Public Policy

  • May 10, 2024

    Trade Court Lets Solar Duties Suit Proceed Over Feds' Protest

    U.S. solar panel manufacturers' suit over a two-year pause on new duties for competitors from four Southeast Asian countries survived the government's push for dismissal this week, with the trade court affirming its authority over the case.

  • May 10, 2024

    4th Circ. Judge Suspects 'Abuse' In Land Donor Tax Case

    The Fourth Circuit appeared poised Friday to rule that a couple owes taxes and penalties after claiming an inflated $5.1 million valuation on donated land for deductions, with one judge positing he believed the couple had engaged in "abuse" of a conservation donation.

  • May 10, 2024

    Oil Giants Say Tribal Climate Change Row Must Stay Federal

    Several giant oil companies are fighting a bid by two Native American tribes to remand their consolidated case to state court, telling a Washington federal district court that the claims brought by tribes have always been governed by federal law.

  • May 10, 2024

    Sens. Lament Broadband Subsidy's Absence From FAA Bill

    Senators from both parties are upset that the Federal Aviation Authorization bill, which the Senate passed 88-4 on Thursday night, did not include provisions to bolster the pandemic-era broadband assistance program.

  • May 10, 2024

    EPA Tightens Copper-Smelting Toxic Emissions Standards

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing regulations it says will reduce toxic, cancer-causing emissions from copper-smelting facilities.

  • May 10, 2024

    Mich. Lawmakers Introduce Judicial Privacy Bill

    A group of Michigan state senators has introduced a bill that would allow judges to seal personal information about themselves and their immediate family members in government agency files, including blocking the government from disclosing the information in response to public records requests, with some narrow exceptions.

  • May 10, 2024

    NY Gov. Orders Shakeup Of Cannabis Regulatory Agency

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced an overhaul of the state's embattled cannabis regulatory agency, unveiling an investigative audit that showed how "inexperienced" leaders "wasted valuable time and resources," and then declaring $5 million in one-time grants would be awarded to a select group of applicants who took a financial hit by the licensing delays.

  • May 10, 2024

    Signal Peak Asks Court To Block DOI's Coal Mine 'Delay'

    Signal Peak Energy is asking a D.C. federal court to force the U.S. Department of the Interior to speed up its "unlawfully lengthy" timeline for an environmental review needed for the planned expansion of a Montana coal mine.

  • May 10, 2024

    CFPB's Credit Card Late Fee Rule Halted By Texas Judge

    A Texas federal judge on Friday stayed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's $8 credit card late fee standard, granting a preliminary injunction sought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups that are challenging the legality of the agency rule.

  • May 10, 2024

    UPMC Inks $38M Deal To End Neurosurgery FCA Suit

    The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has agreed to pay $38 million to put an end to a False Claims Act suit brought by three medical workers from its neurological surgery department who said the medical center fraudulently billed federal healthcare programs.

  • May 10, 2024

    Newsom Says No Tax Increases Planned In Calif. Budget

    California would not increase taxes or impose new taxes under a revised budget plan presented Friday by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

  • May 10, 2024

    Cohen Urged To Stop Trashing Trump As Testimony Nears

    The Manhattan judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial made clear Friday that he wants star witness Michael Cohen to stop talking publicly about the charges as the former president's erstwhile attorney prepares to take the stand as soon as Monday.

  • May 10, 2024

    Conn. Quarry Wants $1.3M For Attys After $9.5M Trial Win

    A Connecticut quarry that the town of East Haven was found to have shut down for political reasons should receive just under $1.3 million for its attorney fees after winning a constitutional challenge in federal court, the company said in a Friday filing.

  • May 10, 2024

    NJ State Police Settle Suit Over Expungements Backlog

    The New Jersey State Police agreed to speed up the processing of expungements to resolve the Office of the Public Defender's proposed class claims over a backlog of judicial orders that numbered 46,000 as of October, Attorney General Matt Platkin and Public Defender Jennifer N. Sellitti said in a joint statement Friday. 

  • May 10, 2024

    Calif. May Allow Judges To Work Remotely In Civil Matters

    California's Judicial Council next week will consider amending court rules to allow judges to preside remotely over civil proceedings from a location other than a courtroom.

  • May 10, 2024

    What To Know About Biden's ACA Nondiscrimination Rule

    Recently finalized regulations tackling what constitutes discrimination under the Affordable Care Act could have significant impacts on health plans that include greater liability for third-party plan administrators, attorneys say. Here are three things employers should know now that the final rule is on the books.

  • May 10, 2024

    5th Circ. Upholds SEC Proxy Rule On ESG Disclosures

    The Fifth Circuit on Friday threw out a legal challenge to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requirement that will make it easier for investors to identify ESG issues on corporate ballots, saying that suing states like Texas haven't proven that they'll be financially harmed by the measure.

  • May 10, 2024

    No 'Piecemeal' Fees For Infant Data Win Amid 6th Circ. Appeal

    A federal judge said Friday that he wouldn't award attorney fees to children who challenged Michigan's handling of blood samples collected in an infant health screening program until the state's Sixth Circuit appeal is resolved.

  • May 10, 2024

    Gov't Watchdog Sees Title IX Enforcement Lagging

    More than five decades after the passage of Title IX, the U.S. Department of Education is falling down on the job of ensuring gender equity in college athletics, a government watchdog agency found this week, demanding more vigilance and transparency from the department.

  • May 10, 2024

    Fuzzy Jurisdiction In Web Cases Has 1st Circ. Judge 'Worried'

    A First Circuit judge has said uncertainty over how personal jurisdiction rules apply to cases involving the borderless internet may require action from Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court, expressing concern that website operators can "manipulate" the legal requirement in order to avoid accountability.

  • May 10, 2024

    Feds Finalize Tariffs Topping 744% On 8 Countries' Mattresses

    The U.S. Department of Commerce firmed up anti-dumping duties reaching more than 744% on mattresses that are being dumped in the U.S., marking its third wave of sky-high tariffs on mattresses from abroad.

  • May 10, 2024

    CFTC Floats Ban On Election Betting Contracts

    A divided U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved a proposed rule Friday that would ban trading on the outcome of elections, further solidifying its contested position that such activities constitute illegal "gaming" and threaten to thrust the agency into the role of an "election cop."

  • May 10, 2024

    Coverage Recap: Day 11 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

    Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Friday, day 11 of the trial.

  • May 10, 2024

    Now Hiring: Michigan AG Seeks Attys For Climate Change Suits

    Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is looking for attorneys and law firms to serve as assistant attorneys general to pursue litigation related to climate change on behalf of the state of Michigan.

  • May 10, 2024

    The Week In Trump: All Eyes On NY As Other Cases Lag

    Donald Trump's Manhattan hush money trial took center stage with dramatic testimony from adult film actress Stormy Daniels, while the former president's criminal cases in Georgia and Florida ran into delays that could last through Election Day.

Expert Analysis

  • Does Expert Testimony Aid Preliminary IPR Responses?

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    Dechert attorneys analyze six years of patent owners' preliminary responses to inter partes review petitions to determine whether the elimination of the presumption favoring the petitioner as to preinstitution testimonial evidence affected the usefulness of expert testimony in responses.

  • Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape

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    Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.

  • Are Concessions In FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Rule Enough?

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    Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new policy for laboratory-developed tests included major strategic concessions to help balance patient safety, access and diagnostic innovation, the new rule may well face significant legal challenges in court, say Dominick DiSabatino and Audrey Mercer at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule

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    A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    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.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    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.

  • Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Best Practices For Space Security In Our Connected World

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    NASA's recently published space security guide is another indication that cyber-resilience has become a global theme for the space and satellite sector, as well as a useful reference for companies and organizations reviewing their cybersecurity frameworks or looking to partner with the U.S. agency, says Hayley Blyth at Bird & Bird.

  • Opinion

    SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule

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    Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.

  • What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

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    With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule May Still Face Historical Hurdles

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    The Federal Trade Commission's final rule banning noncompetes might face challenges that could have been avoided with more cautious consideration of the commission's long history of failed lawsuits that went beyond the agency's statutory authority, as well as the mountain of judicial precedent justifying noncompete agreements in employment contracts, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • A Look At Subchapter V As Debt Limit Expiration Looms

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    If proposed legislation to extend Subchapter V’s debt eligibility ceiling sunset date in June is passed, bankruptcy professionals can seek ways to work with their local jurisdictions to advocate for code changes and guidance that bring more efficiencies and clarity to the process, say Matthew Brash at Newpoint Advisors and Melinda Bennett at Stretto.

  • Opinion

    SEC Should Be Allowed To Equip Investors With Climate Info

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule to require more climate-related disclosures will provide investors with much-needed clarity, despite opponents' attempts to challenge the rule with misused legal arguments, say Sarah Goetz at Democracy Forward and Cynthia Hanawalt at Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change.

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