 //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591700&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31689905&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591701&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31689905&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591702&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31689905&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591703&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31689905&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591704&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31689905&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
|
|
|
| //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=874768&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31689905&stpe=static” border=”0″ style=”max-height:12px;” /> |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. Law school applications have dropped again, the latest indication that the 2021 pandemic-era surge has fallen off. Meanwhile, the U.S. legal services sector continues to add jobs. On the docket this week, gun regulations go before judges on both coasts, and the 5th Circuit will take up whether to block an Obamacare mandate for some cancer screenings and HIV prevention medication. Plus, will a lawyer be sanctioned for using made-up case citations that he blamed on ChatGPT? We certify no AI was used to create today’s newsletter. Let’s jump in.
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
|
The pandemic-era law school applications frenzy is officially over.
Reporter Karen Sloan looked at the latest data from the Law School Admission Council, and law school applicants were down 2.4% over last year — the second year in a row when the number of people applying to law school dropped. Last year, the number of applications decreased 12%.
It’s further indication that the 13% applicant surge in 2021 was a COVID-19 one-off.
“It’s a return to normalcy,” said Susan Krinsky, the council’s executive vice president for operations. “It’s very consistent with the last five years except for 2021.”
Read more about who is applying — and why competition for spots at the top schools remains stiff.
|
|
|
|
- The U.S. legal services sector continued to add jobs in May, even as the industry grapples with layoffs at some of the highest-grossing law firms in the country. Legal sector jobs totaled 1,180,400 last month, up 700 jobs from April, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The count includes lawyers, paralegals and other legal workers. (Reuters)
- Gambia has hired a U.S. law firm to explore legal action after a government-backed investigation found that contaminated medicines from India were “very likely” to have caused the deaths of children last year. The country’s justice minister did not say who would be the target of potential legal proceedings or name the law firm hired to help. (Reuters)
- Former Ernst & Young national tax deputy director Marjorie Rollinson will be nominated to serve as chief counsel for the IRS, the Biden administration said in its latest announcement of agency leaders. [White House]
|
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
|
That’s the number of enforcement cases that the SEC said it was dismissing after an internal review found enforcement staff had improper access to certain memoranda meant for commission officials ruling on those matters. The SEC also said it was agreeing to lift certain types of industry bans in about 50 cases in which individuals had sought that relief, according to agency staff. An internal SEC review found no evidence that the improper access had any effect on decisions made by either enforcement staff or officials reviewing those cases. The SEC said the cases that will be dismissed involve older conduct.
|
To say that federal appellate courts are at odds on the question of whether corporations can use forum selection clauses to shut down derivative shareholder suits in federal court is a considerable understatement. On Thursday, a sharply divided en banc 9th Circuit panel ruled that The Gap can enforce its forum selection clause to move a shareholder derivative suit alleging misleading diversity disclosures to Delaware Chancery Court, even though Chancery does not have jurisdiction to hear shareholders’ Exchange Act claims. That holding is in contrast with a 2022 7th Circuit ruling that allowed Boeing shareholders to keep litigating derivative claims in federal court despite Boeing’s forum selection clause. The courts are divided on how to interpret both Delaware and federal law. But that’s not all, writes Alison Frankel. The 9th Circuit cast doubt on 1964 Supreme Court precedent, suggesting that shareholders may not be entitled to bring these cases at all.
|
“Simply put, no majority of the Supreme Court has held that sexually explicit — but not obscene — speech receives less protection than political, artistic, or scientific speech.“
|
—U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker, ruling that Tennessee’s law restricting drag performances in public or where children were present was unconstitutional. Parker, an appointee of former President Donald Trump concluded the law was “both unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.” The First Amendment to the Constitution commands that laws infringing on freedom of speech must be narrow and well defined, the judge said. Republican-led efforts have sought to limit drag in at least 15 states in recent months.
|
|
|
|
- Prince Harry will become the first senior British royal to give evidence in court in the last 130 years when he testifies against a newspaper group he accuses in a lawsuit of unlawful behavior. Harry, King Charles’ younger son, is expected to appear in the witness box at London’s High Court as part of the case he and more than 100 other celebrities and high-profile figures have brought against Mirror Group Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. Reporter Sam Tobin has more on what to expect in court.
- In Oregon federal court, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut will hold a trial to consider whether to block the state from enforcing a sweeping gun control law known as Measure 114 that was passed by voters in November. The Democratic-led state has voluntarily agreed to postpone part of the law’s gun permitting regime. The U.S. Supreme Court last year expanded gun rights, and the Oregon case will be a new chance for firearm advocates to test the boundaries of the high court’s ruling. Many states are facing challenges to their regulations of firearms.
- Biotechnology company Illumina is due to file its opening brief in the 5th Circuit to challenge an FTC order requiring the divestiture of cancer diagnostic test maker Grail. San Diego-based Illumina, represented by Cravath, is appealing an April 3 FTC order that said the company’s $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail will curb competition in the cancer-testing market. Illumina has denied the allegations. The appeals court agreed to expedite its consideration of the case over the objection of the FTC. The agency said Illumina had not shown why the appeals court needed to speed up its consideration of the antitrust dispute. Oral argument is scheduled for Aug. 9.
- The Nevada Supreme Court, sitting en banc, is scheduled to hear oral arguments on whether an open-air mall on the Las Vegas strip can get a payout from its insurer after it was forced to close during the pandemic. Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Co says COVID-19 didn’t cause the mall physical damage, so it can’t be covered.
|
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
|
- On Tuesday, a 5th Circuit panel will take up whether to pause enforcing a Texas federal judge’s order that blocked Obamacare’s mandate that health insurance plans cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP), at no cost to patients. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, previously found that the PrEP mandate violated a federal religious freedom law and that other no-cost preventive care mandates were based on recommendations by an illegally appointed task force. O’Connor then blocked the federal government from enforcing the mandates, a victory for conservative businesses and individuals who sued to challenge them in 2020.
- On Wednesday, the 3rd Circuit will hear oral arguments in the gun industry’s challenge to a New Jersey law that expands the liability gun makers and dealers face in the wake of shootings. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, represented by Paul Clement and Erin Murphy of Clement & Murphy, argue that the law is preempted by the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which provides broad protections to the gun industry. The gun group won a preliminary injunction against the state law, which would allow the New Jersey attorney general to bring claims against gun dealers or makers if they fail to enact “reasonable procedures, safeguards, and business practices” before a gun is used in a crime.
- On Thursday, Steven Schwartz of Levidow, Levidow & Oberman faces a sanctions hearing before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan after he admitted to using ChatGPT for a brief in his client’s personal injury case against Avianca Airlines. The brief cited six nonexistent cases. Schwartz said in a court filing he “greatly regrets” his reliance on the technology and was “unaware of the possibility that its contents could be false.”
- On Friday, a 2nd Circuit panel will take up an effort by 1-800 Contacts to reverse a Manhattan federal court’s decision that Warby Parker’s use of “1-800 Contacts” search-engine keyword ads to direct users to its online store did not infringe the contact-lens seller’s trademarks. Warby Parker’s ads are unlikely to confuse potential customers, U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel said in his ruling.
|
- Plaintiffs’ firm Edelson was awarded more than $121 million in legal fees for its lead work on a $415 million class-action settlement for consumers who sued two companies that run virtual casinos. DoubleDown Interactive and International Game Technology denied liability in the settlement, which just won final approval in Seattle federal court. (Reuters)
- The Childhood Leukemia Foundation is suing the FTC in New Jersey federal court, asking a court to stop an investigation into whether it spent more than 90% of donations it receives on fundraising and payroll. The foundation, represented by the New Jersey firm Brach Eichler, argued that the FTC, a consumer protection agency, had no jurisdiction because the group was a nonprofit. (Reuters)
- Indivior agreed to pay $102.5 million to settle claims from multiple state attorneys general accusing it of using illegal tactics to shield its opioid addiction treatment Suboxone from generic competition. Lawyers from Hogan Lovells and Jones Day represent Indivior, which did not admit liability. (Reuters)
|
|
|
Companies hoping to market goods as sustainable breathed a sigh of relief when retailer H&M beat a class action claiming its “Conscious Choice” line of products failed to live up to the FTC’s guides for environmental marketing. But companies should still be careful — and knowledgeable about the FTC’s guidance on that type of marketing, write Tiffany Ferris, Joseph Lawlor and Emily Ketterer of Haynes and Boone.
|
|
|
Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletter or other Reuters news content.
Get Reuters News App
Want to stop receiving this newsletter? Unsubscribe here.
To manage which newsletters you’re subscribed to, click here.
|
|
|
|
