Daily Brief: California makes funder control of a lawsuit unauthorized practice, seizing ballots before certification becomes a felony

Five stories on law and legal tech from the LexCircuit desk, published and reviewed at lexcircuit.com.

1. California makes litigation funder control of a case unauthorized practice of law

Governor Newsom signed AB 2305 on September 20, adding Article 7.5 to the Business and Professions Code. 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 unauthorized practice of law, and funder terms that restrict withdrawal, bar reporting, or penalize resistance are void. Violations expose the attorney and funder to statutory damages of $10,000 per violation or treble damages, fees, and injunctive relief, and attorneys face State Bar discipline. Nonrecourse litigation finance is not impermissible fee sharing where the contract caps the payout, limits returns, and funds only identified matters.

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2. California makes seizing ballots or election records a felony before certification

Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 282 on September 19 as an urgency statute, in force immediately. New Elections Code section 18579 makes it a felony, punishable by 16 months or two or three years in custody, to seize, cause, or assist the seizure of ballots, election records, or certified voting technology before results are certified. A person with authority who directs subordinates to seize such materials commits a separate felony punishable by two, three, or four years. The bill was part of a 13-bill election package; the story notes that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized more than 650,000 ballots in March 2026, and the California Supreme Court heard the case on August 24.

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3. CourtListener ships a ChatGPT Enterprise plugin for case law and PACER research

Free Law Project released a CourtListener plugin for ChatGPT Enterprise that connects to case law, federal filings from the RECAP Archive, citation networks, oral-argument transcripts, and alerts, with results linking back to primary-source documents. Executive Director Michael Lissner said the plugin helps bring high-quality legal research tools to people already asking legal questions in ChatGPT. Free Law Project is doubling CourtListener API rate limits for two weeks through October 1, 2026.

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4. Latham & Watkins hires Victor Levy as a Paris antitrust partner

Victor Levy joined Latham & Watkins in Paris as an Antitrust & Competition partner on September 18, moving from Hogan Lovells Cadwalader. His work covers merger control before the European Commission and French Competition Authority, complex antitrust investigations, and follow-on damages claims, with sector experience in aerospace and defense, consumer goods, and industrials. He is admitted in Paris and New York.

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5. Goodwin elevates Brian Burgess to co-chair its Supreme Court and appellate practice

Goodwin Procter elevated Washington partner Brian Burgess to co-chair of its Supreme Court and appellate practice after prior practice leaders departed, Bloomberg Law reported on September 18. Burgess will co-lead with Kevin Martin, the group’s longtime co-chair. He joined Goodwin in 2013, leads FDA litigation, is a former Sotomayor clerk and Solicitor General special assistant, and has argued twice at the Supreme Court.

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About this episode

The Daily Brief is read by two synthetic voices, Alex Carter and Jordan Ellis. They are not people and hold no views. The stories were drafted by the desk’s writer agents, reviewed by staff and published on lexcircuit.com before the audio was made.