Today's Legal Pulse
Biden sues DOJ to block release of interview audio
President Joe Biden has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to prevent the Department of Justice from publishing an audio recording of his interview. The action, reported by Axios and TIME, aims to keep the interview confidential amid political controversy.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader clear final merger hurdles
Former Western New York Man Sentenced for Lying While Testifying During His Fraud Trial
Michael W. Luehrsen, a former Western New York resident now living in Miami, was sentenced to three years of probation after a federal perjury conviction for lying about his whereabouts during a health‑care fraud trial. He must pay roughly $2 million in restitution and forfeit an equivalent amount in assets. Luehrsen claimed he was in California and Boston in 2014, but cell‑phone and financial records proved he was in Buffalo when the alleged prescription fraud occurred. The case resulted from an FBI investigation that linked false testimony to a broader conspiracy to submit altered prescription forms.
Treasury, SEC Crack Down on Fake Charities Funding Terrorists
Treasury + @SecScottBessent have intel and are taking action on fake charities that send cash to Islamist terrorists. Hopefully nobody you know has given money to these + others.
Senate Housing Bill Bars Fed CBDC Until 2030
NEW: 🇺🇸 Senate passes housing bill that includes a ban on a Fed CBDC until 2030
Clara Swinson Appointed as MoJ Second Perm Sec
Clara Swinson, currently second permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, will become the Ministry of Justice’s second permanent secretary in April 2026. Her appointment, approved by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Justice Secretary David Lammy, places her at the helm...
Federal Jury Convicts Three Women For Conspiracy To Commit Wire Fraud Related To Rocky Hill Pharmacy
On March 13, 2026, a federal jury in Knoxville found Tiffany Haney, Anne Warren and Tina Roper guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud after they altered prescriptions and submitted false claims to Medicare, TennCare and other health‑benefit programs. The...
Germany’s Clarified Framework for Enforcement and Recoveries
Germany has issued a clarified enforcement framework that revises its auction rules for collateral sales. The updated regime accelerates liquidation timelines and introduces more transparent valuation criteria. It reshapes intercreditor hierarchies by granting senior lenders clearer priority and forces a...
The 510(k) Pathway in 2026: Navigating a Shifting Regulatory and Political Landscape for Medical Devices
The 510(k) premarket notification pathway continues to dominate U.S. medical device approvals, but recent data show escalating safety failures and a persistent “predicate creep” problem. In Q1 2026 the FDA introduced electronic eSTAR submissions and issued draft guidance on predicate selection,...
GEO for Law Firms: How to Stay Visible When AI Changes the Rules
Artificial intelligence–driven search tools are reshaping how prospective clients discover legal services, shifting the focus from traditional page rankings to AI‑generated citations. Law firms must adopt GEO (or AEO) tactics that prioritize topical authority, structured content, and machine‑readable signals so...
Walmart Names Erin Nealy Cox as New CLO – The Texas Lawbook
Retail giant Walmart has named former Dallas prosecutor Erin Nealy Cox as its chief legal officer, effective April 13, 2026. Cox, who has served as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Dallas since 2021, brings extensive litigation and regulatory...
'No-One Will Hire Women' - India's Top Court Rejects Menstrual Leave Petition
India’s Supreme Court rejected a petition for a national menstrual‑leave policy, warning that mandatory leave would deter employers from hiring women. The bench argued such leave reinforces stereotypes and harms women’s career growth. While several Indian states and private firms...
Do Your Insider Trading Policies Cover The Prediction Markets? Should They? | Regulatory & Compliance
Prediction markets now let participants wager on public‑company events such as stock price moves, earnings‑call language, regulatory outcomes, and management decisions. Although these contracts are structured as event‑based instruments rather than traditional securities, they still rely on the same underlying...
Dragon No Longer in the Cab: Senator Cotton and Rep. Stefanik Quietly Move to Eject China From American Trucking
Rep. Elise Stefanik introduced the Trucking Security and CCP Disclosure Act of 2026, mandating that every carrier in the Department of Defense freight chain certify it has no ownership or control ties to Chinese military‑linked entities. The bill creates a...
'Tang Gold' Is Not Essentially Derived From 'Nadorcott' Plant Variety, Finds Patents Court
The Patents Court ruled that Asda’s “Tang Gold” mandarin is not an essentially derived variety (EDV) of the protected “Nadorcott” cultivar. The judgment hinged on differences in pollen viability and seed production, which the court deemed essential characteristics of Nadorcott....
Suspending Jones Act Could Lower U.S. Fuel Costs
"What the Jones Act does and how a Trump suspension could affect fuel prices" https://t.co/goGJwDm2EN https://t.co/s2CTtPeu6A
SEC Hosts Investor Advisory Committee Meeting
The SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee convened on March 12 to examine public‑company disclosure reform, fund proxy voting, and the tokenization of equity securities. Chairman Paul Atkins advocated a “minimum effective dose” of regulation, using materiality as a guiding principle and...
The 2026 William O. Douglas Award Recipient: Meredith Cross
Meredith Cross, former SEC Division of Corporation Finance Director (2009‑2013), has been named the 2026 recipient of the William O. Douglas Award presented by the Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni. The award, established in 1992, honors SEC alumni...
Centre Proposes Life Term for Forced Transgender Conversion; Moves to Amend 2019 Act
The Union government introduced a Bill to amend the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, imposing life imprisonment for forced conversion of children to a transgender identity and up to ten years for adults, with hefty fines. The amendment...
Warranty Language Might Be Your Biggest Right-to-Repair Liability
The FTC is zeroing in on warranty language as the most tangible right‑to‑repair liability for manufacturers. By tying warranty voiding clauses to third‑party repairs, the agency has leveraged the Magnuson‑Moss Warranty Act and antitrust tools, as seen in recent orders...
Asia Daily: March 13, 2026
China enacted a sweeping ethnic‑unity law that codifies assimilation and expands legal tools to counter Western influence, while a U.S. report highlighted the concentration risk of its nuclear warhead storage at Base 67. In parallel, Beijing widened its ban on BHP...
Transparency Data: CMA Consumer Forum Meeting Notes: 10 February 2026
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published minutes from its Consumer Forum meeting held on 10 February 2026. Senior representatives from consumer advocacy groups convened to discuss emerging market challenges, upcoming investigations, and policy priorities. The forum emphasized integrating consumer perspectives into...
OPBAS Report Exposes Persistent AML Compliance Gaps
The Office for Professional Body Anti‑Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) released its 2024/25 assessment, noting modest progress in AML monitoring across UK legal and accountancy firms but highlighting persistent compliance gaps. HMRC issued 336 penalty notices between April and September 2025,...
FCA Bans Kasim Garipoglu From Working in UK Financial Services
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has permanently barred Kasim Garipoglu from working in UK financial services, deeming him unfit and improper due to pervasive dishonesty and integrity breaches. Garipoglu, who owned and led a foreign‑exchange and CFD brokerage, repeatedly flouted...
How to Cancel a Home Equity Loan | 3-Day Rule
Federal law grants borrowers a three‑business‑day right of rescission for home‑equity loans and HELOCs on their primary residence. The rescission period begins only after the borrower signs the loan, receives the Truth‑in‑Lending disclosure, and gets two copies of the Notice...
Canada Parliament’s Push to Criminalize Hate Crimes Sparks Human Rights Concerns
Canada’s Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights approved Bill C‑9, the Combatting Hate Act, by a 5‑4 vote, moving it toward a third reading. The bill criminalizes the wilful promotion of hatred, including the display of extremist symbols such...
Listen: Could a Registry of Doctors Who Refuse Abortions Improve Access in Spain?
Spain's High Court of Justice ordered Madrid to immediately create a registry of doctors who conscientiously object to performing abortions. The national law, introduced in 2023, obliges all autonomous communities to maintain such lists to ensure women can access legal...
The Cyber Resilience Act and Cloud Native: Understanding the Impact
The EU’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) will become fully enforceable in 2027, extending mandatory cybersecurity requirements to any product with digital elements sold in the EU, including container images, Helm charts and Kubernetes operators. It codifies three core obligations: security‑by‑design...
Manatt Expands National Appellate and Litigation Capabilities with Former First-Chair Federal Prosecutor in San Diego
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips announced that former first‑chair federal prosecutor Zach Howe has joined its San Diego office as a partner. Howe brings more than 50 appellate oral arguments and 11 jury trials, along with extensive experience in federal prosecution...
Six Years After Breonna Taylor’s Death, America Is Weakening the Rules that Could Have Saved Her | Jamil Smith
Six years after Breonna Taylor’s fatal March 2020 raid, the Justice Department quietly eliminated the federal rule that limited the use of no‑knock warrants. The policy, adopted after her death, had required law‑enforcement to announce themselves before entering a home,...
Collection: Just Security’s Coverage of Trump Administration Executive Actions
On Jan. 20, President Trump issued 26 executive orders, launching a wave of policy changes across trade, immigration, national security, and the environment. Just Security has compiled a continuously updated collection that includes a legal‑challenge tracker, a “What Just Happened” explainer...
Churchill Vs. Ex-Manager: Poaching, Severance, ChatGPT
Churchill Mortgage has sued former vice‑president Jeffrey Miller, alleging he poached staff, disclosed confidential performance data, and used AI tools to extract trade secrets for rival Supreme Lending. Miller counters that Churchill owes him $92,805 in severance and claims the...
Mindfulness for Trial Lawyers: Tips for Staying Cool, Calm and Collected In the Courtroom
Trial attorney Miles Feldman argues that traditional trial training overlooks emotional regulation, urging lawyers to adopt mindfulness techniques to stay calm under pressure. He highlights box breathing—a four‑second inhale, hold, and exhale pattern—as a quick tool to reset the nervous...
Oregon Voters Overwhelmingly Said Yes to Limiting Money in Politics. Then Politicians Had Their Say.
In 2020 Oregon voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow campaign‑finance limits with 78% support. After years of inaction, the 2024 law imposed a $3,300 per‑election contribution cap, delayed until 2027 and left corporate donations largely unrestricted. In March 2025...
Most UK Employers Unprepared for Employment Rights Act as 64% of Workers Receive Rotas with No Audit Trail, UKG Finds
UK research by UKG shows 64% of frontline workers receive rota updates via informal channels lacking audit trails, exposing employers to compliance risk under the Employment Rights Act 2025. The new law mandates reasonable notice and compensation for last‑minute schedule...
Congress Blocks States From Banning Inhumane Slaughter Practices
this is torture. (two members of Congress wrote a bill to prevent States from banning this. @RepAshleyHinson @CongressmanGT)
EU-Made Facial Recognition Ended up Scanning Schoolchildren in Brazil
The EU’s AI Act tightly regulates biometric surveillance inside Europe but omits any export‑control provisions. Slovak firm Innovatrics’ facial‑recognition system is now deployed in more than 1,700 public schools in Brazil’s Paraná state, scanning up to one million children daily....
‘Time-Is-of-the-Essence’ Clauses in Private M&A Agreements
The Delaware Supreme Court’s *Thompson Street Capital* ruling applied the equitable doctrine “common law abhors a forfeiture” to a seller’s failure to meet notice‑of‑claims deadlines in a private‑company merger. In response, researchers found that roughly 20% of 4,200 examined private...
Comment: Legalweek’s GenAI Mock Courtroom May Be the Warning Nobody Heeded
LegalWeek’s 2026 mock courtroom debated the defensibility of generative AI (GenAI) for document review, with the mock judge accepting validation statistics as sufficient. The article argues that recall and precision metrics only measure retrieval, not the interpretive judgments that GenAI...
Correspondence: Letter to the CMA on Vigilance for Unjustifiable Price Increases
The UK Chancellor publicly backed the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in its effort to curb unjustifiable price increases on road fuel and heating oil. She warned that companies exploiting the energy crisis for excess profits would face swift action,...
Medicaid Can Share Data with ICE. Here's How that 180-Degree Change Spreads Fear
A December 2025 federal court ruling allows Medicaid to share enrollee names, addresses and immigration status with ICE, overturning long‑standing privacy assurances. The change, initiated by the Trump administration, removes the guarantee that health data would not be used for...
Gap-Filling in Investment Protection Treaties: Dual Nationality and Treaty Silence in UNCITRAL Arbitration – A Comment on Romero V. Ecuador
Romero v. Ecuador, an ad hoc UNCITRAL arbitration, highlighted divergent approaches to treaty silence on dual nationals. The majority tribunal invoked the dominant and effective nationality doctrine to deny jurisdiction, while a dissenting arbitrator argued that, absent explicit treaty language, dual...
Nevada Regulators Fine Peptide Providers at Anti-Aging Festival Where Two Women Became Critically Ill
Nevada regulators fined three individuals and a Texas private membership association for unlicensed peptide injections at the Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival, where two women became critically ill. The doctor and pharmacist each received $10,000 fines, the health coach...
How to Optimize Your Biotech Company for Partnering, Licensing, and Business Success
Janita Good, a Fieldfisher partner with a D.Phil. in biochemistry, offers biotech leaders a roadmap for maximizing partnership and licensing value. She emphasizes initiating pharma discussions early, embedding commercialization plans into R&D, and aligning fundraising expectations with realistic exit timelines....
New Zealand Is About to Ban Affiliate Marketing for Online Casinos. Here Is What That Means.
New Zealand's Online Casino Gambling Bill, expected to pass in 2026, will ban all affiliate marketing and paid influencer endorsements for online casinos. The legislation caps the market at 15 licensed operators, introduces a competitive auction, bans credit‑card and buy‑now‑pay‑later...
‘We Live in One Ocean’: Native Hawaiian Activist Calls for Inclusion in Deep-Sea Mining Decisions
Delegates at the International Seabed Authority (ISA) gathered in Jamaica to push the long‑delayed deep‑sea mining code toward finalization this year. The code will set rules for extracting polymetallic nodules from the Clarion‑Clipperton Zone, a 2.3‑million‑square‑mile area central to the...
24-828 - Bey V. Midwest City City of Et Al
On March 11, 2026, U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin issued an order in Bey v. Midwest City. The court denied the plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration and ruled a pending motion to dismiss as moot, allowing the case to move forward....
‘The Impacts Can Be Substantive’: Arbitrating in a Sanctions Led Environment
The article outlines how the surge of sanctions—particularly the 13,000 measures targeting Russia—has become a central factor in international arbitration. It explains that sanctions affect contract drafting, choice of seat, and institutional rules, creating procedural hurdles such as blocked payments...
India Taps 65m Barrels of Russian Crude
The U.S. Treasury issued a one‑month OFAC wind‑down licence, allowing Russian crude already at sea to complete voyages through April 11. The licence is intended to stabilise energy markets amid the Strait of Hormuz crisis that has disrupted Gulf supplies. Broker...
How the EU Lets Plastic Be Labelled ‘Recycled’ at Just 2.5% Re-Used Content
The European Commission adopted a definition that lets new plastic be marketed as “recycled” with as little as 2.5% waste‑derived material. Chemical‑recycling plants, heavily promoted by oil and plastics firms, have struggled: of the 78 announced facilities, only 18 are...
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Promotes Deputy GC to Top Legal Role
Marriott Vacations Worldwide has elevated deputy general counsel Andrew Marcus to the role of general counsel, succeeding James Hunter who will retire on April 1. Marcus, who joined MVW in 2015 and previously served as deputy GC, brings extensive legal experience across...
Court Upholds Petrofac Deal with Creditors
A Scottish court upheld Petrofac Ltd's company voluntary arrangement (CVA) after a 99% creditor vote, clearing a legal challenge from HM Revenue & Customs. The CVA enables the sale of Petrofac's Asset Solutions business to CB&I on a debt‑free, cash‑free...