Feature

4 Benefits Appellate Arguments To Watch In October

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Fourth Circuit will consider a drugmaker's challenge to a West Virginia state law restricting access to the abortion drug mifepristone and Ohio pension funds are seeking to revive an investor class action at the Second Circuit, while the First and Ninth Circuits will take up executive compensation disputes. Here are four appellate arguments in October involving employee benefits that attorneys may want to keep on their radar.

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Justices Take Up Cornell University Workers' ERISA Fight

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear Cornell University employees' push to revive a class action alleging their retirement plan was mismanaged, giving the high court a chance to weigh in on the pleading standards for a prohibited transaction claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

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Top 5 Supreme Court Cases To Watch This Fall

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear several cases in its October 2024 term that could further refine the new administrative law landscape, establish constitutional rights to gender-affirming care for transgender minors and affect how the federal government regulates water, air and weapons. Here, Law360 looks at five of the most important cases on the Supreme Court's docket so far.

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DOL Urges 11th Circ. To Back Arbitration Denial In ESOP Row

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Department of Labor urged the Eleventh Circuit to reject arbitration in a proposed class action alleging a legal technology firm undervalued company shares when it shut down its employee stock ownership plan, arguing that the arbitration provision clashed with federal benefits law.

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Pool Equipment-Maker Sinks Shareholder Suit, For Now

By Sydney Price

A New Jersey federal judge Wednesday dismissed a proposed investor class action against pool supply company Hayward Holdings Inc. over claims that the company concealed it was struggling with ballooning inventory and lowered demand, saying the investors do not sufficiently explain why the alleged misstatements cited in the complaint are actionable.

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Up First At High Court: Civil Rights, Ghost Guns, Atty Fees

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court reconvenes Monday to start a brand-new term, with the justices first hearing arguments related to prerequisites for litigating federal rights in state courts, ghost gun regulations, and whether a death row inmate is entitled to a new trial after a state admits that prosecutorial misconduct might have led to his conviction.

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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys

Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.

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Bonus Spotlight

Texas Boutique Tops Cravath As Compensation Season Starts

By Anna Sanders

Texas healthcare boutique Gjerset & Lorenz LLP is surpassing the prevailing associate salary scale that Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP set last year by as much as $40,000, according to a report.

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Ex-Mayer Brown Chair Helman Recalled As Steadfast Leader

By Andrea Keckley

Former Mayer Brown chair Bob Helman, who stepped up to lead his firm through a fraught juncture in the 1980s during his decades in Chicago's legal community, has died at 90 years old, the firm said Friday.

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Massachusetts' Chief Federal Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of Massachusetts has notified President Joe Biden he will take senior status on July 31, 2025, the court announced Monday.

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9th Circ. Nixes Judicial Complaint Over Atty 'Disbar' Threat

By James Mills

The Ninth Circuit has rejected a judicial misconduct complaint against a judge who allegedly suggested that he could "disbar" a lawyer.

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6 High Court Cases To Watch For Trial Attorneys

By Cara Salvatore

As the U.S. Supreme Court lifts the curtain on a new term, the justices are slated to consider a variety of cases impacting the work of trial litigators, including a death penalty case over a state-disavowed conviction, the boundaries of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and corporate veil piercing.

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Analysis

Sparring With Adams, Feds Shadowbox The Supreme Court

By Chris Villani and Phillip Bantz

The corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams may be the next front in an ongoing clash between federal prosecutors' desire to police official misconduct and a line of U.S. Supreme Court cases holding that alleged graft does not always amount to a federal crime.

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Analysis

State Courts Splitting Over Future Of Climate Change Suits

By Keith Goldberg

Recent decisions on whether climate change suits brought by state and local governments against fossil fuel companies can go forward are exposing splits between state courts over whether they can impose liability for pollution that originates beyond their borders, legal experts say.

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New Bill Would Enact 'Commonsense' Litigation Disclosures

By Courtney Bublé

A top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee announced Monday he introduced legislation to require the disclosure of parties receiving payments in civil lawsuits, a phenomenon known as "third-party litigation financing," in order to prevent abuses in the legal system.

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Court Punts Case Over Trump's 'Eating The Dogs' Comments

By Ryan Harroff

An Ohio county prosecutor is better suited than a court to decide if criminal charges are warranted against Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate JD Vance for allegedly fueling harassment, including bomb threats, against Haitian migrants, an Ohio court has ruled.

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