The appeals court rejected the U.S. Justice Department's argument that a Supreme Court emergency docket decision from May was a predictor that the government would defeat the legal challenge on the merits.        

“To the extent the right of access is a fundamental right, we have already determined that it does not extend to insurance conservations. A rational relationship clearly exists between the classification of insurers by the Insurance Code and the legitimate state interest of regulating them, and the confidentiality provisions therefore are not unconstitutional special legislation, Appellate Court of Illinois Justice Raymond W. Mitchell said.

       

“Rather, [the evidence] suggests that [the doctors] engaged legal counsel to navigate a complicated legal landscape, Associate Justice Melissa Countway wrote in Tuesday's opinion, disagreeing that physicans' communications with a lawyer fell under the crime-fraud exception.

       

The largest 100 law firms in the world enjoyed a strong rise in profits over the last financial year.

       

Chinese law firms dominate the list ranking law firms by their total number of lawyers, with the world's largest firm now boasting almost 18,000.

       

The largest 200 law firms in the world had another strong period during the last financial year, driven largely by the top U.S.-based institutions.

       

Analysis of the latest Global 200 ranking plus interviews with the leaders of Latham & Watkins, Paul Weiss, Hogan Lovells and others shows the driving force at the top of the world's commercial legal industry.

       

"I think a lot of people have policies, but they don't have policies that were crafted for this era," said Rich Gold, leader of Holland & Knight's Public Policy & Regulation Group.