Panel Baffled Why Prosecutor Left Holding Bag In Weed Case

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Michigan state judge who stuck the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office with a $66,000 bill for marijuana destroyed by police and said he'd "let the Court of Appeals sort it out" left those appellate judges scratching their heads — and reversing his decision on Thursday.

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Mich. Doc Accused Of Selling Property To Duck $35M Judgment

By MJ Koo

A Michigan doctor fraudulently sold property and sent money to his family members to avoid paying a $35 million forfeiture and $5.2 million restitution related to his healthcare fraud convictions, federal prosecutors alleged Friday.

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Court Opens Window For Patient To Pierce COVID Immunity

By Danielle Ferguson

A Michigan appellate court said Wednesday medical malpractice claims from a patient seeking help for pandemic-related stress were barred because her hospital admittance and alleged injuries had a connection to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the court directed a lower court to consider letting the patient plead a gross negligence exception to the state's pandemic response immunity.

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Analysis

A Look Back At 2024's Major Securities Litigation Moments

By Katryna Perera

The private securities litigation bar experienced a busy 2024, with meaningful and significant rulings in almost all of the nation's leading courts, and corporations, investors, government agencies and executives fighting over pay packages, disclosures, class certifications and mergers.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Stats, Multifamily Tech, Pot Shop Pickle

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including big picture stats for commercial real estate in 2024, how one proptech company is leveraging resident data for multifamily profitability, and a conversation with a BigLaw leader about navigating New York's pot shop crackdown.

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6th Circ. To Group FedEx, Kellogg Pension Data Appeals

By Carolyn Muyskens

The Sixth Circuit on Thursday rejected a request to stay a case alleging FedEx Corp. uses outdated actuarial assumptions in calculating certain retirees' annuities, pending a similar appeal from Kellogg Co. retirees, saying it would instead group the cases together.

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Feds Back Straight Worker's Suit Alleging Pro-LGBTQ Bias

By Patrick Hoff

The federal government urged the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a heterosexual Ohio state employee's lawsuit claiming supervisors' bias toward LGBTQ workers cost her a promotion, saying the Sixth Circuit erred in holding she needed to show a pattern of prejudice against straight people to support her case.

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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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Reviewing 2024's Crucial Patent Law Developments

As 2024 draws to a close, significant rulings and policies aimed at modernizing long-standing legal practices or addressing emerging challenges have reached patent law, says Michael Ellenberger at Rothwell Figg.

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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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