Today's Legal Pulse
Biden sues DOJ to block release of interview audio
President Biden filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Department of Justice from publishing an audio interview, arguing the release would be improper. The action has sparked political commentary, including remarks from former President Trump.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader clear final merger hurdles
The California DMV Profits From Impounded Car Auctions. State Lawmakers Want to Change That
The California DMV has generated over $8 million by auctioning roughly 5,300 impounded vehicles between 2016 and 2024, keeping any surplus after lien holders are paid without notifying owners. Current law lets unclaimed surplus revert to the state after three years. Senate Bill 1029, introduced April 17, 2026, would require the DMV to notify vehicle owners within 14 days of a surplus and provide claim instructions. The bill aims to increase transparency and protect financially vulnerable Californians who lose their cars to lien sales.
Former LiveNation Exec Says He Was Fired After Raising Concerns Over Business Practices
A former senior executive at Live Nation filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging he was unlawfully terminated after raising concerns about the company’s financial practices. The ex‑executive says he sounded a "serious and legitimate alarm" over...
An Endangered Species Act Exemption Reveals Distrust of Process, Congress, and Courts, by Erika B. Kranz and Andrew C. Mergen
On March 31, 2026 the Endangered Species Committee—known as the “God Squad”—met for 15 minutes and granted a national‑security exemption allowing oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico despite a NOAA finding that the activities threatened the endangered...
Rural Hoosiers Lean on the Law to Fight Drones
Indiana rural residents are turning to state law to curb drone misuse after reports of drones tracking deer for poachers, hovering over chicken coops, and unsettling locals. Conservation officers prosecuted two cousins in the first criminal case under Indiana's 2016...
What Vietnam’s AI Law Teaches Us
Vietnam enacted its first standalone AI law on March 1, 2026, creating a risk‑based tiered framework that mirrors the EU AI Act but emphasizes national security and data sovereignty. The law bans "unacceptable" systems, subjects high‑risk applications in health, education and finance...
QVC’s Chapter 11 Filing and the Continuing D&O Coverage Challenges in Bankruptcy
QVC Group, Inc. filed a prepackaged Chapter 11 petition in April 2026, citing declining TV viewership, rising costs and heavy leverage. The restructuring plan includes up to $300 million of debtor‑in‑possession financing and $281 million of letters of credit, up from $108 million a year...
China’s Manus Block Signals AI Software Now Under Scrutiny
China is blocking the Manus acquisition by Meta. A few things stand out: - China has historically been more opaque and less public in restricting foreign acquisitions of Chinese tech assets, while the US (CFIUS) has been more explicit and aggressive...
SCOTUS Summarily Reverses Three-Judge Panel In Mandatory Jurisdiction Case Based On Earlier Shadow Docket Ruling In Same Case
The U.S. Supreme Court issued an unprecedented order reversing a three‑judge district court’s preliminary injunction against Texas’s 2026 redistricting plan. The reversal was based on an emergency stay the Court granted earlier on its shadow docket, effectively nullifying the lower...
A Long-Running Case Centering on Alleged Robert Indiana Forgeries Is Resolved with a $102 M. Settlement
A New York jury concluded an eight‑year lawsuit by the Morgan Art Foundation, finding publisher Michael McKenzie liable for creating unauthorized and altered versions of Robert Indiana’s iconic works, including the famed LOVE series. The jury awarded the foundation $102.2 million...
Microsoft Facing UK Antitrust Lawsuit From Slack Over Teams ‘Bundling’
Slack and its parent Salesforce have filed a lawsuit in London’s High Court accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive bundling of its Teams app with Office. The complaint alleges that tying Teams to Office limits customer choice and harms rivals in the...
SymphonyAI Agents Cut Sanctions Workload by 90%
SymphonyAI’s Risk Intelligence (SRI) platform deployed AI‑driven agents for a major U.S. bank, cutting manual sanctions‑screening effort by 90% and slashing alert review time tenfold in a proof‑of‑concept. The agents reduced false positives by 99% and achieved over 98% agreement...
Musk Appeals Dismissal Of Ad Boycott Suit Against WFA, Others
Elon Musk's X Corp. is appealing a federal judge's dismissal of its antitrust lawsuit accusing the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and ten major brands of orchestrating an ad‑boycott that allegedly cost X billions in revenue. The suit, filed in...
You Can Keep Probate Property—Follow Fiduciary Duties
One of the most common questions in probate: “Do we have to sell the property?” The answer is no—but that doesn’t mean you have complete freedom. Every decision must align with fiduciary duty, estate obligations, and financial reality.
Strengthening Compliance Frameworks Around Workers’ Compensation Claims
Workers’ compensation compliance is becoming increasingly complex as state laws, reporting deadlines, and case law evolve. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 2.5 million private‑industry injury cases in 2024, highlighting the scale of potential claims. Major gaps—late reporting, poor documentation, and...
Cities Sue EPA for Failing to Uphold Soot Standard
A coalition of ten states, the District of Columbia, Harris County, Texas, and New York City filed a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to implement the 2024 Clean Air Act rule that tightens the fine‑particulate (soot) standard from 12 µg to...
Cities Sue EPA for Failing to Uphold Soot Standard
A coalition of ten states, the District of Columbia, Harris County, Texas, and New York City filed a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to implement the 2024 Clean Air Act rule that tightens the national fine‑particulate (soot) standard. The agency...
DHS Secretary Touts New Contract Review Policy
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has rescinded a policy that forced his office to approve any contract worth $100,000 or more, a move aimed at clearing a backlog of more than 1,000 delayed FEMA contracts. The change comes as the agency prepares...
Ad Law Reading Room: “Revisiting Presidential Reorganization,” By Maria Ponomarenko
Maria Ponomarenko’s forthcoming article in the George Washington Law Review revisits the half‑century history of presidential reorganization authority, a statutory power that allowed presidents to reshape the federal bureaucracy from 1939 to 1984. The piece analyzes 115 reorganization plans, explains...
Who Owns the Future? AI, IP and Litigation Strategy.
At Loeb & Loeb’s AI Summit in Los Angeles, a cross‑industry roundtable examined how artificial intelligence reshapes intellectual‑property risk and litigation. Participants highlighted the need for robust internal governance and contract clauses covering data ownership, output rights, and liability. They...
Wells Fargo Faces Age Discrimination Claim From 50-Year Industry Vet
A 78‑year‑old former Wells Fargo Advisors broker, Kenneth J. Schneider, has filed a federal age‑discrimination lawsuit alleging he was fired after a 50‑year tenure. The complaint claims Wells managers pressured him to retire and applied harsher discipline than younger advisors...
Legal Innovation Summit Returns in 2026 with Inaugural Awards to Recognise Africa’s Legal Transformation Leaders
The Legal Innovation Summit will reconvene in Johannesburg in June 2026, gathering more than 200 legal professionals, tech innovators, and policymakers for a hybrid two‑day event. The summit’s theme, “Connect. Co‑create. Innovate.”, underscores a shift toward AI‑driven legal services and...
ERA Summer Course on European Intellectual Property Law Returns to Trier with IPKat Readers’ Discount
The European Law Institute (ERA) is hosting its Summer Course on European Intellectual Property Law in Trier, offering a comprehensive curriculum that spans EU and international frameworks, trademarks, designs, geographical indications, copyright, patents, SPCs, the Unified Patent Court, and licensing....
Lolly Warns Businesses that AI Governance Is No Longer Optional
Lolly, a UK hospitality‑software scale‑up, warns that the EU AI Act will become enforceable for high‑risk AI systems in August 2026, making robust governance mandatory. The company has already secured ISO/IEC 42001 certification, the first for a UK hospitality tech firm, proving...
Justice Breyer Says Not to Worry About the Shadow Docket
Retired Justice Stephen Breyer told Harvard Magazine he isn’t worried about the Supreme Court’s growing reliance on the so‑called “shadow docket.” He likened it to the Court’s historic emergency docket, which once focused on death‑penalty stays and election matters, and...
Early Financing Terms Can Steal Your Exit Payout
Getting a $150 million acquisition offer after 6 years of building sounds like the dream. For one founder I know, it was the moment he found out how little of it was actually his. He'd built a B2B marketplace over 6...
Anthropic IPO Could Spark Lawsuits for Microsoft, OpenAI
By the time #Anthropic files #IPO, how many lawsuits will $MSFT & #OpenAI be involved in ?
One State Has an Ingenious New Strategy for Blocking the Opening of an ICE Detention Warehouse
Maryland filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, arguing that ICE’s plan to convert an 825,000‑square‑foot warehouse in Williamsport into a detention center violated the National Environmental Policy Act. The state highlighted the presence of endangered species such...
Key Takeaways From Manchester City vs Premier League Case
This sums up perfectly the many outcomes of the Manchester City v Premier League case. Essential reading for football legal, governance and finance nerds
California Moves to Scrap 0.4% Tax Cap on Retirement Savings
The California Constitution has had a 0.4% limit on taxing intangible property like your retirement savings for almost a century since the Great Depression. This would remove that.
The Bad Ad Program
The FDA’s Bad Ad Program, run by the Office of Prescription Drug Promotion, educates clinicians on spotting false or misleading prescription‑drug advertising and provides a streamlined way to report violations. It targets a broad audience of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and...
An Encouraging Signal About Federal Preemption
The Supreme Court in Hencely v. Fluor declined to preempt South Carolina law despite the case’s strong federal ties, underscoring a narrow view of preemption. The Court held that preemption requires a clear conflict with a specific constitutional provision or...
Negotiation Burnout Warning for Conveyancers as Data Shows Buyers Markets Across the UK
New Access Legal research shows UK homes are selling on average 22% below their asking price – the deepest gap in a generation – confirming a decisive shift to a buyer’s market. In Southwark, properties fetched just 47% of the...
Published in OJ – Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/905 of 24 April 2026 Supplementing BMR by Establishing a List of...
On 27 April 2026 the EU published Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/905 in the Official Journal. The regulation amends the Benchmark Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 by creating a list of spot foreign‑exchange benchmarks that are exempt from BMR requirements. The exemption aims to streamline oversight...
Missouri Analytical Laboratories Inc - 615319 - 10/09/2024
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a closeout letter to Missouri Analytical Laboratories Inc., confirming that the company’s corrective actions have addressed the violations cited in a 2021 warning letter. The FDA noted that while the immediate issues appear...
FCA Publishes Consultation in Relation to Changes to Information Flows for UK Equity IPOs
On 27 April the FCA released consultation paper CP26/14 proposing key changes to UK equity IPO information flows. The draft seeks to remove the 7‑day cooling‑off period for connected research, require syndicate banks to share the same research data with unconnected...
From Casebook to Copilot: Bridging Law's AI Readiness Gap
Law schools are falling behind on artificial‑intelligence training, creating a widening gap between academic curricula and the expectations of modern law firms. A recent survey shows fewer than 10% of law‑school courses now cover generative AI, while 65% of firm...
The Letterbox and the Window
The essay argues that institutions receive truth through narrow, formal channels – the “letterbox” – rather than the holistic, contextual “window” most people experience. This structural mismatch forces individuals to compress or reshape their narratives to fit procedural formats, often...
US Supreme Court Formally Reinstates Pro-Republican Texas Voting Map
On April 27, the U.S. Supreme Court formally reinstated Texas’s newly drawn congressional map, which was designed to add Republican seats in the U.S. House. The 6‑3 conservative‑majority court affirmed its December interim order, overturning a lower‑court finding that the...
Trump Accounts Exclude Thousands Of Children Of Americans Abroad
The Treasury’s new Trump Accounts program offers tax‑advantaged, government‑seeded savings accounts for children, but eligibility is limited to U.S. citizens under age 18. Because citizenship transmission abroad requires a parent to meet strict physical‑presence rules, many children of American expatriates...
Why Elon Musk and Sam Altman Are Fighting over OpenAI
Elon Musk, co‑founder of OpenAI, has filed a lawsuit demanding more than $130 billion in damages, accusing the company and CEO Sam Altman of breaching a non‑compete agreement and misusing his AI‑related intellectual property. The case, filed in a U.S. federal...
Disney's AI Trains on Competitors' Data, Fair Use Questioned
what data were these AI models trained on? answer: data that includes data from disney’s competitors. which means disney is using their competitors data to compete against them in the market. which is fine if fair use applies, which will be...
UMG Records V. Uncharted Labs, Inc.
The U.S. District Court denied Uncharted Labs’ motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ DMCA claim that the company circumvented YouTube’s rolling‑cipher encryption to scrape copyrighted music for its AI generation tool. The court found the plaintiffs’ allegations plausibly state that YouTube’s...
Court Revises Consent for Hydrostor’s 1.6 GWh Storage Project
Australian court amends consent for Hydrostor’s 1.6GWh long-duration energy storage project following appeal #energysky -- via Energy Storage News: https://t.co/EFmr0WYSDV
PTAB Again Rules in Favor of Broad in CRISPR-Cas9 Patent Dispute
On March 26, 2026 the Patent Trial and Appeal Board reaffirmed the Broad Institute’s priority rights to CRISPR‑Cas9 gene‑editing in eukaryotic cells, rejecting the claims of the University of California‑Vienna consortium and Emmanuelle Charpentier. The ruling follows a Federal Circuit remand that corrected...
It Has Been A While Since A DOJ FCPA Opinion Was Released
The Department of Justice has not issued a new FCPA Opinion Procedure release since October 2023, creating a 2.5‑year gap—the longest since a 5.5‑year hiatus between 2014 and 2020. Since the program’s inception in 1980, the DOJ has produced roughly sixty...
In Person Interview: Brad White of Werner
Brad White, director of safety and compliance at Werner Enterprises, oversees driver screening, hazardous‑materials compliance, and C‑TPAT certification. Since joining Werner in 2010, he has expanded safety protocols, including hair‑based drug testing and integrating a human‑trafficking hotline into the company’s...
ERAS Compound Directly Infringes RVMD Patent, Developers Beware
Must read for any developers. I posted yesterday that this $ERAS compound facially infringes the $RVMD patent.
SEC Says Real Estate Firm’s Ex-CFO Ran a ‘Ponzi-Like’ Scheme: Trial Balance
The SEC has filed fraud charges against Voyager Pacific Capital Management and three senior executives, including former CFO John Giarmarco, alleging a $15 million Ponzi‑like scheme. The complaint says the trio used new equity capital to pay earlier investors while diverting...
The Spectator – A Social Media Ban for Kids Puts All Our Privacy at Risk
The UK Parliament is poised to pass legislation that would restrict under‑16s from accessing social media, using biometric face scans or digital‑ID uploads for age verification. Proposals range from a blanket ban to feature‑level curfews, but all rely on invasive...
Clio Launches EDGAR-Based Corporate Research Tool
Clio has added a new EDGAR‑based research feature to its Vincent AI platform, letting lawyers query more than three decades of SEC corporate filings with natural‑language prompts. The tool returns structured, source‑grounded answers in seconds, surfacing risk factors, financial metrics...