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
When Efficiency Becomes Fragility
Stuart J. Green warns that relentless efficiency can make compliance governance fragile in today’s discontinuous regulatory landscape. He argues that tightly calibrated controls, while cost‑effective in stable times, lack the capacity to adapt when sanctions, enforcement interpretations, or technology‑driven risks shift rapidly. Green proposes a three‑stage discipline—Raze, Enrich, Grow—to prune legacy controls, build cross‑functional resilience, and embed continuous redesign. The piece uses LEGO’s early‑2000s restructuring as a cautionary example of structural overhaul over cosmetic efficiency gains.
'We're Keen to Deploy More and More AI Use Cases': Quint CLO Sheraz Afzal
Quint Group’s chief legal, risk and compliance officer Sheraz Afzal marks his five‑year anniversary, highlighting the firm’s aggressive AI rollout across legal workflows. He notes that AI now automates routine tasks such as financial‑promotion approvals and answers basic HR and contract...
Withdrawal Is Mandatory Where a Client Persistently Breaches Court Orders
In Canada, a lawyer who repeatedly advises a client to stop violating court orders faces ethical duties that may compel withdrawal. The Federation of Law Societies’ Model Code prohibits lawyers from assisting dishonest conduct and requires them to report up...
NCC Orders Telcos to Compensate Users for Poor Network Service
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has ordered mobile network operators to compensate subscribers with airtime credits when service quality falls below prescribed standards. Compensation will be calculated based on users' average spending and the specific locations of outages, and must...
Just Touching Your Phone At A Red Light Can Get You A Ticket In These Strict US States
A growing majority of U.S. jurisdictions now enforce "no‑touch" cellphone laws, prohibiting drivers from handling phones even at red lights unless mounted. The Governors Highway Safety Association reports 33 states, D.C., and several territories have such bans, with fines ranging...
Consumer Sues Manufacturers for Conspiring to Inflate HVAC Prices
A federal lawsuit filed in Michigan accuses the seven largest U.S. HVAC manufacturers of colluding to keep commercial and residential equipment prices artificially high since the pandemic. The complaint says the firms used public statements, industry meetings, and an AHRI‑run...
NAFFIC, AWARE Claim First China-EU DPP for Textiles
Mandatory digital product passports (DPPs) will be required for all textile products sold in the EU from 2027, and NAFFIC and AWARE have launched the first China‑EU compliant DPP for a recycled‑polyester garment. The passport records every step—from post‑consumer plastic...
Commission Opens Infringement Procedures Against Member States for Failing to Transpose EU Directives
On 27 March 2026 the European Commission opened infringement procedures against dozens of EU Member States for not fully transposing three key directives: the European Single Access Point (ESAP) Omnibus Directive, the amended Capital Requirements Directive VI, and the e‑Evidence Directive. Formal letters...
IRS Tightens Enforcement of 10‑Year Rule for Inherited IRAs
The Internal Revenue Service has begun strict enforcement of the 10‑year withdrawal rule for inherited IRAs, requiring most non‑spouse beneficiaries to fully distribute the account within ten years of the original owner's death. The move compels millions of Americans to...
FHFA Orders Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to Count Crypto as Mortgage Collateral
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William J. Pulte directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to recognize cryptocurrency holdings when underwriting mortgages. The move gives digital‑asset owners a new path to homeownership without liquidating their crypto, but it also raises tax...
PE‑Backed Vibrantz Forces Lenders to Sign NDAs in Side‑Deal Restructuring
Vibrantz Technologies, a paint‑additives maker owned by a private‑equity firm, required its smaller creditors to sign nondisclosure agreements as a condition for participating in a side‑deal restructuring. The tactic, highlighted by Bloomberg, underscores a shift toward more aggressive creditor‑control measures...
Congress Targets Tax Relief for Rare Earths as China Tightens Export Controls
U.S. lawmakers have introduced the Critical Minerals Investment Tax Modernization Act, which would lift the depletion allowance for domestically mined rare earth elements and scandium from 14% to 22%. The move is a direct response to Beijing’s April 2025 export...
Indian High Court Judges Endorse AI for Faster Courts, Warn Against Unchecked ‘Robo‑Justice’
At a National Judicial Academy conference in Chandigarh, Justice Anoop Chitkara and fellow judges praised AI and blockchain for speeding up case handling, but warned that unchecked ‘robo‑justice’ could erode human oversight. Their remarks signal a major policy shift for...
DOL Proposes 30%+ H‑1B Wage Hike, Shaking HR Compliance
The U.S. Department of Labor issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would lift prevailing wage percentiles for H‑1B, H‑1B1, E‑3 and PERM visas, potentially raising entry‑level salaries by more than 30%. The change, announced on March 26 and published...
New Jersey Joins Dozens of States to Ban Surveillance Pricing in Grocery Apps
New Jersey lawmakers introduced a bill prohibiting grocery‑delivery platforms from using personal data to set individualized prices, joining at least 11 other states considering similar measures. The effort follows Consumer Reports findings that algorithms can raise prices by as much...
Vedanta Challenges Adani's $1.9 Billion Jaypee Takeover in India's Supreme Court
Vedanta Ltd has lodged a petition in India's Supreme Court contesting the Adani Group's Rs 14,535 crore (about $1.9 billion) resolution plan for Jaypee Group assets after the NCLT approved the deal. The dispute highlights intense competition in India's infrastructure sector and could...
RingCentral CAO Tarun Arora Sells 8,840 Shares for $360K
RingCentral's chief accounting officer, Tarun Arora, sold 8,840 shares of the company's common stock on March 10, 2026 for an average price of $40.69 per share. The transaction, disclosed in an SEC Form 4 filing, lowered his direct holdings to...
Queensland Bans Under‑16 E‑bikes as Deaths Rise, Sparking National Safety Debate
Queensland has introduced a ban on e‑bike riders under 16 and 28 safety reforms after eight youth deaths in the past year. The measures, including a learner’s licence for 16‑17‑year‑olds and a 10 km/h footpath speed limit, aim to curb a...
Insufficient Source Material to Report on Vietnam's Real‑name Bank Account Mandate
No verifiable sources were provided to confirm Vietnam's plan to require real‑name registration for all bank accounts starting April 2026, so a factual report cannot be produced.
Google Faces Antitrust Data‑Share Order and Rapid Algorithm Updates, Shaking SEO Playbooks
A U.S. district court ordered Google to share portions of its search index and user‑interaction data with rivals, and the company released a spam update and a core update within 72 hours. The twin shocks are prompting marketers to overhaul...
FTC Report Shows $12.5 B Lost to Bank‑Account Fraud, Up 25% YoY
The Federal Trade Commission released its 2024 annual fraud report, finding that Americans lost $12.5 billion to bank‑account scams—a 25% increase from 2023. The surge underscores growing vulnerabilities in digital banking and puts pressure on fintech companies to upgrade fraud‑prevention tools.
RedotPay Earns ISO/IEC 27001 Certification, Bolstering Stablecoin Payment Credibility
RedotPay, the Hong‑based stablecoin payment fintech, received ISO/IEC 27001 certification from SGS, confirming its information‑security management system meets global standards. The audit highlights robust encryption, data‑access controls and a security‑first culture, positioning the firm for deeper institutional partnerships.
SkyRefund: Building the Legal Infrastructure Behind Air Passenger Rights
SkyRefund, a legal‑tech startup founded in 2017, builds a data‑driven platform that automates air‑passenger compensation claims across the EU, UK, Canada, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. By aggregating airline, flight‑status, weather and news data, the company reconstructs the factual picture...
Suspected Anti-Competitive Conduct in Relation to the Supply of Waste Management Services
The Competition and Markets Authority opened a Chapter I investigation on 24 June 2025 into suspected anti‑competitive conduct among three waste‑management firms—Bagnall & Morris, Gaskells (North West), and Ash Waste Services. The probe focuses on possible coordination of pricing or market allocation that could raise...
BEREC Provides Early Assessment of the Digital Networks Act, Welcoming Ambition While Highlighting Areas for Improvement
The European Commission’s Digital Networks Act (DNA) aims to modernise the EU’s connectivity framework, emphasizing resilience, sustainability, and a faster shift from copper to fibre while harmonising spectrum and numbering resources. BEREC, the body of national regulators, issued an early...
15 Regulatory Transaction Reporting Leaders, Europe – (2026 Edition)
European transaction reporting has moved from deadline compliance to demonstrable data control, as regulators tighten focus on quality, reconciliation and traceability. The EMIR Refit, effective April 2024, raised granularity and validation demands, and by early 2026 regulators are actively enforcing...
Fare Dodging: Simon Calder Reveals the Inside Story on the Rules on Rail Tickets and How They Are Enforced
The chief magistrate has quashed 74,000 fare‑dodging convictions, putting a spotlight on rail ticket enforcement. Fare evasion costs the UK rail industry about £330 million (≈ $420 million) a year, roughly 3.2% of total revenue. Penalty fares have risen to £50 (≈ $64) or...
The Prehistoric Advantage: Why Human Contact Still Rules In Court
Trial attorney Susan Cohodes recounts two recent in‑person court hearings that underscored the tactical advantage of face‑to‑face interaction. She argues that meeting clients and opposing counsel in person improves vetting, rapport, and the ability to negotiate settlements, citing that both...
Canal+ Wins French Appeal Court Backing for Anti-Piracy DNS Blocks
Canal+ secured a landmark ruling from the Paris Court of Appeal allowing it to block illegal streaming and IPTV services through alternative DNS providers such as Google, Cloudflare and Cisco. The decision, the first of its kind in France, confirms...
Gig Workers Act 2025: What Employers Must Get Right as Enforcement Kicks in on 31 March
Malaysia will enforce the Gig Workers Act 2025 on 31 March, extending regulation beyond platform operators to any organisation hiring freelance talent. The law mandates clear contracts, transparent payment terms, and registration of gig workers for EPF and SOCSO contributions. Misclassification...
Falsely Accused, Bail Granted; Fraud Was Impersonator Scheme
I want to address what happened to Neeraj and me last week. Of course, it was quite shocking to us as well and honestly very disheartening. But today, we want to talk about what actually happened and more importantly, what...
Brummie Business Bashed for Barrage of Badgering Calls
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office fined Birmingham‑based TMAC £100,000 (about $127,000) after the firm placed more than 260,000 unsolicited calls to people on the Telephone Preference Service between February and September 2024. The calls, which masqueraded as crime‑prevention outreach, specifically...
JobSync Roundtable: Navigating the 2026 OFCCP Regulatory “Seismic Shift”
JobSync announced a virtual roundtable to help federal contractors navigate a sweeping regulatory overhaul. The Department of Labor has revoked Executive Order 11246, restructured the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), and approved a 2026 budget that reshapes affirmative‑action enforcement....
Jury Asks Impossible Foods to Pay Influencer $3.25M in Trademark Lawsuit
A Northern California jury found Impossible Foods willfully infringed two trademarks owned by influencer Joel Runyon’s company, Impossible HQ, ordering the plant‑based meat maker to pay $3.25 million in damages—$1.5 million compensatory and $1.75 million punitive. The verdict follows a five‑year legal battle...
JobSync Roundtable: Navigating the 2026 OFCCP Regulatory "Seismic Shift"
In this episode of the RecTech Podcast, host Chris Russell moderates a JobSync roundtable on the "2026 OFCCP regulatory seismic shift," featuring employment law partner Sheila Abram and HR risk consultant Amanda Bowman. They explain how Executive Order 14173 revoked...
Taking the Battle for Human Attention Seriously
A US jury has held Meta and YouTube liable for deliberately addicting young users, marking the first major legal finding that platforms can be responsible for harming mental health. The verdict frames human attention as a finite, collective infrastructure rather...
So Thomson Reuters Is Betting on Legal LLM's, Here's a Calculation What It Means...
Thomson Reuters announced a $500 million investment to develop a proprietary legal large‑language model (LLM) aimed at automating research and drafting tasks. The company projects the new AI‑driven service could generate $1.2 billion in revenue by 2029, leveraging its existing data assets...
Government Legal Department Names New Perm Sec
Douglas Wilson has been named the next permanent secretary of the Government Legal Department, also assuming the titles of Treasury solicitor and HM Procurator General. Currently director general at the Attorney General’s Office, Wilson will take over from Susanna McGibbon on...
Canal+ Welcomes Paris Court Anti-Piracy DNS Ruling
The Paris Court of Appeal ruled that DNS providers Google, Cloudflare and Cisco must block illegal streaming services, delivering a decisive win for Canal+. The judgment validates blocking via alternative DNS as technically feasible and proportionate, extending earlier rulings that...
SFN, Del Nin Offer Objections To Warshaw Document Request
Connoisseur Media founder Jeffrey Warshaw is suing Audacy Corp’s controlling interest holder, and the case has entered a new discovery phase in Fairfield County Superior Court. Defendants Soros Fund Management (SFN) and Michael Del Nin have formally objected to a third...
Pay Fairly or Face Business Failure Amid New Laws
As the changes to employment law come in next month expect to hear all sorts of pearl clutching from “business” people. If you can’t afford to pay your people properly you don’t have a viable business so I wouldn’t crow...
Comment | A Generational Moment for Nazi-Looted Art Claims in the US
On March 16 the U.S. House approved an expanded Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2025, awaiting President Trump’s signature. The bill makes the six‑year discovery‑based statute of limitations permanent and eliminates technical defenses such as laches, the act‑of‑state...
2025 Year in Review: India - Maintaining the Momentum
India’s arbitration landscape saw significant Supreme Court rulings in 2025, clarifying choice‑of‑law presumptions, the validity of enabling clauses, and the hierarchy of agreements when seats conflict. The Court affirmed tribunals’ power to join non‑signatories and limited courts to merely correcting...
Resilience Is Becoming a Legal Requirement, Not Just an IT Concern
Law firms in South Africa are moving from treating resilience as a pure IT issue to a legal obligation, driven by stricter POPIA enforcement and heightened cyber‑risk. The regulator now expects firms to prove they can maintain operations and recover...
Monday Morning Round-Up
Legal Cheek’s Monday round‑up bundles a spectrum of legal headlines, from UK lawyers suing over robot name trademarks to Apollo and BlackRock denying any pressure on Kirkland in the Optimum lawsuit. In the United States, Meta and Google face a...
FINRA’s “Burdensome” 2.5TB Data Tamed by AWS
@FINRA 's MMAT recent BK response/filling (March 27th) states an estimated 2.5 terabyte of trading data for #MMAT / #MMTLP. They called this BURDENSOME. At first glance perhaps this may look like a big, scary dataset... But lets take a closer...
Committee Can Override Endangered Species Protections for Projects
The committee has the power to override certain legal protections for endangered species put at high risk by proposed industrial projects. Here's what to know https://t.co/CXNyDqUlTD
ULaw Strikes SQE Partnership with Leicester Uni
The University of Law (ULaw) has announced a strategic partnership with the University of Leicester to deliver its SQE‑ready LLM Legal Practice programme from September. The new arrangement allows students to study the full‑time LLM covering SQE1 and SQE2, as...
SCCA Wins Major Concessions over Gift Card Laws
The Australian regulator Austrac finalized AML/CTF amendment rules that exempt gift cards up to AU$5,000 (≈US$3,300) from additional customer due‑diligence requirements. The Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA) lobbied for the change, arguing that gift‑card schemes are low‑risk and already...
Scammers Impersonate Judges in India Scheme
Scammers in India are staging elaborate virtual hearings, posing as judges and police to extort victims after fake digital arrests. Between 2021 and 2025 the scheme has netted roughly $6 billion, with individual losses such as a retired pediatrician’s $1.6 million. The...