9th Circ. Partly Revives Crypto Investor's Suit Against AT&T

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit on Monday partially revived a cryptocurrency investor's suit accusing AT&T of failing to protect his information amid a fraudulent SIM swap that cost him $24 million, finding there to be a triable question whether AT&T gave hackers access to his proprietary information through the scheme.

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AI Safety Bill Veto Shows Calif. Taking Regulatory 'Baby Steps'

By Allison Grande

The California governor's rejection of sweeping legislation to ensure the safe deployment of large-scale artificial intelligence models — and his simultaneous embrace of more targeted proposals to regulate the technology — is likely to result in the wider creation of regimes that favor "baby steps" over broad strokes, experts say. 

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MoneyGram Beats Investor Suit Over Anti-Fraud Compliance

By Katryna Perera

An Illinois federal judge on Monday tossed a proposed securities class action accusing MoneyGram International of lying about its anti-fraud compliance, finding that the suing investors did not adequately plead any misleading statements or that MoneyGram's executives acted with an intent to deceive.

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SEC Scores Win In $18M Crypto Registration Suit

By Elliot Weld

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was granted an early win Monday in a case alleging that a startup founder illegally sold $18 million in cryptocurrency tokens, after a federal judge said it was "undisputed" that the founder knew that he hadn't registered the tokens.

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SEC Says Accountant Aided Tingo Group's Fintech Fraud

By Aislinn Keely

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued a Nigerian accounting firm for allegedly helping the operator of the Tingo fintech businesses conceal fake audit reports that inflated the value of the firms to further the "massive" fintech fraud.

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Zelle Fraud Victims Fight Uphill To Save Contract Breach Suit

By Gina Kim

Zelle users urged a California federal judge Monday to rethink his tentative decision to dismiss their proposed class action alleging breach of express contract and implied covenant of good faith over Bank of America's refusal to reimburse them for fraudulent transactions, arguing the bank conducted insufficient investigations before denying their claims outright.

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Chancery Sidelines Squarespace Merger Doc Suit For Now

By Jeff Montgomery

A Delaware Court of Chancery action to compel stockholder access to website builder Squarespace Inc.'s corporate records remained under a stay Monday, after a court finding that the suit aimed to preserve future review rights focused on a proposed $7.2 billion company take-private deal.

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Private Trading Platform Scraps SPAC Merger In Favor Of IPO

By Tom Zanki

Special-purpose acquisition company Blockchain Coinvestors Acquisition Corp. I said Monday that its merger agreement with private investment platform Linqto Inc. has been terminated, while Linqto separately announced it will go public through an initial public offering instead.

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Brief

2 Crypto Think Tank Execs To Step Down At End Of Year

By Aislinn Keely

Crypto policy think tank Coin Center said Monday that its executive director and one of its senior lawyers plan to step down at the end of the year. 

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Brief

CoinShares Group General Counsel Steps Down

By Aislinn Keely

CoinShares International's general counsel stepped down Monday "to pursue other opportunities" beyond the European cryptocurrency asset manager, the firm said in a statement.

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Payward And The Secondary Crypto Transaction Confusion

Following orders in cases against Coinbase and Binance, the recent California federal court ruling in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Payward raises even more questions about regulation of secondary transactions involving crypto-assets, as it tries to sidestep fundamental flaws in the SEC's legal theories, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.

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Series

In The CFPB Playbook: No Lazy, Hazy Days Of Summer

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is headed for a brisk fall season, on the heels of a heated summer, which included the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the CFPB funding structure is constitutional, and in advance of the November election, says Eamonn Moran at Holland & Knight.

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A Class Action Trend Tests Limit Of Courts' Equity Powers

A troubling trend has developed in federal class action litigation as some counsel and judges attempt to push injunctive relief classes under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure beyond the traditional limits of federal courts' equitable powers, say attorneys at Jones Day.

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Opinion

AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

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A Deep Dive Into Law Firm Pay

By Kevin Penton

The legal industry may be known for its relatively high pay, but don't tell that to lawyers: Barely half of all attorneys feel satisfied or very satisfied with what they make, according to a new Law360 Pulse report.

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The 2024 Compensation Report: Law Firms

Law360 Pulse asked lawyers about their compensation, pay structure transparency, billable hours and more. Find out how much they earn, how satisfied they are and where some of the problem areas lie with their pay.

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Spencer Fane Combines With Las Vegas Boutique Firm

By Adrian Cruz

Spencer Fane LLP announced Tuesday that it has merged with Las Vegas boutique Holley Driggs Law Firm, adding a further 14 attorneys to its operations in Nevada's most populous city.

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Ga. High Court Declares Judicial Emergency After Helene

By Madeline Lyskawa

The Supreme Court of Georgia declared a statewide judicial emergency Monday in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which slammed into the Southeastern U.S. last week, bringing heavy rain and high winds that shut down several state courts the following day.

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Wigdor Sued For Dragging Cuomo Aide Into Harassment Case

By Ryan Boysen

Former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo's spokesperson hit Wigdor LLP with a malicious prosecution suit Tuesday, claiming the well-known employment law firm filed a bogus retaliation claim against him for likening a sexual harassment suit against Cuomo to extortion.

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When The Client Is The Mayor, The Usual Rules Don't Apply

By Julie Manganis

Representing a public official, whether the mayor of New York City, a state legislator or a city council member, poses unique challenges for even the most experienced lawyers, who often find themselves torn between fighting battles in the press and protecting their client in court.

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Adams Says Feds Sought To 'Tarnish' Him With Leaks

By Frank G. Runyeon

New York City Mayor Eric Adams asked a Manhattan federal judge Tuesday to sanction Southern District prosecutors for allegedly leaking the details of a criminal investigation for nearly a year leading up to his corruption indictment, saying negative press has hurt his standing with the public and undermined his right to a fair trial.

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NYC Mayor Elevates Attorneys Amid Corruption Charges

By Anna Sanders

New York City Mayor Eric Adams nominated a longtime public servant as his next corporation counsel and promoted a former WilmerHale attorney to City Hall chief counsel as the embattled Democrat faces federal corruption charges.

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NYC Bar Urges Congress To Place Ethics Rules On High Court

By Andrea Keckley

The New York City Bar Association called on Congress to put U.S. Supreme Court justices under enforceable ethics rules in a report released Tuesday, throwing its support behind reforms, such as the creation of a Judicial Investigation Panel and an Office of the Inspector General.

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McElroy Deutsch Must Face 'Malicious' Claim From Fired Exec

By Jake Maher

A former business development director from McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP has been given the go-ahead from a New Jersey state judge to bring a malicious-prosecution claim against the firm in litigation over her and her husband's alleged multimillion-dollar embezzlement from the firm.

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The Top In-House Hires Of September

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires over the last month included high-profile appointments at Wynn Resorts, Amtrak and eBay. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from September.

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Apple, Amazon Hint Hagens Berman Lacked Client's OK

By Greg Lamm

Amazon and Apple blasted Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP for seeking to withdraw as counsel for the no-show original lead plaintiff in an antitrust suit targeting iPhone and iPad sales, hinting that the firm continued to pursue the case even after knowing its client wished to drop out.

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