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Appellate

  • June 04, 2025

    Del. Justices Probe Bid For Biden Laptop Suit Revival

    A Delaware Supreme Court justice asked a computer repair shop owner's attorney Wednesday if his client had a right to claim anonymity after informing Congress he had a left-behind copy of Hunter Biden's laptop hard drive, in a politically controversial case that originated during President Donald Trump's first term

  • June 04, 2025

    Fla. School Urges 11th Circ. To Allow Jury Trial In TM Dispute

    A Florida distance learning school urged the Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday to revive its trademark infringement lawsuit against a rival, arguing it should be allowed to prove to a jury that it sustained actual damages because parents were confused by a competitor's website.

  • June 04, 2025

    Walmart Slip-And-Fall Suit Must Go To Trial, 4th Circ. Rules

    Walmart can't argue it had no duty to treat a specific patch of black ice that caused a woman's slip and fall after a winter storm, the Fourth Circuit ruled Wednesday, saying that a winter storm puts retailers on notice that their entire parking lot had become a potential hazard for customers.

  • June 04, 2025

    1st Circ. Upholds Block On Trump's Education Dept. Job Cuts

    The First Circuit on Wednesday rejected a bid by President Donald Trump to greenlight massive job cuts at the U.S. Department of Education, finding that the administration had not provided enough evidence to overturn a block put in place by a Massachusetts federal judge.

  • June 04, 2025

    Yogis' Legal Warrior Pose Gets Beach Ban Lifted At 9th Circ.

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday ordered a lower court to grant a preliminary injunction to yoga instructors who challenged San Diego's prohibition on free yoga classes at shoreline parks, finding the activity to be speech protected by the First Amendment since it imparts a skill derived from special knowledge.

  • June 04, 2025

    4th Circ. Invokes Rooker-Feldman In Hospitalization Case

    The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday found that a woman could not challenge a consent order she signed to be released from an involuntary hospital commitment, marking the first opinion of its kind from the court in two decades invoking the Rooker-Feldman doctrine.

  • June 04, 2025

    French Plane Co. Escapes Crash Suit In Fla. Courts

    A Florida appeals panel on Wednesday threw out product liability claims against a French plane manufacturer in a suit over a crash that killed all but one of its passengers, saying the company's ties to the Sunshine State are not related to the allegations in the complaint.

  • June 04, 2025

    Cheesesteak Icon Asks 3rd Circ. If Loper Bright Slices Sentence

    Counsel for a Philadelphia cheesesteak shop owner seeking a lighter sentence for paying employees off the books told the court Wednesday that he has asked the Third Circuit to consider how the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision striking longstanding agency deference framework might affect his case.

  • June 04, 2025

    High Court Told 'Categorical' Right To Counsel Must Persist

    A criminal defendant's right to consult with counsel during an overnight trial recess is "clear and categorical," a man who didn't receive that right has told the U.S. Supreme Court in preparation for his Sixth Amendment case to be heard before the justices.

  • June 04, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Pushes Back As Ramey Fights Fee Award To Google

    A Federal Circuit panel on Wednesday questioned Ramey LLP managing partner William Ramey's challenge to one of several sanctions that have recently been imposed on his firm in patent cases, with some judges suggesting that the order in question in a case against Google LLC appeared warranted.

  • June 04, 2025

    Scalia Invoked Against Trump's Citizenship Stance At 9th Circ.

    A panel of Ninth Circuit judges scrutinized the Trump administration's take on the citizenship clause as the government argued Wednesday to preserve the president's push to curb birthright citizenship, with one judge suggesting the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia would've rejected the attempt to read "beyond the mere words" of the 14th Amendment.

  • June 04, 2025

    NC Mall Owner Fails To Boost $1K Water Damage Award

    A North Carolina mall property owner lost its bid to increase a paltry water damage award when a state appellate panel ruled Wednesday that the landlord failed to show sufficient evidence of damage from a neighboring property's stormwater runoff. 

  • June 04, 2025

    NJ Contractor Tells 3rd Circ. One-Man Rule Voids CBA

    A New Jersey contractor told a Third Circuit panel Wednesday that it isn't obliged to negotiate over a successor collective bargaining agreement with union-represented sheet metal workers, arguing it no longer employs any workers represented by the union.

  • June 04, 2025

    Judge Ponders If Netflix's Tax Theory Is 'Too Philosophical'

    A Colorado appellate judge on Wednesday wondered if Netflix's argument for why its subscriptions are not subject to state sales tax is "too philosophical" and doesn't reflect its actual transactions with customers, at a hearing in the state's appeal.

  • June 04, 2025

    Justices Won't Intervene To Let Jan. 6 Cops Stay Incognito

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to grant an emergency stay that would have allowed current and former Seattle police officers who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" insurrection to shield their identities from the public.

  • June 04, 2025

    Ex-Potomac Law Partner Joins Pierson Ferdinand In Boston

    Pierson Ferdinand LLP has added a former Potomac Law Group partner with experience representing OpenSky in patent fights involving VLSI to the firm's intellectual property department in Boston.

  • June 04, 2025

    Trump Ordered To Explain Why Layoffs Don't Flout Injunction

    A California federal judge ordered the Trump administration Wednesday to explain why preparations for layoffs at the State Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development do not violate an injunction she issued last month, saying she needed more details about the agencies' plans to evaluate their compliance.

  • June 04, 2025

    Full 4th Circ. Asked To Rethink Copter Pilot's Death Suit

    Farmers accused of negligently allowing a crop-dusting pilot to fly into a steel cable stretched across a property are urging the full Fourth Circuit to release them from a lawsuit filed by the pilot's widow, arguing that, as nonpilots, they had no way of foreseeing aerial hazards.

  • June 04, 2025

    Deportees Urge Justices To Keep 'Basic Measure Of Fairness'

    A class of deportees who are being sent to countries where they have no prior ties asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to leave in place a preliminary injunction requiring that they be provided a meaningful opportunity to challenge their destinations, calling it "a basic measure of fairness."

  • June 04, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Upholds Moderna's IP Win Over COVID Vax

    A Delaware federal judge rightly interpreted claims of two Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. patents, which means Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine doesn't infringe them, the Federal Circuit said Wednesday.

  • June 04, 2025

    Calif. Justices Asked To Clarify Limits Of Good Faith Defense

    A worker's counsel urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to find that employers must show they proactively took steps to ensure its pay practices complied with state requirements to establish a good faith defense against liquidated damages, while the employer's counsel declined to address the merits of the appeal.

  • June 04, 2025

    Epic Wins IP Award Interest Fight With Tata At 7th Circ.

    The Seventh Circuit on Wednesday sided with Epic Systems and ordered a lower court to recalculate interest on a $140 million punitive damages award it won against Tata Group in an intellectual property case, saying interest ran from the first judgment in 2017 even though an amended version was entered five years later.

  • June 04, 2025

    Damages Retrial Ordered In NC Massage Envy Sex Assault Suit

    A North Carolina state appeals court on Wednesday ordered a new trial on damages in a suit over alleged sexual assaults at a Massage Envy location, finding the jury was improperly instructed on joint and several liability.

  • June 04, 2025

    Mo. Appeals Court Upholds City Tax On REIT's Rental Income

    Healthcare real estate investment trust Ventas Inc.'s receipt of rental income earned from four medical office buildings in Kansas City, Missouri, is a business activity subject to the city's earnings tax, the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled, affirming a lower court decision.

  • June 04, 2025

    6th Circ. Pick Quizzed On Experience, Ties To Conservatives

    The first batch of judicial nominees of President Donald Trump's second administration had their hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, during which a Sixth Circuit nominee fielded questions about litigants' obligation to follow court orders and her connection to Leonard Leo-affiliated groups following Trump bashing the former Federalist Society executive.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Be An Indispensable Associate

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    While law school teaches you to research, write and think critically, it often overlooks the professional skills you will need to make yourself an essential team player when transitioning from a summer to full-time associate, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • Series

    Birding Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Observing and documenting birds in their natural habitats fosters patience, sharpens observational skills and provides moments of pure wonder — qualities that foster personal growth and enrich my legal career, says Allison Raley at Arnall Golden.

  • Justices May Clarify What IP Competitors In Litigation Can Say

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    If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to weigh in on Atturo Tire v. Toyo Tire, it may be able to provide guidance on the murky questions surrounding what companies enforcing their intellectual property against competitors are allowed to say in public, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • How Del. Law Rework Limits Corporate Records Requests

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    Newly enacted amendments to a section of the Delaware General Corporation Law that allows stockholders and beneficial owners to demand inspection of Delaware corporations' books and records likely curtails the scope of such inspections and aids defendants in framing motions to dismiss at the pleading stage, says Jonathan Richman at Brown Rudnick.

  • A Recurring Atty Fee Question Returns To Texas High Court

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    As the Texas Supreme Court is poised to decide if it will once again address — in Maciejack v. City of Oak Point — when a party must segregate attorney fees it seeks to recover, litigators would be wise to contemporaneously classify fees as either recoverable or unrecoverable, say attorneys at Munck Wilson.

  • Alien Enemies Act Case Could Reshape Executive Power

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    President Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan nationals raises fundamental questions about statutory interpretation, executive power and constitutional structure, which now lay on the U.S. Supreme Court's doorstep, says Mauni Jalali at Quinn Emanuel.

  • An Update On IPR Issue Preclusion In District Court Litigation

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    Two recent Federal Circuit rulings have resolved a district court split regarding issue preclusion based on Patent Trial and Appeal Board outcomes, potentially counseling petitioners in favor of challenging not only all the claims of an asserted patent, but also related patents that have not yet been raised in district court, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Leadership To BigLaw

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    The move from government service to private practice can feel like changing one’s identity, but as someone who has left the U.S. Department of Justice twice, I’ve learned that a successful transition requires patience, effort and the realization that the rewards of practicing law don’t come from one particular position, says Richard Donoghue at Pillsbury.

  • Fed. Circ. Ruling Reaffirms Listing Elements Separately Is Key

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    The Federal Circuit's decision last month in Regeneron v. Mylan reaffirms a critical principle in patent law: When a claim lists elements separately, the clear implication is that they are distinct elements, say attorneys at Taft.

  • Nev. Fraud Ruling Raises Stakes For Proxy Battles

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    Though a Nevada federal court’s recent U.S. v. Boruchowitz decision involved unusual facts, the court's ruling that board members can be defrauded of their seat through misrepresentations increases fraud risks in more typical circumstances involving board elections, especially proxy fights, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Law Firm Executive Orders Create A Legal Ethics Minefield

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    Recent executive orders targeting BigLaw firms create ethical dilemmas — and raise the specter of civil or criminal liability — for the government attorneys tasked with implementing them and for the law firms that choose to make agreements with the administration, say attorneys at Buchalter.

  • NLRB Firing May Need Justices' Input On Removal Power

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    President Donald Trump's unprecedented removal of National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox spurred a lawsuit that is sure to be closely watched, as it may cause the U.S. Supreme Court to reexamine a 1935 precedent that has limited the president's removal powers, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • Firms Must Embrace Alternative Billing Models Or Fall Behind

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    As artificial intelligence tools eliminate inefficiencies and the Big Four accounting firms enter the legal market, law firms that pivot from the entrenched billable hour model to outcomes-based pricing will see a distinct competitive advantage, says attorney William Brewer.

  • Risks Of Today's Proffer Agreements May Outweigh Benefits

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    Modern-day proffer agreements offer fewer protections to individuals as U.S. attorney's offices take different approaches to information-sharing, so counsel must consider pushing for provisions in such agreements that bar the prosecuting office from sharing information with nonparty government agencies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.

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