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Public Policy

  • September 04, 2025

    Philip Morris Gets Wash. Tobacco Deal Fight Sent To Arbitrator

    A Washington state judge has ordered R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to arbitrate rival Philip Morris USA Inc.'s claims that it breached a 2017 deal delineating billions of dollars in annual payments owed to states for Big Tobacco's public health toll by signing a new $277 million agreement with Washington in April.

  • September 04, 2025

    Courts' Curb Of Fast Removals Shows Due Process Concerns

    Two D.C. federal court rulings that curbed the Trump administration's use of an expedited process to deport noncitizens, as well as high court rulings on removals in general, show judges are keen to preserve due process rights for immigrants.

  • September 04, 2025

    Trump Says 'Century-Old' Precedent Backs Fed Gov.'s Firing

    President Donald Trump on Thursday hit back at Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook's motion seeking to block her termination from the central bank, telling a Washington, D.C., federal court that Cook was ignoring "century-old" U.S. Supreme Court precedent that he says forecloses review of her removal for cause.

  • September 04, 2025

    Rural Carriers Call For Expanding Universal Service Aid

    Congress needs to provide more direct aid to rural telecom carriers if it wants connectivity to reach every household in the country, those telecom carriers told House legislators in a recent letter.

  • September 04, 2025

    Chevron, Exxon Kick Off High Court La. Pollution Case

    Chevron and Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Fifth Circuit's ruling that Louisiana state court, not federal court, is the proper venue for claims that their World War II-era oil production activities violated state law.

  • September 04, 2025

    SEC, ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Rulemaking Agendas Show Deregulatory Push

    Federal regulators overseeing the financial services sector on Thursday unveiled new rulemaking agendas that they say will return their agencies to their core missions with policies to define authority and limit compliance burdens.

  • September 04, 2025

    Seattle Police Free From Federal Oversight After 13 Years

    Seattle police have demonstrated "sustained compliance" with a federal consent decree put in place more than 13 years ago in response to the department's allegedly unconstitutional use of force, a Washington federal judge has ruled, returning full control of the department to city leaders.

  • September 04, 2025

    USDOT Scraps Airline Refund Rule In Deregulatory Push

    The U.S. Department of Transportation is abandoning airline passengers' rights and other consumer protection regulations proposed by the Biden administration as President Donald Trump advances his deregulatory push, according to the White House's updated regulatory agenda released Thursday.

  • September 04, 2025

    Justices Asked To Block FTC Commissioner Reinstatement

    The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to block the reinstatement of Democratic Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter while it appeals a ruling that found her firing was illegal, and also asked the high court to take up the case.

  • September 04, 2025

    Ga. Officer Beats Tornado Failure To Warn Claims, Panel Says

    A Georgia sheriff's office lieutenant can't be held liable for a family's death and injuries in a tornado after she failed to activate the county's warning siren system, a state appellate court said Thursday, ruling that her duties extended only to the public in a general sense rather than to individuals.

  • September 04, 2025

    CTIA's Pai Projects Smooth Mobile Transition In Upper C-Band

    Ajit Pai, the onetime leader of the Federal Communications Commission who now runs wireless trade group CTIA, foresees a relatively smooth transition to mobile services in the upper C-band airwaves — as long as the FCC plays its cards right.

  • September 04, 2025

    EPA Touts 'Ambitious' New Deregulatory Agenda

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday laid out its regulatory agenda for the coming months, and said it intends to revisit or roll back Biden-era initiatives in several areas, including water, climate change and chemical regulations.

  • September 04, 2025

    10th Circ. Backs Firearms Ban For Those Under Indictment

    The Tenth Circuit has upheld a ban on receiving firearms while under federal criminal indictment, finding a Utah man did not have his rights violated under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Bruen decision.

  • September 04, 2025

    NY AG Appeals Toss Of $500M Trump Fine In Civil Fraud Case

    New York's attorney general said Thursday she will challenge an appeals court's decision to throw out what it called an "excessive" $489 million civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump and his sons, his companies, and executives of his companies.

  • September 04, 2025

    Ex-Pandemic Office Inspector General Tapped To Be US Atty

    Brian Miller, the former special inspector general for pandemic recovery, has been quietly tapped to be a U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. 

  • September 04, 2025

    Wash. Justices Endorse Broad View Of Pay Transparency Law

    Washington state's high court held in a 6-3 ruling Thursday that a job applicant may sue a prospective employer for violating a state law requiring job postings to include wage scales without proving they are a "bona fide" or "good faith" applicant, rejecting employers' bid to narrow that definition amid a wave of lawsuits.

  • September 04, 2025

    Albertsons Says Kroger CEO Docs Fair Game In Del. Suit

    An attorney for Albertsons Companies Inc. told a Delaware vice chancellor Thursday the food and drugstore giant should get access to The Kroger Co.'s documents related to CEO Rodney McMullen's abrupt exit from the job months after the collapse of the two companies' planned $25 billion merger.

  • September 04, 2025

    Ex-Aide To Newark, NJ's Mayor Admits Fraud Conspiracy

    A former senior aide to the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, has pled guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud in connection with a cash-for-permits bribery scheme, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

  • September 04, 2025

    Feds Don't Have Immunity In NM Wildfire Row, Court Told

    The U.S. Forest Service's failure to comply with a plan for the Santa Fe National Forest means it cannot avoid liability by invoking an "overarching discretionary enterprise" of prescribed burning that led to the destruction of nearly 43,000 acres, a New Mexico tribe, an electric cooperative and others argue.

  • September 04, 2025

    DOJ Moves To End Challenge To RFK Jr.'s Vaccine Directive

    The Justice Department is seeking a quick exit from a suit challenging Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s directive recommending against the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women and children, telling a Massachusetts federal court Thursday that the three women and coalition of medical associations behind the suit can't demonstrate a link between the directive and any potential injuries.

  • September 04, 2025

    Empty Advisory Boards Have Attys Worried About USPTO

    U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard W. Lutnick removed all members of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's public advisory committees in March and those seats have remained empty, raising concerns that the agency's leadership is operating in an echo chamber.

  • September 04, 2025

    Ill. Toymakers Ask Justices To Resolve Tariff Suit Venue Split

    A pair of toymakers asked the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday to resolve a jurisdictional dispute concerning challenges to President Donald Trump's emergency tariffs, saying the justices should hear their case at the D.C. Circuit along with the federal government's just-filed appeal of a Federal Circuit decision that invalidated Trump's tariffs.

  • September 04, 2025

    Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

    The Justice Department settled a challenge to UnitedHealth's $3.3 billion home hospice acquisition while Democrats called for a judge to reject a different government settlement and the Federal Trade Commission moved against medical technologies transactions for heart valves and device coatings.

  • September 04, 2025

    Judge Questions Defense Dept. Cap On Research Costs

    A Massachusetts federal judge weighing whether to vacate a U.S. Department of Defense cap on administrative costs for research funding programs said Thursday that the government appeared to have ignored a series of injunctions in similar challenges to Trump administration grant cuts and terminations when it imposed the across-the-board limits.

  • September 04, 2025

    Solar Co. Meyer Burger Unit Gets OK For $29M Ch. 11 Sale

    The U.S. unit of Swiss solar-panel maker Meyer Burger secured a Delaware bankruptcy judge's approval Thursday to sell its assets for $28.7 million in Chapter 11, defeating an objection to the deal from unsecured creditors who charged that it benefits secured creditors but no one else.

Expert Analysis

  • How To Address Tariff-Related Risks In Commercial Contracts

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    Companies' commercial agreements may not clearly prescribe which party bears the risks and consequences of tariff-related fallout, but cases addressing common-law defenses and force majeure have one key takeaway, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • How New Texas Law Targets ESG Proxy Advice

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    A recently enacted Texas law represents a major shift in how proxy advisory services are regulated in Texas, particularly when recommendations are based on nonfinancial factors like ESG and DEI, but legal challenges underscore the statute’s broader constitutional and statutory implications, say attorneys at Bracewell.

  • 8 Compliance Team Strategies To Support Business Agility

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    Amid new regulatory requirements across the globe, compliance functions must design thoughtful guardrails that help business leaders achieve their commercial objectives lawfully — from repurposing existing tools to using technology thoughtfully — instead of defaulting to cumbersome protocols that hinder legitimate business, says Theodore Edelman at GCE Advisors.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: How To Make A Deal

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    Preparing lawyers for the nuances of a transactional practice is not a strong suit for most law schools, but, in practice, there are six principles that can help young M&A lawyers become seasoned, trusted deal advisers, says Chuck Morton at Venable.

  • Annual Report Shows CFIUS Extending Its Reach In 2024

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    The recently released 2024 annual report from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States reveals record civil penalties and enhanced internal capabilities, illustrating expanding jurisdiction and an increasing appetite for enforcement actions, says Nathan Fisher at StoneTurn.

  • Trump Tax Law's Most Impactful Corp. And Individual Changes

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    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act built on and reshaped elements of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including business interest deductions, bonus depreciation and personal income relief, delivering substantial changes to both corporate and individual tax policy, say attorneys at Weil.

  • From Clerkship To Law Firm: 5 Transition Tips For Associates

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    Transitioning from a judicial clerkship to an associate position at a law firm may seem daunting, but by using knowledge gained while clerking, being mindful of key differences and taking advantage of professional development opportunities, these attorneys can flourish in private practice, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Opinion

    Fla. Misses Opportunity To Rectify Wrongful Death Damages

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    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' recent veto of a bill that would have removed certain arbitrary and unfair prohibitions on noneconomic wrongful death damages in medical negligence cases highlights the urgent need for reforms to current state law, say attorneys at Farah & Farah.

  • Cybersecurity Risks Can Lurk In Gov't Contractor Acquisitions

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    The Justice Department’s recent False Claims Act enforcement activity against Raytheon and Nightwing-related defense contractors demonstrates the importance of identifying and mitigating potential cybersecurity compliance risks when acquiring a company that contracts with the federal government, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Budget Act Should Boost Focus On Trade Compliance

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    Passage of the One Big Beautiful Budget Act, coupled with recent U.S. Department of Justice statements that it will use the False Claims Act aggressively to pursue trade, tariff and customs fraud, marks a sharp increase in trade-related enforcement risk, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • NY Bill Would Complicate Labor Law Amid NLRB Uncertainty

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    The New York Legislature passed a bill that, if enacted, would grant state agencies the power to enforce federal labor law, potentially causing significant challenges for employers as they could be subject to both state and federal regulators depending on the National Labor Relations Board's operational status, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Trump Tax Law's Most Consequential International Changes

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    The international tax provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act may result in higher effective tax rates for some multinational corporations, but others, particularly those operating in low-tax jurisdictions, may benefit from alignment with global anti-profit shifting efforts, say attorneys at Weil.

  • Associates Can Earn Credibility By Investing In Relationships

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    As the class of 2025 prepares to join law firms this fall, new associates must adapt to office dynamics and establish credible reputations — which require quiet, consistent relationship-building skills as much as legal acumen, says Kyle Forges at Bast Amron.

  • How 6th Circ. Ruling Deepens Split On Broker Liability

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    A growing divide in Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act jurisprudence is ripe for U.S. Supreme Court review, after the Sixth Circuit last month found in Cox v. Total Quality Logistics that brokers can be held liable for negligent hiring, says Gregory Reed at Hanson Bridgett.

  • How The Genius Act May Aid In Fight Against 'Pig Butchering'

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    ​​​​​​​The recently enacted Genius Act represents a watershed moment in the fight against crypto fraud, providing new tools to freeze and recover funds that are lost to scams such as "pig butchering" schemes executed from scam factories abroad, but there are implementation challenges to watch, say attorneys at Treanor Devlin.

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