Montana Justices Uphold Temporary Block On Trans Care Ban

By Gianna Ferrarin

Montana's highest court delivered a key victory for transgender youths and healthcare practitioners on Wednesday in a decision finding that privacy rights afforded by Montana's constitution favor a halt to the state's ban on gender-affirming care while litigation against it proceeds.

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Kirkland-Led Patient Square Pays $4.1B For Animal Health Co.

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Healthcare-focused private equity firm Patient Square Capital on Wednesday unveiled plans to acquire and take private dental and animal health distributor Patterson Companies Inc. in a $4.1 billion deal built by several law firms.

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Neb. Medical Pot Legalization Hit With New Legal Challenge

By Sam Reisman

A Republican former Nebraska state senator and opponent of cannabis reform has launched a new lawsuit aiming to invalidate a pair of ballot measures legalizing and regulating medical marijuana which supermajorities of Nebraskans approved on Election Day.

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Ga. Judge Refuses To Reconsider Toss Of Patient Data Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia federal judge has refused to reconsider the dismissal of a proposed class action alleging Piedmont Healthcare Inc. unlawfully shared patients' health data with Facebook via the company's tracking pixel tool.

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AADI Enlists NY Court To Enforce Cancer Drug Award

By Caroline Simson

California-based AADI Bioscience Inc. is asking a New York federal court to enforce an arbitral award rejecting a more than $15 million claim asserted by a Hong Kong biopharmaceutical company following a dispute over a deal to market a new cancer drug in China.

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High Court Bar's Future: Haynes Boone's Daniel Geyser

By Katie Buehler

Daniel L. Geyser of Haynes and Boone LLP is an unconventional U.S. Supreme Court advocate in every respect, from the path he forged to become one of the high court's frequent arguers to the way he runs his current practice from more than half a country away from the nation's capital.

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Predictions For Trump Antitrust Enforcement Of Life Sciences

Key life sciences antitrust issues of the past two administrations may indicate the direction of enforcement during President-elect Donald Trump's second term, including in areas such as drug prices, killer acquisitions and merger remedies, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

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Opinion

6 Changes I Would Make If I Ran A Law School

Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner identifies several key issues plaguing law schools and discusses potential solutions, such as opting out of the rankings game and mandating courses in basic writing skills.

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AI Terms, 'Coffee Badging' Among Top New Words In Law

By Emily Sawicki

Burton's Legal Thesaurus recently announced this year's top new words in law, with entries like "coffee badging" and "hot-tubbing" joining the echelons of 2022's "meme stock" and 2023's "hallucination" as the thesaurus brings to light some of the most novel terms and talking points for lawyers in 2024.

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Bonus Spotlight

Sullivan Matches, Selendy Exceeds Milbank Bonus Scale

By Andrea Keckley and Aebra Coe

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is the latest firm to match Milbank LLP's year-end and special bonus scale, according to a report Thursday, while New York boutique Selendy Gay PLLC said it is exceeding the prevailing scale for its associates.

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Exclusive

NY Courts Defy Watchdog, Won't Release Judicial Ethics Data

By Frank G. Runyeon

Counsel for the New York State Unified Court System told the state transparency watchdog Wednesday it has no obligation to release judges' and court officials' financial disclosure data under public records law.

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JUDGES Act Passes House But Biden Veto Looms

By Courtney Bublé

The House voted 236-173 on Thursday to pass a bill to add more judgeships, which tees it up for a likely veto by the president, as many Democrats have soured on the measure after Donald Trump's victory at the polls.

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High Court Launches Lottery Program For Public Seats

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Thursday that it will begin testing an online lottery system for members of the public who want to reserve courtroom seats for oral arguments ahead of time.

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Ryan Park Withdraws Nomination For 4th Circ. Bench

By Courtney Bublé

Ryan Young Park, solicitor general of North Carolina, has dropped his bid for a seat on the Fourth Circuit after it was clear he would not be getting a vote on the Senate floor.

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Senate Judiciary Committee Sends Last Nominees To Floor

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate Judiciary Committee sent the names of two judicial nominees for California to the full Senate for confirmation on Thursday along party-line votes.

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Ex-OMB GC Mark Paoletta Returns To Role In Trump Admin

By Jack Rodgers

The attorney who served as the general counsel of the Office of Management & Budget in President-elect Donald Trump's first administration has been tapped by the incoming president to once again take the reins of that agency's legal work.

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Albright Confirms Move To Austin, Pending 5th Circ. Sign-Off

By Dani Kass

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright is in the process of moving from the Western District of Texas' Waco division to Austin, and he's just awaiting a vote from the Fifth Circuit Judicial Council, he confirmed Thursday.

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Mazzant To Take Over As EDTX Chief From Gilstrap In March

By Theresa Schliep

The Eastern District of Texas will have a new chief judge next year, with U.S. District Court Judge Amos L. Mazzant slated to take over U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap's role as the top jurist overseeing the nation's busiest patent docket.

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Trump Vows Immediate Jan. 6 Pardons As DOJ Doubles Down

By Elliot Weld

President-elect Donald J. Trump said he plans to issue swift pardons for people accused or convicted of rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to keep him in power, as prosecutors said in one case that accepting such a pardon would amount to an admission of guilt.

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Biden Commutes Nearly 1,500 Sentences In Clemency Record

By Marco Poggio

President Joe Biden announced Thursday he was commuting the prison sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans he said had successfully rehabilitated themselves, the largest number ever in a single day, according to a statement by the White House.

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Ex-FBI Informant Admits To False Accusations In Biden Case

By Anna Scott Farrell

A former FBI informant accused of making fake criminal accusations against President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, will plead guilty to tax evasion and falsifying records in a federal investigation, according to a deal filed Thursday in a California federal court.

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Newman Gets Amicus Support At DC Circ. In Suspension Row

By Adam Lidgett

Two amici threw their support behind U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman at the D.C. Circuit on Thursday, with one free-market think tank criticizing what it said was the secrecy surrounding the disciplinary proceedings against Judge Newman over her refusal to participate in an investigation into her fitness to serve as a Federal Circuit judge.

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Former CFO Admits To Stealing $1.3M From SF Law Firms

By James Boyle

A former chief financial officer of two San Francisco law firms admitted to stealing more than $1.3 million from his former employers via several fraudulent schemes, including redirecting firm payments to a nonprofit organization he set up privately.

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Keller Postman Sues Jenner & Block In Escalating Tubi Fight

By Rachel Scharf

Keller Postman LLC added a new front Wednesday to its heated legal fight with Jenner & Block LLP, filing a California state court lawsuit accusing the BigLaw firm of employing a host of unethical tactics to gain leverage in mass arbitration against the streaming service Tubi.

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Luchador Law's Bid For Round 1 TM Win May Be Doomed

By Craig Clough

A California federal judge appeared ready Thursday to body-slam personal injury firm Luchador Law's bid to quickly toss a trademark lawsuit by a rival firm that owns the trademark for 1-800-LUCHADOR, saying he thinks the word's meaning is in dispute and issuing a tentative ruling denying the motion.

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Series

Group Running Makes Me A Better Lawyer

The combination of physical fitness and community connection derived from running with a group of business leaders has, among other things, helped me to stay grounded, improve my communication skills, and develop a deeper empathy for clients and colleagues, says Jessica Shpall Rosen at Greenwald Doherty.

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