Environmental

  • January 21, 2025

    Navy, Tetra Tech Strike $97M Deal Over Navy Cleanup Work

    The U.S. Navy and a Tetra Tech unit have reached two settlements amounting to $97 million, resolving claims the subsidiary billed the Navy for radiation remediation services at a former Navy shipyard in San Francisco that it did not actually perform.

  • January 21, 2025

    EPA Defends Power Plant Effluent Rule At 8th Circ.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is asking the Eighth Circuit to reject challenges to its rule setting new wastewater limitations for coal-fired power plants that have been lodged by green groups, Republican-led states, utilities and industry organizations.

  • January 21, 2025

    SoCal Edison Must Hand Over Data In Eaton Fire Suit

    A Los Angeles County judge ordered Southern California Edison Co. on Tuesday to produce data from its distribution circuits in the Altadena, California, neighborhood to a victim of the Eaton Fire, the first step in litigation over this month's deadly and destructive blaze.

  • January 21, 2025

    EPA Tells DC Circ. Its PFAS Superfund Rule Is On Solid Ground

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has claimed that it is perfectly within its authority to label two forever chemicals as "hazardous substances" under the federal Superfund law, urging the D.C. Circuit to toss an industry group's challenge to its designation powers.

  • January 21, 2025

    EPA Tells Justices That Air Pollution Cases Belong In DC Circ.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is urging the nation's highest court to rule that most judicial challenges to its air pollution rules belong in the D.C. Circuit, while small petroleum refiners say other, regional circuit courts are proper venues.

  • January 21, 2025

    Trump EV Rollbacks Spell Regulatory Whiplash For Auto Cos.

    President Donald Trump's rollback of Biden administration policies intended to accelerate the U.S. auto industry's movement toward electric vehicles creates new uncertainties for a domestic EV supply chain that was already grappling with slowing consumer demand, experts say.

  • January 21, 2025

    Too Early For Liability In Pollution Suit, Sherwin-Williams Says

    Sherwin-Williams has urged a New Jersey court to reject the Garden State's bid to find it liable for natural resource damages at the site of one of its former paint manufacturing plants, arguing the state's motion is premature.

  • January 21, 2025

    Trump Moratorium Is An Ill Wind For Project Development

    President Donald Trump's sweeping directive to halt federal reviews and permitting of wind farms creates fresh uncertainty over whether many projects slated to be built can secure necessary approval and financing.

  • January 21, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Refuses To Restore Solar Cell Patent Claims

    An Indian industrial conglomerate failed on Tuesday to persuade Federal Circuit judges to breathe new life into a patent covering a way of assembling solar cells that it had asserted in Delaware federal court against a Korean rival.

  • January 21, 2025

    Texas Sues Biden Administration Over Offshore Drilling Ban

    Texas sued the Biden administration one last time during the administration's final hours, saying in a complaint Monday that orders banning oil and gas leasing in more than 625 million acres of federal waters run "afoul of the Constitution."

  • January 21, 2025

    Colo. Justices Say Elephants Don't Get Habeas Rights

    The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday said the state's habeas statute only gives humans the right to petition against unlawful detention, upholding the dismissal of a habeas petition filed on behalf of five elderly elephants at a zoo.

  • January 21, 2025

    Tax Court Slashes $33M Easement Deduction

    The U.S. Tax Court reduced a partnership's claimed $33 million tax deduction for a donation of a Georgia conservation easement Tuesday, saying the easement was only worth $4.7 million, partly because the partnership overestimated its development potential in a rural area.

  • January 21, 2025

    Bacon Giant Smithfields Leads 3 IPOs Primed To Exceed $1B

    Bacon maker Smithfields Foods Inc. led a trio of companies unveiling price ranges for initial public offerings Tuesday that could raise $1.3 billion combined over the next week, with 10 law firms guiding the IPOs in various capacities.

  • January 21, 2025

    Water Main Co. Will Pay $1M After Connecticut Fish Kill

    A water main cleaning company has waived indictment and admitted to a federal charge that it discharged a pollutant into a Connecticut brook while refurbishing a culvert pipe in 2019, causing the deaths of more than 150 fish, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

  • January 21, 2025

    NJ Unveils Plans To Retool Congestion-Pricing Fight

    Undeterred by the denial of its bid to temporarily halt New York City's controversial congestion toll pricing plan, the state of New Jersey has notified a federal judge that it plans to drop its Third Circuit appeal and pursue a new plan of attack in district court. 

  • January 21, 2025

    Ex-Chemical Biz Atty Drops Claims Against Bain Capital

    A former in-house attorney for chemicals company Arxada has agreed to remove Bain Capital as a defendant in her New Jersey state court suit alleging that she was unlawfully dismissed after she discussed taking leave to recover from a miscarriage.

  • January 21, 2025

    New SEC Task Force Eyes 'Sensible' Crypto Regulations

    A day after being appointed acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mark T. Uyeda on Tuesday launched a cryptocurrency task force to develop "a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework" for such assets.

  • January 21, 2025

    FTC Gives Nod To Chevron's $53B Hess Buy, With Conditions

    The Federal Trade Commission has formally approved a consent order resolving antitrust concerns over Chevron Corp.'s planned $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corp., one that bars CEO John Hess from joining the combined company's board.

  • January 21, 2025

    Trump Elevates Mark Christie To FERC Chairmanship

    Republican Commissioner Mark Christie thanked President Donald Trump on Monday for appointing him to lead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, while touting his own emphasis on addressing the "reliability crisis."

  • January 21, 2025

    Trump Orders Federal Workers Back To Office

    On his first day back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump ordered federal workers back to theirs.

  • January 20, 2025

    On Day 1, Trump Begins Dismantling Biden's Enviro Legacy

    President Donald Trump signed a host of environmental executive orders shortly after taking office Monday, rolling back numerous Biden climate-related policies, including bans on Arctic drilling and the revocation of the Keystone XL Pipeline permit, while also nixing the federal government's net-zero emissions goals.

  • January 20, 2025

    Trump Ends Biden Moratorium That Limited LNG Exports

    President Donald Trump on Monday lifted former President Joe Biden's moratorium on approvals of liquefied natural gas exports to countries that don't have free-trade agreements with the U.S., fulfilling a promise he made repeatedly on the campaign trail.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

    Law360 would like to congratulate the winners of its Practice Groups of the Year awards for 2024, which honor the attorney teams behind litigation wins and significant transaction work that resonated throughout the legal industry this past year.

  • January 17, 2025

    Law360 Names Firms Of The Year

    Eight law firms have earned spots as Law360's Firms of the Year, with 54 Practice Group of the Year awards among them, steering some of the largest deals of 2024 and securing high-profile litigation wins, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • January 20, 2025

    Trump, Musk Sued By Nonprofits Over DOGE Transparency

    Public Citizen and other nonprofits hit the Trump administration with multiple lawsuits seeking to shut down the new Department of Government Efficiency in D.C. federal court Monday, alleging the Elon Musk-led advisory committee targeting government waste lacks requisite transparency guardrails to prevent DOGE from solely advancing private interests.

Expert Analysis

  • Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where

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    During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • What To Expect From Evolving Wash. Development Plans

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    The current round of periodic updates to Washington counties' growth and development plans will need to address new requirements from recent legislation, and will also likely bring changes that should please property owners and developers, says Jami Balint at Seyfarth.

  • Series

    Playing Golf Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Golf can positively affect your personal and professional life well beyond the final putt, and it’s helped enrich my legal practice by improving my ability to build lasting relationships, study and apply the rules, face adversity with grace, and maintain my mental and physical well-being, says Adam Kelly at Venable.

  • Brownfield Questions Surround IRS Tax Credit Bonus

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    Though the IRS has published guidance regarding the Inflation Reduction Act's 10% adder for tax credits generated by renewable energy projects constructed on brownfield sites, considerable guesswork remains as potential implications seem contrary to IRS intentions, say Megan Caldwell and Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.

  • Law Firms Should Move From Reactive To Proactive Marketing

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    Most law firm marketing and business development teams operate in silos, leading to an ad hoc, reactive approach, but shifting to a culture of proactive planning — beginning with comprehensive campaigns — can help firms effectively execute their broader business strategy, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Energy And AI: Key Issues And Future Challenges

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    Artificial intelligence promises new technical advantages for the energy industry, but it is also responsible for vast, and growing, energy consumption — so the future of AI and energy will require balancing technological advancement with regulatory oversight, environmental responsibility and infrastructure development, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • From Muppet Heads To OJ's Glove: How To Use Props At Trial

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    Demonstrative graphics have become so commonplace in the courtroom that jurors may start to find them boring, but attorneys can keep jurors engaged and improve their recall by effectively using physical props at trial, says Clint Townson at Townson Consulting.

  • Opinion

    The Big Issues A BigLaw Associates' Union Could Address

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    A BigLaw associates’ union could address a number of issues that have the potential to meaningfully improve working conditions, diversity and attorney well-being — from restructured billable hour requirements to origination credit allocation, return-to-office mandates and more, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For A BigLaw Associates' Union

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    As BigLaw faces a steady stream of criticism about its employment policies and practices, an associates union could effect real change — and it could start with law students organizing around opposition to recent recruiting trends, says Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea.

  • How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act

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    In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.

  • How Corner Post Affects Enviro Laws' Statutes Of Limitations

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board has helped to alter the fundamental underpinnings of administrative law — and its plaintiff-centric approach may have implications for some specific environmental laws' statutes of limitations, say Chris Leason and Liam Martin at Gallagher and Kennedy.

  • 2 Vital Trial Principles Endure Amid Tech Advances

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    Progress in trial technologies in the last 10 years has been transformative for courtroom presentations, but two core communication axioms are still relevant in today's world of drone footage evidence and 3D animations, say Adam Bloomberg and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Nuclear Power Can Help Industrial Plants Get To Net-Zero

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    In the race to fight climate change and achieve net-zero emissions, the industrial sector currently faces immense challenges — but the integration of nuclear energy is a promising solution, so companies should consider the financial and regulatory issues, opportunities, and risk-mitigating factors, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 6 Factors That Can Make For A 'Nuclear' Juror

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    Drawing from recent research that examines the rise in nuclear verdicts, Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies identifies a few juror characteristics most likely to matter in assessing case risk and preparing for jury selection — some of which are long-known, and others that are emerging post-pandemic.

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