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Public Policy
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January 15, 2025
Amazon Sr. Counsel Moves To Mintz's Tech, Telecom Practice
Mintz has tapped a former senior counsel at Amazon to join its Washington, D.C., office as a member and boost Mintz's decades-old technology, communications, and media practice, the global law firm announced Wednesday.
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January 15, 2025
Energy Secretary Nominee Emphasizes Production At Hearing
Energy secretary nominee Christopher Wright promised on Wednesday to "unleash American energy at home and abroad," as Democratic and Republican senators questioned him on his commitment to carrying out transmission permitting reform and increasing nuclear energy generation.
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January 15, 2025
Alaska Says Death Of USF Would Be 'Devastating' For State
The people of Alaska will suffer if the U.S. Supreme Court does not undo a Fifth Circuit decision demolishing the Federal Communications Commission's multibillion-dollar subsidy fund, which reduces phone and internet costs for schools, libraries and low-income households, the state has told the justices.
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January 15, 2025
Colo. Panel Mulls If Atty Violations Can Nix Gov't Immunity
A Colorado appellate panel on Wednesday pressed a utility regulator staffer who accused state lawyers of smearing her at work, questioning whether nixing the lawyers' governmental immunity based on alleged professional misconduct would go too far.
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January 15, 2025
Feds Sue Southwest Over 'Chronically Delayed Flights'
The U.S. Department of Transportation says Southwest Airlines Co. must pay more than $2.1 million in civil penalties for "chronically delayed flights" in a lawsuit filed in California federal court Wednesday, the same day Frontier Airlines Inc. agreed to pay the government $650,000 to resolve similar allegations.
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January 15, 2025
Foes Of Expanded Oil Facility Face Texas Panel's Tough Queries
A Texas appeals court directed some pointed questions to environmental groups seeking to challenge an oil facility's expansion during oral arguments Wednesday, saying facilities like the one in question have to go somewhere or else "the Europeans will starve in the cold this winter."
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January 15, 2025
Tenn. Judge Says PCAOB Authority Challenge Belongs In DC
A Tennessee federal judge on Wednesday transferred a certified public accountant's constitutional challenge against the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to Washington, D.C., finding the board's headquarters, regulatory actions and related cases in that district made it the more appropriate venue.
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January 15, 2025
Incoming FCC Chair Blasts Agency's Salt Typhoon Response
The Federal Communications Commission's incoming chair on Wednesday blasted an as-yet-unreleased agency decision meant to address network vulnerabilities in the wake of the Salt Typhoon cyberattack that he said misreads federal law.
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January 15, 2025
Outgoing FCC Chair Touts 'Wins On The Board'
With less than a week left in office, the chief of the Biden-era Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday highlighted the accomplishments of her tenure, including efforts to connect more Americans and advance space-based communications, but warned that a number of problems ranging from cybersecurity threats to the digital divide persist.
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January 15, 2025
Hino Motors Inks $1.6B Deal To End Emissions Fraud Claims
Toyota unit Hino Motors Ltd. will pay approximately $1.6 billion in criminal and civil penalties to close out claims it illegally manipulated emissions and fuel-economy test results for more than 100,000 diesel vehicles sold in the U.S., the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
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January 15, 2025
FTC Defends Authority To Bring Amazon Antitrust Case
The Federal Trade Commission is pushing back on Amazon's claims that the commission can't bring an antitrust case in federal court without first launching an administrative complaint, telling the Washington federal judge overseeing its case against the e-commerce giant that the Ninth Circuit has already cleared such a move.
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January 15, 2025
DOD Chief's Secret Hospitalizations Risked National Security
A U.S. Department of Defense watchdog has called for the DOD to improve notification and authority transfer procedures for when its leader is incapacitated, saying secrecy around Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's 2023 and 2024 hospitalizations had risked national security.
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January 15, 2025
Dem AGs Want In On Case Challenging 'Dreamers' Healthcare
Democratic attorneys general from 14 states sought to intervene Wednesday in a Kansas-led challenge to a Biden administration regulation that allows DACA recipients to get federal health insurance through the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
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January 15, 2025
Free Speech Groups Push State Law In Trump Defamation Suit
Several free speech advocacy groups and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania urged a federal judge Wednesday to apply the Keystone State's anti-SLAPP law in a defamation suit brought against President-elect Donald Trump by the so-called Central Park Five but took neither party's side on dismissal.
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January 15, 2025
Madigan Testimony Requires Separate Trials, Ex-Friend Says
Michael Madigan's former longtime friend and political ally on Tuesday renewed his request to be separated from the ex-Illinois House speaker as they defend criminal racketeering and bribery charges at trial, arguing that Madigan's testimony amounts to an attack against the former lobbyist that is impossible for him to fend off.
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January 15, 2025
EPA Tells DC Circ. Truck GHG Emissions Rule Is Sound
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is defending its tightened greenhouse gas emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles against a challenge brought by dozens of states and industry groups, telling the D.C. Circuit that federal law empowers the agency to regulate all motor vehicles — electric or otherwise.
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January 15, 2025
3M Wants Conn. AG's PFAS Case Paused For 2nd Circ. Appeal
3M has urged a Connecticut Superior Court to stay the state's environmental lawsuit seeking damages for "forever chemical" pollution the company allegedly created, saying the Second Circuit should first review a federal judge's order remanding the case to state court.
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January 15, 2025
Block Pays Regulators $80M Over Cash App AML Compliance
Jack Dorsey's fintech company Block Inc. has reached an $80 million settlement over alleged anti-money laundering compliance failures by its mobile payments platform Cash App, a coalition of state banking regulators announced Wednesday.
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January 15, 2025
Calif. Tribe Fights State's Bid To Ax Gaming Compact Suit
A federally recognized Indian tribe suing California and Gov. Gavin Newsom over a tribal-state gaming compact has asked a federal judge to deny their bid to dismiss state claims in the suit, saying they wrongly argue that state laws implementing the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act are independent of IGRA's requirements.
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January 15, 2025
DOJ Reports $2.9B Haul Under FCA, Largest In 3 Years
Litigation under the False Claims Act generated a little over $2.9 billion in settlements and judgments in the most recent fiscal year, a 5% bump over 2023's total and the most in three years, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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January 15, 2025
More IRS Partnership 'Soft Letters' Coming, Official Says
The Internal Revenue Service will keep using an educational compliance tool called soft letters to prod taxpayers to comply with a centralized partnership audit regime that has recently turned its focus to larger and more complicated entities, an agency official said Wednesday.
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January 15, 2025
Oil Biz Must Face Action Alleging It Dodged Well Cleanup
Oil and gas company HRM Resources cannot escape a lawsuit from Colorado landowners alleging the business transferred 200 oil and gas wells to a smaller oil company, which soon after declared bankruptcy, in order to shift cleanup obligations to the state, after a Colorado federal judge found the plaintiffs alleged they were injured by the scheme.
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January 15, 2025
3rd Circ. Preview: NFL Concussion Benefits Fight Tops January
The case of late NFL players' family members who say they shouldn't have to exhume their loved ones' remains to receive benefits from the national concussion settlement takes center stage in the Third Circuit's January argument session.
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January 15, 2025
Legislators Say Transparency Act Defies First Amendment
The Corporate Transparency Act is an unnecessary intrusion into the First Amendment rights of Americans, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and 13 House members told the Supreme Court in seeking to maintain an injunction issued in December.
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January 15, 2025
Noncompete Ban Has A Defender In Wings If Trump FTC Won't
Entrepreneurs group Small Business Majority wants the Fifth and Eleventh circuits to let it intervene to defend the Federal Trade Commission's currently blocked noncompetes ban if FTC Republicans stop arguing for the rule as expected once they take power.
Expert Analysis
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Top 10 Legal Issues This Year For Transportation Industry GCs
General counsel must carefully consider numerous legal and policy challenges facing the automotive and transportation industry in the year to come, especially while navigating new technologies, regulations and global markets, says Francesco Liberatore at Squire Patton.
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Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation
Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.
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Searching For Insight On Requested Google Chrome Remedy
The potential for Google to divest its Chrome browser — a remedy requested by the Justice Department following a D.C. federal court’s finding the company is a monopolist — has drawn both criticism and endorsement, but legal precedent likely supports the former, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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Opinion
3 New Year's Resolutions For Antitrust Agencies To Consider
James Fredricks at Skadden rings in 2025 with his wish list for the federal antitrust agencies, starting with a provision for a presumptive safe harbor for information sharing.
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FTC Focus: A Changing Of The Guard
While rigorous antitrust enforcement is unlikely to slow down at the Federal Trade Commission, the focus will undoubtedly change, including when it comes to Big Tech, as Andrew Ferguson prepares to take the reins from Chair Lina Khan, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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5th Circ.'s Nasdaq Ruling Another Piece In DEI Policy Puzzle
The Fifth Circuit's recent en banc opinion vacating Nasdaq's board diversity listing rule wades into the hotly debated topic of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at a time when many public companies are navigating the attention that DEI commitments are drawing from activists and shareholders, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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8 Trends And Predictions Following PE's Late 2024 Surge
Private equity will remain at the forefront of value creation in 2025, and anticipated market trends include sponsors' desire to return capital to investors and a more business-friendly tack by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, say attorneys at Weil.
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Series
Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.
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How Changes In State Gift Card Laws May Affect Cos. In 2025
2024 state legislative movements around the escheatment of unused gift card balances and consumer fraud protections should prompt issuers to consider whether changes in company domicile or blanket cash-back policies are needed in the new year, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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Health Tech Regulatory Trends To Watch In 2025
With an upcoming change in administration and the release of some long-awaited rules, the healthcare industry should prepare for shifting trends, including a growing focus on health data and interest in technology-enabled delivery of healthcare, say attorneys at Orrick.
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Expect Continued Momentum For Nuclear Power In 2025
With increasing electricity demand, growing interest in carbon-free energy and recent policy initiatives favoring atomic power, the future is looking bright for the U.S. nuclear energy industry — and the imminent switch of administrations in Washington is unlikely to change that, say attorneys at Venable.
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An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025
As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.
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The Securities Litigation Trends That Will Matter Most In 2025
2025 is shaping up to be a significant year for securities litigation, as plaintiffs and defendants alike navigate shifting standards for omission theories of liability, class certification, risk disclosure claims and more, say attorneys at Willkie.
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Predicting The Lasting Changes CFPB May Face In 2025
President-elect Donald Trump and the incoming Republican-controlled Congress' likely attempts to reshape the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau could significantly alter its rulemaking, supervisory and enforcement abilities for years to come, says Jim Sandy at McGlinchey Stafford.
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5 Proactive Immigration Best Practices For Employers In 2025
Businesses that depend on foreign talent should take specific steps in anticipation of changes to federal immigration policies that could affect the H-1B visa and other programs, and likely require changes in organizational operations and compliance strategy, says Dustin O'Quinn at Ballard Spahr.