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
Good-Faith Investigation Defeats Preindictment Delay Challenge
The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s dismissal of trade‑secret and wire‑fraud counts, holding that a prolonged good‑faith investigation does not violate the Due Process Clause. The court applied clear‑error review to factual findings but de novo review to the legal determination of pre‑indictment delay. It emphasized that appellate courts must balance governmental justification against any prejudice, and found the government’s delay justified. The decision remands the case for further proceedings.
Belgian Authorities Mixed up EU Lawmaker with Namesake in Huawei Bribery Probe
Belgian prosecutors admitted they mistakenly implicated EU lawmaker Daniel Attard in a Huawei bribery probe, confusing him with a Maltese businessman of the same name. The error surfaced after the MEP asked for a double‑check of the suspect’s identity. The...
Littler Lightbulb – February 2026 Employment Appellate Roundup
The February 2026 appellate roundup highlights several pivotal employment‑law decisions. The Fifth Circuit affirmed that overtime liability hinges on an employer’s actual or constructive knowledge of hours worked, rejecting a contractor’s claim of unlimited‑hour entitlement. The Sixth Circuit required age‑discrimination...
The Supreme Court’s Favorite New Excuse to Rule Against LGBTQ+ Kids
The Supreme Court’s preliminary ruling in Mirabelli v. Bonta struck down California’s policy against forced outing of LGBTQ‑identifying students, framing the practice as a due‑process violation for parents even without religious objections. The decision builds on the Court’s earlier Mahmoud...
Proskauer Bolsters Private Funds Platform
Proskauer Rose announced a series of senior hires to expand its private funds platform, adding partners with deep experience in fund formation, regulatory compliance, and capital‑markets transactions. The new talent bolsters the firm’s ability to serve private‑equity, venture‑capital and hedge‑fund...
New Reporting Requirement Under FinCEN's 'Residential Real Estate Rule' In Effect as of March 1, 2026
Effective March 1, 2026, FinCEN’s Residential Real Estate Rule mandates filing a Real Estate Report for every non‑financed transfer of residential property to an entity or trust, regardless of value. The rule replaces the previous geographic targeting orders with a permanent, nationwide...
Top Biglaw Firm Debuts Nonequity Partnership Tier, Moving Goalposts Just A Bit Further
Sidley, the sixth‑ranked firm on the 2025 Am Law 100, announced an income‑partner tier that creates a nonequity partnership level. The move follows a wave of Biglaw firms—starting with Cravath’s salaried partner tier in 2023 and later Paul Weiss, WilmerHale, and...
Trump Administration Sues California Over Tailpipe Emissions Limits
The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against California challenging its stringent tailpipe emissions standards, arguing they force an unlawful rapid shift to electric vehicles. The suit follows congressional action that blocked California's plan to ban new gasoline car sales by...
Banking Regulators Plan to Ease Some Capital Requirements
U.S. regulators will propose easing Basel III endgame capital rules. Fed Vice Chair Michelle Bowman said duplicative capital‑calculation requirements will be removed and adjustments made for trading and mortgage exposures. The changes aim to shrink banks’ reserve buffers, freeing funds for...
Trump Administration Has Scaled Back Oversight of Student Loan Servicers, Congressional Watchdog Finds
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the U.S. Department of Education halted its accuracy and call‑quality assessments of federal student‑loan servicers in February 2025, shortly after the Trump administration cut roughly half of the Education Department’s staff. This scaling back...
Pharmaceutical Executive Daily: Senate Democrats Seeking Information on MFN Pharma Deals
Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Ron Wyden, have sent letters to eleven pharmaceutical companies demanding details on their most‑favored‑nation (MFN) agreements and whether those prices generate real savings for Medicaid, with a March 23 response deadline. The inquiry follows earlier requests...
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-1230842275-220093c3ea0f42dd8809b3a62973883d.jpg)
How the SEC Regulates Short Selling
The SEC continues to refine short‑selling regulations, balancing market stability with the benefits of price discovery. Historical measures such as the uptick rule and Regulation SHO laid groundwork for modern oversight, while the 2023 reporting mandate now forces institutional investors to...
Electronic Registration and Listing Compliance Program
The FDA’s Electronic Registration and Listing Compliance Program (eDRLS) safeguards the accuracy of drug registration and listing data that underpin inspections, electronic prescribing, and reimbursement systems. While automated validation rules catch many errors, the program also employs manual surveillance to...
Littler Lounge: Unpacking the EU Pay Transparency Directive
Littler’s latest Lounge episode examines the EU Pay Transparency Directive as it takes shape across member states. The discussion outlines new recruiting disclosures, employee pay‑information rights, and varying reporting thresholds that firms must navigate. Hosts emphasize the need for precise...
Congress Curbs Investors in Housing, Ignores Health Care
It's interesting that Congress is moving to restrict institutional investors from buying up homes, but there's no similar effort for health care.
Lawfare Live: The Trials of the Trump Administration, March 13
Lawfare will host a live webinar on March 13 at 4 pm ET featuring editor Benjamin Wittes with senior editors Kate Klonick and Roger Parloff. The discussion will cover Anthropic’s lawsuit against the Department of Defense’s supply‑chain risk designation, questions about...
The Inheritance Mistake that Can Tear Families Apart
Estate planning often pits equal splits against equitable distributions, especially when adult children have vastly different financial circumstances. Harry Margolis advises parents to address disparities through lifetime assistance or specialized tools rather than altering the will. Strategies like special‑needs trusts...
One Claude AI Replaces Entire Legal Review Team
my new favorite hobby is reading about Anthropic's internal AI workflows this one especially caught my attention: anthropic's ENTIRE legal review process is now handled by just 1 Claude system a single non-technical lawyer vibe-coded and it cut turnaround time by 80% here's...
SJC Affirms Whistleblower Protection for Employees Involved in the Wrongdoing They Report
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed that the state Whistleblower Act shields employees even when they are involved in the wrongdoing they report, as held in Galvin v. Roxbury Community College. Thomas Galvin, the college’s chief compliance officer, was terminated after...
Lack of Clarity Fuels Legal Risks and Security Threats
‘What happens if we don't get Clarity?’ In this episode of DEX in the City, hosts Vy Le, KK Bos & Jessi Brooks dig into: 🤔 Whether regulatory guidance could suffice in the place of the Clarity Act 💀 How...
The Problem with AI Companies ‘Starting Fresh’.
The article warns that AI music platforms have built their models on unlicensed recordings, especially from independent artists, and are now proposing “walled‑garden” licensing schemes with major labels. While Warner has struck a dual‑use deal, Suno and other firms reject...
Advanced Air Mobility Takes Off Under the FAA’s eIPP, While Intellectual Property Tensions Rise
On March 9, 2026 the U.S. DOT and FAA unveiled the Advanced Air Mobility and eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), selecting eight multi‑state projects to begin real‑world operations by summer 2026. The program gives manufacturers a structured pathway to fly in national...
IRS Clearing up Arbitrage Rules
The Internal Revenue Service issued a six‑page notice proposing amendments to the tax‑exempt refunding bond regulations. The changes would formally include 90‑day Treasury certificates in the definition of tax‑exempt bonds, clarifying how proceeds moved from State and Local Government Series...
Does Federal Law Still Preempt State Standards Relating to Fuel Efficiency?
The U.S. Justice Department sued to block California’s electric‑vehicle fuel‑efficiency rules, arguing that federal CAFE standards preempt state action. A recent reconciliation bill stripped CAFE penalties for light‑vehicle fleets, effectively turning the standards into a voluntary program. The author contends...
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/GettyImages-1347124965-caed4aeab46f4ab297f1affa444a3d88.jpg)
Republicans Propose Cutting Capital Gains Taxes on Home Sales to Boost the Housing Market
Republican lawmakers have asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to use executive authority to index capital gains on primary residences to inflation. Indexing would adjust the cost basis, potentially reducing taxable gains for long‑term homeowners, especially higher‑income sellers. The proposal builds...
ERI Files Suit Alleging Theft of Trade Secrets
ERI, a Fresno‑based electronics recycling firm, filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against Revivn Public Benefit Corp., alleging theft of trade secrets. ERI claims Revivn poached senior employees, including former senior director Justin LeDoux and logistics director Ross...
Federal Court of Appeal Rules in Hershey’s Favour in Trademark Dispute with PIM’s SWISSKISS
The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed Promotion in Motion’s appeal, upholding the earlier finding that its SWISSKISS marks are likely to confuse consumers with Hershey’s chocolate trademarks, particularly the KISS element. The court affirmed that the SWISS component is merely...
Search for Pharmaceutical Quality Documents
The FDA has released an online searchable table of 249 pharmaceutical quality‑related guidances, MAPPs, and compliance programs. Recent entries include the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) Process Inspection compliance program (Sept 2025) and guidance on outsourcing facility inspections (Jan 2025). Topics span drug...
Discovery As Truth-Seeking: Win Hard Without Playing Hide-The-Ball
The on‑demand InfoTrack webinar, presented by attorney Drew Levine, teaches litigators how to balance broad discovery rights with privacy concerns. It covers proportionality, managing electronically stored information, and differences between state and federal discovery rules. The tutorial emphasizes practical, results‑focused...
FDA’s Labeling Resources for Human Prescription Drugs
The FDA provides a comprehensive suite of labeling resources aimed at industry staff who develop human prescription‑drug labeling, including DailyMed, Drugs@FDA, FDALabel, and Medication Guides. These tools grant access to over 140,000 labeling documents and detailed regulatory histories. The agency...
The $1.6 Million Weekend: Why Simple API Gateways Fail in the Agentic Era
An enterprise AI contract‑review API that costs $1.58 per document exploded to a $1.6 million bill when exposed as an agentic API. An autonomous agent retried a single request thousands of times, and the pattern repeated across thousands of contracts, revealing...
Intel Derivative Suit Tests Governance Implications of Government Equity Stakes
On March 5 2026 a Intel shareholder filed a sealed derivative complaint in Delaware alleging that the company’s board breached fiduciary duties by accepting a roughly 9.9% equity stake from the U.S. government. The stake, part of an $11.1 billion federal investment tied...
Sen. Blumenthal Announces Bill To Regulate Prediction Markets
Sen. Richard Blumenthal introduced the Prediction Markets Security and Integrity Act, targeting prediction‑market platforms that allow wagers on geopolitical events, insider trading, and underage gambling. The bill seeks to ban war‑related bets, impose consumer‑protection safeguards, and align these platforms with...
Why AI Summarization Is One of the Best Use Cases for GenAI in Legal Today
Legal firms are increasingly deploying generative AI to summarize contracts, pleadings, and discovery material, turning thousands of pages into concise briefs within minutes. The technology leverages large language models fine‑tuned on legal corpora, delivering context‑aware abstracts that preserve critical clauses...
CFTC Launches Sweeping Review of Prediction Markets
The CFTC issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and a staff advisory to craft a comprehensive regulatory framework for prediction markets. The agency highlighted a surge in market activity, with open interest surpassing $1 billion and monthly on‑chain volumes jumping...
EncorEstate Introduces Standalone Special Needs Trust for Advisors
This is a challenging spot, because if you don't outright specialize in clients with special needs children, most advisors may only come across these scenarios once or twice in a career, and won't necessarily have a good network of attorneys...
CRA Refused to Cancel TFSA Overcontribution Tax
Canadian taxpayers continue to face TFSA overcontribution penalties, highlighted by a recent Federal Court case where the CRA’s denial of relief was upheld. The plaintiff had accumulated over $300,000 in excess contributions between 2021‑2023 and sought a waiver, arguing that...
Bob Robertson Discusses Leveraging AI to Analyze Client Data
Bob Robertson addressed Legalweek 2026’s Day 3 session, highlighting how artificial intelligence can integrate, synthesize, and analyze disparate client data for law firms. He emphasized AI‑driven platforms that translate complex datasets into intuitive visualizations for attorneys. The discussion underscored real‑time...
Fourth Circuit Publicly Admonishes Lawyer for "Citations to Nonexistent Judicial Opinions"
The Fourth Circuit issued a public admonishment to attorney Eric Nwaubani after his appellate briefs cited three nonexistent judicial opinions, a mistake the court linked to possible generative AI use. The panel found his conduct violated Local Rule 46(g)(1)(c) and...
Pennsylvania Faces Soft Fracking Ban—Public Must Speak Up
I don’t think Pennsylvanians understand how big of a deal this is for the health of our state. This would ultimately be a soft ban on fracking in the state. When comment periods open later this year, we have to...
Judge Disqualifies Alina Habba, Threatening NJ Mortgage Fraud Lead
Hideous handling of #AlinaHabba may jeopardize #NJ lead in #mortgagefraud cases. She+3 successors all disqualified by a federal judge. #realestate #CRE #mortgage #PamBondi #Trump https://t.co/qjSREOwVWm
One Year After Green Bank’s Demise, Court Mulls Future of Grant-Based Climate Policy
A coalition of major tech firms, including Google and Tesla, is rallying to expand U.S. power‑grid capacity as policymakers seek faster upgrades. The Department of Energy has opened a $1.9 billion funding opportunity aimed at urgently needed grid modernization projects. Parallel...
CFTC to Impose Strict Rules on Manipulable Prediction Markets
CFTC to set ‘rules of the road’ for prediction markets, Chair Selig says The guidance warns exchanges to avoid listing contracts that could be easily manipulated, citing examples such as bets tied to injuries or other narrowly defined sports outcomes. https://t.co/Dr13o6VPmA
Bonta: Trump's Antitrust Tactics Favor Winners, Hurt Competition
CA AG Rob Bonta says Trump's antitrust approach "is not fueling competition or protecting workers. He is handpicking winners and losers."
Docs Expose CBP’s Use Of Ad Data To Track People’s Movements
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been buying location data from the online advertising ecosystem, allowing the agency to track individuals' movements with minute‑level precision. The practice leverages advertising identifiers (AdIDs) that link devices to real‑time bidding markets, bypassing the...
California AG Calls for AI Bias Limits to Protect Communities
CA AG Rob Bonta says of AI that state "must do everything we can to limit bias in AI and disenfranchising people of color."
California AG: AI's Wild West, But Not Lawless
California AG Rob Bonta says while AI may be the "Wild West" it is not above the law.
California AG Warns Nexstar‑Tegna Merger Harms Competition
California AG Rob Bonta blasts proposed Nexstar-Tegna deal, saying if deal goes through a "a single massive company will have outsized influence" and consumers will suffer higher prices and less access to news and sports.
California AG Vows Tough Review of Paramount‑Warner Merger
CA AG Rob Bonta says his office will be vigorous in its review of Paramount - Warner deal. Concern of higher consumer costs, job loss, etc.
California AG Calls Live Nation Settlement Weak, Illegal Monopoly
CA AG Rob Bonta says Live Nation settlement is "very weak" and "inadequate." Live Nation "acted illegally and created a monopoly." Says State AGs will continue trial if it can't reach a more fair settlement."