Reuters Legal

California’s recent rejection of a proposal to allow law graduates to become lawyers without taking a bar is a loss for the national attorney licensing movement. But several legal experts said it's not a lethal blow — citing growing momentum in other states. The California Supreme Court on Oct. 10 denied a proposal to license law school graduates who work for up to six months under an experienced attorney's supervision and submit a portfolio of legal work to state bar evaluators, saying the plan posed an 'array of ethical and practical problems.' Susan Smith Bakhshian, a Loyola Law School professor who helped develop the California's Portfolio Bar Exam proposal, said California had 'taken a wrong turn' in rejecting the program, adding that 'reform is a long and complicated process.' Karen Sloan has more: https://lnkd.in/gZUAfMwa #legal

U.S. federal prosecutors are stepping up their pursuit of suspects who use artificial intelligence tools to manipulate or create child sex abuse images, as law enforcement fears the technology could spur a flood of illicit material. The U.S. Justice Department has brought two criminal cases this year against defendants accused of using generative AI systems, which create text or images in response to user prompts, to produce explicit images of children. 'There’s more to come,' said James Silver, the chief of the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, predicting further similar cases. 'What we’re concerned about is the normalization of this,' Silver said in an interview. 'AI makes it easier to generate these kinds of images, and the more that are out there, the more normalized this becomes. That’s something that we really want to stymie and get in front of.' Read more: https://lnkd.in/eMCQ-aeX #legal #artificialintelligence

No matter which candidate wins the U.S. presidential election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will face one similar reality: fewer opportunities to reshape the federal judiciary. By the time Democratic President Joe Biden leaves office, he and Trump, his Republican predecessor, will have within just eight years appointed about half of all 890 life-tenured federal judges nationally. Trump named three U.S. Supreme Court justices to Biden's one, giving it a 6-3 conservative supermajority. Both presidents favored younger appointees overall on the judiciary, creating a generational shift on the federal bench. Thanks to these demographics, the supply of judges eligible to take 'senior status' - a form of semi-retirement judges can take at 65 after 15 years of judicial service that creates a vacancy on the bench for the president to fill - is shrinking. Nate Raymond has more: https://lnkd.in/gV7uKDMu #legal

What's going on today? The next president will have less impact on shape of U.S. judiciary. U.S. prosecutors see rising threat of AI-generated child sex abuse imagery. Google asks U.S. appeals court to block app store overhaul. Plus, your weekly Legal Fee Tracker. Sign up for The Afternoon Docket: https://reut.rs/4eL2Lzj

Google has asked a U.S. appeals court to block a judge’s order requiring the Alphabet unit to redesign its app store Play, as the tech giant prepares for what could be a lengthy appeal in its antitrust battle with 'Fortnite' maker Epic Games. In a filing on Oct. 16 night, Google urged the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit to pause an Oct. 7 order by U.S. District Judge James Donato that would compel the company to redesign its app store to foster more competition. 'This is Google’s last ditch effort to protect their control over Android and continue extracting exorbitant fees,' an Epic Games spokesperson said in a statement. 'The court’s injunction must go into effect swiftly so developers and consumers can benefit from competition in the mobile ecosystem.' Mike Scarcella has more: https://lnkd.in/gFqVmRZa #legal

Plaintiffs' lawyers behind a new $2.8 billion class action #antitrust settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield are planning to request up to $700 million in legal fees for their work, adding to hundreds of millions of dollars in fees already awarded in the sprawling case. The settlement with hospitals and other health care providers, which requires court approval, would create a system-wide platform facilitating member benefits and mandate other reforms that the attorneys said would lead to more #transparency, efficiency and accountability. It would also provide more contracting opportunities with Blue Cross. David Thomas and Mike Scarcella have more: https://lnkd.in/gVr5kb6C #legal

FTC Chair Lina Khan said in an interview with Reuters that the agency's 'click to cancel' rule is an overdue response to a rising number of consumer complaints about situations in which it is ‘extraordinarily easy to sign up for a subscription, but absurdly difficult to cancel.’ The rule requires retailers, gyms and other businesses to get consumers' consent for subscriptions, auto-renewals and free trials that convert to paid memberships. Subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/4dsTnQ1 #legal #legalnews 

New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi has been indicted on charges that she attempted to interfere with a criminal investigation into her husband, the longtime director of the New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors. The charges were announced on Oct. 16 by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella. She was charged with two felonies and five misdemeanors in indictments returned by a grand jury in Merrimack County. Hantz Marconi, who Republican Governor Christopher Sununu appointed in 2017, has been on paid administrative leave since July. She is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 21. Read Nate Raymond's report: https://reut.rs/3YBXmFr

No matter which candidate wins the US presidential election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will face one similar reality: fewer opportunities to reshape the federal judiciary. A blockbuster job market for new law grads in 2023 did not alleviate racial and ethnicity disparities in employment rates, data from the National Association for Law Placement shows. New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi has been indicted on charges that she attempted to interfere with a criminal investigation into her husband, the longtime director of the New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors. US federal prosecutors are stepping up their pursuit of suspects who use AI tools to manipulate or create child sex abuse images, as law enforcement fears the technology could spur a flood of illicit material. Here's your legal file 👇

New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi was indicted on charges that she attempted to interfere with a criminal investigation into her husband, the longtime director of the New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors.   Her lawyers said she was innocent and ‘did not violate any law or rule.’   For stories from the legal industry, subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/4dsTnQ1   #legal #courts #legalindustry