B Verdict Hinges On Witness Order, Katyal Tells Panel

By Craig Clough

Milbank's Neal Katyal urged a California state appellate panel to grant a new trial to a man who lost an estimated $10 billion verdict when a jury found he violated an oral agreement with his brothers over a real estate empire, saying the witness order violated a civil procedure rule.

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7 Strategies To Optimize Impact Of Direct Examination

Direct examination is a make-or-break opportunity to build a witness’s credibility, so attorneys should adopt a few tactics — from asking so-called trust-fall questions to preemptively addressing weaknesses — to drive impact and retention with the fact-finder, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

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Series

Nature Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Nature photography reminds me to focus on what is in front of me and to slow down to achieve success, and, in embracing the value of viewing situations through different lenses, offers skills transferable to the practice of law, says Brian Willett at Saul Ewing.

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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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Health, Legal Employers Face Unique Online Speech Hurdles

Employers in the legal and healthcare industries must consider distinctive ethical obligations and professional requirements when disciplining employees for social media posts, while anticipating an area of the law in flux as courts seek to balance speech rights and the workplace function, say attorneys at FordHarrison.

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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 the designer of an 88-facet diamond bring a copyright claim against a luxury watch retailer, collapsed firm Axiom Ince bring legal action against the solicitors' watchdog, and the Post Office hit with compensation claims from two former branch managers over their wrongful convictions during the Horizon information technology scandal.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Five firms lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the D.C. Circuit reinstated an order that blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from freezing grants for climate change projects.

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Florida Supreme Court Approves Limits For Non-Lawyer Roles

By Madison Arnold

The Florida Supreme Court has signed off on a rule change to spell out that nonlawyers at a law firm cannot supervise the work of attorneys or perform policymaking duties that affect the practice of law.

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Sidley Adds Williams & Connolly Mass Torts Trial Atty In DC

By Alison Knezevich

A trial attorney who spent more than two decades at Williams & Connolly LLP has moved to Sidley Austin LLP to help lead its product liability and mass torts practice.

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Yale Law School Appoints Deputy Dean To Top Spot

By Brian Steele

The deputy dean of Yale Law School, a career academic and public servant who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, will take over the top deanship position next year, the school announced Friday.

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Federal Courts Not Subject To FOIA, DC Judge Rules

By Jake Maher

The conservative litigation group America First Legal Foundation cannot demand documents from the federal Judicial Conference of the U.S. and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Freedom of Information Act because they are not executive agencies, a D.C. federal judge ruled Thursday.

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Analysis

More Pardon Seekers Going 'Straight To The White House'

By Phillip Bantz

A nonprofit's unusual plan to make a mass pardon request directly to the Trump administration highlights burgeoning optimism among white collar defendants about their chances of securing relief, and a recognition that the clearest path to clemency no longer runs through the traditional channels.

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Hogan Lovells, Cadwalader's Divergent Paths Led To Deal

By Aebra Coe

The blockbuster combination between Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP announced this past week involves two law firms that have charted very different paths in recent years. Here, a look at what events led up to the firms joining together at the deal table.

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DC Firm Hiring From Government Skyrocketed In 2025

By Alison Knezevich

As federal lawyers left in droves this year amid President Donald Trump's return to the White House, the number of attorneys who moved from government jobs to BigLaw firms in Washington, D.C., doubled in 2025 compared to the last post-presidential election year.

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Keesal Young Drops Part Of Stradley Ronon Poaching Suit

By Madison Arnold

Keesal Young & Logan wants to drop part of its California state court lawsuit alleging Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP unlawfully recruited 10 of its attorneys.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

In one of the stories in corporate legal news from the past week, almost half of the in-house legal professionals in a recent survey said they were either actively or passively seeking new jobs, citing stress, a struggle to build multidisciplinary teams and anxiety around artificial intelligence.

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Gambling Tech Co. Loses Sanction Bid In NJ Defamation Case

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state judge rejected a gambling technology company's bid for sanctions in its defamation suit against investigative firm Black Cube and law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky LLP on Thursday, ruling that Black Cube did not willfully disobey a court discovery order.

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Colo. Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart Retires

By Zach Dupont

After an extended leave of absence this year, Colorado Supreme Court Justice Melissa Hart announced her retirement from the state's high court Friday.

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Justices Let Immigration Judges' Free Speech Suit Continue

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration has failed to show it will be irreparably harmed by a Fourth Circuit decision that revived immigration judges' lawsuit challenging restrictions on their ability to speak publicly.

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