The combined legal firm Allen & Overy (A&O) Shearman has gone live after successfully selecting a name for their board and practice leaders. The firm has confirmed that they’ve made decisions regarding leadership, practice structure, and compensation. Additional details, however, remain undisclosed due to the paywalled original article. Previously, the merging of A&O Shearman and…
Blank Rome LLP, a reputable law firm, recently expanded its geographic footprint with the opening of a new office in Boston. Building a formidable team, the firm welcomed 25 corporate and finance attorneys, who were formerly part of Burns & Levinson LLP. Among these new additions are 13 partners who bring extensive experience and specialized…
In a noteworthy development, Cranfill Sumner, a North Carolina-based law firm, is launching a new Washington, DC office with a unique focus – representing whistleblowers. Legal operations have recently seen an increasing influx of whistleblower cases and this new office is the firm’s response to the rising demand. Cranfill Sumner is appointing its existing white…
A consortium of technology industry groups has come forward to reject accusations of servility towards Apple, as they lend their support to the tech giant over its Federal Circuit appeal against the U.S. International Trade Commission’s import prohibition of Apple Watch models sporting blood oxygen monitoring features. The controversial ban had been implemented after it…
In a recent decision, a Texas federal judge has ruled that “Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker,” a convicted murderer, will not be permitted to intervene in a defamation lawsuit related to a Netflix documentary on his life. The judge stated that the killer’s claims don’t have sufficient merit to warrant intervention in the ongoing lawsuit. The…
In a recent ruling, the Delaware’s top federal judge expressed that Pharmacyclics LLC, a unit of AbbVie, is “also guilty of vexatious conduct” and therefore lacking the standing to seek legal fees. This ruling was delivered following Pharmacyclics’ victory in a patent infringement lawsuit concerning its flagship cancer drug, Imbruvica, against competitors from the generic-drug…
In Austin, Texas, an appeals panel has offered a lifeline to a court reporter’s plea against an AI-driven “digital reporting firm”. The court rejected the argument presented by a state agency that the reporter couldn’t pursue a writ of mandamus compelling the agency to take into account her claims due to jurisdictional complications. This decision…
A notable development emerged in patent litigation recently. A New Jersey federal judge approved a settlement that would conclude a lawsuit in which Amgen, the biopharmaceutical giant, alleged patent infringement by Sandoz, the generic pharmaceutical division of Novartis. The litigation generally centered on patents relating to treatments for bone cancer and other bone-related ailments. Despite…
OpenAI, the artificial intelligence developer supported by Microsoft Corp, has requested a dismissal for a New York federal court case. In the case, OpenAI faces allegations of copyright infringement from two alternative news websites. The developer defends that the plaintiffs have not demonstrated any harm. In more detail, the specifics of the copyright infringement allegations…
New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers have entered Columbia University in response to an ongoing occupation by pro-Palestinian protesters of an academic building, according to multiple social media reports. This latest development is a part of a larger movement that gained significant international traction after NYPD officers forcefully dispersed a protest encampment on Columbia’s…
Dealing with a disciplinary complaint is undoubtedly challenging. This challenge takes on a new dimension in the case of solo practitioners and small firm lawyers, who are often tasked with overseeing all aspects of their profession – from direct client involvement to administrative responsibilities such as managing trust accounts. The strain of such a circumstance…
In a recent ruling, the Ninth Circuit court upheld the dismissal of a law student’s claims that the State Bar of California had violated his 14th Amendment rights. The student asserted that his rights had been infringed upon when the Bar refused to excuse his delay in taking a required first-year exam. Contrary to the…
The ongoing multifaceted litigation between Intel and VLSI Technology over alleged microchip patent infringements has seen a significant shift. Initially, Intel faced the striking possibility of owing VLSI Technology more than $3 billion. This daunting prospect has now transformed as the tech giant managed to secure a victory with patent invalidations and a significant do-over…
In a recent accusation, tech giant Microsoft has claimed that a former employee has devised a “Trojan horse” strategy to extract patent damages, a maneuver not traditionally allowed in state courts. The case is specifically tied to patent rights associated with the popular Xbox console. Microsoft insists on the necessity for a federal judge in…
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has recently found in favor of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd in a notable patent dispute. This contentious lawsuit was brought about by G+ Communications LLC and centred around proprietary LTE technology. The decision that the PTAB reached effectively invalidated one of the patents that G+ Communications had previously…
Several former antitrust enforcers have voiced their support for CoStar in the Ninth Circuit, asserting a lower court’s decision to discard accusations lodged by a rival. The rival alleges that CoStar maintains a monopoly over commercial real estate information markets. This support for CoStar comes despite reservations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the…
Google, the Alphabet unit, has recently faced a copyright lawsuit in a California federal court filed by a group of visual artists. The artists have claimed that Google utilized their work without obtaining requisite permission to train its artificial-intelligence-powered image generator, Imagen. The lawsuit has been instigated by Photographer Jingna Zhang and cartoonists Sarah Andersen,…
In an interesting move, prestigious law firm Cravath has moved its operations to a notably appealing new office space that is nothing short of a home designer’s dream. This upscale relocation signifies their continuing growth and success in the legal industry. Another headline capturing legal professionals’ attention involves former President Trump, who finds himself held…
U.S. Senators have proposed a draft bill aiming to address the growing concern around artificial intelligence (AI)-generated replicas, often known as ‘deepfakes’. With an increasing prevalence of these AI scenarios, there is a strong call from the lawmakers for a bold law to reform the nation’s existing and inconsistent right of publicity protections. As stated…
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently turned its attention to a number of pharmaceutical companies, raising concerns about potential faulty patents listed in a crucial federal drug database. Among the companies caught in this scrutiny are the makers of Ozempic, a widely used diabetes and weight loss drug. This move forms part of an ongoing…
The Council of the European Union has made the decision to suspend certain visa provisions for Ethiopian nationals due to what it deems as “insufficient cooperation” by the Ethiopian government in the readmission of its citizens. These decisions were stated to be because of the Ethiopian government’s lack of response to the readmission requests of…
According to data collected by ALM for the Am Law 100 ranking, one Biglaw firm has stood out from the crowd for its impressive financial performance in 2023. Surpassing many larger and more established firms, this relatively smaller firm boasted profits-per-lawyer exceeding $3 million, the highest recorded in the industry. Not only is it impressive…
Renowned law firms Allen & Overy (A&O) and Sherman are on the verge of uniting to form an entity worth $3.5B. On the eve of their proposed union, Law.com International provides an analysis of the path that both firms have traversed to reach this moment. Tracing back to their inception, A&O and Sherman have each…
Two tax attorneys and an insurance agent who were convicted for a fraudulent scheme resulting in over $4 million in costs to the IRS have been denied their motions for acquittal. Prosecutors have argued that the evidence supporting their conviction is sufficient, a standpoint echoed by a federal judge in North Carolina. In this case,…
The topsy-turvy legal landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) has been further shaken up by a cluster of lawsuits against AI pioneers Google, Microsoft, and Open AI. Alphabet, the mother company of Google, found itself embroiled in a copyright class action on April 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Cartoonists…