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
Spotlight On: Neulasta® (Pegfilgrastim) / Fulphila® (Pegfilgrastim-Jmdb) / Udenyca® (Pegfilgrastim-Cbqv) / Ziextenzo® (Pegfilgrastim-Bmez) / Nyvepria®(pegfilgrastim-Apgf) / Fylnetra™ (Pegfilgrastim-Apgf) / Stimufend®...
The April 2026 spotlight examines how patent claims for pegfilgrastim products—Neulasta, Fulphila, Udenyca, Ziextenzo, Nyvepria, Fylnetra, Stimufend and Armlupeg—are tallied across inter partes reviews (IPRs) and litigation. Claims are counted separately in each proceeding, so the same patent can generate multiple claim counts when challenged in different forums. Within any single litigation or IPR, each claim is counted only once, regardless of whether it faces §102, §103, or both challenges. The article clarifies this methodology to avoid double‑counting within a case while acknowledging cross‑case duplication.
Fourth Circuit Holds That “Contingent” Proof of Claim Did Not Trigger Statute of Limitations to Collect Withdrawal Liability
The Fourth Circuit affirmed that a multi‑employer pension plan’s “contingent” proof of claim filed in a debtor’s bankruptcy does not satisfy the statutory “notice and demand” needed to start the six‑year limitations period for collecting withdrawal liability. The court emphasized...
Do You Need a Lawyer for Estate Planning? Professional Help Vs. DIY
Estate planning can be tackled with DIY online templates or with an attorney’s guidance. Simple estates often only need a will, power of attorney, and healthcare directive, which many platforms can generate affordably. Complex assets, blended families, or significant tax...
New Mammogram Policy: Maryland to Require BAC Notifications with First Law of Its Kind
Maryland has enacted HB 1364, becoming the first U.S. state to require mammography providers to inform patients when breast arterial calcifications (BACs) appear on their exams. BACs are not a breast‑cancer risk factor but have been linked to elevated cardiovascular disease...
Trump Seeks More Time in Lawsuit Against IRS Over His Tax Returns
President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service alleges the agency failed to prevent a leak of his tax returns. His legal team has asked a federal judge to extend the Justice Department’s response deadline by 90 days, citing...
Aston Martin Is Dragging Part-Owner Geely Back to Court Over a Logo With Wings
Aston Martin has filed a fresh lawsuit in the United Kingdom, appealing a 2023 Intellectual Property Office tribunal decision that found Geely’s London EV Company (LEVC) winged logo did not infringe the luxury marque’s iconic emblem. Geely, which increased its...
FDA-TRACK: Prescription Drug User Fee Act Review Goals Summary
The FDA’s Prescription Drug User Fee Act entered its seventh iteration, PDUFA VII, authorizing the agency to collect user fees from October 2023 through September 2027. The fees are earmarked to accelerate pre‑market drug application reviews and post‑market safety monitoring for both drugs...
Lawmakers Push for Oral Fluid and Hair Drug Testing
A bipartisan group of six lawmakers urged HHS to overhaul federal drug‑testing rules, arguing that FDA oversight blocks modern methods like oral‑fluid and hair testing. Despite a 2023 DOT final rule permitting oral‑fluid analysis, no U.S. lab is certified, and...
Ammi and Martina Burke Appeal Criminal Contempt of Court Finding
Ammi and Martina Burke, mother and sister of jailed teacher Enoch Burke, are appealing a High Court ruling that found them guilty of criminal contempt after a two‑week jail term for disruptive conduct at a February hearing. They argue the...
A Bellwether Prosecution in Minnesota
Minnesota is suing the DOJ for withheld evidence in the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, arguing that the federal government must comply with the Administrative Procedure Act and the 10th Amendment. While that case proceeds, Hennepin County...
Federal Court Criticizes Refugee Division’s Finding that Ethiopian Lawyer’s Letter Is Fraudulent
Canada’s Federal Court overturned a Refugee Protection Division (RPD) decision that deemed an Ethiopian lawyer’s letter fraudulent because of grammatical errors. The court ruled the RPD’s credibility analysis was unreasonable and lacked clear justification, ordering a new member to reassess...
Canadian Human Rights Commission Notes Five-Year High in Accepted Discrimination Complaints in 2025
The Canadian Human Rights Commission’s 2025 annual report shows a five‑year peak in accepted discrimination complaints, with 960 new cases meeting statutory criteria. The agency handled over 4,600 new inquiries and closed roughly 4,700, ending the year with 2,190 accepted...
New Merger Rules Are No Free Ride for European Champions, Says Teresa Ribera
The European Commission is set to release a revised 100‑page merger guideline on May 2, aiming to tighten scrutiny of cross‑border consolidations. Competition chief Teresa Ribera emphasized that mergers cannot be used as a shortcut for market integration and warned against...
CRM Vendor Sues Pennymac for Software Theft
Surge, a CRM vendor serving top wholesale lenders, filed a breach‑of‑contract lawsuit against Pennymac in a Michigan court, alleging the lender reverse‑engineered its Partner360 platform after the relationship ended. The complaint seeks $176,000 in unpaid fees, an injunction to stop...
Class Action Accuses EB-5 Fund Operator of Unlawful Broker-Dealer Activity
A class action filed in Puerto Rico accuses EB5 Affiliate Network of operating as an unregistered broker‑dealer while marketing Montessori school EB‑5 investments. Four foreign‑national investors each wired $500,000 in early 2022, believing the funds would create ten U.S. jobs...
Why Annex 21 Is an Important Commercial Risk Point in EU Market Entry
Charley Maxwell highlights that Annex 21, the EU GMP annex governing medicinal product imports, is more than a paperwork hurdle—it is a commercial risk point that can delay market entry. The annex requires the holder of a Manufacturing Import Authorisation and...
Lawson Lundell Adds Partner Taylor-Marie Young to Trusts, Estates, Incapacity Disputes Group
Lawson Lundell LLP announced that Taylor‑Marie Young has joined the firm as a partner in its Kelowna and Vancouver offices, becoming part of both the commercial litigation and trusts, estates, and incapacity disputes groups. Young brings over a decade of...
Supreme Court Takes Up Trump Birthright Citizenship Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court has added the Trump‑era birthright‑citizenship executive order to its docket, agreeing to hear a challenge brought by CASA and several states. The case raises a direct constitutional question about the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship, while...
Join Me LIVE at 1:30p ET
Former FBI deputy director and Substack columnist Frank Figliuzzi announced a live‑stream event for 1:30 p.m. ET on April 17, 2026. The broadcast will tackle restitution for January 6 defendants alongside a broader agenda of political and security topics. Figliuzzi shared the streaming link...
ANDA Litigation Settlements - First Quarter 2026
During Q1 2026, U.S. district courts issued a wave of ANDA litigation settlements covering dozens of branded drugs, from ophthalmic gels to diabetes tablets. Most disputes were dismissed, many with prejudice, while several parties entered license agreements that preserve patent exclusivity....
Procedural Hitches Cast Doubt on SC’s Relief to West Bengal Voters
India’s Supreme Court ordered that voters excluded during West Bengal’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) be reinstated if appellate tribunals rule in their favor by April 21 for the first phase or April 27 for the second phase of the Assembly election. More...
Federal Judge Hands Down $110K Penalty Against 2 Lawyers for AI Errors in Court Documents
A U.S. magistrate judge in Oregon fined two attorneys a total of $110,000 after their court briefs contained dozens of fabricated case citations and quotations generated by artificial intelligence. San Diego lawyer Stephen Brigandi was hit with $80,000 in attorney...
Pro-Palestinian Tufts University Graduate Targeted by Trump Administration Returns to Turkey
Tufts University PhD graduate Rumeysa Ozturk reached a settlement with the U.S. government and returned to Turkey after the Trump administration targeted her for co‑authoring a pro‑Palestinian op‑ed. The settlement resolved all pending immigration proceedings, acknowledging she had lawful status...
JPMorgan Order that Drew $348.2M Penalty Ends
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has terminated its two‑year enforcement order against JPMorgan Chase, which originally required the bank to fix trade‑surveillance gaps and imposed a $250 million penalty. The termination comes after JPMorgan completed venue‑inventory enhancements...
High Court Strikes Down Central Bank Sanction over ‘Serious Errors’ in Investigation of Fund Manager
The Irish High Court struck down a Central Bank prohibition that barred a former fund‑management chief executive from holding senior roles in regulated financial services. Judge David Barniville found the regulator’s investigation riddled with serious procedural errors, including the absence...
State Farm Agrees to $15M Settlement for Underpaid Vehicle Claims in Arkansas
State Farm has agreed to a $15.6 million preliminary class settlement for Arkansas policyholders who allege the insurer underpaid total‑loss vehicle claims between November 2016 and October 2021. The dispute centers on State Farm’s use of Audatex appraisal reports that applied a roughly...
FedEx Pilots to Vote on Tentative Contract After Union Endorsement
The Air Line Pilots Association board approved a tentative five‑year contract with FedEx and will present it to pilots for a ratification vote from May 12 to June 9. The agreement delivers a 40% increase in hourly pay, back‑pay up to $150,000...
Oregon's Wildlife Action Plan Approved, New Lodging Tax Funds Conservation
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's 2026 State Wildlife Action Plan received final approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, unlocking a dedicated funding stream from a 1.25% increase in the state's transient lodging tax. The plan targets...
California AG Accuses Amazon of Pressuring Sellers to Raise Prices
California Attorney General Rob Bonta unveiled newly unsealed evidence that Amazon pressured independent sellers on its platform to raise prices to match competitors like Walmart and Target. The allegations, based on internal emails and seller testimony, claim Amazon used its...
Spotlight On: Enbrel® (Etanercept) / Erelzi® (Etanercept-Szzs) / Eticovo® (Etanercept-Ykro) - April 2026
The April 2026 Spotlight On update details how etanercept patents—covering Enbrel®, Erelzi® and Eticovo®—are being contested in both inter partes reviews (IPRs) and court litigations. It explains that each claim is counted once per proceeding, but the same claim can appear...
Chevron Closes $53 Billion Hess Deal Amid Delays and Regulatory Scrutiny
Chevron has completed its $53 billion acquisition of Hess, closing on July 18, 2025 after a court‑ordered delay triggered by ExxonMobil’s challenge. The deal expands Chevron’s upstream portfolio while adding $30 billion of debt, but high oil prices in 2026 give the...
CFTC Probes $‑Billion Oil Futures Spikes Linked to Trump’s Iran Policy Moves
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has opened a probe into billions of dollars in oil futures trades that spiked minutes before two Trump administration announcements on Iran. The investigation targets activity on CME Group’s NYMEX and ICE’s futures platforms...
AI-Reit Trustee Disputes Resolution to Access Records Related to Internalisation
Alpha Integrated Real Estate Investment Trust (AI‑Reit) faced a trustee‑led challenge to a resolution that would grant the REIT manager access to internalisation records. HSBC Institutional Trust Services labeled the motion invalid under the trust deed and warned it could...
BoE’s Fees Regime for FMI Supervision 2026/27
The Bank of England released a proposal to set supervisory fees for financial market infrastructure (FMI) in 2026‑27. Fees for UK central counterparties (CCPs) will be trimmed by 3.2%, while charges for central securities depositories (CSDs) rise 7.7% to fund...
UAE and Saudi Arabia Push Tokenisation to Modernise GCC Real‑Estate Financing
The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are rolling out coordinated blockchain tokenisation programmes for real‑estate assets, backed by new licences from the UAE's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and a Saudi sandbox. The move seeks to unify property records, enable...
Law Firms Warn AI Chat Transcripts May Be Seized After NY Judge Ruling
A Southern District of New York judge ruled that a defendant's private conversations with Anthropic's Claude are not protected by attorney‑client privilege and can be subpoenaed. In response, more than a dozen leading U.S. law firms have issued client advisories...
Prenups Require Cooling‑Off, Full Disclosure, Dual Representation
Based upon the limited information we have available on Mike and Constance Fernandez’s prenup, it looks like some attorneys may have really dropped the ball when it comes to this prenup. Why? • You NEVER sign a prenup on the wedding day....
Upload Updated Contract, AI Amends It Instantly
Renegotiated a contract? In JustPaid, upload the updated version to amend it in seconds AI handles the rest. https://t.co/Fl423xNbMo
ComplianceCow Teams with ServiceNow IRM to Automate HR‑Related Control Monitoring
ComplianceCow announced today a native integration with ServiceNow Integrated Risk Management, enabling enterprises to automate continuous evidence collection and control testing for HR‑related compliance. The middleware links cloud, identity and on‑prem systems to ServiceNow IRM, delivering real‑time risk insights without...
Pennsylvania Bills Aim to Fast-Track Data-Center Permits Amid 4,000% Growth Forecast
Pennsylvania lawmakers are advancing three bills that would shift data‑center siting authority from municipalities to a state board, a move that coincides with an industry report projecting a 4,000% increase in data‑center capacity by 2036. Critics warn the proposals could...
Trump Battles Shift Prestige Rankings of Top Law Firms
The 25 Most Prestigious Law Firms In America (2026) Fighting versus settling with the Trump administration appears to have affected the prestige of some Biglaw firms. LINK: https://t.co/F51Ld64X89 https://t.co/4QexAek0HE
The 25 Most Prestigious Law Firms In America (2026)
David Lat’s latest Original Jurisdiction post ranks the 2026‑2027 Vault 100, highlighting the ten most prestigious U.S. law firms and noting modest shifts in their positions. While the top three—Cravath, Wachtell, and Skadden—remain unchanged, Wachtell’s profits per equity partner jumped...
ICE Detention Health Crisis: Mother of Five Denied Critical Care Highlights Systemic Failures
Hayman El Gamal, a mother of five detained at the Dilley ICE facility in Texas, was denied a CT scan for a chest lump, later diagnosed with pericardial effusion. Attorneys and medical experts say the case illustrates systematic denial of care...
Treasury's Draft Order Could Cost U.S. Banks Up to $5.6 Billion for Citizenship Data Collection
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled a forthcoming executive order that would require banks to collect citizenship documentation for all customers. Analysts estimate the rule could add $2.6‑$5.6 billion in compliance costs and 30‑70 million extra work hours, prompting criticism from community banks...
Spotlight On: Actemra® (Tocilizumab) / Tofidence™ (Tocilizumab-Bavi) / Tyenne® (Tocilizumab-Aazg) / Avtozma® (Tocilizumab-Anoh) - April 2026
The Venable LLP briefing explains how claims in Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings are tallied for the tocilizumab family of drugs, including Actemra®, Tofidence™, Tyenne®, and Avtozma®. It notes that each IPR counts claims separately, so the same patent challenged...
Over 643,000 Borrowers Stuck in Student‑Loan Repayment Backlog Amid Trump‑Era Policy Shifts
A recent court filing reveals that more than 643,000 student‑loan borrowers are still waiting for decisions on income‑driven repayment or forgiveness applications. The backlog stems from legal challenges to the SAVE plan and policy reversals enacted during the Trump administration,...
Newly Unsealed Records Reveal Amazon's Price-Fixing Tactics
California’s antitrust case against Amazon has unsealed deposition records showing the e‑commerce giant used Buy Box suppression to pressure third‑party sellers into raising prices on rival platforms such as Walmart, Target, and Wayfair. Sellers testified that a one‑cent price difference...
Insurance Spends $16 Billion a Year Proving Work Got Done
U.S. insurers waste an estimated $16 billion each year on compliance‑operations inefficiency, not fines. The problem stems from treating compliance and operations as separate silos, forcing teams to reconstruct evidence months after work is done. A four‑component framework—policy governance, structured workflows,...
Trump's Apathy Toward White‑Collar Crime Squeezes Defense Lawyers
Jaw dropping article by @kayewiggins and @stef_palma on how the Trump administration’s disinterest in white-collar crime has caused a bear market for defence lawyers. For once I’m going to drop the link in a comment to make sure this doesn’t...
Why the Supreme Court’s Ruling on Conversion Therapy Matters for Schools (Opinion)
The U.S. Supreme Court in *Chiles v. Salazar* ruled that state bans on conversion therapy could violate the First Amendment if they are deemed viewpoint‑based speech restrictions. The 6‑3 decision framed the Colorado law as unconstitutional under strict‑scrutiny standards, sending...