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Criminal Practice
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December 12, 2025
2025 Sees State Courts Diverge From Federal Criminal Norms
Some of this year's most notable criminal appellate rulings homed in on differences between state and federal constitutional protections against the most serious punishments, with movement in Michigan, bucking the trend in Wyoming, and an ambiguous but potentially earthshaking decision out of Texas.
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December 11, 2025
Feds Reportedly Fail To Reindict NY AG Letitia James, Again
New York Attorney General Letitia James' attorney Thursday celebrated reports that another Virginia federal grand jury declined to reindict her on charges of mortgage fraud, the second jury in a week to reject a case President Donald Trump had pushed prosecutors to pursue against a political opponent he's called "guilty as hell."
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December 11, 2025
Ex-Abercrombie CEO Headed For Competency Hearing
A New York federal judge said Thursday she will hold a competency hearing for former Abercrombie & Fitch Co. CEO Michael Jeffries to see whether he can stand trial on sex trafficking charges, following recent findings that he's overcome his earlier incompetency.
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December 11, 2025
Colo. Appeals Court Backs New Reasonable Doubt Instruction
A split Colorado appeals court Thursday upheld the use of a new model jury instruction on a reasonable doubt standard that a man convicted of possessing child sexual abuse material said lowered the burden for prosecutors to prove that a defendant is guilty.
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December 11, 2025
Texas Business Group CEO Resigns After Sexual Assault Suit
The CEO of Texas' largest business association has stepped down after a woman who founded a business advocacy group said he attempted to coerce her into a sexual relationship and then assaulted her when she rejected his advances.Â
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December 11, 2025
Former Colo. DA Suspended For Professional Misconduct
A former Colorado district attorney has been suspended from practicing law for six months by a disciplinary judge after failing to adequately prosecute one case, improperly involving himself in another and calling his prior office a "pile of steaming diarrhea and hatred."
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December 11, 2025
5th Circ. Backs Man's Convictions In $3.6M Fraud Scheme
The Fifth Circuit upheld conspiracy convictions for a Dallas man accused of fleecing a bank out of $3.6 million in renewed business loans, after rejecting his argument that the jury's learning of his brother's guilty plea tainted his case, ruling Wednesday that the plea did not directly implicate the man in the conspiracy.
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December 11, 2025
3rd Circ. Won't Toss Drug Plea Over Judge's Involvement
The Third Circuit on Thursday refused to vacate a plea agreement in a drug case, finding that while a Pennsylvania federal judge violated judicial rules by imposing a longer sentence than prosecutors wanted, the defendant was unable to prove that the interference substantially violated his rights.
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December 11, 2025
Terraform Founder Gets 15 Years For 'Epic' $40B Crypto Scam
A Manhattan federal judge hit Terraform founder Do Kwon with a 15-year prison sentence Thursday, saying he caused "real people to lose $40 billion in real money" as he orchestrated a massive fraud that sunk the once high-flying crypto concern.
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December 11, 2025
4th Circ. Suppresses Gun Found In Illegal Traffic Stop Search
A West Virginia man sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for illegal possession of a firearm should not have been searched during a 2023 traffic stop, a unanimous Fourth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, finding that a gun found on him should have been suppressed.
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December 11, 2025
Split Pa. Panel Blocks Police Reports On Liquor Licensee
A trial court was wrong to deny a Philadelphia establishment's appeal for renewal of its liquor license, since nearly a dozen police reports the court considered should have been excluded as hearsay, a split appellate panel said Thursday.
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December 11, 2025
Woman Charged With Fraud Over Gov't Cloud Security Claims
A D.C. federal grand jury indicted a former senior manager of a Virginia-based contractor on fraud, wire fraud and obstruction charges over allegations that she misled the U.S. Army and other agencies about the security of the contractor's cloud-based platform.
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December 11, 2025
Grassley Urges White House To Step It Up On Noms
Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had a message for the White House Thursday: "Get on the ball" with nominations for U.S. attorneys and the judiciary.
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December 11, 2025
Full 11th Circ. Won't Review Marijuana Enhancement Sentence
The Eleventh Circuit, in refusing to rehear the decision, has upheld a 15-year prison sentence for a man who claimed an enhancement to a federal firearms conviction for a marijuana offense violated his rights under the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
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December 10, 2025
DOJ Gets Another OK To Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Docs
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday secured another Manhattan federal judge's permission to unseal grand jury and other evidentiary materials related to the investigation of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with the judge saying that a new law Congress passed "unequivocally" intends for the materials to be public.
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December 10, 2025
Pelosi Attack Footage Unfairly Swayed Jurors, 9th Circ. Told
David DePape urged the Ninth Circuit Wednesday to vacate his conviction and 30-year prison sentence for attempting to kidnap then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and assaulting her husband, arguing the trial judge committed multiple errors, including admitting prejudicial footage of Pelosi's husband lying in a pool of blood.
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December 10, 2025
Calif. Panel Reinstates Child Porn Rap Despite Abuse History
A man who was abused as a child and raped as an adult cannot escape a child pornography conviction by arguing the abuse he endured led to the offense, a California state appeals court has ruled, finding in a reversal that his many traumas made it hard to ascertain a direct link to his crime.
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December 10, 2025
Mich. Justices Ask How To Apply Felony Murder Change
Michigan Supreme Court justices wondered Wednesday about the logistical implications of retroactively applying a 1980 decision that made intent to kill a necessary element for felony murder, pressing attorneys how the top court could lay out a framework for resentencing in nearly 100 potentially affected cases.
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December 10, 2025
High Court Mulls IQ Standards In Death Penalty Cases
Alabama on Wednesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to let the state execute a man whose IQ test scores placed him just above the state's cutoff for intellectual disability — a designation that would forbid his execution as unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.
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December 10, 2025
Trans Woman Sues Hilton Over Security Guard Sex Assault
A transgender woman is suing Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and its affiliates in Texas state court, alleging she was sexually assaulted by a security guard who later used hotel records to find her phone number and send unwanted, sexually explicit videos.
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December 10, 2025
7th Circ. Upholds Tax Conviction Of DHS Special Agent
A jury relied on enough evidence to convict a former U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent of tax crimes related to his secret dealings with drug dealers, the Seventh Circuit said Wednesday, rejecting his claim that proof of his corruption was insufficient.
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December 10, 2025
Guilty Budget Official's Legal Bill Battle Sent To Magistrate
A Connecticut federal judge on Wednesday tapped a magistrate judge to dig into an apparent billing dispute between former state budget official Konstantinos Diamantis and his criminal defense attorney, but he refused to delay a looming bribery trial until he decides whether to allow the lawyer to withdraw.
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December 10, 2025
Court Asks If Morgan Stanley Liable In Alleged $250M Scheme
A Texas appellate court pressed a company to explain how it seeks to hold Morgan Stanley accountable for an executive's alleged kickback scheme involving $250 million in mineral interests, asking Wednesday how the bank bears responsibility if it didn't take part in the underlying contract.
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December 10, 2025
McIver's Immunity Disputed In Detention Center Assault Case
Federal prosecutors asked a New Jersey federal judge to maintain all charges against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, who was accused in an indictment of assaulting federal officers outside an immigration detention center during a scrum in which the mayor of Newark was arrested in May.
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December 10, 2025
Ohio Lawmakers OK Limits On Pot Legalization, Tax Law
Ohio would restrict cannabis use and the sale of intoxicating hemp products with new criminal penalties for certain activities and make other changes to the state's voter-approved marijuana legalization and taxation law under legislation passed by lawmakers and heading to the governor.
Expert Analysis
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NBA, MLB Betting Indictments: Slam Dunks Or Strikeouts?
Recent fraud charges against bettors, NBA players and MLB pitchers raise questions about what the government will need to prove to prosecute individuals involved in placing bets based on nonpublic information, and it could be a tough sell to juries, say attorneys at Ford O'Brien.
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Series
Knitting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Stretching my skills as a knitter makes me a better antitrust attorney by challenging me to recalibrate after wrong turns, not rush outcomes, and trust that I can teach myself the skills to tackle new and difficult projects — even when I don’t have a pattern to work from, says Kara Kuritz at V&E.
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Series
The Biz Court Digest: Welcome To Miami
After nearly 20 years in operation, the Miami Complex Business Litigation Division is a pioneer upon which other jurisdictions in the state have been modeled, adopting many innovations to keep its cases running more efficiently and staffing experienced judges who are accustomed to hearing business disputes, say attorneys at King & Spalding.
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6 Ways To Nuke-Proof Litigation As Explosive Verdicts Rise
As the increasing number of nuclear verdicts continues to reshape the litigation landscape, counsel must understand how to create a multipronged defense strategy to anticipate juror expectations and mitigate the risk of outsize jury awards, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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AI Evidence Rule Tweaks Encourage Judicial Guardrails
Recent additions to a committee note on proposed Rule of Evidence 707 — governing evidence generated by artificial intelligence — seek to mitigate potential dangers that may arise once machine outputs are introduced at trial, encouraging judges to perform critical gatekeeping functions, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.
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Series
The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Getting The Message Across
Communications and brand strategy during a law firm merger represent a crucial thread that runs through every stage of a combination and should include clear messaging, leverage modern marketing tools and embrace the chance to evolve, says Ashley Horne at Womble Bond.
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Opinion
Horizontal Stare Decisis Should Not Be Casually Discarded
Eliminating the so-called law of the circuit doctrine — as recently proposed by a Fifth Circuit judge, echoing Justice Neil Gorsuch’s concurrence in Loper Bright — would undermine public confidence in the judiciary’s independence and create costly uncertainty for litigants, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.
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10 Commandments For Agentic AI Tools In The Legal Industry
Though agentic artificial intelligence has demonstrated significant promise for optimizing legal work, it presents numerous risks, so specific ethical obligations should be built into the knowledge base of every agentic AI tool used in the legal industry, says Steven Cordero at Akerman LLP.
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Series
Preaching Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Becoming a Gospel preacher has enhanced my success as a trial lawyer by teaching me the importance of credibility, relatability, persuasiveness and thorough preparation for my congregants, the same skills needed with judges and juries in the courtroom, says Reginald Harris at Stinson.
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How Unchecked AI Exposes Expert Opinions To Exclusion
A growing number of cases illustrate the potential for misuse of artificial intelligence tools by experts in litigation, resulting in reports with hallucinated information or unexplainable analysis, so to embrace the efficiencies AI tools introduce without falling victim to the risks, attorneys and experts should implement a few best practices, say attorneys at Willkie Farr.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Client-Led Litigation
New litigators can better help their corporate clients achieve their overall objectives when they move beyond simply fighting for legal victory to a client-led approach that resolves the legal dispute while balancing the company's competing out-of-court priorities, says Chelsea Ireland at Cohen Ziffer.
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Perspectives
Nursing Home Abuse Cases Face 3 Barriers That Need Reform
Recent headlines reveal persistent gaps in oversight and protection for vulnerable residents in long-term care, but prosecution of these cases is often stymied by numerous challenges that will require a comprehensive overhaul of regulatory, legal and financial structures to address, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.
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Series
The Law Firm Merger Diaries: How To Build On Cultural Fit
Law firm mergers should start with people, then move to strategy: A two-level screening that puts finding a cultural fit at the pinnacle of the process can unearth shared values that are instrumental to deciding to move forward with a combination, says Matthew Madsen at Harrison.
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Considerations When Invoking The Common-Interest Privilege
To successfully leverage the common-interest doctrine in a multiparty transaction or complex litigation, practitioners should be able to demonstrate that the parties intended for it to apply, that an underlying privilege like attorney-client has attached, and guard against disclosures that could waive privilege and defeat its purpose, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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NBA Gambling Probes Highlight Sports Betting's Broad Risks
Recent NBA gambling scandals illustrate the integrity risks arising from legal sports betting, but organizations, which must navigate a patchwork of state laws, can protect their reputations by drafting and enforcing internal policies to address betting-related risks and complying with league and institutional rules, say attorneys at Littler.