Public Policy

  • November 18, 2025

    FCC's Carr Backing Universal Service Reform After Court Win

    Federal Communications Commission chief Brendan Carr told rural network providers Tuesday that he's working closely with lawmakers on long-term fixes for the Universal Service Fund, which supports connectivity across the country.

  • November 18, 2025

    States Can Intervene Over DOJ's HPE Merger Deal

    A California federal court granted a request on Tuesday from state enforcers asking to participate in a review of the U.S. Department of Justice's controversial settlement allowing Hewlett Packard Enterprise to move ahead with its $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks.

  • November 18, 2025

    Senate Dem Slams FCC's Carr Over Cybersecurity Plan

    A top Senate Democrat on telecom issues blasted Brendan Carr, head of the Federal Communications Commission, on Tuesday for seeking to roll back an FCC cybersecurity ruling issued late in the Biden administration responding to the Salt Typhoon cyberattack.

  • November 18, 2025

    Polaris Hits Back At 'Settled Expectations' Fed. Circ. Fight

    Polaris PowerLED says Sandisk Technologies Inc.'s Federal Circuit challenge to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's denial of patent reviews based on a patent owner's "settled expectations" is not any different from similar cases that have been rejected by the circuit court.

  • November 18, 2025

    4th Circ. Restores Trade Secrets Suit Against Insurance Execs

    The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday revived insurer Sherbrooke Corp.'s claims of trade secrets theft against three former executives, disagreeing with a district judge who found that the company had not made enough of an effort to guard the software in question.

  • November 18, 2025

    USPTO Petitioners Can Detail How They Found Prior Art

    The head of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has told all users of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that there will be a new option for patent challengers to explain how they found prior art they allege renders a patent invalid.

  • November 18, 2025

    Ill. Justices Mull If Permits Override Pollution Exclusions

    Counsel for a sterilization company and its former parent seeking defense costs for hundreds of lawsuits over ethylene oxide emissions at a suburban Chicago facility urged the Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday to find a pollution exclusion in their insurance policy doesn't apply to emissions allowed under a state permit, insisting the policyholders are not polluters under Illinois law or "in the general sense of the word."

  • November 18, 2025

    Lower Costs No Cause For VA To Shirk Trade Act, Judge Says

    A federal judge said the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs can't use the lower cost of drugs from countries not designated under the Trade Agreements Act to reject the higher prices of companies that propose to source them from compliant countries.

  • November 18, 2025

    Judge Details Reasons For Goldstein's Pretrial Motion Losses

    A Maryland federal judge explained in further detail Tuesday her decision against SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein on several motions seeking to trim his tax evasion case as it heads to trial next year.

  • November 18, 2025

    NY AG James Blasts 'Outrageous Conduct' Behind Indictment

    New York Attorney General Letitia A. James has told a Virginia federal court to dismiss the U.S. government's indictment of her, calling it "patently unconstitutional" and "outrageous conduct."

  • November 18, 2025

    Federal Watchdog Funds Released After Bipartisan Pushback

    The independent agency for federal watchdogs has been brought back to life with the White House budget office restoring its funding.

  • November 18, 2025

    NPR Wins $36M Grant As CPB Backs Off Plan To Cut Funds

    National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have reached a settlement to keep nearly $36 million in public radio satellite interconnection funds with NPR, as CPB agreed not to implement an executive order requiring it to cut off NPR funding unless ordered to do so by a court.

  • November 18, 2025

    Judge Questions If Trump's Say-So Makes Wind Edict Legal

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday lamented a lack of clear guidance from higher courts as she considered whether wind farm permits can be put on hold indefinitely based solely on a directive from the president.

  • November 18, 2025

    Republican Senators Seek Judge Boasberg's Suspension

    Six Republican senators, three of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are asking that Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia be administratively suspended while Congress considers his impeachment.

  • November 18, 2025

    New York Disputes Magistrate's Report In Tribal Thruway Row

    New York is opposing a recommendation that would give a win to the Seneca Nation and force negotiations over a portion of a thruway that runs through the tribe's reservation, arguing that the report relies on a narrow interpretation of Sherrill laches in contrast to Second Circuit characterization.

  • November 18, 2025

    San Francisco Nurses Can't Challenge FLSA OT Exemption

    Nurses who claim that the city of San Francisco failed to pay them the proper overtime rates fall under a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption, a California federal judge ruled, finding summary judgment necessary following a sanctions order limiting the nurses' evidence.

  • November 18, 2025

    Missouri Federal Judge To Take Senior Status

    U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool of the Western District of Missouri has given notice he will take senior status upon the confirmation of state Judge Megan Benton, whose nomination to the federal bench President Donald Trump announced Friday.

  • November 18, 2025

    NJ Township Seeks To Revise $2.5B DuPont PFAS Settlement

    Carneys Point Township, New Jersey, is aiming to intervene in the state's federal suit against E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and others over PFAS contamination, saying a settlement of more than $2.5 billion interferes with its own claims against the company.

  • November 18, 2025

    Insurer Needn't Cover LA Zoo Org. In City Contract Dispute

    An insurer doesn't owe coverage to the Los Angeles Zoo's nonprofit arm in a contractual dispute brought by the city, a California federal court has ruled, finding that all claims are excluded under the association's nonprofit asset protection policy.

  • November 18, 2025

    Ind. Tax Court Nixes 'Less Egregious' Assessment For Kohl's

    An Indiana tax board erred when it relied on flawed appraisals of a Kohl's department store prepared by experts and chose the "somewhat less egregious" arguments of the company in lowering the valuations by nearly half, the state tax court said.

  • November 18, 2025

    Judge Punts FTC Suit Over Meta's Instagram, WhatsApp Buys

    A federal antitrust campaign against major technology platforms suffered a significant blow Tuesday with a D.C. federal judge's rejection of a Federal Trade Commission suit accusing Meta Platforms of illegally monopolizing social media through its purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram.

  • November 18, 2025

    Judge Upholds NY Law Blocking ICE Courthouse Arrests

    New York beat back a federal lawsuit challenging the state's policy barring immigration officials from arresting people near its courthouses, after a federal judge rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's preemption claims.

  • November 17, 2025

    DHS Says Proposed Public Charge Rule To Undo 'Straitjacket'

    The Trump administration on Monday unveiled a proposed rule to broaden U.S. Department of Homeland Security officers' discretion in deeming visa or green card seekers inadmissible if they're likely to depend on government benefits, saying current regulations are overly restrictive.

  • November 17, 2025

    Fed's Cook Slams 'Pretextual' Mortgage Fraud Accusations

    Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook on Monday hit back at federal officials' allegations she committed mortgage fraud, criticizing the "baseless" accusations as "pretextual justifications" for President Donald Trump and his allies "to investigate anyone whom they view as an obstacle to the administration's political and economic agenda."

  • November 17, 2025

    X Asks 9th Circ. To Let It Litigate Media Matters Suit In Ireland

    X Corp. urged the Ninth Circuit on Monday to scrap an injunction blocking it from continuing to litigate its Irish-law defamation case against Media Matters in Ireland, arguing that the left-leaning watchdog waited too long to invoke a California forum-selection clause in X Corp.'s terms of service.

Expert Analysis

  • How Nasdaq, SEC Proposals May Transform Listing Standards

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    Both Nasdaq and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have increasingly focused their recent regulatory efforts on small and foreign issuers, particularly those from China, reflecting an intention to strengthen the overall quality of companies accessing U.S. markets, but also potentially introducing a chilling effect on certain issuers, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • New NCAA Betting Policy Fits Trend Of Eased Restrictions

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    Allowing NCAA student-athletes to bet on professional sports fits into a decade-long trend of treating college athletes more like adults in a commercial system, but decreasing player restrictions translates to increased compliance burdens for schools, say attorneys at Robins Kaplan.

  • Series

    Building With Lego Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Building with Lego has taught me to follow directions and adapt to unexpected challenges, and in pairing discipline with imagination, allows me to stay grounded while finding new ways to make complex deals come together, says Paul Levin at Venable.

  • How Banks Can Safely Handle Payments For Gambling Biz

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    As the betting market continues to expand, it's crucial for banks and fintechs to track historical developments in wagering and ongoing prediction markets litigation that can factor into a risk analysis for payment processing with respect to gambling operators, says Laura D'Angelo at Jones Walker.

  • Wading Into NY Wetland Regs' 2025 Changes And Challenges

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    Solar developers in New York should keep a weather eye on litigation challenging the New York Department of Environmental Conservation’s recently expanded authority to regulate wetlands and waterways, which could erode the impact of a new permitting process meant to streamline solar development on protected wetlands, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Networking 101

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    Cultivating a network isn't part of the law school curriculum, but learning the soft skills needed to do so may be the key to establishing a solid professional reputation, nurturing client relationships and building business, says Sharon Crane at Practising Law Institute.

  • Defeating Estoppel-Based Claims In Legal Malpractice Actions

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    State supreme court cases from recent years have addressed whether positions taken by attorneys in an underlying lawsuit can be used against them in a subsequent legal malpractice action, providing a foundation to defeat ex-clients’ estoppel claims, says Christopher Blazejewski at Sherin and Lodgen.

  • Takeaways As Justices Let 5th Circ. Pollution Ruling Stand

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent certiorari denial leaves intact a Fifth Circuit ruling that environmental justice organizations have standing to pursue a civil rights challenge to a parish's land-use practice, underscoring the importance of local governments proactively engaging with communities to address cumulative impacts of development, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • AI's Role In Google Antitrust Suit May Reshape Tech Markets

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    The evolution of AI in retail has reshaped the U.S.' antitrust case against Google, which could both benefit small business innovators and consumers, and fundamentally alter future antitrust cases, including the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit against Amazon, says Graham Dufault at ACT.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: How It Works In Massachusetts

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    Since its founding in 2000, the Massachusetts Business Litigation Session's expertise, procedural flexibility and litigant-friendly case management practices have contributed to the development of a robust body of commercial jurisprudence, say James Donnelly at Mirick O’Connell, Felicia Ellsworth at WilmerHale and Lisa Wood at Foley Hoag.

  • Next Steps For DOE's Large-Load Interconnection Reforms

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    The U.S. Department of Energy's recent letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may mark a substantial expansion of FERC's open-access framework for large-load facilities, though the proposed timeline for the rulemaking appears to be extraordinarily short, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Adapting To Calif.'s Enhanced Regulation Of PE In Healthcare

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    New California legislation enhances oversight on the role of private equity groups and hedge funds in healthcare transactions, featuring both a highly targeted nature and vague language that will require organizations to carefully evaluate existing practices, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.

  • What To Note In OCC, FDIC Plan To Standardize Supervision

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    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s recent proposals to standardize the meaning of "unsafe or unsound practice" and revise the process for issuing matters requiring attention could significantly narrow the scope of activities that spawn enforcement actions, says Brendan Clegg at Luse Gorman.

  • How The SEC May Overhaul Its Order Protection Rule

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    Attorneys at Skadden trace the evolution of the controversial Rule 611 of Regulation National Market System, examine the current debate surrounding its effectiveness, and consider how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's emerging Project Crypto initiative could reshape Regulation NMS for a tokenized, on-chain market environment.

  • State Child Privacy Laws May Put More Cos. In FTC's Reach

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    Starting with Texas in January, several new state laws requiring app stores to share user age-related information with developers will likely subject significantly more companies to the Federal Trade Commission’s child privacy rules, altering their compliance obligations, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

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