Public Policy

  • April 17, 2025

    CFPB Will Cut Examinations By Half In Broad Retreat: Memo

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to cut back sharply on its policing of nonbank financial firms, slash examinations and pull back on its use of fines as part of a dramatic shift in supervisory and enforcement priorities outlined in a new internal memo.

  • April 17, 2025

    NJ Says Discord Misled Public About Messaging App's Safety

    New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin alleged in a complaint Thursday that popular messaging app Discord has misled kids and parents for years about the app's safety, leaving children vulnerable to harassment, abuse and sexual exploitation.

  • April 17, 2025

    Judge Rules Google Monopolized Ad Tech In 2nd Win For DOJ

    A Virginia federal judge on Thursday handed the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division its second seminal win against Google, ruling that the search giant has illegally monopolized markets for display advertising placement technology.

  • April 17, 2025

    Justices Revive Cornell Workers' ERISA Fee Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court revived a class action Thursday from Cornell University workers who said their retirement plans were saddled with excessive fees, finding the Second Circuit shouldn't have nixed their claim that the plans' arrangements with recordkeepers violated federal benefits law.

  • April 16, 2025

    Colo. AG Vows To Sue If Congress Passes Voting Law

    Colorado Attorney General Philip J. Weiser said Wednesday that if Congress passes a proposal to require proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote, he and other Democratic attorneys general will sue to challenge it.

  • April 16, 2025

    Unions Want 'Unlawful' Mediation Service Layoffs Blocked

    A coalition of unions on Wednesday asked a New York federal judge to order the Trump administration to immediately stop dismantling the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service while the unions challenge the layoffs at the agency in court, calling them "unlawful and unconstitutional."

  • April 16, 2025

    Ed Martin Discloses Russia TV Spots, Coloring Books, Jan. 6

    Ed Martin, President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, has disclosed dozens of additional media interviews with right-wing and Russian-state outlets, according to a letter obtained on Wednesday by Law360.

  • April 16, 2025

    Ill. Sen. Says He Was 'Cautious' With Red-Light Camera Exec

    An Illinois senator accused of accepting a bribe to help a red-light camera company testified Wednesday that he was "cautious" as he observed the company executive consistently repeat himself and seem to have "an answer for everything" in their first meeting.

  • April 16, 2025

    Pa. Poultry Farm's Slaughter Methods Deemed Trade Secrets

    The Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled that an animal rights group cannot force a Lebanon County poultry farm to disclose its chicken slaughtering practices, with the court ruling that the materials sought were confidential trade secrets.

  • April 16, 2025

    Judge Pauses Md. Depositions In Bridge Collapse Suit

    A federal judge has paused an order forcing witnesses associated with Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine, which owned the cargo ship that struck Francis Scott Key Bridge, to be deposed in Maryland, finding it unclear whether they're employees who can't be forced to come to the United States and must be subpoenaed.

  • April 16, 2025

    Interior Dept. Halts Work On East Coast Offshore Wind Farm

    U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said Wednesday that he has directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to immediately freeze all construction activities on the Empire Wind offshore wind energy project south of New York's Long Island. 

  • April 16, 2025

    Zuckerberg Calls TikTok Meta's 'Highest Competitive Threat'

    Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed back Wednesday on Federal Trade Commission efforts to cabin the company's allegedly monopolistic social media dominance into a market that excludes TikTok and YouTube, telling a D.C. federal judge video has become the new predominant form of social media interaction.

  • April 16, 2025

    OCC To Merge Bank Supervision Units In Reorganization

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Wednesday it is consolidating its bank supervision units as part of a wider series of organizational changes that will include the departure of two longtime senior agency officials.

  • April 16, 2025

    Texas Energy Bills Are No Panacea For Power Projects

    Energy bills advancing through the Texas Legislature aim to get more electricity on the grid to satisfy escalating demand, but the possibility of new restrictions on renewable energy development has attorneys questioning whether companies will actually build what's needed.

  • April 16, 2025

    Ex-Ga. Sheriff Sued Over 'Deplorable' Jail Conditions

    Former Clayton County, Georgia, Sheriff Victor Hill, who was convicted in 2022 of violating his detainees' civil rights by leaving them strapped to a chair for hours at a time, was sued by a detainee who says she faced "deplorable" conditions in the Clayton County Jail.

  • April 16, 2025

    Red State AGs' SEC Suit Paused Amid Crypto Policy Shift

    A Kentucky federal judge on Wednesday paused a suit from a coalition of Republican attorneys general challenging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's crypto enforcement strategy as the regulator retools its approach to digital asset policy.

  • April 16, 2025

    Feds Float Reducing Endangered Species Habitat Protections

    The Trump administration on Wednesday said it plans to eliminate a long-standing regulatory provision that prohibits the destruction of endangered species habitat by project developers.

  • April 16, 2025

    FCC Boots 7 From E-Rate Program After Fraud Convictions

    Seven people who were convicted of defrauding the Federal Communications Commission's E-Rate program have been suspended from the subsidy program that helps offset the cost of internet service for schools and libraries, the agency has revealed.

  • April 16, 2025

    Lindell Claims 'I'm In Ruins,' Can't Pay Smartmatic Sanctions

    MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell told a D.C. federal judge that he has "no money" to pay the $56,369 in sanctions he was ordered to for filing third-party counterclaims against election systems company Smartmatic, saying Wednesday that he is "in ruins."

  • April 16, 2025

    Mont. Tribes Want DOI To Come Through With Police Funding

    Two Montana tribes have told a federal judge in the state that the U.S. Department of the Interior has frozen their law enforcement budget at what it was 28 years ago and that now the government owes the tribes millions of dollars.

  • April 16, 2025

    Ohio's 'Breathtakingly Blunt' Social Media Age Limit Law Axed

    Ohio's law requiring social media companies to obtain parental consent before allowing a child under the age of 16 to make an account has been struck down after a federal judge said the legislation "fails to pass constitutional muster and is constitutionally infirm."

  • April 16, 2025

    Conn. Town Wants Murder Exoneree's $5.7M Jury Win Tossed

    A Connecticut town has asked a federal judge to either toss or zero out an exonerated murder defendant's $5.7 million jury trial win, saying one of its police officers did not, as a matter of law, assist a state police officer in fabricating a jailhouse informant's testimony.

  • April 16, 2025

    Interior Transfers 110,000 Acres To Army For Border Security

    The U.S. Department of the Interior is transferring 110,000 acres of federal land along the southern border to the U.S. Army to support Border Patrol as part of a sweeping effort by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal immigration.

  • April 16, 2025

    Energy Dept. Blocked From Cutting School Research Grants

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Energy from capping indirect costs for research grants while the court considers arguments from a group of universities that the policy shift will "devastate" scientific research.

  • April 16, 2025

    Bankers Ask FCC To Pare Back Call Consent Rules

    While the Federal Communications Commission is deciding which regulations to slash, a coalition of banking groups is hoping the agency will hone in on telemarketing consent rules that they say make it harder for them to reach out to their customers.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Improv Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Improv keeps me grounded and connected to what matters most, including in my legal career where it has helped me to maintain a balance between being analytical, precise and professional, and creative, authentic and open-minded, says Justine Gottshall at InfoLawGroup.

  • TikTok Bias Suit Ruling Reflects New Landscape Under EFAA

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    In Puris v. Tiktok, a New York federal court found an arbitration agreement unenforceable in a former executive's bias suit, underscoring an evolving trend of broad, but inconsistent, interpretation of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, say attorneys at Williams & Connolly.

  • Avoiding Pitfalls Around New Calif. Commercial Lease Law

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    A California law that became effective this year requires commercial landlords to extend certain protections previously afforded to residential tenancies, and a few key provisions of the law especially warrant reexamination of leasing and operational processes, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • How BigLaw Executive Orders May Affect Smaller Firms

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    Because of the types of cases they take on, solo practitioners, small law firms and public interest attorneys may find themselves more dramatically affected by the collective impact of recent government action involving the legal industry than even the BigLaw firms named in the executive orders, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Filial Consortium Claims' Future After Conn. High Court Ruling

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    While the Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled for defendants in rejecting parents’ attempt to recover loss of companionship damages in a severe child injury case, there is still potential for the plaintiffs bar to lobby for a law that would allow filial consortium claims, Glenn Coffin at Gordon Rees.

  • 5 Tools To Help Existing Gov't Contracts Manage Tariff Costs

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    Five pointers can help government contractors scrutinize their existing contracts for protections like equitable adjustment and duty-free entry clauses, which may help insulate them from tariff-related cost increases, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 4th Circ. Health Data Ruling Opens Door To State Law Claims

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    In Real Time Medical v. PointClickCare, the Fourth Circuit recently clarified that state law claims can rest in part on violations of a federal law that prohibits electronic health information blocking, expanding legal risks for health IT companies and potentially creating exposure to a range of competitive implications, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Opinion

    Lawsuits Shouldn't Be Shadow Assets For Foreign Capital

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    Third-party litigation financing amplifies inefficiencies from litigation and facilitates national exposure to foreign influence in the U.S. justice system, so full disclosure of financing arrangements should be required as a matter of institutional integrity, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • 2 Del. Rulings Reinforce Proof Needed For Records Demands

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    Two recent Delaware Court of Chancery decisions involving Amazon and Paramount Global illustrate the significance of the credible basis standard on books and records requests, underscoring that stockholders seeking to investigate wrongdoing must come forward with actual evidence of misconduct — not mere allegations, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • How To Accelerate Your Post-Attorney Career Transition

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    Professionals seeking to transition to nonattorney careers may encounter skepticism as nontraditional candidates, but there are opportunities for thought leadership and to leverage speaking and writing to accelerate a post-attorney career transition, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Evgeny Efremkin at Toronto Metropolitan University.

  • Key Takeaways From The 2025 Spring Antitrust Meeting

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    Leadership changes, shifting priorities and evolving enforcement tools dominated the conversation at the recent American Bar Association Spring Antitrust Meeting, as panelists explored competition policy under a second Trump administration, agency discretion under the 2023 merger guidelines and new frontiers in conduct enforcement, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • 3 Action Items For Innovators Amid Fintech Regulatory Pivot

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    As the federal banking agencies seek to smooth the way for banks to engage in crypto-related activities, banks and technology companies should take note of this new chapter in payments services, especially as leadership in digital financial technology becomes a national priority, says Jess Cheng at Wilson Sonsini.

  • What PFAS-Treated Clothing Tariff Bill Would Mean For Cos.

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    In keeping with a nationwide trend of greater restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, legislation pending in the U.S. House of Representatives would remove tariff advantages for PFAS-treated clothing — so businesses would be wise to proactively adapt their supply chains and review contracts to mitigate liability, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • How Tariffs May Affect Proxy Contests This Season

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    While global tariffs imposed by the Trump administration will certainly chill at least some activity this proxy season, and make defending contests significantly easier, there will likely be many new activist investments once there is more economic certainty, meaning more proxy fights this fall, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Running A Compliant DEI Program After EEOC, DOJ Guidance

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    Following recent guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice that operationalized the Trump administration's focus on ending so-called illegal DEI, employers don't need to eliminate DEI programs, but they must ensure that protected characteristics are not considered in employment decisions, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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