Closing arguments began Wednesday in a 51-day opioid trial brought by 15 hospitals in Florida.

On Monday, the Trump-era Federal Trade Commission lost its first antitrust lawsuit challenging private firm GTCR's $627 million acquisition of hydrophilic coatings producer Surmodics in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The American Bar Association Standards Committee met Wednesday for a review of standards that will be evaluated by a not yet established advisory committee, which will be discussed during Friday's Council meeting.

A federal jury in Chicago awarded the damages to Shikha Garg, who died in the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Air Flight 302, the second of two disasters involving Boeing's 737 Max 8 aircraft.

A trio of trial court judges in their 70s sued New York's Office of Court Administration and the state government, arguing enactment of the Equal Rights Act was an implied repeal of an age cap on judges. The OCA argues the ERA cannot be enforced in court, drawing pushback from the the New York Civil Liberties Union. State Supreme Court Justice Lyle Frank of Manhattan is the trial jurist handling the case.

The court has been asked to address whether Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster correctly overruled Senior Magistrate Selena E. Molina's recommendation that the action be resolved in Paramount's favor, finding the shareholder that brought the demand had established a credible basis to suspect wrongdoing by Paramount's board.

Both the Southern and Eastern District of New York will largely suspend operations on Fridays due to the shutdown, per officials. The courts will remain open for emergency matters and hearings and deadlines set for Friday are not impacted.

Consumer Nicholas Sdoucos filed a class action complaint against Bank of America this week, alleging the bank fails to adjust scheduled automatic payments when customers pay their statement balance before the due date, resulting in duplicate charges.

The litigation against the company seems to be a growing trend, with similar suits accusing NordVPN of engaging in deceptive subscription renewal practices being filed across the country.

"Here, defendants took a decidedly puerile approach—they chose to irritate and annoy the other side, rather than to invite engagement. They also impaired their credibility with this court," wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge Young B. Kim of the Northern District of Illinois.

Chairman Ira Coleman acknowledged Wednesday that the firm is "fielding inbound interest," becoming the first Am Law 50 firm to publicly comment on the prospect of establishing a managed services organization.

Stefani Schwartz joins Legal Speak co-host Patrick Smith during the General Counsel Conference East in New York.

"We launched the Admission Innovation Project to support law schools that select students in ways that truly capture the important principles of holistic admission,” said Aaron N. Taylor, senior vice president and executive director of the AccessLex Center for Legal Education Excellence.

The number of researchers with the skills to build frontier AI models is estimated at fewer than 1,000 worldwide. Those in that elite group can negotiate compensation packages in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Here's how the judges overseeing Philadelphia's medical malpractice program sped up case timelines and what attorneys can expect from the program next year. 

Nominations are open until January 27 for Southeastern Legal Awards

Lawyers behind a record $4 billion sex abuse settlement with Los Angeles County have brought in a second mediator to oversee potential fraud after an article in the Los Angeles Times last month revealed that recruiters paid cash to potential plaintiffs on behalf of Downtown LA Law Group.

U.S. District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins for the Northern District of Illinois declined to grant summary judgment on plaintiff American Wire's claims for breach of an indemnification clause against Wind Turbines and Energy Cables Corp. (WTEC), which had previously agreed to indemnify the plaintiff against certain claims relating to defective electric cables.

According to the complaint, one of those air diffuser patents expired five years ago, but Bath & Body Works was still paying royalties. Now, it wants its $74 million back.

The move effectively means that Norton Rose Fulbright will have no presence in South Africa, joining its peers, A&O Shearman and Hogan Lovells, who shut their Johannesburg offices last year.