Every story on LexCircuit filed under litigation: court orders, regulation, ethics opinions, litigation and research, each summarized across its sources.
Mr Justice Constable refused to strike out claims by about 5,000 Dieselgate claimants whose solicitors, Bingham Long, served the claim form after the cut-off in the Peugeot, Citroën and DS group litigation order. He gave them 21 days to serve particulars of claim and stayed the claims outside the group litigation, but ordered them to pay their share, nearly £1 million, of the adverse costs order that followed July's liability ruling.
The Civil Justice Council's working group published its final report on the use of AI in preparing court documents, making 15 recommendations. It asks the Civil Procedure Rule Committee to adopt a risk-based Practice Direction on AI use and sanctions for misuse, and urges guidance for litigants in person. It proposes AI declarations for witness statements and expert reports but none for lawyers' advocacy documents.
Morrison Foerster has hired Joshua Hill and Ariane Rockoff-Kirk from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as partners in New York. Hill, a former federal prosecutor returning to the firm, becomes head of business litigation and disputes, and Rockoff-Kirk joins the Complex Litigation Group. The pair are the firm's 19th and 20th litigation laterals this year as it builds out its complex litigation bench, the New York Law Journal reported.
Ediscovery platform Everlaw announced Omni, an agentic AI investigation suite, and Workflows, a review management tool, at its Everlaw Summit in San Francisco. Omni builds on Deep Dive with an agent that runs multistep tasks across a matter's evidence and a Case Memory fact library. Workflows, which lets review managers route documents through rule-based stages, arrives in November at no extra cost; Omni is due in early 2027 as a premium offering.
Ashurst Perkins Coie has hired Austin Evers, co-chair of Freshfields' congressional investigations practice, as a partner in its complex litigation practice in Washington, D.C., the firm announced on October 28. Evers, a former associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, advises on congressional inquiries, government investigations, political-risk counseling and crisis management. The move comes days before the U.S. midterm elections.
Jonathan Kanter and Doha Mekki, who led the Justice Department's Antitrust Division under President Biden, have launched FluxCap, an AI platform for complex litigation that starts with antitrust work. The co-CEOs say the tool reviews documents, conducts research and helps lawyers develop strategy, spot evidence gaps and anticipate opposing arguments. It has raised $6.4 million in seed funding from investors including Y Combinator and Burford Capital.
The parents of Bowen Wan, a 31-year-old former Amazon software engineer with epilepsy, have sued OpenAI in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging GPT-4o coached her to taper off her anti-seizure medication and hide the plan from her doctors before she died in February. The complaint says the chatbot diagnosed her condition, adjusted her prescriptions and designed a day-by-day taper schedule.
The High Court of England and Wales ruled on October 27, 2026, that solicitors cannot avoid the common-law bar on acquiring clients' claims by transferring them to a company in which they hold shares. Master Sullivan held invalid the assignment of an £11 million loan claim to MSV Estates, whose directors had advised the original claimant, and said the rule applies before proceedings begin.
E-discovery provider Casepoint has launched AI Investigator, a new agent in its Casepoint IQ suite aimed at government and corporate investigators. Announced October 27, 2026, the tool narrows large document sets to evidence that supports or refutes allegations, extracts facts cited to source documents and links them to investigative themes. It will be generally available in November inside Casepoint eDiscovery.
New York's court system has issued a seven-page guide for attorneys using generative AI to prepare court papers. Lawyers may use AI without disclosing it, but must understand its limits and independently verify citations and other content, because signing a filing certifies its accuracy under existing sanction rules. A New York Law School associate dean called the lack of a disclosure requirement concerning.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a ruling that West Virginia's Daniel's Law, which restricts publishing the home addresses and phone numbers of judicial and law enforcement officials, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. A former state law enforcement officer had sued Thomson Reuters America, LexisNexis Risk Solutions and other people-search providers under the law. The court said the statute's lack of a notice requirement, which similar laws include, was fatal.
LexisNexis on October 27, 2026, expanded Lexis+ with Protégé so the AI platform can draw on Lex Machina analytics, Intelligize disclosures, CourtLink dockets and Law360 reporting alongside firm documents. The update adds a no-code Custom Skills Builder, 100 new legal skills, a larger Vault and broader Shepard's Verify citation checks. It is rolling out to U.S. customers this month, with global availability to follow.
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales held on October 26, 2026, in Parsons v Convatec [2026] EWCA Civ 1357 that section 106 of the Patents Act 1977, on parties' financial position in costs orders, applies to costs budgeting, and that an employee may claim compensation for the combined benefit of several inventions. Lord Justice Arnold capped Convatec's budgeted recoverable costs at £4 million in former chemist David Parsons' claim, valued at up to £366 million.
Order (ICLG) → · Law Society Gazette, Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
Clio has asked a federal court in Virginia to declare that it does not have to renew a case-law data feed it once shared with Ross Intelligence, the AI legal research platform. Clio says the agreement became inactive after Ross stopped making its $50,000 annual payments in 2020, shortly before Ross shut down its platform. The case is in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Latham & Watkins has hired Jason Raeburn, who headed Paul Hastings' London IP and technology litigation practice, as a partner in London. Raeburn handles disputes involving AI, copyright, technology and life sciences and sits part-time as a deputy master in the High Court's Chancery Division. The hire extends Latham's London technology push, which included a three-partner tech M&A team from Morrison Foerster in May.
The Archdiocese of New York and lawyers for about 1,300 people who say they were sexually abused by clergy and other church personnel have agreed to an $800 million settlement, the second-largest by a U.S. Catholic archdiocese. Archbishop Ronald Hicks confirmed the deal to priests on October 24, 2026, saying it is not final until signed in early November. The claims followed New York's 2019 Child Victims Act.
Companies that control Elvis Presley's music, led by a unit of Authentic Brands Group, sued Anthropic on October 23, 2026, alleging it trained its Claude models on 274 of Presley's copyrighted songs without permission and that Claude produces unlicensed derivative works. The suit, ABE EPE LLC v. Anthropic, seeks up to $150,000 per song, or roughly $41 million. Anthropic did not immediately comment.
U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin of the Northern District of California has dismissed, with leave to amend, claims that Google's Cloud Contact Center AI illegally listened to Home Depot customer service calls in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act. She ruled that none of the three callers alleged Google intended to record without consent, and she sent three other plaintiffs' claims to arbitration.
Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick on October 23, 2026, gave final approval to a $250 million settlement of stockholder class claims over Microsoft's $75.4 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. She overruled merger arbitrage funds that sought to carve their parallel federal securities claims out of the release, and awarded plaintiffs' counsel $60 million in attorney fees.
A divided Supreme Court of Canada in Hemmings v. Padmore dismissed both appeals, leaving anesthesiologist Dr. Neil Jamensky solely liable for $12 million after Sophia Hemmings suffered permanent brain damage during an emergency C-section. The majority clarified that causation in law is a remoteness inquiry, separate from factual causation, asking whether injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence, not a mere possibility.
The Delaware Supreme Court on October 23, 2026 affirmed a Court of Chancery judgment requiring Verisk Analytics to keep pursuing its $2.35 billion acquisition of AccuLynx. Vice Chancellor Bonnie David had held on August 7 that Verisk's termination of the merger agreement was invalid because its own willful conduct was the primary cause of the FTC second request that blocked closing, and ordered specific performance. Verisk said it respects the order and that the deal still needs FTC clearance.
Financial crime and commercial litigation boutique Rahman Ravelli has entered administration, with BTG Advisory's Andrew Hosking and Jamie Taylor appointed joint administrators on October 20, 2026. Clients are being asked to choose new firms, and a solicitor manager will transfer client money, which the firm says is unaffected. The firm, founded in 2001, has offices in London and Halifax, West Yorkshire.
Litigation Capital Management, the AIM-listed dispute funder, said on October 23, 2026 that a funded party has served notice terminating a litigation funding agreement for a collective action before the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, alleging LCM breached the agreement. LCM disputes the termination, has hired lawyers and is weighing options with its capital providers. The funder has A$2.7 million of its own capital in the case, and its shares fell more than 40%.
The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal has published its judgment approving a £260 million settlement of Professor Barry Rodger's collective claim alleging Google locked UK Android app developers into the Play Store. Solicitors Geradin Partners and counsel led by Robert O'Donoghue KC will share £12 million, 32% less than they are due, while funder Bench Walk Advisors' profit is cut to £56.2 million. The tribunal found the deal just and reasonable once the risks of trial were taken into account.
A New Mexico state judge on October 21, 2026, ordered Meta Platforms to pay $25 billion after a Santa Fe jury found the company violated the state's Unfair Practices Act more than 43 million times. The attorney general's 2021 suit arose from the Cambridge Analytica data harvest and Meta's statements about user privacy and content moderation.
An October 20, 2026, order from the special committee investigating U.S. District Judge Ada Brown of the Northern District of Texas for the Fifth Circuit judicial council says Brown emailed confidential investigation materials and sealed court documents to approximately 140 judges, lawyers and journalists. The order directs Brown to answer three written questions by October 27 and urges her to reconsider her refusal to take part in the misconduct proceedings.
A Civil Justice Council working group in England and Wales has given provisional backing to a new Band 1A of guideline hourly rates for extremely complex, high-value commercial and corporate litigation, and to guideline rates for assessing counsel's fees. A consultation on both proposals opened October 20, 2026, and closes January 19, 2027.
The Canadian Judicial Council on October 20, 2026, released a second edition of its guidelines on judges' use of artificial intelligence and new guidance on evaluating digital media evidence that may be AI-fabricated or altered. The 2026 guidelines replace the 2024 edition, shift from flagging risks to encouraging AI use within guardrails, and list appropriate, high-risk and inappropriate uses.
A federal magistrate judge in San Francisco on October 19, 2026, ordered Meta to identify each person who made, authorized or approved decisions to obtain shadow-library datasets such as LibGen and Anna's Archive, including by BitTorrent. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixson's order covers the authors' class action led by Richard Kadrey and suits by publishers including Entrepreneur Media that accuse Meta of training AI on pirated works.
Remote court and tribunal hearings in England and Wales were disrupted on October 20, 2026, after a power event at a Google Cloud facility in its London europe-west2 region knocked out services. HM Courts & Tribunals Service said it was aware of an issue affecting its Cloud Video Platform and was working with technology partners to restore service. Google later said services had been restored.
A divided Eleventh Circuit panel on October 19, 2026, held that Escambia County, Florida, school board members cannot use legislative privilege to avoid depositions about why they voted to remove specific library books. Judge Andrew Brasher, joined by Judge Jill Pryor, ruled the votes applied existing policy and were administrative acts. Chief Judge William Pryor dissented. PEN America, Penguin Random House, authors and parents allege First Amendment violations.
Insurance defense firm Wood Smith Henning & Berman on October 19, 2026, formed WSHB Support Services, a management services organization that will run non-legal operations for the firm, backed by an investment from private equity firm Charlesbank Capital Partners. The law firm says it remains independent, with its lawyers keeping sole authority over legal practice and client matters. Terms were not disclosed.
Legal AI platform Harvey on October 19, 2026, added a connector to Midpage, an AI legal research service covering U.S. case law, statutes, regulations and agency materials. Built on the Model Context Protocol, it lets joint customers run Midpage searches from Harvey Assistant threads and receive cited sources in the final output. The connector is in Harvey's Connector Library and requires a Midpage subscription.
The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, agreed to hear Association for Education Fairness v. Montgomery County Board of Education, a challenge by mostly Asian-American parents to admissions for four selective magnet middle schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. The justices limited review to whether a plaintiff attacking a facially neutral admissions policy as racially discriminatory must show aggregate disparate impact relative to the group's share of applicants.
The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, affirmed by default a Fifth Circuit ruling that songwriter Cyril Vetter's U.S. copyright termination recaptured worldwide rights to "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)." Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch, Barrett and Jackson took no part, leaving five justices, short of the six-justice quorum. BMG's parent, Bertelsmann, also owns Penguin Random House, which has published books by all four.
The U.S. Supreme Court on October 19, 2026, denied review in Hastings College Conservation Committee v. California, No. 25-1231, leaving in place California's 2023 law removing Serranus C. Hastings' name from the San Francisco law school. Six descendants and a group of alumni argued that the 1878 founding statute was a binding contract, but California courts held it was an ordinary law the Legislature could repeal.
The High Court in London on October 19, 2026, held that unlawful means conspiracy claims by nearly 13,300 London black cab drivers, and by the assignee of two dissolved private hire operators, against Uber are time-barred. Mr Justice Birt, deciding a preliminary limitation issue in White v Uber London Ltd, found the claimants could with reasonable diligence have discovered the alleged fraud and concealment before June 2018, more than six years before they sued.
A Suffolk County jury on October 16, 2026, ordered biologist Kristin Knouse to pay former Whitehead Institute scientist David Sabatini $6 million plus interest, finding she defamed him and interfered with his ability to make a living. Sabatini was removed from his Whitehead lab in 2021 after an investigation. The jury also rejected Knouse's counterclaims, including that their relationship was coercive, Fox News reported. Her lawyer said she intends to appeal.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. on October 16, 2026, asked U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes to recuse herself from the D.C. Preservation League's challenge to the administration's East Potomac golf course work, alleging hostility toward the government. The motion came days after Reyes issued a restraining order halting tree removal and sharply criticized government lawyers for failing to give promised notice.
Judge Amir H. Ali of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on October 16, 2026, denied the Justice Department's motion to disqualify Susman Godfrey from representing the American Bar Association in its suit challenging the administration's executive orders against law firms. The government called the firm a central player, but conceded it could not identify any Susman lawyer likely to be a necessary witness at trial.
Order (Bloomberg Law) → · U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (CourtListener RECAP)
Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster on October 16, 2026, preliminarily enjoined Cloudflare's recapitalization, which would have preserved co-founders Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn's voting control through new preferred and nonvoting shares. The court sided with defendants on every question under the 2025 DGCL Section 144 safe harbors but found stockholders reasonably likely to prove the special committee failed to act in good faith, and ordered a prompt trial.
The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously held on October 16, 2026, in R. v. A.M., that Criminal Code section 276 does not categorically apply to human-trafficking and sexual-services offenses, so commercial evidence of a complainant's prior sex work may be admissible. The Court dismissed the Crown appeal and upheld new trials on the sexual-services counts, Canadian Lawyer reported.
Baltimore, New Haven, Columbus and Centro Legal de la Raza have asked the Supreme Court to stay a consent judgment between Texas and the Justice Department that threw out a 2024 EOIR administrative-closure rule, SCOTUSblog reported on October 15, 2026. The application, docketed as 26A500 on October 15, calls the judgment collusive and says it bypassed notice-and-comment rescission. Justice Alito called for a response by October 22.
Womble Bond Dickinson on October 15, 2026 added a five-lawyer financial services litigation team from K&L Gates, Bloomberg Law and Law.com reported. Partners Jeffrey Patterson, Ryan Tosi and Phoebe Winder joined the Boston office, with associates Keith McCarthy in Boston and Reymond Yammine in New York. The firm said the hire accelerates its firmwide financial services platform in New England.
Control Risks agreed to spin off its Discovery + Data Insights and Forensics businesses into a stand-alone company owned by private equity firm Beringer Capital, LawSites and Legaltech News reported October 15, 2026. The business will initially operate as Control Risks – Compliance, Investigations & eDiscovery, with Control Risks keeping an equity stake and a strategic partnership. The deal is expected to close by year-end.
New York-based Chariot Claims, formerly ClaimClam, raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Silverton Partners, Crunchbase News and Legaltech News reported October 15, 2026. The startup works with law firms to find consumer cases over privacy violations, hidden fees and hard-to-cancel subscriptions, sign up affected consumers and gather evidence for mass arbitration and similar claims. Total funding is now $15.7 million.
Former DLA Piper client John Textor filed a legal malpractice suit against the firm in Florida state court over a series of European soccer club deals, seeking damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Law.com reported October 14, 2026. Textor alleges the firm presented itself as his personal counsel while negotiating terms that exposed him to losses he values in the tens of millions.
Civil litigation solicitor and mediator Brett Dixon was inaugurated as the 182nd president of the Law Society of England and Wales on October 14, 2026, succeeding Mark Evans. Dana Denis-Smith becomes vice president and Jeff Lewis deputy vice president. Dixon said he will push for clearer rules on how regulatory standards apply when solicitors use AI.
U.S. eDiscovery and legal technology provider Lineal acquired Forentec, a Dübendorf, Switzerland, firm offering digital forensics, eDiscovery, cyber security and open-source intelligence services, finews.ch and Inside IT reported October 14, 2026. The deal gives Lineal a Swiss operating base as it expands across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Terms were not disclosed.
The UK Courts and Tribunals Bill passed its House of Commons third reading by 301 votes to 193 and moves to the House of Lords, the Law Society Gazette reported October 14, 2026. The government removed the Crown Court Bench Division clause that would have narrowed jury trials and added a duty to commission an independent review of differential treatment by race or socio-economic background.
DIFC Courts began issuing court orders and hearing records with nontransferable NFT-based authenticity credentials on the Avalanche C-Chain, the courts said and Gulf News reported on October 14, 2026. Recipients can verify a document's origin and integrity in seconds while the document content stays off-chain, which the courts said reduces cross-border authentication delays.
London reputation firm Schillings and Virginia defamation firm Clare Locke launched CLS Vision, a strategic intelligence and investigations firm based in Alexandria, Virginia, Schillings said and The Lawyer reported October 14, 2026, with later Law360 Pulse coverage. Schillings said the venture combines legal-grade intelligence with strategic counsel, builds on the firms' existing alliance and is led by founding partners Allison Everhardt and Fred Glazier.
George "Chip" Nierlich joined Debevoise & Plimpton as a partner in its antitrust group in Washington, D.C., Bloomberg Law and Law360 Pulse reported October 13, 2026. Nierlich comes from the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, where he was most recently acting director of litigation and oversaw significant merger and conduct matters involving technology, healthcare and other industries.
Clifford Chance and Singapore disputes firm Cavenagh Law will end the formal law alliance formed in 2012 to give Clifford Chance clients access to Singapore litigation advice, a mutual decision the firms confirmed October 13, 2026, the Global Legal Post and Legal Business reported. The alliance is expected to wind down in four to five months; Clifford Chance will keep operating in Singapore under its Qualifying Foreign Law Practice license.
Skadden added Lyn Pruitt, Adria Conklin, Mary Catherine Way and David Koehler as partners in its mass torts and product liability group, affiliated with the Chicago office, with Lauren Grinder joining as counsel, Law.com and Bloomberg Law reported October 13, 2026. The five came from DLA Piper and follow Brian O'Donoghue, who joined Skadden as a mass torts partner in July.
The Upper Tribunal will hear challenges to the Financial Conduct Authority's motor finance compensation scheme from February 16 to 26, 2027, the FCA said October 13, 2026. Three lenders and consumer group Consumer Voice are challenging the scheme, which remains partially suspended. The FCA told lenders to prepare for the scheme being quashed, while a claimant firm said drivers are turning to litigation.
Insurance defense trial firm Tyson & Mendes opened an office in Austin, Texas, led by branch office managing partner Jennifer Akre, with incoming partners Barrie Beer and Allison Vann and senior counsel Amber Dunten, the firm announced October 12, 2026. Law360 Pulse reported the opening adds three attorneys from Chartwell. The firm also named new leaders for its Dallas and Lubbock offices.
Copenhagen-based SmallClaims raised a €2 million seed round led by Finnish venture firm Vendep Capital to expand its AI-agent platform for small-claims litigation across Europe, KapWatch reported October 12, 2026, and ArcticStartup reported October 13. The platform automates legal assessment, settlement negotiation, court filings, judgments and enforcement so businesses can pursue unpaid invoices otherwise too costly to recover.
The UK Ministry of Justice announced on October 12, 2026, a pilot expanding remote hearings so cases can be transferred digitally to judges anywhere in England and Wales, alongside rebranding Blitz courts as short trial courts prioritizing domestic abuse, drug and knife crime, the Law Gazette and a GOV.UK release reported. Future expansion is subject to evaluation and judicial approval.
Shoosmiths recruited Caroline Tuck as a partner in its London Litigation, Risk & Compliance team to strengthen Technology & AI and commercial litigation capabilities, Solicitors Journal reported October 12, 2026. Tuck joins from RPC, where she specialized in high-value technology disputes, cross-border litigation and arbitration, and served on the firm's AI Board and Steering Committee.
The Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal rejected a request by the VEB investors' association and institutional investors for an inquiry into Philips over its 2021 sleep apnea recall. It found no well-founded reasons to doubt Philips' policy: internal systems followed international standards, reliable foam-risk data emerged only in early 2021, the boards were not informed late, supervision was not shown lacking, earlier intervention at Respironics was not required, and disclosures were not misleading.
U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan vacated the Justice Department's Voter List Maintenance Policy on Oct. 9. She held that the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the NVRA and HAVA did not authorize it, and found it arbitrary and capricious under the APA and contrary to the Privacy Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act. The court granted partial summary judgment to Common Cause and individual voters.
HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate said the Serious Fraud Office has made 'credible progress' on disclosure since its 2024 inspection, but that 'the most significant residual risk concerns the management of legally privileged material.' The Oct. 8 follow-up report found no automatic LPP status reporting for case teams and less well-defined ownership of the LPP model, and recommended monthly LPP status updates by October 2027.
Switalskis Group has acquired Calculus Legal Costs Holdings Ltd, a Southport specialist costs adviser to personal injury and clinical negligence firms founded in 2003. Calculus will keep its name, operate as a separate entity, and retain founder John Hayes as a director. Insider Media reported that Switalskis employs 395 people across 11 offices.
Senior Judge Richard K. Eaton of the Court of International Trade on October 8, 2026 certified a Rule 23(b)(2) class in Freestyle World v. CBP. It covers all importers of record that paid IEEPA duties between February 1, 2025 and February 19, 2026, excluding entities that filed separate refund actions. The class seeks an injunction directing liquidation or reliquidation without the duties. Barnes Richardson and Lieff Cabraser were appointed class counsel.
DLA Piper has hired O'Melveny & Myers partners Robert Shaffer and Sean Trainor into its Washington intellectual property and technology practice. Shaffer will head life sciences patent litigation; Trainor will help lead ITC work after handling dozens of Section 337 investigations at O'Melveny.
Forty-eight states and territories asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on Oct. 8 to preliminarily approve generic drug price-fixing settlements with Ascend Laboratories, Mayne Pharma and Citron Pharma, according to the states' motion. Ascend will pay $400,000 and Mayne $650,000; Citron, which ceased operations, agreed to non-monetary injunctive and cooperation terms. Connecticut's attorney general said the first trial is set for February 2027 in Hartford.
The Federal Trade Commission sued Greenway Automotive, its management company and five Florida Kia and Hyundai dealerships in the Middle District of Florida on October 8, alleging deceptive pricing and fake prize mailers, and filed a stipulated order settling the case. The FTC alleged more than 92% of consumers at the Kia dealerships paid on average over $3,350 above advertised prices. The proposed order requires total-price disclosure and includes no monetary payment.
Foley & Lardner has added Jonathan Lasken as an antitrust partner in Washington after his service as assistant chief and senior litigation counsel in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division and earlier as senior trial counsel at the FTC. He worked on matters including the DOJ's Apple case and Google ad-tech litigation and FTC challenges to deals such as NVIDIA-Arm.
The UK Law Commission has opened a consultation to modernize product liability law by expanding "product" to include software, AI systems and design features of online platforms, and by extending liability to online marketplaces. The consultation closes January 14, 2027, with final recommendations expected in late 2027.
Greenberg Traurig has added Jonathan D. Janow as a litigation shareholder in its Washington, D.C., office, the firm announced Oct. 8. Janow joins from Steptoe, where Law360 Pulse reported he had arrived in February. According to the firm, he represents pharmaceutical and life sciences companies in antitrust, class action, trade secret and other complex commercial litigation in federal and state courts nationwide.
Peyton AI has launched an AI triage platform for medical negligence claims aimed at law firms, malpractice insurers, and hospital risk teams, scoring cases on duty, breach, causation, and damages and flagging missing evidence. Artificial Lawyer noted the launch in its October 9 wrap; the company says a validation study of more than 1,000 closed cases recorded no fabricated citations.
Litigation funder Omni Bridgeway said on October 7, 2026, that it completed the final close of its Funds 4 and 5 Series 2 capital raise at its full $1 billion target. Investors representing 99% of Series 1 commitments reinvested, and the close lifts the ASX-listed firm's assets under management to A$5.9 billion ($4.2 billion).
Harvey has released a Motion to Dismiss drafting workflow co-developed with LexisNexis that plans dismissal grounds, researches U.S. primary law through LexisNexis and Shepard's Citations, and drafts a fully cited motion after lawyer approval of the strategy. Harvey says the work commonly takes associates 40 to 50 or more hours; a Motion for Summary Judgment workflow is planned next.
Several Texas Supreme Court justices indicated during October 6, 2026, oral arguments that the cost savings of AI-transcribed depositions may outweigh accuracy concerns. The case, a wrongful termination suit by Patrick Hughey against Reddico Construction Co., asks whether he can use an AI-generated transcript that lower courts excluded because a certified shorthand reporter did not prepare it.
A two-day High Court hearing over control of the Mariana dam litigation began on October 5, 2026, after the claimant committee voted to drop Pogust Goodhead and instruct Bailey Glasser International. Pogust Goodhead argued the committee had no contractual right to terminate its agreements and that the switch could leave claimants liable for costs it estimates at £2 billion.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor on October 5, 2026, criticized an Alabama trial judge who had a prospective juror arrested in front of the jury pool for arriving late, warning that such conduct can intimidate jurors. She wrote in a statement concurring in the Supreme Court's denial of review in Steven Mulkey's capital murder case, noting his lawyers had not objected at trial.
New York City sued Manhattan personal injury firm Asher & Associates and principals Ryan Asher and Roberta Asher in federal court in Manhattan, alleging the firm falsely blamed clients' injuries on defective city roadways. The complaint, filed on Sunday, October 4, 2026, seeks treble damages under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and penalties under city and state false claims laws.
Latham & Watkins said on October 5, 2026, that Lisa Kattan has joined its Washington, D.C., office from Baker Botts as a partner in its intellectual property litigation practice and co-chair of its International Trade Commission practice. Kattan represents technology and life sciences companies in Section 337 investigations and related patent disputes and earlier spent five years at the ITC as a senior investigative attorney.
The Supreme Court granted certiorari in Garcia v. Hobbs and Trevino v. Hobbs, vacated the judgments and remanded both cases to the Ninth Circuit for further consideration in light of Louisiana v. Callais. The challengers, including a Republican state lawmaker, had argued that Washington's court-drawn Yakima Valley legislative map was a racial gerrymander after a 2023 ruling found the prior map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
Kirkland & Ellis partner Allison Murphy joined Baker McKenzie on October 5, 2026, to co-lead its congressional investigations practice with former Justice Department official Rod Rosenstein. The hire comes weeks before midterm elections that will decide the balance of power in Congress, as large firms build out their congressional investigations benches.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on October 4, 2026, granted the Justice Department an administrative stay of a district court's October 1 order reinstating Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, in Rogoff v. Trump, No. 26-6445. The unsigned order keeps Rogoff out of the post while the court considers the government's emergency motion for a stay pending appeal and does not decide the merits.
The UK government said on October 4, 2026, that Justice Secretary Alex Norris will drop the planned Crown Court Bench Division, under which judges would have tried cases likely to draw sentences of up to three years without a jury. The Courts and Tribunals Bill, due back in the Commons on October 13, still ends defendants' right to elect jury trial for either-way offenses, keeps judge-alone trials for complex fraud and expands magistrates' sentencing powers.
U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson on October 2 denied Starbucks' motion to dismiss a declaratory judgment lawsuit brought by Workers United in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The union seeks a ruling that its name and raised-fist logo do not infringe or dilute Starbucks trademarks or infringe its copyrights. The court held that a 2024 memorandum of understanding did not end the live controversy and declined Starbucks' alternative request to transfer or stay the case.
The Federal Trade Commission on October 2 filed a proposed stipulated consent decree resolving its Robinson-Patman Act price discrimination lawsuit against Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits in the Central District of California. The decree carries no civil penalty or admission of wrongdoing. For six years, an independent monitor will oversee whether Southern Glazer's charges independent retailers significantly more than its five largest chain customers in 26 states, with payments owed to harmed retailers.
Twenty-one states, the District of Columbia and five cities, including California and New York, petitioned the First Circuit on October 2, 2026, to review NHTSA's SAFE Vehicles Rule III, which sets a fleetwide average of 34.9 miles per gallon by 2031, down from 50.4 under the Biden-era rule. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the rule violates the requirement that standards be set at the maximum feasible level, Reuters reported.
WilmerHale hired Clifford Chance commercial litigator Jeremy Kosky to head its London disputes practice and Cooley international arbitration chair Charlie Lightfoot as a London arbitration partner, The Lawyer and Legal Business reported on October 2, 2026. The firm said Kosky has more than 30 years in international commercial litigation and Lightfoot 25 years in international disputes. The hires follow a WilmerHale team's departure to King & Spalding.
Bailey Glasser International said on October 2, 2026, that it hired former Pogust Goodhead partner Guy Robson as a partner and head of Latin America, returning him to the Mariana dam litigation days before an October 5–6 High Court hearing on which firm represents more than 400,000 claimants, Nonbillable and Law360 reported.
Iberian Lawyer and Líder Legal reported on October 2, 2026, that Andersen Iberia integrated Barcelona litigation boutique Martín & Parés Abogados. Eva López Parés and Víctor J. Martín join as litigation partners with four colleagues, lifting the Barcelona office to 42 professionals including 11 partners and deepening commercial litigation, contractual liability, and economic-crime work in Catalonia.
Bloomberg Law and the ABA Journal reported on October 2, 2026, that Carlsbad's Rubin Law Office filed a putative antitrust class action in the Northern District of California accusing Thomson Reuters of buying Casetext for $650 million and folding it into Westlaw to eliminate a lower-priced competitor. The complaint seeks class certification, treble damages, and an order to divest or restore Casetext; Thomson Reuters said it had not been served and declined comment until review.
Choate Hall & Stewart hired an 11-lawyer complex commercial litigation team from Kasowitz LLP in New York, Law360 Pulse and the New York Law Journal reported on October 1, 2026. Sheron Korpus led the group of six partners, two counsel, and three associates and became co-head of Choate's business and financial litigation practice.
The Justice Department sued the University of Delaware and its Board of Trustees in federal court in Delaware on October 1 over a residency policy that gives in-state tuition to students without lawful immigration status. The complaint alleges Section VII of the policy violates 8 U.S.C. 1623 by denying the same rates to U.S. citizens from other states, and 8 U.S.C. 1621(d) because no state law authorizes the benefit.
The Justice Department sued Maryland, its attorney general, the state police training commission and Prince George's and Montgomery counties on October 1, seeking to invalidate state and county laws that bar law enforcement officers, including federal agents, from wearing masks and require them to show identification. The complaint alleges Maryland's SB 1 and the two county ordinances directly regulate federal officers and violate the Supremacy Clause and intergovernmental immunity.
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz hired former Manhattan federal prosecutor Joon Kim from Cleary Gottlieb as a New York litigation partner, Bloomberg Law, Legal Business, and Law360 Pulse reported on October 1, 2026. Kim's work includes investigations and white-collar matters. The hire follows the departure of Wachtell co-chair William Savitt and other partners to Gibson Dunn.
Whiteford, Taylor & Preston said on October 1, 2026, that six partners from Lazare Potter Glazer & Moyle joined its New York office, taking it past two dozen lawyers, as Business Wire and Law360 Pulse reported. The firm said the group handles commercial and securities litigation, employment, cross-border and corporate work, and that the office will move to 535 Madison Avenue in early 2027.
Law.com's Texas Lawyer reported on October 1, 2026, that Buchalter absorbed Texas boutique Griffith Davison, expanding its Dallas office and opening Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston locations. The combination brings more than 40 Texas lawyers into Buchalter; Scott Griffith will chair construction litigation and Kimber Davison will serve as Texas regional managing partner.
London litigation platform Opus 2 acquired Cork-based Bundledocs on October 1, 2026, in an undisclosed deal that adds cloud document-bundling software used by about 1,900 clients in 35 countries, including more than 100 of the UK's top 200 law firms, Legaltech News, The Global Legal Post, and the Irish Examiner reported. The purchase is Opus 2's third acquisition in five years and is intended to extend bundling across multijurisdictional dispute workflows.
Lyft agreed to pay $272.5 million to resolve claims brought by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, the California Labor Commissioner, and city attorneys of San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles alleging the company misclassified drivers as independent contractors between 2016 and 2020. Subject to court approval in San Francisco Superior Court, the settlement establishes a restitution fund with at least $237 million for affected drivers based on hours and miles driven.
The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed Gabriel Horcasitas's manslaughter conviction but vacated his 10.5-year sentence and remanded for resentencing, holding that the trial judge's consideration of an AI-generated video of the deceased victim, Christopher Pelkey, rendered the sentencing fundamentally unfair. The three-judge panel found the video, scripted by Pelkey's sister to depict him addressing the court and forgiving the defendant, lacked sufficient reliability.
The Justice Department filed a judicial misconduct complaint with Eighth Circuit Chief Judge Steven Colloton against Minnesota federal judges who spoke to the New York Times about immigration enforcement cases. Signed by Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, it accuses Senior Judges Patrick Schiltz and John Tunheim and anonymous colleagues of violating the judicial code of conduct and asks that they be required to recuse from Homeland Security cases.
Clio acquired Learned Hand, a startup building AI tools for judges and court staff, on September 30, 2026, LawSites, Legal IT Insider, Legaltech News, and Business Insider reported. Terms were not disclosed. Learned Hand’s judicial AI workspace connects to court case-management systems and is already used by U.S. courts including Los Angeles Superior Court; Clio said it will anchor the vendor’s new judiciary business.
McDermott Will & Schulte and a former associate stipulated to dismiss with prejudice a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination and retaliation, according to a September 30 filing in Chicago federal court. Reuters reported that the parties had resolved the dispute; neither the filing nor the report disclosed financial terms.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1749 on September 29, 2026. The bill adds Civil Code section 1714.57, prohibiting knowingly or recklessly operating a drone to interfere with wildfire suppression or related emergency response, including under an FAA temporary flight restriction. The Attorney General, county counsel, or city attorney may sue, with prevailing plaintiffs recovering civil penalties up to $75,000 per violation plus injunctive relief and attorney's fees.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1344 on September 29, 2026. New Code of Civil Procedure section 425.21 lets defendants bring a special motion to strike lawsuits challenging approval or permitting of priority care developments, which provide housing tied to behavioral-health services and other specified purposes. The court denies the motion only if the petitioner shows a probability of prevailing. SB 1344 also raises the cap on undertakings in suits against qualifying housing projects from $500,000 to $1 million.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 747, the No Kings Act, on September 29, 2026 (Chapter 752, Statutes of 2026), adding Civil Code section 53.8 as an urgency statute effective immediately. Any natural person who, under color of law, deprives someone of federal constitutional rights is liable to the injured party, and immunity defenses are limited to those available under 42 U.S.C. 1983. Claims must be filed within two years.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 873 on September 29, 2026. Civil Code section 43.54 bars civil arrests at a courthouse, including public ways within 1,000 feet, and of people traveling to or from one for lawful activity; arrests under a valid judicial warrant are exempt. Violators are liable for false imprisonment or false arrest, with actual damages plus $10,000 in statutory damages. Court security must ask entering officers for identification, purpose and a judicial warrant.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil enforcement action in Manhattan federal court against private fund adviser Meyer Global Management LLC and its chief executive Owen Meyer. The complaint alleges defendants raised $18.5 million from retail investors seeking pre-IPO exposure to SpaceX and OpenAI, while misappropriating $1.27 million for personal expenses and causing a managed fund to forfeit a nearly $3 million SpaceX investment after failing to meet capital calls.
AIM-listed NAHL Group reported on September 30, 2026, that first-half revenue rose 5% to £18.3 million and profit before tax rose 31% to £2.3 million, with net debt at £1.1 million, Legal Futures and the company’s RNS said. The board said CMA clearance means the £1.234 million enterprise-value sale of Searches UK should complete imminently and, with a £1.85 million supplier-dispute settlement due by October 15, 2026, expects a net cash position by end of October.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1821 on September 30, 2026, amending Government Code section 7922.535 of the California Public Records Act. From January 1, 2027, a state or local agency must decide whether a request seeks disclosable records in its possession, and notify the requester, within 10 business days rather than 10 days. In unusual circumstances it may extend that period by up to 14 business days, rather than 14 days.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1961 on September 30, 2026, amending Code of Civil Procedure section 527.8. From January 1, 2027, an employer may seek a workplace violence restraining order on behalf of all employees at a workplace, or at a location where a group of employees primarily work, when harassment, violence or a credible threat is directed at that site, without naming individual employees. The Judicial Council must update its forms by January 1, 2028.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1401 on September 30, 2026, amending Penal Code sections 1370 and 1370.01. From January 1, 2027, a court may refer a misdemeanor defendant found incompetent to county conservatorship if the court itself finds the defendant appears gravely disabled, not only on an expert's opinion. County behavioral health agencies may report confidential medical information to the court to determine eligibility for services.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 574 on September 30, 2026. From January 1, 2027, attorneys may not delegate the practice of law to generative AI and, when using it, must keep confidential and nonpublic information out of AI systems and verify outputs. No court filing may contain citations the responsible attorney has not personally verified, and arbitrators may not delegate decisionmaking to generative AI.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 932 on September 30, 2026, adding Code of Civil Procedure section 369.6. From January 1, 2027, an assignee who has been assigned rights in a proceeding by the original real party in interest must identify that assignor and original real party in interest in the title of the case on the first document the assignee files in the proceeding.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni preliminarily enjoined New York from enforcing Section 3 of General Business Law 340-B, the state's ban on algorithmic rent-setting tools, and denied Attorney General Letitia James's motion to dismiss RealPage's suit. In a 27-page opinion filed September 29, she called it a close call but found RealPage marginally likely to show the law restricts speech protected by the First Amendment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on September 29, 2026, affirmed a Delaware federal judgment that ROSS Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters Westlaw headnotes and could not claim fair use for using them to train a competing AI legal research tool, Bloomberg Law and Copyright Lately reported. The precedential opinion, filed under temporary seal on September 29, is now public on the court's website.
Order (Bloomberg Law) → · Copyright Lately, LawSites, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit +1
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed two civil fraud actions in Manhattan federal court against Cryptoaiml and TSAI Pro entities, alleging they took more than $15 million from retail investors. The SEC alleges the defendants lured investors through WhatsApp and other platforms with fake AI trading programs, displayed fictitious profits, froze withdrawals to demand further payments, and filed Form D notices listing fictitious officers with forged notarizations.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security challenging a five-year contract exceeding $500 million with The GEO Group to operate a 1,200-bed immigration detention center in Hudson. The complaint alleges federal officials violated the National Environmental Policy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act by awarding the contract without the required environmental review.
Pierson Ferdinand said on September 29, 2026, that it has passed 300 partners globally less than three years after its January 2024 launch, a milestone Artificial Lawyer also reported. The distributed firm has no associates and said it embeds AI tools including Harvey in place of junior leverage; it named five partners who joined in September in Columbus, London, Chicago and Atlanta.
Court reporting and litigation support company Steno appointed LegalZoom co-founder Brian Lee to its board of directors, the company said on September 29, 2026, and Artificial Lawyer reported the same day. Steno said Lee grew LegalZoom revenue past $300 million before its public offering. CEO Prabhdeep Singh said Lee understands how to build market-defining legal service companies. The appointment follows Steno's $49 million Series C earlier in 2026.
England and Wales’s first Online Procedure Rules possession-claim pilots went live at noon on September 29, 2026, at Bradford, Huddersfield, and Wandsworth county courts, the Online Procedure Rule Committee and Legal Futures reported. The initial phase is limited to registered social landlords in covered postcodes; a Wales pilot at Caernarfon begins October 15, 2026, and Civil Procedure Rules still fill gaps such as appeals and enforcement.
Jones Day hired five partners in Australia, Law.asia and Bloomberg Law reported on September 29, 2026. Dylan McKimmie joined global disputes in Brisbane from Norton Rose Fulbright; Leigh De Jong (financial markets/real estate), Christopher Flynn (energy), Lance Sacks (corporate), and Ken Saurajen (intellectual property) joined in Sydney from MinterEllison, Gilbert + Tobin, Baker McKenzie, and Clayton Utz respectively. Jones Day said it has added 10 lateral partners in Australia in 2026.
Birmingham Employment Tribunal ordered barrister Michael Engelhardt-Sprack to pay £6,767.44 in wasted costs to the first respondent in Burns v Gitpod GmbH after he tried to conduct the first day of a remote final hearing from two trains in Germany on 12 May 2025, Legal Futures reported. In a costs judgment dated 18 February 2026, Employment Judge Wedderspoon called the conduct totally inappropriate and unprofessional and a breach of presidential guidance. The hearing resumed the next day in person.
U.S. District Judge William Young issued findings of fact and rulings of law following a six-day bench trial in an ERISA class action against Trader Joe's. The court rejected claims that Trader Joe's unlawfully used forfeited retirement funds to offset employer contributions and a claim over a poorly performing fund, but ruled for participants on claims that fiduciaries failed to monitor recordkeeping fees, awarding $1,187,221 in damages and interest.
A California federal court denied class certification to three putative purchaser classes accusing Energizer Holdings and Walmart of conspiring to inflate disposable battery prices through wholesale distribution agreements. U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts held that the plaintiffs failed to establish commonality and antitrust impact on a classwide basis, finding that their economists' difference-in-differences regression models did not satisfy the foundational parallel trends assumption.
Corteva Agriscience and gene-editing company Inari Agriculture settled their patent and plant variety protection litigation days into a jury trial in Delaware federal court over Inari's use of Corteva's patented corn and soybean seed deposits. Under a stipulated order of dismissal with prejudice signed by Judge John F. Murphy on September 28, Inari must destroy all Corteva biological materials within 30 days, assign its edited versions of Corteva traits to Corteva, and negotiate licensing agreements; other terms are confidential.
U.S. Circuit Judge William Bryson, sitting by designation in Delaware federal court, denied motions to dismiss filed by Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna in patent infringement litigation brought by Bayer over messenger RNA technology. The court held that Bayer's asserted claims are not directed to patent-ineligible natural laws under Section 101 and that Bayer plausibly pled infringement under Section 271.
The City of Boston sued Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in Massachusetts federal court over the withdrawal of a $20 million RAISE grant awarded in 2022 for the Roxbury Resilient Corridors project. Boston alleges the department lacked authority under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to cancel the grant because the project included electric vehicle chargers, and that the rescission violated the Administrative Procedure Act and separation-of-powers principles.
A coalition of 15 states and Harris County, Texas, petitioned the Second Circuit to review and set aside the Federal Aviation Administration's nationwide environmental review for commercial drone package deliveries. The petitioners contend the agency violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving nationwide operations without adequately analyzing safety risks and environmental impacts, including noise from delivery hubs. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the assessment falls far short of proper analysis.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a motion for a temporary injunction against OpenAI and Chief Executive Sam Altman in Highlands County Circuit Court on 28 September 2026. The state asked the court to prohibit OpenAI from training or releasing new models without independent third-party approval, bar minors from ChatGPT, halt unconsented child data collection, prohibit human-like emotional framing, and enjoin conversation prolongation design practices.
Stephenson Harwood hired Jennifer Lavelle as a London commercial litigation partner from Clyde & Co and Nicola Simmons as a London private wealth partner from Mishcon de Reya, the firm said on September 28, 2026. Global Legal Post reported both moves on September 29. Lavelle is a marine insurance specialist; Simmons is a chartered tax adviser focused on personal and corporate tax.
JLL Partners-backed e-discovery and managed review provider Repario acquired alternative legal services provider UnitedLex from CVC Capital Partners, LawSites and Legaltech News reported on September 28, 2026. Financial terms were not disclosed. The combined company, led by Repario CEO David Moran, will pair Repario's e-discovery, infrastructure-as-a-service, and managed review with UnitedLex's litigation, contracts, legal operations, intellectual property, AI advisory, and incident response services across the United States, Mexico, India, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
Former New Jersey Solicitor General Jeremy Feigenbaum joined Jenner & Block as a partner in New York, the firm announced. Bloomberg Law reported that he would lead the firm’s appellate team in the city, extending a practice with leaders in Chicago and San Francisco.
Britain's Competition Appeal Tribunal said it will certify an opt-out consumer collective claim against Apple and Amazon over an alleged 2018 agreement restricting Apple resellers on Amazon's UK marketplace, subject to changes to the funding arrangements and the class representative's pay before any collective proceedings order is made. The tribunal refused to certify claims covering purchases directly from Apple and other retailers, finding they rested on a speculative theory of harm. The judgment, [2026] CAT 75, is unanimous.
News UK, publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times, and The Sun, made a strategic investment in ClearDraft, an AI content-clearance platform that flags legal risks before publication, City A.M. reported on September 28, 2026. ClearDraft says its model is procedural rather than generative, scanning drafts for risk patterns so journalists and in-house lawyers can prioritize complex matters including SLAPP threats. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued insulin makers Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, pharmacy benefit managers CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx, and rebate aggregators Zinc, Ascent and Emisar in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, his office announced September 22. The complaint alleges the manufacturers inflated list prices for insulin and related diabetes drugs while paying the PBMs rebates and fees for preferred formulary placement.
In a hearing that ended at 2:15am BST on September 27, 2026, Mr Justice Michael Humphreys of the High Court in Northern Ireland dismissed a remitted challenge by Garvaghy Road residents to the Parades Commission determination allowing a limited Orange Order parade along the road, Belfast Live, The Irish Times and The Independent reported. He held the commission’s decision was reasoned and not irrational, saying the court cannot substitute its view for the commission’s.
At an 11:30pm sitting on September 26, 2026, Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal allowed an appeal against a High Court injunction that had temporarily blocked the Parades Commission’s determination permitting an Orange Order parade along Portadown’s Garvaghy Road on September 27, The Independent and The Irish Times reported. Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said Justice Patricia Smyth, who granted the Saturday injunction, had “unfortunately erred in law.”
A federal jury in San Diego on September 25, 2026 found Apple infringed two Taction Technology haptics patents covering vibration technology used in iPhone and Apple Watch Taptic Engine products and awarded about $5.72 billion, Bloomberg Law and Reuters reported. Jurors found the infringement was not willful. Apple said it does not use Taction’s technology and will appeal; the Federal Circuit had revived the case in 2025 after a 2023 noninfringement summary judgment.
Filing (Bloomberg Law) → · Reuters, Patent Litigator, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit +2
The Trump administration agreed on September 25, 2026 to rescind guidance authorizing federal agencies to initiate reductions in force during appropriations lapses, settling American Federation of Government Employees v. Office of Management and Budget in the Northern District of California, Bloomberg Law, Reuters and Government Executive reported. Agencies must strip blanket RIF authorization from shutdown contingency plans and give plaintiff unions 30 days’ notice before restoring such language. The suit challenged mass layoff notices issued during the 2025 government shutdown.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued Evolve Construction LLC, Evolve Construction & Restoration Inc. and six of their principals on September 25, 2026 in the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court in Lee County. The complaint alleges the defendants ran an unlicensed roofing operation that solicited homeowners after Hurricane Ian, took insurance proceeds, abandoned repairs and recorded unlawful liens. The Attorney General’s office said at least 80 consumers reported paying more than $1 million for work they did not receive.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1824 on September 25 as part of a Native American legislative package, aligning California guardianship and conservatorship proceedings involving Indian children with Indian Child Welfare Act standards. Courts and petitioners must inquire whether a child is or may be an Indian child, parties seeking placement must show 'active efforts' to prevent family breakup, and placements must follow ICWA placement preferences.
Bill Smelko joined Buchalter as a partner in its insolvency and financial law practice in San Diego, Bloomberg Law reported on September 25, 2026. He focuses on business bankruptcy, restructuring and corporate governance disputes for financial institutions, creditors, debtors and businesses. He joins from Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch.
A unanimous Sixth Circuit panel ruled that state regulators in Ohio and Tennessee can enforce gambling laws against Kalshi's sports prediction markets. Judge Gibbons wrote that Kalshi failed to prove event contracts are statutory swaps under CFTC exclusive jurisdiction, and alternatively held the Commodity Exchange Act does not preempt state gaming statutes. The court affirmed denial of an Ohio injunction and vacated Tennessee injunctive relief.
U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken granted partial summary judgment on Friday to twenty-two state attorneys general challenging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's refusal to request operating funds from the Federal Reserve. The court held that former Acting Director Russell Vought's decision to defund the agency violated the Dodd-Frank Act and the separation of powers. Judge Aiken vacated the defunding decisions and declared the Federal Reserve must transfer the funds the director deems necessary, declining injunctive relief for fiscal 2026.
The Supreme Court of the United States granted an emergency application for a stay in People Not Politicians v. Onder, blocking lower federal court orders that required Missouri to use a 2025 congressional redistricting map in the 2026 elections. The per curiam order held under the Purcell principle that federal courts cannot alter election rules while voting is actively underway, and reaffirmed that the state must conduct elections under its 2022 map.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall finalized an agreement with TikTok Inc. on Friday to resolve state court consumer protection litigation days before scheduled trial. TikTok agreed to pay Alabama an initial $100 million within 45 days, with total payments reaching up to $300 million depending on other state resolutions. The settlement imposes operational restrictions across Alabama, including a two-hour daily use limit for teens, parental controls, and a ban on teen cosmetic filters.
A divided D.C. Circuit panel denied Anthropic PBC's petitions challenging the Department of War's exclusion of Claude from the military supply chain under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act. Judge Katsas, joined by Judge Rao, held the Secretary reasonably found Anthropic's contractual limits on autonomous lethal warfare and domestic surveillance a supply-chain risk, and rejected Anthropic's notice, due process and First Amendment claims. Judge Henderson dissented on the statute's definition of supply chain risk.
The Divisional Court on September 25, 2026 dismissed Sex Matters’ judicial review of CPS guidance on deception as to sex in sexual-offence charging. Dame Victoria Sharp P and Mrs Justice Heather Williams held deception as to gender identity is not incapable of vitiating consent under section 74 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and that the draft guidance did not misstate the law, while criticising a trans/non-binary experiences passage as surprising in charging guidance.
The United States Justice Department filed an application in the General Court of the European Union to intervene in lawsuits brought by X Corp and Elon Musk challenging a €120 million Digital Services Act fine. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate argued the European Commission exceeded its extraterritorial authority and improperly pierced corporate veils by attributing turnover across unrelated Musk-owned companies.
The Supreme Court of California issued two unanimous opinions on Thursday ordering Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return approximately 650,000 voted ballots seized following the November 2025 special election. Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero held that Elections Code section 15551, as it then read, prohibited removing ballots from election officials' custody even during criminal investigations. The court also held that Article V, Section 13 of the California Constitution grants Attorney General Rob Bonta binding supervisory authority over county sheriffs' investigations.
Alston & Bird announced on September 24, 2026 that Devin Donohue and Andy Hutchison joined as partners in its Litigation & Trial Practice Group, Bloomberg Law reported. Donohue joined the Century City office and Hutchison joined San Francisco, expanding the firm’s West Coast commercial litigation bench for complex business disputes, investigations, and consumer-related class actions.
A bipartisan coalition of forty-four state attorneys general led by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, with Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Texas as co-leads, finalized an assurance of voluntary compliance with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings on Thursday. The settlement resolved a multistate investigation into the 2019 data breach at Labcorp's debt collection vendor, American Medical Collection Agency, which exposed records of 27.5 million people. Labcorp agreed to pay $2,287,455 and implement vendor risk management and incident response safeguards.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a civil False Claims Act lawsuit and concurrent settlement in Hennepin County District Court on Thursday against child nutrition program sponsor Partners in Nutrition. The agreement resolved allegations that the nonprofit submitted fraudulent meal reimbursement claims to the Minnesota Department of Education between October 2020 and February 2022. Partners in Nutrition agreed to pay $18,517,909.27, representing its entire remaining funds, produce internal records to investigators, and permanently dissolve as a corporate entity.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul filed an enforcement petition in Manhattan state court on Thursday against QCX LLC, operating as Polymarket US, alleging the prediction market ran an unlicensed gambling business that offered sports event wagers to individuals under twenty-one. Polymarket countersued James and state gaming officials in Manhattan federal court several hours later, asserting that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission holds exclusive regulatory jurisdiction over federally registered event contracts and derivatives exchanges.
A proposed class action filed in Illinois federal court on September 24 accused Seyfarth Shaw of failing to safeguard personal information exposed in an August incident, Reuters reported. The plaintiff, a former employee of a Seyfarth client, says the breach affected more than 56,000 people. Seyfarth said in a statement that its network and systems were not breached and that someone impersonating its IT help desk targeted a single employee.
Ministry of Justice Family Court Statistics for April to June 2026 show 67,843 new family-court cases, up 1% on the same quarter in 2025, driven by private-law (+11%) and financial-remedy (+4%) starts. Disposals fell 1% to 62,183, so starts again outpaced resolutions. Private-law cases averaged 33 weeks to disposal; care and supervision averaged 37 weeks, with 36% completed within 26 weeks.
Augustine Ripa is joining Whistleblower Law Collaborative as a Boston partner in its False Claims Act practice from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bloomberg Law reported on September 23, 2026; the firm said the move takes effect on September 28. His practice focuses on health-care FCA matters including pharmaceutical pricing, Anti-Kickback Statute issues, and FDA and regulatory-approval fraud theories.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan approved a settlement agreement between Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and officials of tribal online lender Plain Green on September 23, 2026. The order resolves federal litigation alleging Plain Green charged Minnesota borrowers annual interest rates approaching seven hundred percent, exceeding state rate caps. Plain Green cancelled all interest on existing loans, credited prior payments toward principal, and agreed to stop marketing or making loans in Minnesota unless it complies with state lending law.
Greenberg Traurig added Sofiya Bumagin as a shareholder in its London energy and natural resources practice from Sidley Austin and Hayley Çapani as of counsel to its London litigation practice from Shoosmiths, the firm announced on 23 and September 22, 2026; Bloomberg Law reported both hires on September 23. Bumagin advises financial sponsors on energy-transition and digital-infrastructure M&A including battery storage, district heating, data centers and fibre; Çapani advises on contentious restructuring and insolvency.
The Supreme Court of Texas will hear argument on October 6, 2026 in In re Patrick Hughey, No. 25-0463, on whether a trial court could quash depositions taken through the AI platform Skribe.ai and strike the transcript it produced without a certified shorthand reporter. Reddico Construction and the National Court Reporters Association defend the order under Government Code chapter 154; an AI law institute's brief backs the relator.
Duane Morris and a former partner notified a California federal court that they had agreed to settle the plaintiff’s claims individually after private mediation. Reuters reported the notice on September 24. The lawsuit challenged the treatment of non-equity partners; the firm had previously denied wrongdoing.
Amani Khalifa, head of Freshfields’ Saudi Arabia disputes practice, is leaving to join arbitration boutique Three Crowns as a partner in its Dubai International Financial Centre office from January 1, 2027, the boutique announced on September 23, 2026; Law.com International and Global Arbitration Review reported the move the same day. Three Crowns, founded in 2014, opened its DIFC office in January 2026 and moved to larger premises there in September.
India’s Supreme Court on September 23, 2026 questioned how far the Bar Council of India may control or run law colleges while hearing Girish Mittal v Bar Council of India, Bar & Bench and LiveLaw reported. Chief Justice Kant asked what expertise BCI has in legal education, distinguishing prescribing broad standards from operational control, and issued notice to the BCI on the petition.
Claimant firm Pogust Goodhead said it intends to move away from its name after co-founder Harris Pogust sent notice that he would file a cease-and-desist to remove “Pogust” from its branding, Legal Business, Non-Billable and City AM reported. Pogust, who left management about three years ago, criticised the firm for naming its own clients as defendants in the Mariana dam litigation. A firm spokesperson said neither former founder runs the business today and the name should reflect that.
In Patel v General Optical Council [2026] EWCA Civ 1206, handed down on September 22, 2026, the Court of Appeal refused permission for a second appeal by suspended optometrist Suleman Patel but held Deputy High Court Judge Richard Clayton KC should not have heard the High Court appeal remotely from bed while recovering from Achilles surgery. Lord Justice Phillips, with Lady Justice Falk, said bed hearings should be a last resort when conventional listing is not feasible.
U.S. District Judge Jane M. Beckering dismissed Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s antitrust suit against BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute on September 22, 2026. The court held Michigan lacked antitrust standing under the Sherman and Clayton Acts: the alleged decades-long conspiracy was not plausibly pleaded to have proximately caused retail energy overcharges, and Illinois Brick bars most indirect-purchaser overcharge damages. Beckering dismissed the federal claim with prejudice and declined supplemental jurisdiction over the state claim.
Jeffrey Reed joined K&L Gates as a New York corporate partner focusing on state and local tax controversies and planning, Bloomberg Tax and the firm reported on September 22, 2026. A former Massachusetts Department of Revenue litigator, he joins from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton and advises on multistate controversies, unclaimed property, and M&A state-tax consequences.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Energy Commission sued the Department of the Interior, federal officials, and Invenergy California Offshore in federal court on Tuesday. The fifty-four-page complaint challenges a June 2026 agreement paying Invenergy over $111 million to surrender its two-gigawatt Morro Bay offshore wind lease. California alleges the buyout violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and constitutional spending limits while requiring fossil-fuel investments.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of eight states sued the Department of the Interior, federal officials, and Bluepoint Wind in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday. The eighty-one-page complaint challenges a $765 million Judgment Fund settlement that canceled Bluepoint's 2.4-gigawatt New York Bight offshore wind lease. The states allege the agreement illegally diverts taxpayer funds to a liquefied natural gas project, violating federal energy and environmental statutes.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sued Trump Media and Technology Group in San Francisco Superior Court on September 21, 2026. The 22-page complaint alleges the company’s Truth API service charges subscribers up to $100,000 a month for a 50-millisecond head start on market-moving presidential posts. The suit asserts the service monetizes nonpublic government information, aids violations of federal ethics and securities laws, and constitutes unfair and unlawful business practices under California law.
Paul Perkins joined Morrison Foerster as a Washington, D.C. partner in Investigations + White Collar Defense and chair of the False Claims Act practice, Bloomberg Law and the firm reported on September 22, 2026. He most recently served as Associate Deputy Attorney General after senior Civil Fraud Section roles at the U.S. Department of Justice.
Harvey launched a dedicated pro bono program in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia on September 22, 2026, Artificial Lawyer and LawSites reported. First-phase design partners are senior pro bono leaders at Ashurst Perkins Coie, DLA Piper, and Nelson Mullins; Harvey will build custom agents for high-volume casework, dedicate legal engineering support in the US and UK, and plans a later free-access pilot for frontline legal services organizations.
Albert "BJ" Stieglitz joined Mayer Brown as a partner in its Global Investigations & White Collar Defense practice in Washington, D.C., Bloomberg Law and the firm reported on September 22, 2026. He joins from Alston & Bird after nearly 13 years at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he led fraud and FCPA investigations in the Criminal Division Fraud Section and served a dual secondment to the UK Serious Fraud Office and Financial Conduct Authority.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan assigned London office head and senior partner Richard East to the Mariana dam litigation claimant team alongside Pogust Goodhead, Law.com International reported on 21–September 22, 2026. The London group action against BHP over Brazil’s 2015 Fundão dam collapse involves a claimant-representation dispute with Bailey Glasser International heading toward an October hearing, with reported damages exposure of up to $36 billion.
The Province of British Columbia and School District 59 sued OpenAI and Chief Executive Sam Altman in California federal court on Monday, alleging the company failed to alert police to ChatGPT conversations planning a February 2026 school shooting. The complaint asserts OpenAI identified the user as an imminent threat in June 2025 but deactivated the account without notifying Canadian authorities. British Columbia seeks reimbursement for reconstructing Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, psychiatric services, punitive damages, and injunctive safety mandates.
A twelve-state coalition led by California submitted a proposed consent decree in California federal court on Monday, settling antitrust litigation against Paramount Skydance's planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. Under the thirty-two-page agreement, Paramount agreed to divest cable networks including Comedy Central and BET, maintain theatrical film quotas for five years, increase domestic production spending by $300 million annually, and establish independent editorial oversight boards for CBS News and CNN.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Subscribers to paid artificial intelligence services sued Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google in the Northern District of California on September 18, 2026, alleging the companies formed an illegal horizontal agreement to slow frontier model improvements. The complaint claims public statements endorsing coordinated development pacing, presented as AI safety measures, constitute an unlawful restraint on output and product quality under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, depriving consumers of faster competitive innovations.
Corrected . An earlier version of this piece misquoted the complaint. It attributed to paragraphs 111 and 112 a sentence the complaint does not contain; the complaint's words, in paragraph 112, are now quoted. It quoted Sam Altman as writing "OpenAI will do the same"; the complaint quotes "will do the same." It placed quotation marks around several passages the complaint paraphrases, gave some paragraph numbers incorrectly, and said each plaintiff subscribed to one defendant's product; three plaintiffs allege subscriptions to all four. It also quoted Dario Amodei's essay beyond what the complaint quotes. The piece now links the desk's copy of the complaint as filed.
Free Law Project made a CourtListener plugin available in ChatGPT Enterprise, connecting the assistant to case law, RECAP/PACER filings, citation networks, oral-argument transcripts, and alerts with links back to primary sources. LawSites independently reported the CourtListener plugin on September 18, 2026; Free Law Project also said it was doubling CourtListener API rate limits through October 1, 2026.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2783 on September 18, 2026, as an urgency statute. The act lets successful completion of the National Court Reporters Association's Registered Professional Reporter certification satisfy the Dictation/Transcription skill portion of California's certified shorthand reporter examination. It also extends the remote court-reporting pilot in 13 participating superior courts through July 1, 2028.
Gibson Dunn hired a three-partner mass-torts and product-liability trial team from Paul Weiss on September 18, 2026. Kimberly Branscome joins as co-chair of the practice; Yahonnes Cleary and Jonathan Tam join as partners. Branscome and Tam are based in Los Angeles and Cleary in New York, adding first-chair trial depth in pharmaceutical, medical-device, consumer, and industrial matters.
U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman denied OpenAI's emergency motion to compel production of a confidential settlement agreement between Apple, X Corp, and SpaceXAI in an antitrust lawsuit over artificial intelligence integration. Following an in camera inspection, the court held that the agreement contains no information relevant to summary judgment or trial issues. The court cited federal policy protecting confidential settlements to encourage compromise, noting discovery had closed on July 31, 2026.
U.S. Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas said on September 17, 2026 that a 24-member federal judiciary AI task force is preparing further generative AI recommendations for judges within the next year after the Judicial Conference met in Washington. The Administrative Office separately said interim guidance already cautions courts not to delegate core judicial functions to AI and holds users accountable for AI-assisted work.
Clio on September 17, 2026 announced that Vincent is available in OpenAI’s Codex through a Model Context Protocol plugin, letting lawyers bring Clio legal content and matter context into Codex workflows while keeping sources connected. Clio said the foundation combines Clio Library and Docket Alarm; LawSites highlighted the Vincent Codex plugin among vendor integrations following OpenAI’s legal launch on September 18.
OpenAI on September 17, 2026 released Astra for Law, a GPT-6 Astra configuration with legal analysis instructions, a U.S. Legal Search Index covering more than 230 million URLs, and partner plugins for law firms and legal technology vendors. Selected Am Law 200 firms receive Trusted Access through ChatGPT and Codex with zero data retention on the API, while API access for builders including Harvey and Legora was said to follow soon.
Relativity on September 17, 2026 said Relativity aiR now integrates with ChatGPT Enterprise through the Model Context Protocol, letting legal teams use natural language in ChatGPT to stand up matters, align workspaces to their data, and manage access and workflows while keeping Relativity permissions and substantive analysis inside the platform. LawSites independently listed the Relativity plugin among vendor ChatGPT integrations on September 18.
News plaintiffs led by The New York Times on September 17, 2026 made public previously redacted portions of a Southern District of New York summary-judgment filing against OpenAI and Microsoft. The filing quotes OpenAI and Microsoft executives describing chatbot products as largely substitutive for journalism and characterizing mass scraping of news for training as an unprecedented theft of labor, which the outlets say undercuts the companies' fair-use defense.
Deputy High Court judge Marcus Pilgerstorfer KC, sitting in the Employment Appeal Tribunal, on September 17, 2026 warned litigants in person that they remain personally responsible for AI-drafted filings after Terence Hancox submitted a 300-page, 132,000-word ChatGPT skeleton. The judgment in Hancox v Sutherland said unchecked generative AI output is unacceptable and that noncompliant documents are likely to be rejected.
On September 16, 2026 Relativity said it renamed RelativityOne, its cloud e-discovery platform, as Relativity aiR to unify the product with its agentic AI suite. LawSites and a company PR Newswire release reported the change. CEO Phil Saunders framed AI as transformative as the cloud shift; president Chris Brown said more than half of new matters on the platform are not litigation. Agentic tools remain included in 2026 platform pricing.
Am Law 200 firm Michael Best & Friedrich completed a strategic combination with New York midsize firm Kane Kessler, establishing Michael Best’s New York presence. Kane Kessler brings roughly 40 attorneys and practices including corporate, securities, capital markets, M&A, litigation, IP, and real estate. Kane Kessler managing partner Rob Lawrence will lead the New York office; Michael Best now reports nearly 400 attorneys across 19 U.S. offices.
On September 16, 2026 Law Gazette and PE Hub reported that Queen’s Park Equity-backed Canford Group acquired Hertfordshire’s PDC Group—Property Debt Collection, PDC Law, and PDC Conveyancing—as a third vertical beside Canford Law and Canford Law Scotland. Managing director Reece Wheeldon stays with a significant equity stake; terms were undisclosed. The combined platform employs 218 people.
On September 15, 2026 Deposely, Inc., which markets litigation AI as Litem, filed an SEC Form D showing $6,173,982 sold of a $6,673,982 Rule 506(b) equity offering, with first sale on September 9. The Bellevue, Washington company said the total includes new cash plus converted debt and convertibles. Runtime Wire reported the filing on 15–September 16 as Litem expands beyond deposition tools.
Elon Musk's X Corp and SpaceXAI LLC moved to dismiss with prejudice their antitrust claims against Apple in Texas federal court on September 14, resolving allegations that Apple conspired with OpenAI to monopolize smartphone and generative AI markets. Plaintiffs stated the dismissal does not affect their ongoing antitrust claims against OpenAI entities. The filing did not disclose settlement terms. OpenAI stated it was not party to the agreement and requested disclosure of its terms.
On September 14, 2026 U.S. plaintiffs firm Morgan & Morgan said it will spend at least $1 billion on legal technology and AI over the next decade and formally unveiled MX2, its proprietary AI platform. Artificial Lawyer and Legal IT Insider reported the pledge and product modules; a Reuters dispatch the same day said the firm plans to offer MX2 to other law firms on an invitation-only basis by the end of 2027.
On September 14, 2026 Legora said it is building a full ontology of law and an AI-native citator for legal research inside its platform, using technology from its Qura and Wexler acquisitions. The ontology is in limited beta and is slated for general availability in Q4 2026. Independent coverage appeared the same day in Artificial Lawyer and Legaltech News.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.