Analysis

The Biggest Climate Change Rulings Of 2024: Year In Review

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez and Keith Goldberg

Federal courts delivered several rulings this year that are expected to significantly impact future climate change litigation and policy development, including Supreme Court decisions reshaping administrative law and D.C. Circuit findings on project development and automotive emissions controls. Here are the four biggest climate change decisions of 2024.

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EPA Administrator Stepping Down At End Of December

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan on Friday announced that he's stepping down at the end of December, after a nearly four-year term that was punctuated by high-profile climate, water and chemical regulations and ambitious environmental justice initiatives.

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Trump Tells EU To Buy US Oil In Bulk Or Face Higher Tariffs

By Elaine Briseño

President-elect Donald Trump used social media early Friday morning to threaten the European Union with "tariffs all the way" if it refuses to buy large amounts of U.S. oil and gas.

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SEC Fines Entergy $12M Over Alleged Accounting Errors

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday announced a $12 million settlement with Entergy Corp. over claims that the company failed to properly account for what may have been hundreds of millions of dollars in unusable or surplus equipment.

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Groups Urge FERC To Curtail Local Transmission Planning

By Madeline Lyskawa

Energy consumer groups slammed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for failing to tackle tariff provisions that allow individual transmission owners to plan facilities that operate at 100 kilovolts and above, saying the practice results in unjust and unreasonable transmission rates.

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DC Circ. Backs Dismissal Of Energy Co.'s $1.1B Angola Suit

By Caroline Simson

The D.C. Circuit refused Friday to revive an energy company's lawsuit against Angola over $1.1 billion worth of nixed power plant contracts, agreeing with courts in New York that the dispute must be litigated in the African country.

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Feds, Osage Nation Score Damages Win In Wind Farm Suit

By Crystal Owens

An Oklahoma federal judge has ended a decade of litigation involving the Osage Nation, the U.S. government and Enel Green Power North America, ordering the company to pay more than $300,000 in damages and attorney fees and to remove 84 wind turbines from the tribe's reservation.

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FTA Proposes Buy America Waiver For Electric Minibuses

By Daniel Wilson

The Federal Transit Administration has asked for public feedback on whether it should grant a temporary nonavailability waiver from domestic sourcing requirements for battery electric minibuses, saying it had received related requests from multiple transit operators.

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COP29 Offers Pathway To A Global Carbon Market

COP29, the recently concluded United Nations climate conference, represented a breakthrough in the establishment of standards for a global carbon market — and voluntary carbon market participants in the U.S. and elsewhere can enhance the value of their projects by aligning them with these standards, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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The Justices' Securities Rulings, Dismissals That Defined '24

The U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 securities rulings led to increased success for defendants' price impact arguments, but the justices' decisions not to weigh in on important issues relating to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act's pleading requirements may be just as significant, say attorneys at Skadden.

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How White Collar Enforcement May Shift In Trump's 2nd Term

After President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next month, the administration’s emphasis on immigration laws, drug offenses and violent crime will likely reduce the focus on white collar crime overall, but certain areas within the white collar world may see increased activity, say attorneys at Keker Van Nest.

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Series

Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.

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MoFo, Irell Latest Firms To Unveil Competitive Bonuses

By Aebra Coe & Hailey Konnath

Morrison Foerster LLP and litigation boutique Irell & Manella LLP have joined a chorus of firms announcing associate bonuses that meet or exceed the BigLaw standard for associate bonuses this year, with MoFo offering up to $218,200 and Irell handing its lawyers as much as $175,000.

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Approach The Bench: What Judges Had To Say This Year

By Cara Bayles

Jurists weighed the benefits of partisan elections, praised innovations in telehearings and worried about the future of the profession in nearly a dozen interviews with Law360 this year.

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Gunster $8.5M Data Breach Deal Needs More Info, Judge Says

By Matt Perez

A Florida federal judge this week denied preliminary approval of an $8.5 million settlement in a data breach class action against Gunster and demanded more information on payouts, the plaintiffs' standing in the case and a historical breakdown of settlement rates.

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NJ Bar's Diversity Plan Isn't Biased, Panel Says

By Tracey Read

A New Jersey state appeals court reversed and remanded on Friday a lower court's ruling that found the state bar association's diversity practices to be an unlawful, discriminatory quota system.

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Analysis

How Lawyers May Sue The Trump Administration … Again

By Cara Bayles

During the last Trump administration, BigLaw firms challenged White House policies, focusing on immigration, environmental regulations and healthcare. This time around, attorneys could rely on old tools, and some new tactics, to stall the executive branch.

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Biden Exceeds Trump's Record On Judges By One

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate confirmed on Friday the last two judicial nominations from President Joe Biden, making his total of lifetime judicial appointments 235, just one over President Donald Trump's 234.

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High Court Bar's Future: Williams & Connolly's Sarah Harris

By Katie Buehler

Sarah M. Harris of Williams & Connolly LLP never planned on being a U.S. Supreme Court advocate, or even an appellate one. She stumbled upon that career path after realizing her initial goal of becoming a national security or government lawyer wasn't the right fit.

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Legislators Key To Court Fee Relief, Chief Justices Say

By Cara Salvatore

Two state high court chief justices and a top judicial administrator have told the National Center for State Courts that while they've been able to make significant progress in abolishing unfair court fines and fees, lawmakers have been vital in enacting these changes.

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No, Microsoft Isn't Driving DOJ's Google Antitrust Suit: Judge

By Bryan Koenig

A D.C. federal judge pushed back Friday on Google's efforts to paint Microsoft as the true plaintiff in the Justice Department's search monopolization lawsuit, casting doubt during a hearing that Google should get even more information about Microsoft's relationship with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

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Feature

Litigator On The Roof: The Acting, Singing Mass. Solicitor

By Chris Villani

The top appellate lawyer in the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General will be ringing in the new year by performing a comical cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, the latest show in a lengthy side career in music.

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Another Texas Judge Exits X's Advertising Boycott Suit

By Lauren Berg

The second Texas judge to oversee litigation filed by Elon Musk's X Corp. accusing the World Federation of Advertisers and others of conspiring to withhold advertising revenue from the company has recused himself from the case.

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Hagens Berman Settles Suit Over Effexor Deal Atty Fees

By Bryan Koenig

A pharmaceutical reseller's in-house counsel and founder moved Friday to drop a Mississippi federal court breach of contract suit accusing Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP of stiffing him on his share of a $13 million attorney fees award from an antitrust class settlement, citing a resolution to the dispute.

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Girardi's Mental Health To Be Evaluated At NC Federal Prison

By Craig Clough

A California federal judge said Friday she will order Tom Girardi to receive a psychiatric evaluation at a North Carolina federal correctional facility after she recently delayed his wire fraud sentencing to determine if he should be committed to a medical facility instead of prison due to his dementia diagnosis.

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Q&A

A Judge Reflects: West Wing Call, 'Alford Plea?' Early Exit

By Hayley Fowler

When Chief Judge Louis A. Bledsoe III of the North Carolina Business Court hangs up his robes for the last time on Dec. 31, he'll leave behind a white-hot docket of high-profile cases and a profusion of opinions that helped mold the court into a tribunal fit to rival Delaware's Court of Chancery.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Andrea Keckley

This week's Legal Lions leader comes from the public sector, as federal prosecutors secured a $650 million settlement from McKinsey & Co. to resolve a lawsuit over the consulting giant's role in Purdue Pharma's promotion of OxyContin.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen the University of Southampton sue a drone-maker over the rights to an uncrewed aircraft patent, Importers Service Corp. and its subsidiary ISC Europe take action against a former director who allegedly owes the company over £1.1 million ($1.4 million), and DAC Beachcroft face a fraud claim by a "prolific litigant." 

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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