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U.S. FEDRegulation

FCC finalizes Covered List equipment rule with online marketplace FCC-ID duties

The Federal Communications Commission's equipment-authorization rule expanding its Covered List national-security restrictions was published in the Federal Register on September 11, 2026 (91 FR 57798), and takes effect October 13, 2026. The rule closes a component-part loophole by denying authorization to devices incorporating logic-bearing hardware components from Covered List entities. It also extends marketing rules to online marketplaces and requires them to display devices' FCC IDs at the online point of sale, with limited exceptions.

Enrolled text (GovInfo (Federal Register)) → · Mondaq
EURegulation

EU Cyber Resilience Act reporting duties for digital products apply from September 11

As of September 11, 2026, the EU Cyber Resilience Act requires manufacturers of products with digital elements to report actively exploited vulnerabilities and severe security incidents through ENISA's Single Reporting Platform. Early warnings are due within 24 hours of awareness and fuller notifications within 72 hours. Legal IT Insider and Stevens & Bolton flagged the deadline on September 10, 2026.

Text (Legal IT Insider) → · Stevens & Bolton
CAL.Regulation

California requires child-risk assessments, session limits and biennial audits for companion chatbots, from July 2027

California adopted Chapter 190, Statutes of 2026, on September 10, 2026, requiring operators of companion chatbots accessible to children to conduct documented child-risk assessments before new or substantially modified products launch. The law imposes child-safety policies, crisis protocols, parental default settings, session limits, advertising restrictions, and biennial independent audits starting January 1, 2029, with core duties operative July 1, 2027.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Office of Senator Steve Padilla, Reuters, Startup Fortune
CAL.Regulation

California bans manufacture and sale of toys with AI companion chatbots until 2031

California chaptered Senate Bill 867 on September 10, 2026, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, exchange, and possession for sale of any toy that includes an AI companion chatbot. The four-year moratorium runs through December 31, 2030, covering physical products designed, marketed, or manufactured for play by children under 16. Violations carry the same civil liability provisions as California's companion-chatbot operator law.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Reuters, Mondaq (Ballard Spahr LLP)
CAL.Regulation

Newsom signs SB 813 and AB 1405, creating a state-designated corps of AI verification bodies and a mandatory registry for AI auditors from 2029

Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 813 and AB 1405 on September 9, adding two chapters to the Government Code. SB 813 has the Government Operations Agency designate and police independent verification organizations that assess AI systems by January 1, 2028; engaging one stays voluntary. AB 1405 creates an AI Auditor Registry by January 1, 2029, after which no unregistered person may sell or conduct a covered AI audit in California.

Text (Office of Governor Gavin Newsom) → · California Legislative Information, StateScoop, PYMNTS
OKLA.Court order

Oklahoma judge used ChatGPT in order citing nonexistent cases

Stephens County Associate District Judge Lawrence Wheeler told an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent he used ChatGPT while preparing a 2025 paternity order that cited two nonexistent cases, according to an August 17 letter from District Attorney Jason Hicks. The OSBI investigated at the request of the Council on Judicial Complaints. The attorney general's office declined to prosecute, saying the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Court on the Judiciary retain discipline authority.

Order (Reuters) → · Minnesota Lawyer, Virginia Lawyers Weekly
U.S. FEDProduct launches

Casepoint launches Casepoint IQ AI framework with relevance and issue-coding agents

Casepoint on September 9, 2026 introduced Casepoint IQ, a platform-wide AI framework spanning agentic AI, IQ Assist, CaseAssist predictive coding and the Casepoint MCP Server under shared governance. The first two agents handle relevance determination and issue coding and are in alpha with a beta due before year end. Casepoint said IQ is live in early access with select customers; LawSites reported it as generally available.

Announcement (PR Newswire) → · Casepoint, LawSites
U.S. FEDFunding

Harvey raises $550M at $15.5B valuation and buys Guardrails AI

Harvey announced a $550 million funding round at a $15.5 billion valuation on September 9, 2026, co-led by new investors Diffusion and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Existing backers including Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins and a16z participated, alongside new investors Sapphire Ventures and Whale Rock. Harvey also said it acquired San Francisco agent-security startup Guardrails AI, its fourth acquisition of 2026, on undisclosed terms.

Announcement (Harvey) → · Reuters, Artificial Lawyer, Legal IT Insider +1
SAUDI ARABIAFunding

White & Case invests in Saudi legal AI startup Clauze.AI at launch

White & Case made a strategic investment in Clauze.AI as the Saudi enterprise legal AI platform launched on September 9, 2026. Founder Waad Alkurini previously headed the firm's Riyadh office. Amount undisclosed; White & Case called it its first Middle East technology investment. The platform is bilingual Arabic-English with Saudi data residency and on-premises deployment.

Announcement (Zawya) → · Sharikat Mubasher, Artificial Lawyer, Entarabi +1

Rulings this week

All court orders

U.S. FEDFunding

Litigation AI startup Concorda raises $3.8M seed led by Sazze Partners

Concorda announced on September 8, 2026 a $3.8 million seed round led by Sazze Partners, with Amino Ventures, Gaingels, G2C Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Service Provider Capital and Andreessen Horowitz's a16z speedrun accelerator participating. The startup said the funds will expand engineering hiring and customer acquisition for its platform, which combines litigation research, matter management and generative drafting across a matter from intake to settlement or trial.

Announcement (Legaltech News) → · Law360 Pulse
U.S. FEDPeople moves

Latitude Legal names Alex Su president as flexible talent provider expands

Latitude Legal promoted chief revenue officer Alex Su to president on September 8, 2026, with co-founder and chief executive Ross Booher handing over day-to-day operational control while remaining CEO. The Nashville-headquartered flexible legal talent provider said it has opened nine offices and added 243 corporate and 120 law firm clients since Su became CRO, and grew new client acquisition 52% in the first half of 2026.

Announcement (Business Wire) → · Legal IT Insider, Above the Law
ITALYFunding

Lexroom acquires French Query Juriste and Bulgarian Praven Intelekt in first M&A deals

Italian legal AI company Lexroom announced on September 8, 2026 that it had acquired 100% of French legal-research startup Query Juriste and Bulgarian legal AI startup Praven Intelekt, its first acquisitions. The deals take Lexroom to five European markets: Italy, Germany, Spain, France and Bulgaria. Founders and teams of both companies join Lexroom, with Praven Intelekt co-founder Siyanna Lilova becoming head of Central and Eastern Europe. Terms were not disclosed.

Announcement (la Repubblica) → · Artificial Lawyer, Le Monde du Droit, Lawyerpress +2
UKFunding

Farleys acquires Houldsworth as Lawfront reaches 18 deals and £175m revenue projection

Farleys Solicitors, a Lawfront group firm, acquired Clitheroe-based Houldsworth Solicitors on September 8, 2026. Lawfront said the deal was its 18th acquisition and projected group revenue above £175 million this year. Trade press the same day also reported Fisher Jones Greenwood's acquisition of Giles Wilson; Giles Wilson's site dated that deal August 28, 2026.

Announcement (Farleys Solicitors) → · Law Gazette, Legal Futures, Legal IT Insider +2
UKRegulation

UK SME boutique firms lobby SRA and Law Society over COLP/COFA separation rules

Twenty-eight firms in a new SME & Boutique Law Firm Alliance sent open letters to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Law Society on September 8, 2026 seeking changes to LSB-approved rules separating compliance officer roles. The rules stop individuals who can unilaterally control a firm from serving as COLP or COFA where turnover exceeds £600,000 or client money exceeds £2 million, from January 2027. The alliance wants the start postponed.

Text (Legal Futures) → · Solicitors Regulation Authority
CHILEFunding

Chilean legal AI Magnar raises $8M Series A led by 6 Degrees Capital

Santiago-based Magnar said on September 7, 2026 it closed an $8 million Series A led by 6 Degrees Capital and co-led by Hi Ventures, with FEN Ventures, Platanus Ventures, Nascent Ventures and the law firms Carey and Beccar Varela participating. Magnar said the capital funds product work and commercial openings in Brazil and Mexico. The platform offers legal research, drafting and document management for Latin American markets.

Announcement (Magnar) → · Legaltech News, El Ecosistema Startup
S.D.N.Y.Litigation

Seattle Times and Newsday sue OpenAI and Microsoft over AI copying and trademark dilution

The Seattle Times Company and Newsday LLC sued OpenAI entities and Microsoft in Manhattan federal court on September 4, alleging unauthorized copying of their journalism to train and operate AI products. The complaint asserted direct and vicarious copyright infringement, removal of copyright-management information, distribution of works stripped of that information, and federal and state trademark dilution. The publishers sought damages, an injunction and destruction of models and datasets incorporating their works.

Filing (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York) → · Reuters, GeekWire
CAL.Regulation

California legislature passes bill requiring lawyers to verify and disclose generative AI use

California's legislature passed Senate Bill 574 on August 31, 2026, 75-0 in the Assembly and 40-0 in the Senate, and sent it to Governor Gavin Newsom. The bill would bar attorneys from delegating the practice of law to generative AI, require personal verification of every citation, require disclosure of AI use to the court for all filed documents, and bar arbitrators from delegating decisions to AI. The governor has until September 30 to sign or veto.

Enrolled text (California Legislative Information) → · Bloomberg Law, Law360, ABA Journal
BELGIUMProduct launches

LEGALFLY launches Contract Intelligence for post-signature obligations

Belgian legal operating system LEGALFLY announced Contract Intelligence on September 4, 2026, adding an AI system of record spanning pre- and post-signature contracts. Legaltech News reported the tool extracts and tracks obligations, deadlines, renewals, notice periods, payment terms and key dates against playbooks. LEGALFLY said customers include the European Commission, Bosch, KPMG and SAP.

Announcement (Legal IT Insider) → · Legaltech News
SAUDI ARABIAFunding

Saudi IPO-readiness startup IDRAJ raises SAR 2.25M pre-seed led by ASAP Legal Tech

Saudi AI startup IDRAJ closed a SAR 2.25 million pre-seed round led by ASAP Legal Tech, about $598,000, to expand its team and build tools for corporate IPO and listing readiness. Founded in 2026 by Kholoud Al Saleh, the company said the product assesses listing readiness, analyses regulatory requirements and organizes documentation for Main Market and Nomu listings.

Announcement (entARABI) → · MENA Startup Digest, Khalf El Hadth
UKCourt order

SDT strikes off foreign lawyer over immigration conviction and AI citations

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal struck Abhishek Kumar off the register of foreign lawyers after proving a 2024 conviction for knowingly employing a person disqualified by immigration status and, separately, AI-generated misleading citations in his defense to the SRA. The judgment is dated August 25, 2026; Law360 reported the ruling on September 3, 2026 as the tribunal's first AI-citation case. Dishonesty was not alleged; the tribunal said either allegation alone would have led to strike-off.

Opinion (Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal) → · Law360 UK, Legal Futures, ComplexDiscovery +1
D.C.Court order

D.C. Court of Appeals strikes Deutsche Bank brief over AI-hallucinated citations

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals struck Deutsche Bank National Trust Company's appellate brief in Douglas v. Deutsche Bank after counsel admitted four nonexistent citations came from Google's generative AI search tool. The per curiam panel held every firm attorney who signed the brief bears some responsibility and referred the matter to the D.C. Bar's Office of Disciplinary Counsel. The panel referred the scope of its sanctions authority to the court's Rules Committee; Senior Judge Glickman concurred separately.

Order (District of Columbia Court of Appeals) → · ABA Journal, Law360, Reason (Volokh Conspiracy)
SOUTH KOREAProduct launches

Law&Company launches Lexpand AI across nine Asian jurisdictions

South Korean legal-tech firm Law&Company launched Lexpand AI, a global edition of SuperLawyer covering nine Asian jurisdictions in eight languages. Asia Business Daily dated the announcement to September 3, 2026; Seoul Economic Daily dated the company statement to September 4. Both outlets said the service uses the SuperLawyer engine with RAG grounding and AWS-hosted data handling.

Announcement (The Asia Business Daily) → · Seoul Economic Daily
N.Y.Ethics opinion

New York State Bar says virtual office may serve as lawyer's address for communications

The New York State Bar Association's Committee on Professional Ethics said on 3 September 2026 that a New York lawyer may list a virtual law office as the office address on websites, advertisements, letterhead and business cards. The committee said listing is not false if the arrangement ensures receipt of mail and service and availability for in-person meetings on reasonable notice.

Opinion (New York State Bar Association) →
FRANCEFunding

RELX completes LexisNexis acquisition of French legal AI platform Doctrine

RELX completed its acquisition of French legal AI platform Doctrine on September 3, 2026, placing Doctrine inside LexisNexis Continental Europe, Middle East and Africa. LexisNexis said Doctrine serves about 27,000 legal professionals across France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Luxembourg and that the deal was announced on April 28, 2026. Terms remain undisclosed; EU Startups separately reported combined France figures LexisNexis did not.

Announcement (LexisNexis) → · EU Startups News, Le Monde du Droit
WIS.Ethics opinion

Wisconsin bar says lawyers must report misconduct raising substantial fitness question

The State Bar of Wisconsin's Committee on Professional Ethics said on 3 September 2026 that lawyers must report another lawyer's or judge's misconduct when they know of a violation that raises a substantial question about honesty, trustworthiness or fitness. The committee said the duty is conditional, requires client consent if confidential information is disclosed, and must be made to the Office of Lawyer Regulation or Judicial Commission.

Opinion (State Bar of Wisconsin) → · vLex
S.C.Breaches and incidents

Thomson Reuters C-Track breach exposes court files across U.S. and Canadian systems

West Publishing's C-Track notified the public on September 2, 2026 that an unauthorized party obtained court-management files after activity discovered on June 30, 2026, with files obtained in March. The notice lists appellate and other courts in multiple U.S. states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and three Ontario courts. Confidential, redacted or sealed information may have been impacted at some courts; South Carolina's preliminary review found no PII so far in 2020-and-earlier appellate backups.

Report (C-Track) → · Supreme Court of South Carolina, The Record, Help Net Security
U.S. FEDProduct launches

Filevine launches citator and anti-hallucination tools in LOIS Legal Research

Filevine said on September 1, 2026 it had launched a citator and anti-hallucination capabilities inside LOIS Legal Research. The company said the citator reads case law to surface whether holdings remain good law and the checker verifies every citation, quotation and supporting proposition in a brief. The tools assign a status to each citation and flag unverified authorities before filing.

Announcement (Filevine) → · LawSites, Law.com
N.Y.Ethics opinion

New York bar says public defender's personal conflict not imputed within government office

The New York State Bar Association's Committee on Professional Ethics said in Opinion 1300, dated 31 August 2026, that a public defender office that is a government office is governed by Rule 1.11, not Rule 1.10. The committee said a conflict under Rule 1.7(a)(2) based on a lawyer's personal interest in a relative heading a county agency would not be imputed to other lawyers in the office.

Opinion (New York State Bar Association) →