Older stories, page 34. Newest first.
Paul Weiss hires Paul Hastings executive compensation partner Deidre Kalenderian in New York
Paul, Weiss hired Deidre Kalenderian as a New York partner in its Executive Compensation Department, Bloomberg Law reported on September 21, 2026. She joins from Paul Hastings and advises private equity sponsors and companies on compensation and benefits in M&A, restructurings, IPOs, and related transactions.
Announcement (Bloomberg Law) → · Paul, Weiss, Pulse2
Quinn Emanuel hires Winston Taylor class-action litigator Sean Suber in Chicago
Sean Suber joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as a Chicago partner focusing on complex litigation, class actions, product liability, and mass torts, Bloomberg Law reported on September 21, 2026. He joins from Winston Taylor; Law.com’s American Lawyer covered the hire on September 22 amid rising Chicago lateral competition.
Announcement (Bloomberg Law) → · Law.com American Lawyer
CNN, MS NOW, and Politico sue Trump in federal court over White House press access ban
CNN, MS NOW, and Politico filed a joint lawsuit against President Donald Trump and senior administration officials in Washington federal court on September 21, 2026, challenging the revocation of press credentials. The twenty-seven-page complaint alleges the administration violated the First Amendment by imposing viewpoint-discriminatory exclusions based on editorial coverage and violated Fifth Amendment due process by banning journalists without notice, hearing, or published standards.
Filing (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) → · NPR, Bloomberg Law, Journal Record
Mayer Brown hires former Fed senior special counsel Andrew Hartlage for DC public policy practice
Andrew Hartlage joined Mayer Brown as a partner in its Public Policy, Regulatory & Government Affairs practice in Washington, D.C., the firm announced on September 21, 2026. He brings more than 13 years of financial services policy experience, most recently as senior special counsel in the Federal Reserve Board Legal Division, and was lately on assignment to the House Financial Services Committee staff.
Announcement (Pulse2) → · Mayer Brown
California requires large data centers to report energy and operational data to the Energy Commission
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1577 on September 21, 2026, chaptered as Cal. Stats. 2026, ch. 434 and adding Public Resources Code section 25302.10. From January 1, 2027, owners and operators of data centers of at least 10 megawatts must report operational data to the Energy Commission upon energization and after any substantive change. The Commission publishes the data annually in anonymized, aggregated form and adds biennial data-center load assessments to integrated energy policy reports from 2029.
Rulings this week
- N.D. CAL. Federal judge bars DOJ and DHS from threatening election officials over alleged noncitizen ballots
- MISS. Refuses to dismiss NAACP's Clean Air Act suit over xAI's Mississippi data center turbines
- S.D.N.Y. Of three taxpayer-funded Trump administration ads as likely propaganda
- D. MD. Maryland judge restores 21-day notice for unaccompanied children's asylum interviews
New York sets November RAISE Act registration rollout ahead of January compliance
New York said it would begin directing large frontier AI developers to register in November ahead of the RAISE Act’s January 1, 2027 compliance date. The law established requirements for public safety frameworks, model disclosures and incident reporting, with separate deadlines for imminent physical danger.
Enrolled text (The New York State Senate) → · Governor Kathy Hochul
High Court holds SRA cannot use s.44B notices to compel client-privileged documents
Mr Justice Butcher in the High Court (King’s Bench) held on September 21, 2026 that a Solicitors Regulation Authority notice under s.44B of the Solicitors Act 1974 cannot require solicitors to produce documents subject to a client’s unwaived legal professional privilege. The Part 8 claim by Carter-Ruck and Mohamed Amersi followed three production notices in an SRA investigation of the firm’s work for Amersi; the SRA said it will seek permission to appeal.
Order (Judiciary of England and Wales) → · Legal Futures, Law Gazette, ICLG +1
DEA places diphenidine in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act
The Drug Enforcement Administration placed diphenidine (1-(1,2-diphenylethyl)piperidine), including its salts, isomers, and salts of isomers, in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act by final rule published September 21, 2026 (91 FR 59695, FR Doc. 2026-19231), effective October 21, 2026. Anyone who manufactures, distributes, imports, exports, researches or possesses the substance becomes subject to Schedule I registration, security and recordkeeping requirements and to administrative, civil and criminal sanctions. The rule implements US obligations under the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.
State Department rewrites its FOIA and public-access-to-information rules
The Department of State revised its public-access-to-information regulations at 22 CFR part 171, effective October 21, 2026 (FR Doc. 2026-19223), reflecting organizational and procedural changes and the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. Electronic FOIA and Privacy Act requests for the Information Access Programs Directorate and the Directorate for Passport Services are accepted only via FOIA.gov or the Department's FOIA website. The rule simplifies procedures for describing records sought and points requesters to current component contact information.
Court of Appeal bars Part 18 ATE-commission probes in solicitor-own-client assessments
The Court of Appeal held on September 21, 2026 that a costs judge assessing a solicitor’s bill under the Solicitors Act 1974 cannot use CPR Part 18 to force answers about alleged after-the-event insurance commissions. Lady Justice Andrews, with Lord Justices Lewison and Phillips, allowed Coupland Cavendish Ltd (trading as Gowing Law) to overturn Sweeting J in Turner v Coupland Cavendish Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 1204.
Order (Find Case Law (The National Archives)) → · Solicitors Journal, Legal Futures
Boies Schiller adds Womble AI and patent partner Christian Mammen in San Francisco
Boies Schiller Flexner hired Christian Mammen as an intellectual property partner in San Francisco, Law.com reported on September 21, 2026. Mammen joins from Womble Bond Dickinson, where he was office managing partner for San Francisco and Walnut Creek and co-founded the firm’s AI practice.
Announcement (Law.com / The Recorder) → · Boies Schiller Flexner
Debevoise hires Freshfields global secondaries co-head Mary Lavelle in London
Debevoise & Plimpton hired Mary Lavelle, Freshfields’ global co-head of private funds and secondaries, as a London partner in its Private Fund Transactions and Investment Management groups, the firm said on September 21, 2026. Law.com, Real Deals, and Nonbillable reported she will advise on continuation vehicles, LP portfolio sales, co-investments, and recapitalizations after joining Freshfields from Akin in 2024.
Announcement (Debevoise & Plimpton) → · Law.com International, Real Deals, Nonbillable +1
California makes litigation-funder control of cases unauthorized practice of law
Governor Newsom signed AB 2305 on September 20, adding Article 7.5 (Business and Professions Code sections 6134 to 6134.14). For contracts entered on or after January 1, 2027, a corporate legal funder that interferes with a substantive litigation decision or controls a litigation function commits the unauthorized practice of law. Litigation practices may not accept funder terms that restrict withdrawal, bar reporting, or penalize resistance; such terms are void. Compliant nonrecourse litigation finance is not impermissible fee sharing.
Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
UK rolls out specialist rape courtrooms across every Crown Court in England and Wales
The Ministry of Justice said on September 21, 2026 that every Crown Court in England and Wales will receive at least one courtroom configured for rape and serious sexual offence cases within two years, with private entrances and waiting rooms, trauma-informed staff training, and priority listing. The package includes a Rape Justice Taskforce; Bar Council chair Kirsty Brimelow KC said the scheme should also cover domestic abuse cases, the Law Gazette reported.
Text (The Guardian) → · BBC News, GOV.UK / Ministry of Justice, Law Gazette
California requires traction-battery labeling, registration, and fees
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 615 (Chapter 351, Statutes of 2026) on September 20, 2026, adding Part 11 to Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code. Battery suppliers and remanufacturers must register with the Air Resources Board within 90 days of chaptering and update annually. From July 1, 2028, new vehicle traction batteries need a permanent label and remanufacturers must relabel. From July 1, 2029, suppliers pay annual tiered cost-recovery fees; board regulations are due by July 1, 2031.
Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Governor of California
California permanently requires bars to offer drink-spiking test kits
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1982 on September 20, 2026, removing the January 2027 sunset on California's bar drink-safety law. Type 48 on-sale general public premises must continue offering drug-testing devices for sale at near-wholesale cost, keep them unexpired, and post one of two prescribed notices about drink lids and test kits. Violations are not crimes, and licensees are not liable for defective or inaccurate test results.
California extends criminal-history access to county counsel and red light abatement actions
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2001 (Chapter 378, Statutes of 2026) on September 20, 2026, amending Penal Code section 11105. From January 1, 2027, the Attorney General must furnish state summary criminal history information to city attorneys and county counsel pursuing red light abatement actions, alongside listed actions such as gang injunctions, drug abatement, illegal cannabis, substandard housing and gun violence restraining orders. The Attorney General may also furnish the information to tribal peace officers in other states.
California authorizes workforce-housing tax increment financing districts
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2110 on September 20, 2026, as Chapter 381, enacting the Workforce Housing Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Act. It lets cities and counties establish workforce-housing enhanced infrastructure financing districts funded by tax increment financing. Financed housing must reserve all units for public safety, education, health care, or manufacturing personnel and lower- or moderate-income households, with affordability covenants of 55 years for rentals and 45 for owner-occupied homes. Bonds need two-thirds voter approval; effective January 1, 2027.
California expands postsecondary sexual-harassment definitions to cover sextortion and deepfakes
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2212 on September 20, 2026, adding Education Code section 66262.5 on sexual harassment in postsecondary education. The law defines affirmative consent, sextortion, digitized sexually explicit material, sexual exploitation, sexual violence, and technology-facilitated sexual harassment, and states that sexual harassment of students is a form of sex discrimination. The section becomes operative August 1, 2027.
California bars corporate legal funders from directing litigation decisions
California added Article 7.5 to the Business and Professions Code, making it unauthorized practice of law for a corporate legal funder to interfere with an attorney's or litigant's substantive litigation decisions. Chapter 393, approved September 20, 2026, voids contract terms enabling such control and exposes violators to client suits for $10,000 per violation or treble actual damages. It preserves nonrecourse litigation finance without control over legal judgment.
California grants firefighters 26 weeks of paid postpartum leave
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1024 (Chapter 419, Statutes of 2026) on September 20, 2026, adding Chapter 9.6.1 to the Government Code. From January 1, 2027, city, county, district, CSU and Cal Fire departments must grant active firefighters with 1,250 hours of service in the prior year up to 26 weeks of fully paid leave when disabled by pregnancy, childbirth or a related condition, without requiring them to exhaust sick, vacation or compensatory leave, with benefits continuing.