Massachusetts

  • September 06, 2024

    Morgan Stanley Fined $2M Over First Republic Exec's Trades

    Massachusetts' top securities cop on Friday imposed a fine of $2 million on Morgan Stanley for failing to ensure that a New Republic Bank chairman hadn't relied on insider information when he dumped millions of dollars of the bank's stock in the days and months before its collapse.

  • September 06, 2024

    Mass. Justices Not Wedded To Engagement Ring Precedent

    A fight over a $70,000 Tiffany diamond ring could upend a decades-old Massachusetts precedent that treats engagement rings differently from other gifts, justices on the state's highest court hinted Friday.

  • September 06, 2024

    Workers At GE Aviation Plant Were Paid Late, Suit Claims

    More than 100 employees of a General Electric aviation manufacturing plant in Massachusetts say they were paid late on multiple occasions, in violation of the state's Wage Act, according to a proposed class action filed in state court.

  • September 06, 2024

    Goodwin-Led Cancer Biotech Eyes Roughly $200M IPO

    Drug developer Bicara Therapeutics Inc., advised by Goodwin Proctor LLP, announced on Friday plans to raise around $200 million in its initial public offering, with the proceeds going toward developing bifunctional antibodies designed to treat solid tumors.

  • September 05, 2024

    Clubman Talc Settles Prominent Developer's Asbestos Claims

    The company behind Pinaud Clubman talcum powder products has settled claims that its merchandise contained asbestos and caused cancer in a real estate developer described by attorneys for co-defendant Johnson & Johnson as the "Donald Trump of Springfield, Massachusetts."

  • September 05, 2024

    Mass. Bar Association Prez Aims To Keep New Attys In State

    With so many top law schools in Massachusetts, the state has no problem attracting aspiring attorneys, but keeping them in the state is another matter, said new Massachusetts Bar Association president Victoria "Tori" Santoro, who spoke to Law360 about her plans for her tenure.

  • September 05, 2024

    Circor Dodges SEC Fine As Ex-Exec Faces Falsified Docs Suit

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday said industrial valve manufacturer Circor International Inc. has avoided a penalty after it self-reported and remediated an alleged accounting scheme, while the agency sued a former executive accused of falsifying the financial results for one of the company's business units.

  • September 05, 2024

    Shoemaker Can't Avoid Birkenstock's Copycat Suit

    A Massachusetts-based shoemaker and its manufacturer must face almost every intellectual property claim brought against it by Birkenstock after a federal judge declined to dismiss all but one claim in the popular brand's suit alleging design patent, trademark and trade dress infringement.

  • September 05, 2024

    Liberty Mutual Settles Call Center Workers' Pay Complaint

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Wednesday signed off on a settlement between Liberty Mutual and a group of workers at a call center in Pennsylvania over allegations the insurer forced the employees to perform various tasks before and after their shifts without pay.

  • September 05, 2024

    Flyers Denied $34M Fee For JetBlue, Spirit Deal Challenge

    Airline passengers who launched an antitrust lawsuit over JetBlue's since-scrapped plan to merge with Spirit won't recoup any of the $34 million in legal fees they urged a Massachusetts federal court to award because the travelers can't be considered to have won on their claims, a federal judge in Boston said Thursday.

  • September 05, 2024

    Ex-Defender Wants Judge To Reassess Judiciary Bias Ruling

    A former assistant public defender in North Carolina has asked a Massachusetts federal judge to reconsider his bench ruling siding with the federal judiciary in her due process and equal protection case, saying the facts all point in her favor and the judge misapplied the law in rendering his decision.

  • September 05, 2024

    7-Eleven Owners Not Company Workers, Mass. Justices Say

    The top court in Massachusetts ruled Thursday that 7-Eleven franchise owners aren't employees because they don't perform services for the corporation that licensed them the franchises.

  • September 04, 2024

    Groups Urge DC Circ. To Reject Pharma Terrorism Liability Claims

    Business and nongovernmental organization advocacy groups have urged the D.C. Circuit to rule that terrorism victims can't hold pharmaceutical companies liable for their injuries, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision rejecting similar liability claims against technology companies.

  • September 04, 2024

    Steward Health Gets OK To Sell Mass. Hospitals For $343M

    A Texas bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved Steward Health Care's $343 million sale of six of its Massachusetts hospitals and new funding that will help the company keep its facilities in the Bay State operating.

  • September 04, 2024

    1st Circ. Unsure If Texts In Pot Bribe Case Crossed State Lines

    A First Circuit panel on Wednesday expressed skepticism that the simple sending of an iMessage through an Apple cellphone satisfies the element of wire fraud requiring interstate communication, entertaining a Massachusetts attorney's challenge to his convictions for seeking to bribe a police chief to win a local marijuana license.

  • September 04, 2024

    Mass. Tax Panel OKs Nix Of Value Cut On Renovated Housing

    The owner of a Massachusetts apartment building that contains a commercial space was unable to have the property's valuation reduced because its evidence of comparable sales didn't account for differences in the properties, the state Appellate Tax Board affirmed.

  • September 04, 2024

    Ex-Mass. Pol 'A Little Sloppy' But Not Criminal, Jurors Told

    Former Massachusetts state Sen. Dean A. Tran denied charges Wednesday that he stole pandemic unemployment assistance and cheated on his taxes, with his attorney telling a jury that Tran simply made a series of paperwork "mistakes."

  • September 04, 2024

    Boston College Workers Unveil $330K 401(k) Suit Deal

    A proposed class of Boston College employees asked a Massachusetts federal court to approve a $330,000 settlement with the school to end claims that it paid unnecessarily high recordkeeping fees on its 401(k) plans.

  • September 04, 2024

    Arnold & Porter Adds Mintz Healthcare Enforcement Leader

    After setting up shop in Boston a little less than a year ago, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP announced Tuesday that it was welcoming the co-chair of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC's healthcare enforcement defense group.

  • September 03, 2024

    Nike Wins Pause Of Bra Patent Row As It Seeks PTAB Review

    Nike has been granted a pause of a case alleging its pocket-adorned sports bras violate a small Florida-based apparel company's patents while the athletic wear giant argues to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that such bras are "far from new."

  • September 03, 2024

    Ivy Leaguers Withdraw Opposition To NCAA's $2B NIL Deal

    Two Brown University athletes have withdrawn their opposition to the NCAA's proposed $2.78 billion name, image and likeness settlement, telling a federal judge in California on Tuesday that they've been assured it will not impact their own antitrust case against several Ivy League schools.

  • September 03, 2024

    Aesthetic Laser Co. Tells Jury Of Rival's 'Corporate Raid'

    Medical aesthetic business Cynosure told a Boston federal jury Tuesday that two former employees and an industry rival launched a "calculated corporate raid" by poaching dozens of sales and marketing personnel, violating a host of noncompete and non-solicitation agreements while the departing workers pocketed trade secrets on their way out the door.

  • September 03, 2024

    Healthcare Co. Can't Sink Retirement Plan Management Suit

    A Massachusetts federal judge refused to toss a proposed class action against Cape Cod Healthcare from ex-workers alleging mismanagement of their employee retirement plan, finding workers had plausibly alleged retirees lost out on millions of dollars because of higher recordkeeping costs and subpar investment options.

  • September 03, 2024

    Bain One-Ups KKR's $4B-Plus Bid In Battle For Fuji Soft

    Private equity firm Bain Capital said Tuesday that it made a nonbinding offer to take Fuji Soft private, as Bain pushed the Japanese software developer to open up formal discussions for the $4 billion-plus tender offer so it has a chance to beat out rival bidder KKR.

  • September 03, 2024

    Paul Hastings Adds Ex-Goodwin Tech M&A Partner In Boston

    Paul Hastings LLP announced Tuesday that it has strengthened the firm's global mergers and acquisitions capabilities and emerging companies and venture capital practice by hiring a former Goodwin Procter LLP partner for its Boston office.

Expert Analysis

  • Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?

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    Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • FTC Focus: Exploring The Meaning Of Orange Book Letters

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    The Federal Trade Commission recently announced an expansion of its campaign to promote competition by targeting pharmaceutical manufacturers' improper Orange Book patent listings, but there is a question of whether and how this helps generic entrants, say Colin Kass and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

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    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • What The FTC Report On AG Collabs Means For Cos.

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    The Federal Trade Commission's April report on working with state attorneys general shows collaboration can increase efficiency and consistency in how statutes are interpreted and enforced, which can minimize the likelihood of requests for inconsistent injunctive relief that can create operational problems for businesses, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • When Oral Settlements Reached In Mediation Are Enforceable

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    A recent decision by the New Jersey Appellate Division illustrates the difficulties that may arise in trying to enforce an oral settlement agreement reached in mediation, but adherence to certain practices can improve the likelihood that such an agreement will be binding, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Questions Remain After Mass. Adverse Possession Case

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    A recent Massachusetts Land Court decision, concerning an adverse possession claim on a family company-owned property, leaves open questions about potential applicability to closely held corporations and other ownership types going forward, says Brad Hickey at DarrowEverett.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Cell Therapy Cos. Must Beware Limits Of Patent Safe Harbors

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    Though developers of gene and cell therapy products commonly assume that a legal safe harbor protects them from patent infringement suits, recent case law shows that not all preapproval uses of patented technology are necessarily protected, say Natasha Daughtrey and Joshua Weinger at Goodwin.

  • Why Employers Shouldn't Overreact To Protest Activities

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    Recent decisions from the First Circuit in Kinzer v. Whole Foods and the National Labor Relations Board in Home Depot hold eye-opening takeaways about which employee conduct is protected as "protest activity" and make a case for fighting knee-jerk reactions that could result in costly legal proceedings, says Frank Shuster at Constangy.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

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