Public Policy

  • December 20, 2024

    Feds Rip Atty For NYC Mayor Over Press Statements

    Prosecutors told a Manhattan federal judge Friday that New York City Mayor Eric Adams' lawyer has violated local court rules by making comments to the press that deride their bribery and corruption case against the mayor as a "contrived" effort to tarnish his reputation.

  • December 20, 2024

    The Top Cases Of 2024 In Texas: Year In Review

    Texas closed out the year with blockbuster rulings on social media companies’ use of biometric data and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s expanded definition of a dealer. Here are the biggest decisions out of Texas that topped Law360’s radar this year.

  • December 20, 2024

    Biden Exceeds Trump's Record On Judges By One

    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.

  • December 20, 2024

    USCIS Pressed To Unveil How It Uses AI In Asylum Cases

    Refugees International fired off a lawsuit in D.C. federal court on Friday to pry loose records from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services about its use of artificial intelligence to process asylum applications, saying the agency has stonewalled its request for nearly two years.

  • December 20, 2024

    The Biggest Climate Change Rulings Of 2024: Year In Review

    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.

  • December 20, 2024

    DC Circ. Says Toxic Subtances Rule Threatens Trade Secrets

    A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday threw out a facet of new Toxic Substances Control Act regulations that the judges said could lead to the unwanted disclosure of chemical manufacturers' trade secrets.

  • December 20, 2024

    NC Lawmaker Chosen To Lead House Communications Panel

    Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., has been selected as the next chair of the House Energy and Commerce panel with telecom jurisdiction.

  • December 20, 2024

    The Biggest Immigration Policies Of 2024: Year In Review

    The Biden administration implemented some of the harshest and most heavily criticized asylum restrictions yet in 2024 but also implemented measures to revamp temporary foreign worker programs and expand avenues for immigrants to change their status. Here, Law360 looks back at four of the biggest immigration policy developments of the year.

  • December 20, 2024

    The Telecom Developments That Defined 2024

    The end of 2024 portends a sea change in telecom policy, as voters usher in a second Donald Trump term and with it a newly named GOP chief of the Federal Communications Commission who has pushed for a 180-degree turn at the agency.

  • December 20, 2024

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

    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.

  • December 20, 2024

    FTA Proposes Buy America Waiver For Electric Minibuses

    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.

  • December 20, 2024

    EPA Releases Recommendations For PFAS In Bodies Of Water

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released draft recommendations for the amounts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, for bodies of water that, when finalized, can be used by states and tribes.

  • December 20, 2024

    Psychedelics Law Reformers Hit Multiple Setbacks In 2024

    In 2024, advocates, physicians and researchers attempted to broaden lawful access to federally illegal psychedelic drugs through a variety of avenues — the new drug approval process, litigation and a ballot initiative — with the upshot that the law remains largely unchanged and, for the most part, still restricts legal use and possession of these substances.

  • December 20, 2024

    'Dreamers' Urge 8th Circ. To Uphold Health Coverage Rule

    Recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals have urged the Eighth Circuit to pause a district court order halting a Biden administration regulation qualifying them for Affordable Care Act coverage, saying the lower court relied on "strained speculation" to find standing.

  • December 20, 2024

    Utah Judge Pauses Challenge To Corporate Transparency Act

    A Utah federal judge has stayed a case seeking to block the Corporate Transparency Act to see how the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump handles the law after a kindred case in Texas won a preliminary injunction on it.

  • December 20, 2024

    Ky. Man Drops Suit Against Virtual Casino Creators

    A Kentucky resident has dismissed a lawsuit he brought against the producers of online gaming apps he described as "social casinos" that constitute illegal wagering and cause the same problems as real-life gambling.

  • December 20, 2024

    Top Privacy & Cybersecurity Developments Of 2024

    The state data privacy law patchwork continued to add new and varied pieces in 2024, while major hacks shook up the healthcare industry and other critical sectors, and the first U.S. laws setting guardrails for the use of artificial intelligence technologies emerged.

  • December 20, 2024

    Biggest Illinois Decisions Of 2024

    A U.S. Supreme Court decision narrowing the federal bribery statute caused waves in several high-profile Chicago public corruption cases at every litigation stage, almost instantly making a former Indiana mayor's high court win one of the biggest Illinois cases of the year.

  • December 20, 2024

    Biggest Colorado Decisions Of 2024

    The Colorado Supreme Court shocked legal experts in 2024 when it walked back a landmark tenants rights ruling based on a technicality. In another case, three justices called for the elimination of peremptory challenges in order to address racial bias in jury selection. Here's a look at some of the biggest Colorado decisions of the year.

  • December 20, 2024

    Lambda Legal Adds Attorney In NY Focused On Trans Rights

    LGBTQ+ advocacy group Lambda Legal has hired a new senior attorney focused on the organization's work defending the transgender community.

  • December 20, 2024

    How Lawyers May Sue The Trump Administration … Again

    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.

  • December 20, 2024

    If Gov't Shuts Down, Judiciary Will Be Funded Until Jan. 10

    If there is a government shutdown, the federal judiciary would be funded at least until Jan. 10, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said Friday.

  • December 20, 2024

    HUD Awards $225 Million To Boost Manufactured Housing

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it has awarded $225 million under a grant program for manufactured housing communities, prioritizing tribal applicants and resident-managed communities.

  • December 20, 2024

    Year In Review: The Biggest Trade Policy Moves Of 2024

    The final year of the Biden administration saw trade policy kept on the back burner, particularly as campaign season ramped up, but nevertheless 2024 yielded a number of White House moves on tariffs, enforcement and negotiations that kept attorneys at attention. Here, Law360 walks you through the most noteworthy trade policy developments of the past 12 months.

  • December 20, 2024

    CFPB Sues BofA, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Over Zelle Fraud

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo on Friday, alleging their customers have lost more than $870 million through a "massive scale" of fraud on the payment network Zelle while the banks turned a blind eye.

Expert Analysis

  • The Future Of GLP-1 Policy After Drug Shortage Ends

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    If and when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines that GLP-1 RA drugs are no longer in short supply, regulators will face questions of how to balance access to GLP-1 RAs with statutory and policy considerations applicable to compounded drugs, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Gov't Scrutiny Of Workplace Chat Apps Set To Keep Growing

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    The incoming Trump administration and Republican majorities in Congress are poised to open numerous investigations that include increasing demands for entities to produce communications from workplace chat apps, so companies must evaluate their usage and retention policies, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Del. Dispatch: The 2024 Corporate Cases You Need To Know

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    The Delaware Court of Chancery in 2024 issued several decisions that some viewed as upending long-standing corporate practices, leading to the amendment of the Delaware General Corporation Law and debates at some Delaware corporations about potentially reincorporating to another state, say attorneys at Fried Frank.

  • 2024 Regulatory Developments For Bank-Fintech Partnerships

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    Joseph Silvia at Duane Morris reviews a handful of particularly noteworthy 2024 updates regarding bank-fintech partnerships, including federal banking agencies issuing a number of important pieces of guidance that reiterate and update previous guidance in the area of third-party risk management.

  • 2025's Midmarket M&A Terrain May Hold A Few Bright Spots

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    Attorneys at Stoel Rives assess middle-market merger and acquisition trends, and explain why many dealmakers have turned cautiously optimistic about the sector's 2025 prospects, despite potential inflation and new Federal Trade Commission rules.

  • Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2024

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    From a Florida federal court’s ruling that the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision is unconstitutional to a record-breaking number of whistleblower tips filed with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, employers saw significant developments in the federal and state whistleblower landscapes this year, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • The Implications Of 2024's AI Rules And Regs For Patent Attys

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    Christina Huang, John Smith and Devin Stein at Faegre Drinker review this year's new rules and regulations on the development and use of artificial intelligence — from the Biden administration, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the American Bar Association and various states — as they apply to patent attorneys.

  • When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

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    As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • How Texas Bill Would Transform Noneconomic Damages

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    Large noneconomic damage awards in personal injury cases have grown exponentially in Texas in recent years, but newly introduced legislation would cap such damages, likely requiring both the plaintiff and defense bars to recalibrate their litigation strategies, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Changes To Expect From SEC Under Trump Nominee

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    President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Paul Atkins for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair will likely lead to significant shifts in the Division of Enforcement's priorities, likely focused on protecting retail investors and the stability of the capital markets, say attorneys at Morrison Foerster.

  • Executive Orders That Could Affect Financial Services In 2025

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    The incoming Trump administration is likely to quickly revive or update a number of prior executive orders, and possibly issue new ones, that could affect financial services by emphasizing market discipline rather than regulatory initiatives to drive change in the industry, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • The State Of USPTO Rulemaking At The End Of Vidal's Term

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    As U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director, Kathi Vidal placed a particular emphasis on formal rulemaking — so as she returns to private practice this week, attorneys at Irell take stock of which of her proposals made it across the finish line, and where the rest stand on the cusp of a new administration.

  • How New Merger Filing Rules Will Affect Economic Advocacy

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    New rules from the antitrust agencies significantly change the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification process and will necessitate rigorous economic analysis earlier in the merging process as the information provided in the filings reflects important antitrust considerations, says Andrea Asoni at Charles River.

  • What Loper Bright And Trump 2.0 Mean For New Transpo Tech

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, combined with the incoming Trump administration's deregulatory agenda, will likely lead to fewer new regulations on emerging transportation technologies like autonomous vehicles — and more careful and protracted drafting of any regulations that are produced, say attorneys at Venable.

  • 'Minimal Participant' Bar Is Tough To Clear For Whistleblowers

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    Under the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate whistleblower pilot program, would-be whistleblowers will find it tough to show that they only minimally participated in criminal misconduct while still providing material information, but sentencing precedent shows how they might prove their eligibility for an award, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

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