Public Policy

  • March 10, 2025

    Colo. Justices To Weigh Attys' Duties When Borrowing Claims

    Colorado justices will consider if and when attorneys can borrow claims from other lawsuits and still satisfy their personal duty to conduct a "reasonable inquiry" under professional rules, according to an order on Monday agreeing to hear a telecommunications company's challenge to a stockholder suit.

  • March 10, 2025

    Denver Strip Clubs Challenge $14M Wage Theft Fines

    The city of Denver engaged in "shocking and unconstitutional government overreach" by conducting unlawful probes into a group of strip clubs' pay practices and ordering them to pay almost $14 million in fines, the entities told a Colorado federal court.

  • March 10, 2025

    Colo. Court Affirms Property Tax Valuation For Partial Build

    A partly built commercial building in Colorado was properly valued by a county board of equalization, as the state doesn't have an exemption for partial builds, a state appeals court ruled.

  • March 10, 2025

    Judge Who Shot Wife Gets Mistrial As Jury Hangs On Murder

    A California judge declared a mistrial Monday in the murder trial of Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson, who shot and killed his wife in their Anaheim Hills home in 2023, after jurors said they remained at an impasse over whether he was guilty of second-degree murder.

  • March 10, 2025

    Justices To Weigh If Del. Expert Law Applies In Federal Court

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review whether federal courts must apply a Delaware state law requiring an expert affidavit for all medical malpractice complaints.

  • March 10, 2025

    Supreme Court Vacates Ruling On Nazi-Looted Art Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated a unanimous Ninth Circuit decision holding that a Spanish museum is not obligated to return a painting that was stolen from a Jewish family by the Nazis, months after California changed its law in response to the dispute.

  • March 07, 2025

    As Key Hearing Looms, CFPB Emails Hint At Signs Of Life

    Recent batches of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau internal emails hint at early, fumbling efforts to bring parts of the agency back online, but whether these flickers of life will undercut an employee union's fight to keep the agency intact remains to be seen.

  • March 07, 2025

    Trump DOJ Agrees: Google Must Sell Chrome Browser

    The Department of Justice on Friday reiterated to a D.C. federal judge that Google should have to divest the Chrome browser to give rival search engines a fighting chance against its illegal monopoly, but backed off its previous request that Google sell its investments in artificial intelligence companies.

  • March 07, 2025

    ByteDance Wants Sanctions For Attys After Client's Perjury

    TikTok's parent company ByteDance has urged a California court to sanction Nassiri & Jung LLP attorneys it says "enabled" a former engineer's perjury in a suit alleging he was wrongly fired, arguing that the lawyers should've prevented their client's "abuse of the justice system."

  • March 07, 2025

    Feds Say California Tribes' Casino Challenge Comes Too Late

    The U.S. Department of the Interior and other agencies have asked a D.C. federal judge to deny two tribes' challenge to another tribe's plan to build a casino-hotel complex on 221 acres of trust land, saying their request for a stay is improper and untimely.

  • March 07, 2025

    Trump Sues Capital One Over 'Illegal' De-Banking

    President Donald Trump's company and his son Eric Trump sued Capital One on Friday in a Florida state court, claiming it illegally canceled hundreds of Trump-affiliated accounts in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

  • March 07, 2025

    Colo. Judge Won't Block DHS 'Protected Area' Policy

    A Colorado federal judge on Friday declined Denver Public Schools' bid to temporarily block Department of Homeland Security guidance on immigration enforcement in "protected areas," ruling at a hearing that an injunction wouldn't actually protect the district and its students from immigration actions.

  • March 07, 2025

    4th Circ. Overturns Remand Of Md., SC PFAS Suits Against 3M

    U.S. district court judges erred when they sent lawsuits Maryland and South Carolina filed against 3M over environmental contamination from consumer products containing forever chemicals back to state courts, a split Fourth Circuit panel ruled Friday.

  • March 07, 2025

    FTC: Outlining World Sans Amazon Price-Floor 'Not Possible'

    The Federal Trade Commission told a Washington federal judge Friday that it can only offer pieces, and not the entire outline, of what an alternative world might look like without Amazon.com's allegedly monopolistic pricing floor created by penalties for sellers offering their goods more cheaply through other retailers.

  • March 07, 2025

    Contractor Can't Bury Medical Marijuana Discrimination Suit

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday denied a Cleveland construction company's bid to escape a prospective employee's suit alleging that the company violated Pennsylvania's medical cannabis law when it rescinded his job offer, saying there are questions of fact about whether he would have been able to do the job.

  • March 07, 2025

    AGs Say Anti-Trans Admin Puts $367M Hospital Grants At Risk

    Attorneys general from Washington and three other states told a federal court that the Trump administration has canceled thousands of dollars in grant funding for gender-affirming care — and threatened to strip up to nearly $370 million more — in violation of court injunctions.

  • March 07, 2025

    Grand Rapids Moves Social Equity Fee Dispute To Fed. Court

    The city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, is looking to push into federal court a state lawsuit filed by cannabis companies looking to upend the fees, fines and residency requirements of the municipality's social equity program, arguing Friday that their claims all touch on federal issues.

  • March 07, 2025

    Hints Of A New High Court Majority Emerge In Trump Cases

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent rejection of President Donald Trump's bid to keep frozen nearly $2 billion in foreign aid funding gave court watchers a glimpse of a coalition majority that could end up thwarting some of the president's more aggressive and novel attempts to expand executive power.

  • March 07, 2025

    Immigration Lawyers Sue Feds Over Surprise Form Changes

    The American Immigration Lawyers' Association and Benach Collopy LLP sued U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in D.C. federal court on Friday, saying the agency abruptly revised 10 forms to eliminate gender markers without prior warning.

  • March 07, 2025

    New Bellwethers Score Cert. In Generic Drug Price-Fixing MDL

    The Pennsylvania federal court overseeing sprawling multidistrict litigation springing from claims that pharmaceutical giants worked together to hike the cost of off-brand drugs has certified several sets of classes for the cases for the MDL's latest bellwethers.

  • March 07, 2025

    Trump Admin Pressed to Keep Ariz. Indian Affairs Office Open

    A pair of Arizona Democratic senators are calling on President Donald Trump's administration to allow a Phoenix-based Bureau of Indian Affairs office to remain open, saying it must provide clarity on how the decision to close the location was reached.

  • March 07, 2025

    Google Says Special Master Can't Make Ad Tech Trial Calls

    Google is opposing a bid in Texas federal court from state enforcers accusing the company of monopolizing key digital advertising technology to have a special master make decisions about what evidence will be admitted during trial.

  • March 07, 2025

    GAO Says Congress Can't Undo Calif. Emissions Waivers

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office is weighing in against the Trump administration's effort to team up with Congress to take away California's ability to set its own greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles.

  • March 07, 2025

    AGs Back Fight Against End Of Venezuelans' Protected Status

    The attorneys general of 18 states urged a California federal judge on Friday to postpone the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's early termination of deportation protections for more than 500,000 Venezuelans, saying DHS Secretary Kristi Noem gave no sound reason for ending the temporary protections.

  • March 07, 2025

    USPTO Scraps Expedited Review Program For New Filers

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is winding down a program that expedites review of patent applications from first-time filers, the agency announced, saying the initiative will "expire as scheduled" on Tuesday.

Expert Analysis

  • 4 Potential Effects Of 3rd Circ.'s Coinbase Ruling

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    The Third Circuit's recent landmark decision in Coinbase v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the SEC's refusal to engage in rulemaking to clarify its stance on crypto enforcement was "insufficiently reasoned" could have wide-ranging impacts, including on other cases, legislation and even the SEC's reputation itself, says Daniel Payne at Cole-Frieman.

  • Applying ABA Atty Role Guidance To White Collar Matters

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    The American Bar Association’s recently published guidance, clarifying the duties outside counsel owes to both organizational clients and those organizations' constituents, provides best practices that attorneys representing companies in white collar and other investigative matters should heed, say attorneys at MoFo.

  • What Trump Admin's Anti-DEI Push Means For FCA Claims

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    President Donald Trump's recent rescission of a 60-year-old executive order imposing nondiscrimination requirements on certain federal contractors has far-reaching implications, including potential False Claims Act liability for contractors and grant recipients who fail to comply, though it may be a challenge for the government to successfully establish liability, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • Pete Seeger's Lessons For 2025 Congressional Investigations

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    The constitutional invalidation of singer Pete Seeger's contempt of Congress conviction serves as a reminder for the 119th Congress to focus its investigations on the details, instead of committee member motivations, says Matthew Miller at Foley Hoag.

  • As EPA Backs Down, Expect Enviros To Step Up Citizen Suits

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    As President Donald Trump's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draws down federal enforcement efforts, environmental groups will step into the void and file citizen suits — so companies should focus on compliance efforts, stay savvy about emerging analytical and monitoring methods, and maintain good relations with neighbors, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • CFPB's Message To States Takes On New Weight Under Trump

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's January guidance to state enforcers has fresh significance as the Trump administration moves to freeze the bureau's work, and industry should expect states to use this series of recommendations as an enforcement road map, say attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • What's Next For State Regulation Of Hemp Cannabinoids

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    Based on two recent federal court cases that indisputably fortify broad state authority to regulate intoxicating hemp cannabinoid products, 2025 will feature continued aggressive state regulation of such products as industry stakeholders wait for Congress to release its plans for the next five-year Farm Bill, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • What Companies Should Consider During FCPA Pause

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    While waiting for updated guidance on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act criminal investigations after a Feb. 10 executive order froze FCPA enforcement, companies should consider the implications of several possible policy shifts, rather than relaxing internal oversight of questionable business practices, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • How Criminal Enforcement Of Trump Tariffs May Work

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    While tariff enforcement has traditionally been handled as a civil matter, tariffs are central to President Donald Trump's broader economic, immigration and national security agendas — making it likely that the U.S. Department of Justice will be tasked with criminal enforcement of tariff evasion, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Takeaways From CFTC's Private Fund Rule Amendments

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    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recently adopted amendments to Rule 4.7 of the Commodity Exchange Act ensure that investors in the complex derivatives markets receive relevant and comprehensive information, and further align suitability criteria for investors in private funds, says Rita Molesworth at Willkie.

  • National Bank Act Rulings Facilitate More Preemption Analysis

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    Two recent National Bank Act preemption decisions from an Illinois federal court and the Ninth Circuit provide the first applications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s May ruling in Cantero v. Bank of America, opening the potential for several circuit courts to address the issue this year, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Collecting Rare Books Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My collection of rare books includes several written or owned by prominent lawyers from early U.S. history, and immersing myself in their stories helps me feel a deeper connection to my legal practice and its purpose, says Douglas Brown at Manatt Health.

  • Emphasize Social Spaces During RE Project Public Review

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    As Boston continues to work through revisions to its public review process for real estate projects, developers attempting to balance impact mitigation and community improvements may benefit from emphasizing the ways in which development plans can facilitate open social exchange, says David Linhart at Goulston & Storrs.

  • What NHTSA's Autonomous Vehicle Proposal Means For Cos.

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    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's recently proposed framework for review and oversight of vehicles equipped with automated driving systems offers companies a more flexible, streamlined approach to regulatory approvals for AVs, including new exemption pathways, assessments by independent experts and other innovations, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Preparing For Stricter Anti-Boycott Enforcement Under Trump

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    Given the complexity of U.S. anti-boycott regulations and the likelihood of stepped-up enforcement under the new administration, companies should consider adopting risk-based anti-boycott compliance programs that include training employees to recognize and assess potential boycott requests, and to report them expeditiously when necessary, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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