Washington

  • July 17, 2026

    Ashurst Perkins Gets Trial Date Pushed In Malpractice Case

    A Washington state judge granted Ashurst Perkins Coie's bid to postpone the trial date in a lawsuit accusing the firm's predecessor of making significant mistakes while representing a Middle Eastern screw and nail manufacturer in regulatory proceedings before the U.S. Department of Commerce, calling the case "complex" on Friday.

  • July 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Tosses Child Sex Abuse Conviction Over Bad Search

    A Ninth Circuit panel threw out the conviction of a man who pled guilty to recording himself raping his 7-year-old daughter in Washington, saying Friday that officers discovered the videos on his computer after going beyond the bounds of an unrelated search warrant.

  • July 17, 2026

    Seattle Realtor Gets 20 Months In $4.8M Tax Evasion Case

    A commercial real estate owner who was convicted of tax evasion for concealing roughly $4.8 million in income from the IRS was sentenced to nearly two years in prison by a Washington federal judge.

  • July 17, 2026

    Real Estate Recap: Office-To-Resi Woes, Prefab Housing Wins

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney reactions to the structural issues at the old Pfizer building in New York, a Big Law partner's view of manufactured housing in light of the new federal housing law, and new tactics in data center development as certain states clamp down.

  • July 17, 2026

    Gamers Fight To Keep Valve 'Loot Box' Gambling Claims Alive

    Gamers accusing Valve Corp. of violating Washington state gambling laws through in-game "loot boxes" containing potentially valuable virtual items on Thursday urged a Seattle federal judge not to dismiss their proposed class action, rejecting the gaming giant's assertion that the boxes are no different than a pack of baseball cards.

  • July 17, 2026

    Judge Says OMB Can't Change Grant Terms After Award

    A Massachusetts federal judge said Friday the Trump administration cannot rely on a shift in policy to retroactively change the terms of already awarded grants in order to justify canceling them.

  • July 17, 2026

    Amazon Seeks To Escape Pay, Promotion Bias Suit

    Amazon urged a Washington federal court to toss a proposed class action alleging it paid women less than male colleagues and limited their career opportunities, arguing the lawsuit is short on details and many of the claims belong in New York or California rather than the Evergreen State.

  • July 17, 2026

    Meta Avoids Workers' Bid To Block Allegedly AI-Tainted Cuts

    A California federal judge Friday denied a group of current and former Meta employees' bid to swiftly block the company from disturbing the benefits of certain employees it allegedly selected for termination using artificial intelligence, but requested more information on how Meta selected four employees on company-sponsored employment visas.

  • July 17, 2026

    Judge Open To TRO Blocking Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal

    A California federal judge appeared open Friday to granting a group of states' bid for a temporary restraining order blocking Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying it appears the tie-up's anticipated market share presumptively violates the Clayton Act under U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

  • July 17, 2026

    9th Circ. Rekindles Idaho Logging Review Dispute

    The Ninth Circuit revived a conservation group's suit against the U.S. Forest Service over an environmental review of an Idaho logging project, ruling that the group should have been allowed to raise an argument it had not raised during an earlier administrative process.

  • July 17, 2026

    States Ask To Join Fight Against DOD Wind Project Blockage

    Nearly 20 states have told an Oregon federal judge they want in on a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's decision to block land-based wind projects in the U.S. from moving forward.

  • July 17, 2026

    Plumbing Co.'s Policy Doesn't Cover Family Row, Court Told

    A sibling dispute over the treatment of their widowed father and his property is not covered under a plumbing company's insurance policy, an insurer told a Washington federal court, saying the owner of the company is not an insured for his own actions outside of managing the business.

  • July 17, 2026

    AGs Have 'Significant Concerns' With DOJ's Live Nation Deal

    A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general asked a New York federal judge Thursday for a peek into the negotiations behind the Justice Department's controversial midtrial settlement with Live Nation, voicing concerns the deal isn't in the public interest and saying they need details as they seek a breakup.

  • July 17, 2026

    Wash. Gov.'s High Court Pick Aims To Hold Off 3 Challengers

    In one of the most hotly contested races in this year's Washington Supreme Court, Justice Theo Angelis — who took the high court bench in April after being appointed by Gov. Bob Ferguson — will attempt to defend his Position 5 seat from three challengers, each with a different pitch to voters.

  • July 17, 2026

    States Stepping Up Merger Work In First Half Of 2026

    Federal enforcers reached a number of merger settlements in the first half of 2026, while state attorneys general stepped up their independent enforcement efforts, taking on Nexstar's planned purchase of rival broadcaster Tegna and Paramount's deal for Warner Bros. Discovery.

  • July 16, 2026

    Meta Staffers Fight Uphill To Block Allegedly AI-Targeted Cuts

    A California federal judge indicated Thursday he won't immediately block Meta Platforms Inc. from laying off most of the 26 workers who claim the company used artificial intelligence to target them, but said he'd take a closer look at four on work visas who could be irreparably harmed.

  • July 16, 2026

    Apple, Amazon Face Bid To Revive Wash. Antitrust Suit

    Plaintiffs' counsel urged a Seattle federal judge Thursday to rethink dismissal of a proposed antitrust class action accusing Apple and Amazon of illegally restricting sales of iPhones and iPads, contending that attorneys at Hagens Berman couldn't have concluded from their client's "ambiguous" message that he wanted to get out of the case.

  • July 16, 2026

    'Top Gun' Article Heirs Ask Justices To Review Similarity Test

    The heirs of the journalist whose 1983 magazine article inspired the original "Top Gun" movie have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive their copyright lawsuit over "Top Gun: Maverick" and resolve what they call a circuit split over how courts should compare allegedly similar works.

  • July 16, 2026

    AG Fines, Not Damages Allowed After RealPage Renter Deals

    The attorneys general of D.C., Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington can seek civil fines and injunctive relief against RealPage Inc. and landlords for fixing rent prices, but claims on behalf of their residents are barred by deals made with private plaintiffs, a Tennessee federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • July 16, 2026

    Mich. AG Says Solar Financing Scheme Hit 1,700 Consumers

    Michigan's attorney general has accused Climax Solar, its owner and the seven financial institutions that financed consumer purchases of the company's home solar systems of participating in a widespread solar finance scheme that promised customers big savings but resulted in long-term debt.

  • July 16, 2026

    AG Merger Case Gets New Judge After Paramount Recusal Bid

    A new California federal judge has taken over from the one originally assigned the lawsuit from Democratic state attorneys general challenging Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, putting the case in front of the same judge hearing challenges from consumers and the Writers Guild of America.

  • July 16, 2026

    Whidbey Has To Notify Lummi Nation Before Digging

    A Washington federal judge has ordered Whidbey Telephone to give a tribe notice before resuming ground-disturbing work on a federally funded broadband project that had disturbed remains of the tribe's ancestors.

  • July 16, 2026

    Geico Gets Final OK On $2.6M Injury Coverage Deal In Wash.

    A Washington federal judge signed off on a $2.6 million settlement between Geico and a class of hundreds of drivers resolving a dispute over whether the insurer improperly withheld drivers' personal injury protection coverage by asserting they reached "maximum medical improvement."

  • July 16, 2026

    3 Sitting Judges Eye Montoya-Lewis' Wash. High Court Spot

    Since Washington Supreme Court Justice Raquel Montoya-Lewis announced in January she wouldn't seek a second term on the high court, three sitting judges have entered the race for her open seat: a Seattle state trial court judge, a member of Washington's Court of Appeals and a superior court judge in rural Mason County.

  • July 15, 2026

    Albertsons Slow To Review Wash. Opioid Sales, Judge Told

    Albertsons conducted few reviews of opioid dispensing by its Washington pharmacies for years after establishing a controlled substances compliance team, according to testimony played on Day 3 of a bench trial in the state's lawsuit accusing the company and its Safeway subsidiary of exacerbating Washington's opioid epidemic.

Expert Analysis

  • Asylum Ruling Signals Larger Separation Of Powers Battle

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that border officials may turn away asylum-seekers without inspection is part of a broader conversation about the reach of institutional safeguards that subject governmental authority to legal constraint, says Dree Collopy at American University's Washington College of Law.

  • Series

    Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

  • Opinion

    Shareholder Derivative Litigation Needs A Better Framework

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    Uncoordinated, multiforum shareholder derivative litigation is a growing issue for corporate defendants that have little to no recourse for organizing and consolidating actions, but several commonsense steps should be utilized to preempt such disputes, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • 2 AI Washing Rulings Apply Familiar Securities Fraud Rules

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    Two recent federal court decisions to allow AI washing complaints to proceed begin to clarify the line between nonactionable optimism and actionable misstatements by framing the core issue as not overstating the promise of artificial intelligence, but misrepresenting the current state of a company's products, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

  • Roundup

    The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

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    This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

  • Justices Stand On Statutory Specifics In Cisco And Landor

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    With its June 23 decisions in Cisco Systems Inc. v. Doe and Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety, the U.S. Supreme Court doubled down on the critical point that the statute invoked in a federal claim must authorize a private lawsuit and the remedy sought, says Patrick Judd at Phelps Dunbar.

  • How Maine's Expanded Health Deal Reviews Complicate M&A

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    A pair of recently approved Maine competition laws establish notice and approval requirements for certain healthcare transactions and expand state antitrust oversight, creating new hurdles for dealmakers as states take a more aggressive role in policing healthcare consolidation, especially involving private equity, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

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    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Series

    Power To The Paralegals: Burnout As A Structural Problem

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    Law firm leadership can best retain their paralegals not by encouraging self-care, but by seeking top-down structural solutions for the quiet proliferation of responsibilities and the vicarious exposure to client trauma that particularly drive burnout in this vital role, says Erika Sneeringer at Brockstedt Mandalas.

  • Ill. Law Firm MSO Bill Clashes With Court Power, Ethics Rules

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    An Illinois bill prohibiting law firms from certain business arrangements with management service organizations, sent to the governor for signature last week, encroaches upon the courts' constitutional powers and goes beyond the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct in regulating investment in law-related services, says Matthew O’Hara at Smith Gambrell.

  • Google Antitrust Case Puts Spotlight On De Facto Exclusivity

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    Mozilla's recent amicus filing in U.S. v. Google arguing that its agreement to make Google the default search engine did not amount to de facto exclusivity highlights the growing debate over traditional indicators of exclusivity, with implications for any business that uses rebates, preferred contracts or volume incentives, says Chris Gowen at WilmU Farnan School of Law.

  • 3rd Circ. Decision Sheds Light On BIPA Bank Exemption

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    The Third Circuit's recent decision in McGoveran v. Amazon illuminates how courts are extending the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act's financial institution carveout beyond banks and insurers to technology vendors and other businesses handling biometric data, a defendant-friendly shift that still casts uncertainty around BIPA's enforcement, say attorneys at Dorsey & Whitney.

  • Opinion

    State Courts Must Be Gatekeepers Of Expert Testimony

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    Based on my experience in the state judiciary, emulating federal courts' role as gatekeepers of expert witness testimony would help state court judges maintain the appearance of impartiality and assist juries, thus enhancing the overall confidence people have in their justice system, says Lorie Gildea at Greenberg Traurig.

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