Public Policy

  • December 22, 2025

    Draft House Bill Would Clarify Tax Rules For Digital Assets

    A bipartisan draft bill in the U.S. House would modernize the federal tax code for digital assets, its backers said, by establishing a "commonsense tax treatment" for regulated payment stablecoins, clarifying source-of-income rules for trading and extending existing securities-lending rules to digital assets.

  • December 22, 2025

    Wash. AG Urges New Laws After Rape Test Backlog Cleared

    The Washington State Attorney General's Office has released a report detailing how it eliminated a decadeslong backlog of more than 10,000 untested sexual assault test kits and provided state legislators with a list of recommendations to support victims of sexual assault.

  • December 22, 2025

    Asylum-Seekers Update Challenge To Cooperative Agreements

    Asylum-seekers challenging the Trump administration's use of asylum cooperative agreements with other countries updated their challenge to the practice Friday, telling a D.C. federal judge they are at risk of being unlawfully deported to nations the federal government itself deems dangerous.

  • December 22, 2025

    How 2026 NDAA May Ease Entry To Defense Contracting

    Reforms to implement a warfighting acquisition system included in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, signed on Dec. 18, are likely to reduce the burdens, risks and barriers that have previously impeded nontraditional defense contractors, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • December 22, 2025

    Ábrego García Remains Free For Now As Md. Judge Slams DOJ

    Kilmar Ábrego García will remain free through Christmas after a Maryland federal judge said she would leave a restraining order barring his redetention in place until the new year at least. She also blasted Trump administration lawyers for "misrepresentations" she said were made in "bad faith."

  • December 22, 2025

    Ed Dept. Ordered To Restore $1B In Mental Health Grants

    The U.S. Department of Education will not be allowed to cut more than $1 billion in mental health grants for schools after a Washington federal judge ruled that the agency acted illegally by citing new, undisclosed Trump administration priorities as a basis for slashing the funding.

  • December 22, 2025

    Localities Say FCC Exceeding Powers Could Lead To Suits

    Local officials warned the Federal Communications Commission that extensive litigation could result if the agency tries to expand its power in easing permit approvals for high-speed deployment projects, an authority they say is not provided in federal statute.

  • December 22, 2025

    Fulton County Must Face State's 2020 Election Subpoenas

    The election board of Fulton County, Georgia, was ordered to hand over documents from the 2020 presidential election to its state counterpart by a state judge who said that while the subpoenas might seem "stale and ill-timed," they remained enforceable.

  • December 22, 2025

    7th Circ. Rejects Challenge To Chicago Towing Practices

    The Seventh Circuit on Monday affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action challenging the city of Chicago's practice of booting, towing, impounding and ultimately disposing of residents' cars to enforce compliance with its traffic code, saying it doesn't amount to a taking under the Fifth Amendment.

  • December 22, 2025

    Calif. Atty Slams 'Protectionist' ABS Fee-Sharing Ban

    A California attorney has pushed back on opposition from California's attorney general and the state's bar association amid his efforts to block enforcement of a ban on fee sharing with out-of-state law firms owned by nonattorneys, arguing the new state law is a "protectionist act, in defiance of the constitution."

  • December 22, 2025

    4 Legal Ethics Matters That Rocked 2025

    This year, judges across the country grappled with attorneys' use and misuse of generative artificial intelligence, and prominent federal prosecutor battles dominated headlines in some of the top legal ethics matters of 2025.

  • December 22, 2025

    DOI Pauses Work On East Coast Offshore Wind Projects

    Construction on five offshore wind projects along the Atlantic coast was paused Monday by the U.S. Department of Interior over national security concerns, according to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.

  • December 22, 2025

    Jury Deadlocks In Ex-NY Gov. Aide's Foreign Agent Case

    A Brooklyn federal judge on Monday declared a mistrial in a case alleging a former top aide to two New York governors did the bidding of the People's Republic of China at the highest levels of state government in exchange for millions of dollars, after the jury deadlocked on all charges.

  • December 22, 2025

    Oklahoma Looks To Dismiss Tribes' Hunting Rights Lawsuit

    Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and other state officials are asking a federal court to dismiss a challenge that looks to block the state from citing Native Americans for hunting and fishing on tribal lands, arguing that it is the latest unsuccessful effort to broaden the reach of a landmark 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

  • December 22, 2025

    Advocacy Groups Warn Against Kalshi's Gambling Push

    A trio of nonprofits that advocate against gambling are fighting betting company Kalshi's efforts to curb Maryland gaming regulators' oversight, telling the Fourth Circuit that health consequences and threats to elections and youth sports would be significant if Kalshi succeeds.

  • December 22, 2025

    White House Looks To Open More Spectrum Bands

    President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to free up a large amount of airwaves for the wireless industry, including federally held spectrum running from 7.125 to 7.4 gigahertz.

  • December 22, 2025

    Tariff Refunds Would Be 'A Mess,' Economic Official Says

    It would be an "administrative problem" to issue tariff refunds in the aftermath of a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the White House's trade measures, a top economic policy official said.

  • December 22, 2025

    2025 Was A Policy Year Like No Other For Immigration Attys

    This year brought nonstop immigration policy whiplash as the Trump administration ramped up enforcement, triggering panic among employers about I-9 compliance in a landscape of constantly shifting adjudication and work authorization policies. Here, Law360 looks at how policy shifted attorney practice in 2025.

  • December 22, 2025

    Vape Cos. Get Partial Block Of Va. Law, But Claims Trimmed

    A Virginia federal judge has agreed to halt enforcement of certain provisions of a state law barring the sale of vapes that are not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while dismissing two of the three claims vape companies had brought in the lawsuit.

  • December 22, 2025

    Minn. Montessori School Gets Property Tax Break, Court Says

    A Montessori school in Minnesota was exempt from property taxes as a seminary of learning, the state tax court ruled, saying it met the requirements for the tax break as outlined in case law.

  • December 22, 2025

    Physicist Takes No-Jail Deal To End 'Buffalo Billion' Saga

    A New York physicist who over a decade ago allegedly defrauded the Empire State's "Buffalo Billion" development initiative while serving as president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute copped to a conspiracy count Monday in another step toward closing a case that wound its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • December 19, 2025

    Feds To Appeal Dismissal Of Comey, James Indictments

    The U.S. Department of Justice indicated Friday that it will appeal the dismissals of headline-grabbing indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, after a federal judge ruled the controversial prosecutor handling both cases was not properly appointed.

  • December 19, 2025

    The Telecom Developments That Defined 2025

    As Republicans took the reins of the Federal Communications Commission this year, the commission wasted little time filling a wish list of industry demands, from axing older regulations to launching plans to relax limits on media consolidation, streamline Space Bureau paperwork and put the kibosh on unwanted cable billing rules.

  • December 19, 2025

    Senate Bill Would Direct Extra BEAD Funds To AI

    Congress has a lot of ideas about what should happen with funds that states were allocated as part of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, but end up not using — the newest one is turning those dollars toward workforce development related to artificial intelligence.

  • December 19, 2025

    DraftKings Beats Suit Over Calif. Gambling Ban, For Now

    A California federal judge said during a hearing Friday he plans to toss with leave to amend a proposed class action alleging DraftKings' Daily Fantasy Sports games and others violate California's ban on sports betting, while calling the case "significant" for "clearly" implicating public policy and the California penal code.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Nature Photography Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • 2025 Brought A New Paradigm For Federal Banking Regulation

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    A series of thematic shifts defined banking regulation in 2025, including a fundamental reform of prudential supervision, a strategic easing of capital constraints, steps to streamline merger reviews, and a new framework for fair access and entrants seeking to offer banking services, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • What 2025 Transpo And Logistics Legal Trends Mean For 2026

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    2025 was challenging for the transportation and logistics sector, with emergent trends including dramatic federal policy shifts, developments in tort risk, and a host of mergers and acquisitions — but a review of these themes offers a useful playbook for where the industry is headed in 2026, says Jonathan Todd at Benesch.

  • How Cos. Can Roll With NY's New Algorithmic Pricing Rules

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    Despite uncertainty from New York’s new ban on artificial intelligence and computer algorithms for setting rents, and efforts to further restrict individualizing prices based on consumers' personal data, property managers, software providers and merchants can take several steps to stay compliant, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • 2025 State AI Laws Expand Liability, Raise Insurance Risks

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    As 2025 nears its end, claims professionals should be aware of trends in state legislation addressing artificial intelligence use, as insurance claims based on some of these liability-expanding statutes are a certainty, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Practical Problem Solving

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    Issue-spotting skills are well honed in law school, but practicing attorneys must also identify clients’ problems and true goals, and then be able to provide solutions, says Mary Kate Hogan at Quarles & Brady.

  • Crypto In 2025: From Federal Deregulation To State Action

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    The cryptocurrency enforcement landscape evolved in 2025, marked by federal deregulatory trends and active state attorney general enforcement, creating both opportunity and risk for businesses navigating the digital asset market, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • How CFTC Enforcement Shifted In 2025 And What's Next

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission pivoted sharply under acting Chairman Caroline Pham in 2025, resulting in a pared-back enforcement docket, sweeping policy changes intended to provide greater transparency, and a renewed focus on fraud prevention and maintaining market integrity for the CFTC's core markets, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Learning From 2025 FCA Trends Targeting PE In Healthcare

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    False Claims Act enforcement trends and legislative developments from this year signal intensifying state and federal scrutiny of private equity's growing footprint in healthcare, and the urgency of compliance, says Lisa Re at Arnold & Porter.

  • Reviewing 2025's State And Federal AI Regulations

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    In light of increasing state and federal action to oversee the use of artificial intelligence, companies that develop or deploy the technology should keep abreast of current and forthcoming AI laws and consider their applicability to their business activities, says Jessica Brigman at Spencer Fane.

  • Software Patents May Face New Eligibility Scrutiny

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    November guidance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, along with recent litigation trends from the Federal Circuit, may encourage new challenges in the USPTO and district courts to artificial intelligence and software patents that rely on generic computing functions without concrete details, say attorneys at Venable.

  • What Trump Order Limiting State AI Regs Means For Insurers

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    Last week's executive order seeking to preclude states from regulating artificial intelligence will likely have minimal impact on insurers, but the order and related congressional activities may portend a federal expectation of consistent state oversight of insurers' AI use, says Kathleen Birrane at DLA Piper.

  • Opinion

    A Uniform Federal Rule Would Curb Gen AI Missteps In Court

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    To address the patchwork of courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence, curbing abuses and relieving the burden on judges, the federal judiciary should consider amending its civil procedure rules to require litigants to certify they’ve reviewed legal filings for accuracy, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.

  • Investment Advisers Should Stay Apprised Of New AI Risks

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently issued annual examination priorities reiterate a host of regulatory implications for investment advisers using artificial intelligence tools, highlighting that meaningful ongoing due diligence can help mitigate both operational and regulatory surprises amid AI's rapid evolution, says Christopher Mills at Sidley.

  • New Rule Shows NRC Willing To Move Fast To Reform Regs

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    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to forgo public comment and immediately rescind certain rules governing adjudicatory procedures, federal tort claims and disclosure of licensee information signals the agency's intent to accelerate the regulatory streamlining efforts ordered by the president this spring, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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