International companies operating in the European Union face huge fines, increased lawsuits and new compliance costs from legislation adopted last month that targets environmental and human rights breaches in corporate supply chains, lawyers say. The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, known as the CS3D and approved late last month,…

Attorneys general from 43 states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday announced a landmark $700 million settlement with Johnson & Johnson in multistate litigation targeting the harmful chemicals in its talcum-based body powder products. The states alleged in lawsuits filed Tuesday that the pharmaceutical manufacturer intentionally deceived users about the…

In another C-suite hire in Texas, midsize firm McGinnis Lochridge has hired Silvano Parducci as executive director, a role in which he oversees the firm’s finance and operations. Parducci joined McGinnis Lochridge on June 3. He comes from Conner & Winters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was the firm’s chief…

An influential appellate court has agreed to take up a bankruptcy involving the controversial “Texas two-step,” potentially deciding the merger tactic’s fate in future Chapter 11 cases. On May 31, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed to hear a petition to dismiss the bankruptcy of Bestwall,…

After pushback from attorneys, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has discarded a proposed rule that would have required lawyers to disclose if they used generative artificial intelligence in crafting a brief. If adopted, attorneys would have had to check a box confirming that no AI program was used in drafting…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission must carefully weigh its legal strategy following a federal appeals court decision last week that struck down the SEC’s regulation of private fund advisers as being beyond the agency’s statutory authority, securities lawyers said this week, citing the SEC’s larger agenda. “The SEC is…