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Environmental

  • July 29, 2025

    Pot Growers Not Forum-Shopping In $17M Suit, Judge Finds

    A Massachusetts state court judge has rejected claims of forum shopping made by a berry farm accused of contaminating nearby cannabis fields with pesticides, denying a motion to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction.

  • July 28, 2025

    Patent Damages Explode As Practice Areas See Wild Swings

    Damages in plaintiff-won federal patent cases have soared in the past decade while those in environmental cases and some other types of civil litigation have plummeted, a new report from Lex Machina shows.

  • July 28, 2025

    Apache Women Look To Block Arizona Site's Destruction

    A group of Apache women are looking to block the federal government from transferring their Arizona worship site to a copper mining company, telling a D.C. federal court they will be unable to practice and pass down their religion if the site is destroyed.

  • July 28, 2025

    Rincon Band Says NEPA Reform Proposal Is Bad Idea

    The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians says projects under the FCC's jurisdiction have historically "failed to adequately identify and assess historic properties of cultural and religious significance to Tribal Nations" and a proposal to loosen National Environmental Policy Act rules will make things only worse.

  • July 28, 2025

    Florida's AG Announces 'Climate Cartel' Investigation

    Florida's attorney general announced Monday that he is investigating whether two greenhouse gas emission reduction groups violated state consumer protection or antitrust laws for allegedly coercing companies into disclosing proprietary information.

  • July 28, 2025

    Hawaii Fights Back Against US Bid To Block Climate Suit

    Hawaii on Friday asked a federal judge to throw out the Trump administration's "extraordinary and unprecedented" effort to block the state's climate change lawsuit against major energy companies.

  • July 28, 2025

    BLM Kills Biden-Era Policy Docs For Oil Drilling In Alaska

    The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Monday rescinded three Biden-era actions that aimed to restrict development activities in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve.

  • July 28, 2025

    Utilities Can Join 4th Circ. FERC Grid Policy Fight

    The Fourth Circuit said Friday that environmental groups, municipal utilities and electricity cooperatives, among many others, can intervene in an appeal challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's recent overhaul of its regional transmission policy.

  • July 28, 2025

    Fla. Says Tribe Can't Join Detention Center Row, Feds Shrug

    The Florida Division of Emergency Management's chief is objecting to the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians' effort to join green groups' legal fight against an immigration detention center constructed in the Everglades.

  • July 28, 2025

    Midstream Co. Says Contractor Caused $8M Spill In La.

    A Louisiana midstream company has told a Harris County court that a contractor tasked with controlling operations on a frac tank caused an $8 million oil spill, asking the court to order the contractor to reimburse it for the spill.

  • July 28, 2025

    Insurer Must Cover Runoff Settlement, Auto Co. Says

    An automobile auction company told a Texas federal court that a Liberty Mutual unit must indemnify a settlement reached over underlying claims that the company caused storm water runoff in neighboring properties when it cleared several parcels of land for car and machinery storage.

  • July 28, 2025

    Homeowners, Chubb Settle Water Damage Suit Ahead Of Trial

    Illinois homeowners and a Chubb unit agreed to end their dispute over coverage for damage caused by a burst water pipe during an extreme temperature drop, weeks after an Illinois federal court cleared the case for trial, according to a court filing.

  • July 28, 2025

    KKR Plugs AU$500M Into Australian Renewable Energy Biz

    Private equity giant KKR on Monday said that it has agreed to invest AU$500 million ($326.3 million) into Australian renewable energy company CleanPeak Energy to help it grow its distributed energy platform.

  • July 25, 2025

    Real Estate Recap: Private REITs, Farms, Crypto In Escrow?

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney perspectives on private real estate investment trusts, national security concerns raised by farmland and a recent California listing that could lead to the state's largest real estate deal using digital currency.

  • July 25, 2025

    Calif. Air Board Faces New Suit Over Carbon Fuel Standard

    Environmental and public interest groups hit the California Air Resources Board with another lawsuit in Golden State court Friday, alleging that the state's recent amendments to the Low Carbon Fuel Standard will have the perverse effect of incentivizing large-scale factory farms, which pose significant environmental and public health risks.

  • July 25, 2025

    Solar Developer Claims NC County's Permit Denial Was Biased

    A "needlessly and excessively combative" board of county commissioners in North Carolina unconstitutionally blocked a solar energy developer's project based on personal issues, according to the company's lawsuit.

  • July 25, 2025

    9th Circ.: Gila River Tribe-Farmer Water Fight Not Over

    The Ninth Circuit has ruled a federal judge prematurely sided with the Gila River Indian Community in a water rights dispute, finding future fact-finding is needed before ordering Arizona farmers to shut off wells that allegedly draw water from the river.

  • July 25, 2025

    Feds Redirect First Phase Of Atomic Bomb Waste To Texas

    Radioactive waste from the development of the first atomic bomb will no longer be sent to a landfill in Wayne County, Michigan, after a group of nearby communities sued to block the landfill from accepting 6,000 cubic yards of the material. 

  • July 25, 2025

    Fluoride Fans Tell 9th Circ. To Preserve Drinking Water Use

    A pro-fluoride group is supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's fight to overturn a California federal judge's ruling that current limits on the chemical in drinking water aren't protective enough.

  • July 25, 2025

    Michigan, Green Groups Challenge Feds' Coal Plant Order

    Michigan's attorney general and a coalition of environmental groups have appealed the Trump administration's decision to order a Consumers Energy coal power plant to operate through summer, delaying the plant's retirement.

  • July 25, 2025

    GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

    Glass Lewis brought a lawsuit against Texas over a measure it claims requires the proxy advisory firm to "publicly condemn itself" when its advice for clients reflects certain viewpoints the government disfavors. Meanwhile, a new proposed class action alleges Boeing employees on long-term disability leave missed out on a $12,000 bonus distributed after workers ratified a union contract. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

  • July 24, 2025

    Trump AI Push Runs Up Against Cost, Enviro Concerns

    President Donald Trump's push to rapidly build infrastructure for the booming artificial intelligence industry could drive up energy costs in markets supporting data center growth and even hit roadblocks if state and local governments resist new developments.

  • July 24, 2025

    Toxic Waste Site Owner Can't Sue After Guilty Plea, Court Told

    The estates of two former owners of a Georgia chemical company accused of dumping toxic waste at a disused plant asked a federal judge this week to throw out a suit from the current property owner, arguing its hands are far from clean in the site's contamination after its principal's 2022 guilty plea for illegal dumping.

  • July 24, 2025

    FERC Chair Bids Goodbye At Last Monthly Meeting

    Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie presided over his final monthly open meeting on Thursday, after President Donald Trump nominated Vinson & Elkins LLP energy regulatory counsel Laura Swett to fill the Republican commissioner's seat.

  • July 24, 2025

    Bellwether Plaintiffs Want Redo Of GE Pollution Trial

    The plaintiffs in a bellwether pollution suit against General Electric Co. and a former subsidiary are asking for a new trial, arguing the jury should not have been able to find in the subsidiary's favor after it had admitted to responsibility in prior court filings.

Expert Analysis

  • Justices Rewrite Rules For Challenging Enviro Agency Actions

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    Three recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings — Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, Oklahoma v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining — form a jurisprudential watershed in administrative and environmental law, affirming statutory standing and venue provisions as the backbone of coherent judicial review, say attorneys at GableGotwals.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Despite Dark Clouds, Outlook For US Solar Has Bright Spots

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    While tariff, tax policy and bankruptcy news seemingly portends unending challenges for the U.S. solar energy industry, signs of continued growth in solar generating capacity and domestic solar manufacturing suggest that there is a path forward, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.

  • ICSID Annulment Proceedings Carry High Stakes For System

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    The annulment proceedings brought by Freeport-McMoRan before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, seeking to redress a glaring and prejudicial oversight in its arbitral award against Peru, are significant for delimiting the boundaries of procedural fairness within the ICSID's annulment framework, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions

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    In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Bill Leaves Renewable Cos. In Dark On Farmland Reporting

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    A U.S. Senate bill to update disclosure requirements for foreign control of U.S. farmland does not provide much-needed guidance on how to report renewable energy development on agricultural property, leaving significant compliance risks for project developers, say attorneys at Hodgson Russ.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • 3 Juror Psychology Principles For Expert Witness Testimony

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    Expert witnesses can sometimes fall into traps when trying to teach juries complex topics by failing to consider the psychology of juror comprehension, but attorneys can help witnesses avoid these pitfalls with a deeper understanding of cognitive lag, chunking and learning styles, says Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • In NRC Ruling, Justices Affirm Hearing Process Still Matters

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas safeguards the fairness, clarity and predictability of the regulatory system by affirming that to challenge an agency's decision in court, litigants must first meaningfully participate in the hearing process that Congress and the agency have established, says Jonathan Rund at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

  • How Energy Cos. Can Prepare For Potential Tax Credit Cuts

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    The Senate Finance Committee's version of the One Big Beautiful Bill act would create a steep phaseout of renewable energy tax credits, which should prompt companies to take several actions, including conduct a project review to discern which could begin construction before the end of the year, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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