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Environmental

  • May 29, 2025

    Judge Sees No Harm In BLM Drill Permits Near Colo. Grassland

    A Colorado federal judge said an environmental group failed to show standing for a suit challenging the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's refusal to mitigate surface pollution from oil and gas wells on state and private lands on and around the Pawnee National Grassland.

  • May 29, 2025

    Texas Justices Keep Court Orders On $3.4B Water Pipeline

    A Texas appeals court mostly kept intact court orders barring a groundwater company from interfering with several leases as a part of a $3.4 billion pipeline venture to supply water to San Antonio, finding in a Thursday opinion the company was undercutting its lessee.

  • May 29, 2025

    Insurer Waived Arbitration For Many Reasons, NJ Panel Rules

    An insurer waived its right to arbitration for many reasons, a New Jersey appellate panel affirmed, finding a pier owner's coverage dispute concerning underlying litigation brought against it by public utilities blaming it for a fluid leak in the Hudson River must head to trial.

  • May 29, 2025

    DOT Calls States' EV Charging Funding Suit Premature

    The U.S. Department of Transportation urged a Washington federal judge to reject an attempt by 16 states to block the Trump administration from cutting off funding for electric vehicle charging projects, saying their claims aren't yet ripe for review.

  • May 29, 2025

    Monsanto Won't Get Damages Offset In $100M PCB Tort Loss

    A Washington state judge has denied Monsanto's bid to reduce the latest $100 million verdict in a chemical poisoning tort series that's yielded more than $1 billion in punitive damages, concluding that the agro-chemical giant hid the health dangers of PCBs for decades in pursuit of profit.

  • May 29, 2025

    Fla. Appeals Order To Monitor Indian River Manatees

    Florida's Department of Environmental Protection said Wednesday it is appealing an injunction requiring the agency to implement new manatee monitoring programs after a federal judge found it violated the Endangered Species Act by allowing wastewater pollution into the North Indian River Lagoon watershed.

  • May 29, 2025

    Big Oil Caused Woman's Heat Wave Death, Novel Suit Says

    The daughter of a Seattle woman who died during a 2021 heat wave filed a first-of-its kind wrongful death suit in Washington state court Thursday against oil and gas giants — including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell — alleging the companies knew for decades their fossil fuel products would one day "claim lives."

  • May 29, 2025

    Interior OKs Utah Mine In First Fast-Tracked Energy Review

    The U.S. Department of the Interior has greenlit a uranium and vanadium mine in southeastern Utah, the first to be approved under a new, expedited 14-day environmental review process.

  • May 29, 2025

    Kids Launch New Climate Case Over Trump Energy Orders

    The U.S. government on Thursday was hit with a fresh lawsuit from youths alleging that federal energy policies harm their future by exacerbating climate change, specifically targeting President Donald Trump's executive orders aimed at boosting fossil fuels.

  • May 29, 2025

    Texas Bars Some Property Tax Hikes Above Voter-OK'd Rates

    Texas will prohibit school districts from adopting property tax rates above voter-approved thresholds in response to a natural disaster if voters previously rejected a similar proposed rate increase, under a bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

  • May 29, 2025

    Crowell & Moring Hires Ex-EPA Deputy Assistant Admin In SF

    Crowell & Moring LLP announced on Thursday the hiring of a former deputy assistant administrator from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as senior counsel in the firm's environmental and regulatory enforcement groups in its San Francisco office.

  • May 29, 2025

    RJ Reynolds Lied About Carbon Offset Of Vapes, Suit Says

    A group of California vape users is suing R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. and its U.S. and British affiliates in federal court, alleging that its claims that the Vuse vape is the first carbon-neutral electronic cigarette are misleading.

  • May 29, 2025

    High Court Restores Federal Approval Of Utah Oil Railway

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the federal government's approval of a rail project intended to haul crude oil out of Utah's Uinta Basin.

  • May 28, 2025

    16 States Sue Trump Admin Over Cuts To Science Grants

    A coalition of 16 state attorneys general have sued the Trump administration in New York federal court on Wednesday to stop it from cutting millions of dollars in grant funds from the National Science Foundation for scientific research and programs aimed at enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM fields and environmental justice.

  • May 28, 2025

    Elon Musk Is Leaving White House Role, Trump Admin Says

    Billionaire Elon Musk is ending his work with President Donald Trump and the federal Department of Government Efficiency, a White House official confirmed Wednesday evening.

  • May 28, 2025

    DOI Faces Energy Co. Suit Over Fort Berthold Oil Lease

    A Colorado energy company has sued the federal government over what it says is an approved 60-year-old oil and gas lease, saying that it was suddenly told in April that it never actually owned an interest in the lease on an Indian reservation in North Dakota.

  • May 28, 2025

    NRC Has No Defense For New License Rules, DC Circ. Told

    Two anti-nuclear power groups are contending before the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is offering inconsistent arguments in defense of updated regulations for renewing nuclear power plant operating licenses.

  • May 28, 2025

    Feds Ask SC Judge To Toss Suit Over Frozen Grant Funding

    The Trump administration urged a South Carolina federal judge to dismiss a complaint challenging its authority to freeze and terminate grant funding for lack of jurisdiction, as it also appeals an order directing it to restore several dozen grants funded by Congress.

  • May 28, 2025

    Feds Tell Justices 9th Circ. Wrongly OK'd CWA Citizen Suit

    The federal government is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to sink an environmental group's Clean Water Act citizen suit seeking to enforce the terms of a Washington state-issued pollutant-discharge permit that is stricter than the law requires.

  • May 28, 2025

    Judge Shields NY Congestion Pricing From Feds' Threats

    New York's congestion pricing program can keep running at least through the fall, after a federal judge on Wednesday signaled that the U.S. Department of Transportation likely overstepped its authority by purportedly terminating a federal agreement that gave congestion pricing the green light.

  • May 28, 2025

    Feds Won't Appeal Offshore Fish Farming Permit Decision

    The federal government will not appeal a decision to set aside a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' permit intended to speed up industrial aquaculture in public ocean waters, ending the dispute and any future use of the structures off the country's eastern and western coasts.

  • May 28, 2025

    ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Energy Loan Rule An 'Unlawful Power Grab,' Suit Says

    Lenders that finance clean energy home improvement projects on Wednesday challenged a Biden-era rule that applies standard mortgage protections to loans where homeowners pay for such projects through property tax bills, saying the rule is unlawful and threatens to kill their business.

  • May 28, 2025

    DOL Tells 5th Circ. It Will Craft New ESG Rule For 401(k) Plans

    The U.S. Department of Labor told the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday that it will launch new rulemaking and move "as expeditiously as possible" to replace Biden administration regulations on whether fiduciaries can consider issues like climate change and social justice when choosing retirement plan investments.

  • May 28, 2025

    SunCoke Energy Expanding With $325M Phoenix Global Buy

    SunCoke Energy Inc. said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Phoenix Global, a privately held provider of metals and mining services, for $325 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis.

  • May 28, 2025

    Groups Claim Mass. Offshore Wind Will Harm Views, Wildlife

    Opponents of a permitted offshore wind project that would provide power to Massachusetts have sued in D.C. federal court, arguing turbines would bring problems for marine life and disrupt views on the historic islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

Expert Analysis

  • What's At Stake As 9th Circ. Eyes Cultural Resource Damages

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    In Pakootas v. Teck Cominco, the Ninth Circuit is faced with the long-unresolved question of whether cultural resource damages are recoverable as part of natural resource damages under the Superfund law — and the answer will have enormous implications for companies, natural resource trustees and Native American tribes, says Sarah Bell at Farella Braun.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols

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    Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Preparing For Corporate Work

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    Law school often doesn't cover the business strategy, financial fluency and negotiation skills needed for a successful corporate or transactional law practice, but there are practical ways to gain relevant experience and achieve the mindset shifts critical to a thriving career in this space, says Dakota Forsyth at Olshan Frome.

  • Strategies To Help Witnesses Manage Deposition Anxiety

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    During and leading up to deposition, witnesses may experience anxiety stemming from numerous sources and manifesting in a variety of ways, but attorneys can help them mitigate their stress using a few key methods, say consultants at Courtroom Sciences.

  • How Cos. Can Mitigate Increasing Microplastics Liability Risk

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    Amid rising scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe of microplastics' impact on health and the growing threat of litigation against consumer product and food and beverage manufacturers, companies can limit liability through compliance with labeling laws, careful contract management and other practices, say attorneys at Rogers Joseph.

  • Strategizing For Renewable Energy Project Success In Texas

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    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has long been a key market for renewable energy projects, but rising financial and regulatory uncertainty means that developers and investors must prepare for inflation and policy risks, secure robust insurance coverage, and leverage tax equity transferability to ensure success, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • A Cold War-Era History Lesson On Due Process

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    The landmark Harry Bridges case from the mid-20th century Red Scare offers important insights on why lawyers must be free of government reprisal, no matter who their client is, says Peter Afrasiabi at One LLP.

  • How Latin American Finance Markets May Shift Under Trump

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    Changes in the federal government are bringing profound implications for Latin American financial institutions and cross-border financing, including increased competition from U.S. banks, volatility in equity markets and stable green investor demand despite deregulation in the U.S., says David Contreiras Tyler at Womble Bond.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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