Washington

  • August 12, 2026

    Trump, DOJ Say Firing Seattle US Atty Was Within Their Rights

    The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice are fighting a demand for immediate reinstatement brought by Seattle's former top federal prosecutor, who was fired within an hour of a court appointing him to the role, arguing his due process rights were not violated.

  • August 12, 2026

    Feds Granted More Time To Defend College Data Ask

    A Massachusetts federal judge granted the Trump administration an opportunity to explain its rationale for fast-tracking a demand for detailed admissions data from U.S. colleges and universities.

  • August 12, 2026

    9th Circ. Enforces $2B Devas Satellite Award

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday enforced an over $2 billion arbitral award issued to a satellite communications company, ruling for the first time that the legal concept that a dispute might be better heard elsewhere does not apply in cases seeking to enforce international arbitral awards.

  • August 11, 2026

    Immigration Atty Seeks To Nix Ex-Clients' RICO Fraud Claims

    An immigration attorney who forfeited her Washington state license is seeking to narrow ex-clients' lawsuit accusing her of falsely promising to perform miracles for them and mishandling their cases, arguing the plaintiffs have recast legal malpractice allegations as a "sprawling racketeering enterprise."

  • August 11, 2026

    Microsoft Heads Accused Of Lying To Investors On AI Strategy

    Microsoft leadership routinely touted the success of the company's artificial intelligence products and its multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI even as the tech giant violated copyright laws to train its large language models and fell behind other AI developers, according to a shareholder stock-drop suit filed Monday in Washington federal court.

  • August 11, 2026

    Crabbers Say Seafood Co. Is Part Of Dungeness Price 'Cartel'

    A proposed class of crabbers urged a California federal judge to reject an Oregon seafood company's bid to escape their lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to cap prices paid to fishermen for Dungeness crab in the Pacific Northwest.

  • August 11, 2026

    9th Circ. Blocks Hawaii Gun Rule Following High Court Ruling

    The Ninth Circuit has stopped Hawaii from enforcing portions of a gun law that banned firearms on private property without the property owner's consent, after the U.S. Supreme Court held a gun rights group and three state residents were likely to succeed in their lawsuit challenging that component of the law.

  • August 11, 2026

    9th Circ. Would Lose 5 States In Latest Reorganization Bid

    Republicans are once again trying to break up the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which has long been dominated by judges appointed by Democratic presidents.

  • August 11, 2026

    Microsoft Fights Gamer Suit Over 'Garden-Variety' Valve Deal

    Microsoft has urged a Washington federal judge to toss PC gamers' proposed class action accusing the tech giant of forging an illegal price-matching pact with video game developer Valve Corp., saying the plaintiffs' counsel has spent years arguing contrary claims that Valve bullied publishers into accepting its terms.

  • August 10, 2026

    Spa Fights 9th Circ.'s 'Swinging Dicks' Order At High Court

    The Ninth Circuit's rejection of a spa's religious objections to serving transgender customers is incompatible with several major precedents, according to a U.S. Supreme Court petition filed Monday in litigation that soared in prominence when dozens of circuit judges decried a salacious dissent.

  • August 10, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Unum Win In Worker's Long-COVID Fight

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed an insurance company's win in an ex-worker's suit alleging his long-term disability benefits stemming from his bout with long COVID were wrongfully denied, upholding a district court's decision to back the insurer's denial based on the medical evidence. 

  • August 10, 2026

    9th Circ. Won't Revisit Kids' Suit Over Trump's Energy EOs

    The full Ninth Circuit on Monday declined to rehear a group of youths' legal challenge of President Donald Trump's executive orders spurring the use of fossil fuels to meet the country's energy needs.

  • August 10, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs City Of Tacoma In Pension Liability Rate Fight

    A Ninth Circuit panel sided with the city of Tacoma, Washington, in a pension fund dispute Monday, holding that a lower court correctly upheld an arbitrator's reassessment of the city's liability after it withdrew from the Western Metal Industry Pension Fund following the expiration of underlying collective bargaining agreements.

  • August 10, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs FDA's Denial Of Fruit-, Candy-Flavored Vapes

    The Ninth Circuit on Monday affirmed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's denial of Drip More LLC's applications to sell candy- and fruit-flavored vapes, saying the company didn't show those flavors provide an additional benefit to adult smokers that justifies the added risks that young people will use the products.

  • August 10, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Wash. In PacifiCorp Carbon Law Regs Fight

    A divided Ninth Circuit panel declined on Friday to reinstate PacifiCorp's claims that Washington's carbon emissions cap-and-invest program unconstitutionally increases electricity prices for its out-of-state customers, concluding that the power company has not plausibly alleged the targeted regulations discriminate against interstate commerce.

  • August 10, 2026

    Boeing 737 Max Door Plug Suits Get Special Discovery Judge

    A Washington state court appointed retired King County Superior Court Judge Bruce W. Hilyer to oversee discovery matters in more than a dozen lawsuits related to the January 2024 blowout of a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet door plug that allegedly left passengers with physical and emotional injuries.

  • August 10, 2026

    Costco Can't Shake Wash. Workers' Moonlighting Class Action

    More than 26,000 Costco Wholesale Corp. workers have beaten back the company's bid for an early win in their Washington state court moonlighting class action, though a judge also denied the workers' own push for a pretrial victory.

  • August 10, 2026

    Boeing Must Face Depositions In Moon Exploration IP Row

    A Washington federal magistrate judge has partly granted a Colorado aerospace company's bid for more depositions in an intellectual property suit against Boeing over technology used in NASA's moon program, while rejecting broader requests for financial information and documents.

  • August 10, 2026

    Calif. AG Says Paramount Deal Challenge Is About Antitrust

    California Attorney General Rob Bonta pushed back Monday against Paramount Skydance Corp. CEO David Ellison's contention that a challenge of Paramount's Warner Bros. Discovery deal was politically motivated, saying the case is a "straight up antitrust enforcement case."

  • August 07, 2026

    Wash. AG's 'Neutral' Income Tax Repeal Description Can Stand

    Washington's descriptions of a November ballot measure that would repeal a recently passed income tax on individual earnings over $1 million will remain largely unchanged despite pushback from activists, according to bench rulings Friday from two superior court judges in Olympia.

  • August 07, 2026

    Real Estate Recap: REITs Talk Casinos, Senior Housing

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including recent takeaways from real estate investment trusts in the gambling and senior housing sectors.

  • August 07, 2026

    Glenmark's $29.6M Generics Price-Fixing Deal Gets 1st OK

    A Connecticut federal court on Thursday gave a preliminary OK to a settlement between a coalition of 48 states and territories and drugmaker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. that would pay out more than $29.6 million in restitution to eligible consumers and the coalition.

  • August 07, 2026

    18 State AGs Urge Feds To Block OppFi's BNC Bank Acquisition

    A coalition of 18 state attorneys general led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul urged federal regulators to block Opportunity Financial's proposed acquisition of BNC National Bank, saying the deal would allow the online lender to sidestep state interest rate limits and expand its high-cost lending nationwide.

  • August 07, 2026

    ERISA Recap: 6 Important Rulings From July

    The Ninth Circuit rejected a fund manager's bid to force a 401(k) suit into arbitration, a district court tossed a pension de-risking suit, and the D.C. Circuit unraveled a union pension fund's $13 million withdrawal liability win.

  • August 07, 2026

    Hanford Site Caused Delivery Driver's Cancer, Son Claims

    The son of a delivery driver who died of cancer hit the U.S. government with a $10 million suit claiming it negligently failed to protect his father from radiation and toxic substance exposures at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

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    Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • A Framework For Habeas Relief After 5th Circ. Bond Ruling

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    Following the Fifth Circuit’s recent Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision foreclosing statutory bond for detained nonimmigrants not deemed admitted to the U.S., lawyers should adopt a framework that requests habeas relief pursuant to the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

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    Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • Key Tronic Case Shows SEC Isn't Ignoring Controls Violations

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's first nonfraud enforcement action against a public company during Chairman Paul Atkins' tenure reflects the commission’s willingness to bring enforcement actions that charge books and records and internal controls violations, despite deviating from policing technical violations, say attorneys at Cooley.

  • Where The Preemption Fight Over Prediction Markets Stands

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    While the Third Circuit's recent ruling in Kalshi v. Flaherty remains a significant win for the federal government in its quest to regulate prediction markets, the Fourth, Sixth and Ninth Circuits appear more skeptical, indicating that this fight is likely headed for the Supreme Court, says Johnny ElHachem at Holland & Knight.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

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    While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

  • The Ethics And Practicalities Of Representing AI Agents

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    With autonomous artificial intelligence agents now able to take action without explicit instructions from — or the awareness of — their human owners, the bar must confront whether existing frameworks like informed consent and client privilege will be sufficient on the day an AI agent calls seeking counsel, say attorneys at Morrison Cohen.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    Notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year included reminders about the statute of limitations as a key defense for claims relating to allegedly deficient forms, the importance of focus on the specific contract at issue and further guidance on the contours of Rule 23, says Kevin Zimmerman at BakerHostetler.

  • 9th Circ.'s Silence Prolongs Uncertainty On Cemex Framework

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    By affirming a bargaining order in Cemex Construction Materials v. National Labor Relations Board without opining on the NLRB’s 2023 expansion of its authority to issue such orders, the Ninth Circuit avoided direct conflict with the Sixth Circuit’s rejection of the same framework, prolonging uncertainty for employers facing union elections, say attorneys at Dinsmore & Shohl.

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