Retired liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer plans to get back to hearing cases by sitting as a visiting judge on the federal appeals court in Boston. Breyer, who served on the 1st Circuit for 14 years before joining the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994, revealed his plans during a podcast interview with Democratic strategist James Carville released on Thursday. Read more.
Donald Trump suffered a pair of legal setbacks on Thursday as judges spurned his calls to dismiss criminal charges over the former president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 loss in Georgia and keeping classified records after leaving office … On Wednesday, Trump lost a bid to delay his hush money trial … Trump will be deposed later this month in a dispute with the co-founders of his media company, which went public last week … And the $175 million bond Trump posted as he appeals a $454 million fraud judgment is being questioned by the New York AG. There will be a hearing on April 22.
IP …
Apple, Google and other major tech companies again failed to convince a California federal court that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office unlawfully implemented a rule that reduced the number of patent-validity reviews the office considers … A New York court rejected a bid by authors to block OpenAI cases from The New York Times and others … George Carlin’s estate settled a lawsuit over an AI-generated comedy routine … Coach sued Gap for selling “Coach” T-shirts.
Legal industry …
A study found that law student diversity, especially at top schools, shrank after affirmative action bans … Deans from 26 law schools asked the ABA to pull back on a proposal to approve fully online law schools … After a two-year slump, bar exam data bodes well for February pass rates … U.S. law firms rode a rising M&A wave in Q1 … And the number of law firm mergers in the first three months of 2024 was 25% higher than in the same time period in 2023.
A squabble playing out in consolidated litigation against diet and diabetes drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly highlights important questions about how courts should decide who will lead these sweeping cases. Should judges allow lawyers to pick their own leadership structure? Or must courts throw open the process to all candidates and independently decide who is best? Alison Frankel explains whyexplains why that’s the question Judge Gene Pratter will now have to answer.
