Schultz's Words To Starbucks Barista Are Illegal, NLRB Says

By Beverly Banks

Starbucks broke federal labor law when former CEO Howard Schultz told a pro-union worker they could "go work for another company" if they weren't happy at the coffee chain, the National Labor Relations Board concluded Wednesday, finding Schultz's "generic assurances against retaliation" didn't let the company off the hook.

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Kroger Partner Denies At Trial It Will Flip Acquired Stores

By Thy Vo and Greg Lamm

The grocery wholesaler set to take on hundreds of stores if Kroger's $25 billion merger with Albertsons goes through defended its ability to meet the challenge Wednesday, with its CEO and a potential executive testifying in parallel proceedings in Colorado and Washington state.

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NY Judge Not Confused By Irish Butter Packaging

By Andrew Karpan

The company behind the Kerrygold butter brand has failed to convince a federal judge in New York that consumers were confused by a smaller, newer Irish butter brand, per a ruling that called the businesses' respective packaging "markedly dissimilar."

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Freshworks Can't End Investors' IPO Disclosure Suit

By Sydney Price

A California federal judge has told software company Freshworks it cannot escape a proposed investor class action alleging it omitted information from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings when it made its initial public offering, saying the court cannot currently decide if its alleged omissions damaged investors.

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DOJ Says Info Sharing Alone Can Violate Law In Pork Case

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice told the court overseeing a case accusing major pork producers of colluding to raise prices the exchange of competitively sensitive information, even in aggregated form, can violate the antitrust laws.

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GNC Wins $45M In Awards Against Asian Franchisees

By Joyce Hanson

GNC Holdings LLC has said the International Centre for Dispute Resolution informed the health and wellness company of nearly $45 million it has won in arbitral awards against franchisees located in Singapore and the Philippines.

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Fed. Circ. Orders Damages Redo In $11M Meat Sorter IP Fight

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday called for a new damages trial in Provisur Technologies Inc.'s $10.5 million patent infringement win over Weber Inc., taking issue with how a Missouri federal court looked at willfulness and apportionment.

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9th Circ. Won't Force New Factory Farm Water Regs On EPA

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday tossed green groups' lawsuit seeking to revive their petition for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to create new, stronger Clean Water Act regulations for large animal feeding facilities.

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Enviro Groups Step Up Effort To Block JBS' US Listing

By Tom Zanki

Eighteen sustainability-focused investor groups are urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to reject a potential U.S. stock listing by Brazilian meat conglomerate JBS SA, alleging the company is misleading the public regarding climate risks posed by its operations.

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Chinese Food Biz To Go Public Via $523M SPAC Merger

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Blank-check company Iron Horse Acquisition Corp., advised by Lucosky Brookman LLP, on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to merge with and take public China Food Investment in a deal valued at $523 million.

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Secret Service Failures Offer Lessons For Private Sector GCs

The Secret Service’s problematic response to two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump this summer provides a crash course for general counsel on how not to handle crisis communications, says Keith Nahigian at Nahigian Strategies.

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These Are The Legal Chiefs Who Command Top Dollar

By Michele Gorman

With the increasingly dynamic role of the top corporate lawyer playing out across sectors — as well as stock awards that far outpace the amounts they see in their salaries and bonuses — the pay packages for most general counsel and chief legal officers continue to stay strong.

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The 2024 Compensation Report: General Counsel

Law360 Pulse looks at the pay of the best-compensated legal chiefs at S&P 500 companies. Find out who’s making the most and which law firms and schools have the most alumni in these high-profile posts.

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SEC's Top Cop Departing After Record-Breaking Tenure

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that enforcement director Gurbir Grewal will be leaving the agency next week following a three-year tenure, during which the agency brought in record penalties and frequently clashed with crypto industry participants objecting to a string of lawsuits brought under Grewal's leadership.

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NYC Mayor Adams May Face More Charges, Feds Say

By Frank G. Runyeon

Prosecutors told a Manhattan federal judge Wednesday it was "possible" they would charge New York City Mayor Eric Adams with additional crimes in his corruption case, indicating they have evidence he told witnesses to lie to the FBI.

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Bullying In Law Is Pervasive, Drives Turnover, Ill. Attys Say

By Aebra Coe

Nearly a quarter of those who responded to a recent large-scale survey of Illinois lawyers said they had been bullied at work within the last year, with those numbers spiking among women and other traditionally underrepresented attorneys in the profession, a report released Tuesday found.

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Ex-Federal Judge's Sex Misconduct Spurs New Criminal Trial

By Ryan Boysen

The sexual misconduct scandal that toppled a federal judge in Alaska has now caused a criminal conviction to be overturned, despite prosecutors' insistence that the judge's "out-of-court judicial misconduct" had no effect on the trial.

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Progressive Group Staffs Up For Judicial Nominee Fights

By Courtney Bublé

With a little over a month until Election Day, a progressive organization announced a slate of new hires to prepare for judicial confirmation battles and fight for court reform on Wednesday.

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Maine's First Female Federal Judge To Take Semiretired Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S District Judge Nancy Torresen, the first woman to hold a federal judgeship in Maine, will take semiretired status next year.

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Cahill Adds House Oversight Atty Who Handled Biden Probe

By Rachel Scharf

Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP announced Wednesday it hired the former head lawyer for the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, whose work includes guiding an impeachment probe into President Joe Biden.

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Kirkland Accuses Ex-IP Atty Of Delaying Bias Suit Discovery

By Dorothy Atkins

Kirkland & Ellis LLP told a California federal magistrate judge Wednesday that a former Kirkland intellectual property associate has delayed discovery production in her discrimination lawsuit against the firm, arguing that her discovery responses cite an erroneous legal standard, are non-committal and are "not even close to being proper."

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Q&A

Fried Frank's M&A Co-Head Views Rate Cuts, AI With Caution

By Al Barbarino

While it might be tempting to jump with joy about the Federal Reserve's recent rate cut, Philip Richter, co-head of Fried Frank's mergers and acquisitions practice, takes a more measured view. Here, Law360 talks to Richter about the rate cut, the upcoming presidential election, artificial intelligence and more.

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Tenn. Atty Sues Federal Court, Judges Over Gag Order Rule

By Jack Karp

A rule of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee barring attorneys from making "any extrajudicial statements" about cases pending in the district violates the First Amendment and should be blocked, according to a Nashville civil rights lawyer.

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MSU Halted Paying Legal Bills After Critical Report, Firm Says

By Danielle Ferguson

Michigan State University stopped paying outside counsel to defend its board of trustees chair after an investigative report appeared to support claims the chair bullied colleagues, the counsel said, filing a state complaint seeking two months' worth of fees.

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