Public Policy

  • October 01, 2025

    States Say DOJ Can't Tie Victim Service Funds To Immigration

    Several state attorneys general sued the U.S. Department of Justice in Rhode Island federal court Wednesday over new restrictions prohibiting them from using federal funding that supports crime victims to provide services to "removable aliens," in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution's spending clause.

  • October 01, 2025

    FTC Halts Fraud Complaints, Spam Call Help Amid Shutdown

    The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that none of its mechanisms for reporting fraud, including identity theft, will be available to consumers while the federal government is shut down, nor will the National Do Not Call Registry be operational for consumers or telemarketers.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ga. High Court Says State Can Kill Right Of Way Contracts

    Georgia can cancel right of way contracts with broadband providers any time it wants — and so can the broadband providers, the Supreme Court of Georgia has ruled in a decision hearkening back to a century-old precedent that says contracts with no end date can be canceled whenever.

  • October 01, 2025

    SEC Gives Crypto Custody Nod To State Trust Companies

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff has assured registered investment advisers and certain fund issuers they won't risk an enforcement action by using state trust companies as cryptocurrency custodians in a move that some praised as widening access to more crypto-savvy custody options and others decried as an erosion of custody rules.

  • October 01, 2025

    Trump Taps Federal Immigration Judge As Next Wash. US Atty

    Federal Immigration Judge Charles Neil Floyd has reportedly been selected by President Donald Trump as the next U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington.

  • October 01, 2025

    Contractors Must Record Shutdown-Related Losses, Attys Say

    Government contractors risk losing money due to the shutdown in Washington, D.C., and experts told Law360 that contractors must be diligent about documenting the costs they incur for project delays, stop-work orders and other interruptions to their work.

  • October 01, 2025

    Captive Audience Ban Meets Starkly Different Fate In Calif., Ill.

    A California federal judge preliminarily blocked a new state law that prohibits employers from holding so-called captive audience meetings on Tuesday, the same day that an Illinois federal judge tossed a lawsuit challenging a similar state law in the Prairie State.

  • October 01, 2025

    USPTO Tells Fed. Circ. To Reject Ineligibility Rule Petition

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has urged the Federal Circuit to reject a software company's argument that the office violated due process by rejecting challenges to patents a court has found ineligible, saying that decision is entirely in the office's discretion.

  • October 01, 2025

    Economist Says Google's Ad Tech Fix Enough To Boost Rivals

    Google's expert economics witness urged a Virginia federal judge Wednesday not to break up the search giant's advertising placement technology business, arguing the company's counterproposal would free up rivals without the "market reengineering" threatened by the Justice Department's proposed remedies.

  • October 01, 2025

    Squires Jumps Right Into Patent Eligibility Reform

    U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director John Squires used his first week at the agency to make bold statements about what should be eligible for patenting, with patent owners celebrating his support of diagnostics, crypto and machine learning technologies.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ex-CFTC Enforcement Head, DOJ Veteran Joins Jones Day

    Jones Day has hired a former director of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Division of Enforcement who is also a nearly two-decade alumnus of the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • October 01, 2025

    Wash. Appeals Panel Reopens Teachers' Pension Interest Suit

    A Washington state appeals court unanimously revived a class action claim that accuses a state pension agency of unlawfully skimming interest from teachers' retirement accounts, holding that a lower court was wrong to decide that it couldn't take up the matter.

  • October 01, 2025

    Denver, Poll Worker Settle Firing Over Jon Stewart Show Talk

    A woman who claimed she was fired by the Denver Clerk and Recorder's Office after appearing on Jon Stewart's TV show in 2022 reached a settlement with the city.

  • October 01, 2025

    US, Copper Co. Ask 9th Circ. To Spike Land Transfer Appeal

    The U.S. government and a copper company have asked the Ninth Circuit to dismiss conservation groups' and an Apache tribe's appeal of an Arizona federal judge's decision to uphold a federal law authorizing a land exchange.

  • October 01, 2025

    Here's How The SEC Survived 2 Prior Shutdowns

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sent home 90% of its staff Wednesday, including the bulk of its enforcement division, as the agency braces for a shutdown of uncertain length by drawing on lessons from two prior long-running impasses in the past 12 years.

  • October 01, 2025

    Trump Withdraws Nomination Of Quintenz For CFTC Chair

    President Donald Trump has withdrawn his nomination of Brian Quintenz to lead the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, following a delay at the president's request of a Senate committee vote on the nomination and Quintenz's public feud with crypto exchange founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.

  • October 01, 2025

    CFPB 'Will Continue Operations' As Gov't Shutdown Hits

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has told its staff to expect business as usual amid the government shutdown that began Wednesday, assuring them that operations, pay and benefits will continue uninterrupted, according to an internal email obtained by Law360.

  • October 01, 2025

    DC Circ. Deems FERC-Approved Pipeline Rates Unjustly High

    The D.C. Circuit wiped out FERC's approval of fuel rates charged by a Kinder Morgan unit's pipeline following an expansion project, saying the agency unfairly saddled gas producer Antero Resources Corp. with higher rates than other pipeline customers.

  • October 01, 2025

    Biz Groups Say They Can Be Amici In 4th Circ. Pollution Suit

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Chemistry Council on Wednesday told the Fourth Circuit they should be allowed to file an amicus brief on behalf of Chemours in a row over PFAS contamination in the Ohio River, saying that there is nothing barring an association from filing in cases where its members are parties.

  • October 01, 2025

    Trump Moves To Elevate FDIC's Hill To Permanent Chair

    President Donald Trump has nominated the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s acting Chairman Travis Hill to lead the deposit insurer on a permanent basis, the White House confirmed Wednesday.

  • October 01, 2025

    Ship Manager Says Liability Shield Applies In Baltimore Wreck

    The manager of the container ship that slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge last year has told a Maryland federal judge that it should be allowed to invoke a nearly two-centuries-old maritime law to limit its liability for the wreck.

  • October 01, 2025

    GAO Urges Nuke Agency To Fix Its Cost Reports To Congress

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office urged the National Nuclear Security Administration to improve its reporting systems after finding it has often failed to inform lawmakers about growing construction project costs as required.

  • October 01, 2025

    DC Circ. Won't Rethink Return Of Head Of Copyright Office

    The D.C. Circuit said Wednesday that it won't rethink its decision to temporarily reinstate the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, who was fired by President Donald Trump as her lawsuit against the administration plays out in court.

  • October 01, 2025

    States Accuse Zillow, Redfin Of Deal To End Competition

    A coalition of states followed their federal counterparts with an antitrust lawsuit in Virginia federal court Wednesday accusing Zillow of paying Redfin more than $100 million to stop competing for the sale of rental housing advertisements on their listing services.

  • October 01, 2025

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    The Federal Trade Commission put the final tweaks on its deal allowing a $13.5 billion merger of marketing companies to move ahead and pushed its bid to block a merger in the medical device coatings industry, while U.K. enforcers launched a number of merger probes.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Judging Figure Skating Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Judging figure skating competitions helps me hone the focus, decisiveness and ability to process complex real-time information I need in court, but more importantly, it makes me reengage with a community and my identity outside of law, which, paradoxically, always brings me back to work feeling restored, says Megan Raymond at Groombridge Wu.

  • $100K H-1B Fee May Disrupt Rural Healthcare Needs

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    The Trump administration's newly imposed $100,000 supplemental fee on new H-1B petitions may disproportionately affect healthcare employers' ability to recruit international medical graduates, and the fee's national interest exceptions will not adequately solve ensuing problems for healthcare employers or medically underserved areas, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    The third quarter of 2025 brought legislative changes to state money transmission certification requirements and securities law obligations, as well as high-profile accounting and anti-money laundering compliance enforcement actions by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • What Ethics Rules Say On Atty Discipline For Online Speech

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    Though law firms are free to discipline employees for their online commentary about Charlie Kirk or other social media activity, saying crude or insensitive things on the internet generally doesn’t subject attorneys to professional discipline under the Model Rules of Professional Conduct, says Stacie H. Rosenzweig at Halling & Cayo.

  • Balancing The Risks And Rewards Of Private Equity In 401(k)s

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    The recent executive order directing government agencies to consider encouraging private equity and other alternative investments in 401(k) plans does not change the fundamental fiduciary calculus or reduce risk, as success with private investments will depend on careful analysis of both participant demand and fiduciary obligations, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • What's At Stake In High Court's Ill. Ballot Deadline Case

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    In Bost v. Illinois State Board of Elections, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on whether and when candidates for office have standing to bring prospective challenges to election laws, raising broader issues about the proper timing of federal court election litigation, say Richard Pildes and Samuel Ozer-Staton at NYU School of Law.

  • Kimmel 2nd Circ. Victory Holds Novel Copyright Lessons

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    The Second Circuit's recent decision in Santos v. Kimmel, dismissing a copyright infringement claim against Kimmel for airing Cameo videos recorded by former U.S. Rep George Santos, examines the unusual situation of copyrighted works created at the request of the alleged infringer, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 2 Rulings Highlight IRS' Uncertain Civil Fraud Penalty Powers

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    Conflicting decisions from the U.S. Tax Court and the Northern District of Texas that hinge on whether the IRS can administratively assert civil fraud penalties since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in SEC v. Jarkesy provide both opportunities and potential pitfalls for taxpayers, says Michael Landman at Bird Marella.

  • SEC Fine Signals Crackdown On Security-Based Swap Dealers

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent fine against MUFG Securities is unique because it involves a non-U.S. security-based swap dealer complying with U.S. laws based on the election of substituted compliance, but it should not be dismissed as a one-off case, says Kelly Rock, formerly at the SEC.

  • Junior Attys Must Beware Of 5 Common Legal Brief Mistakes

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    Junior law firm associates must be careful to avoid five common pitfalls when drafting legal briefs — from including every possible argument to not developing a theme — to build the reputation of a sought-after litigator, says James Argionis at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Expect DOJ To Repeat 4 Themes From 2024's FCPA Trials

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    As two upcoming Foreign Corrupt Practice Act trials approach, defense counsel should anticipate the U.S. Department of Justice to revive several of the same themes prosecutors leaned on in trials last year to motivate jurors to convict, and build counternarratives to neutralize these arguments, says James Koukios at MoFo.

  • As Student Loan Outlook Dims, What Happens To The Banks?

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    While much of the news around the student loan crisis focuses on the direct impact on young Americans' decreasing credit scores, the fate of the banks themselves — and the effect on banking policy — has been largely left out of the narrative, says Madeline Thieschafer at Fredrikson & Byron.

  • How Trade Fraud Task Force Launch Furthers Policy Goals

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    A new cross-agency trade fraud task force is the latest in a series of Trump administration efforts to leverage agency relationships in pursuit of its trade policy goals, and its creation signals a further uptick in customs enforcement, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Keys To Extended Producer Responsibility Compliance

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    As states' extended producer responsibility laws come into effect, reshaping packaging obligations for businesses, regulated entities should ensure they register with a producer responsibility organization, understand state-specific deadlines and obligations, and review packaging to improve recyclability and reduce compliance costs, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • Digital Asset Report Opens Doors For Banks, But Risks Linger

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    A recent report from a White House working group discussing digital asset market structure signals how banks may elect to expand into digital asset custody, trading and related services in the years ahead, but the road remains layered with challenges, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

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