Reuters Legal

A?blockbuster?job market for new law grads in 2023 did not alleviate racial and ethnicity disparities in employment rates,?data released by the National Association for Law Placement shows. Even as the gaps narrowed for most minority groups, the employment disparity between white and Latino law grads increased from the previous year. The disparities are widest when looking at legal jobs that require bar admission, which are considered by many as the gold standard for J.D. employment. Among white law grads, 84% had secured those positions within 10 months of graduation. But of Black law grads and Native American or Alaska Natives, 73% were in those jobs. Just 80% of Latino law grads secured those jobs, four percentage points lower than their white classmates. Asian law grads had 81% bar passage-required employment rate, while Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders posted the lowest such employment rate at 67%. Karen Sloan has more: https://reut.rs/3U7TOrJ

RTX?agreed to pay about $950 million to resolve federal charges it defrauded the U.S. Department of Defense into overpaying for defense systems and bribed an official in Qatar to secure business from the Middle East country's air force. The aerospace and defense company's Raytheon unit entered into two deferred prosecution agreements to resolve criminal charges filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in federal courts in Boston and Brooklyn. The Arlington, Virginia-based company also?settled?civil claims by the department arising out of a whistleblower lawsuit by a former employee and agreed to resolve a related foreign bribery case by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. RTX, which previously set aside $959 million to cover expected settlements in the cases, said in a statement that it ‘is taking responsibility for the misconduct that occurred.’ The investigations had hung over RTX, formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, since 2019. The company merged with United Technologies in 2020 and changed its name last year. Check out the full story for more details ?? https://reut.rs/408EuPw?

Redgrave LLP, a small U.S. law firm focused on the litigation evidence gathering process known as electronic discovery and other ‘information law’ matters, said it has added a 10-lawyer team from much larger firm Sidley Austin. The Washington, D.C.-based e-discovery team includes Robert Keeling, who was a founder and leader of Sidley's e-discovery and data analytics group. Keeling will be a member of Redgrave's executive committee. Ray Mangum, who will be a member of Redgrave's management committee, and Kristen Knapp are also joining from Sidley as partners. The team represents clients in discovery matters in antitrust and environmental litigation, investigations, and does other work for companies including advising on technology and generative artificial intelligence, Redgrave said. The group's addition brings the firm's size to about 46 lawyers and 17 directors and advisors, said partner Jonathan Redgrave. Read more: https://reut.rs/4eN9V68 #lawfirm #lawyers #legal #leganews

Yesterday, a federal judge in California denied Meta's motion to dismiss lawsuits by more than 30 states accusing it of harming the mental health of teens who used its Facebook and Instagram platforms. They say the platforms were addictive and that their algorithms pushed content that encouraged body image issues, anxiety and depression, among other problems. Meta argued that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the main federal law that regulates online platforms, made it immune from these lawsuits, which are brought under state laws. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers agreed that the law offered some protection, but not as much as Meta hoped. She also said that various public statements by Meta cited in the lawsuits could be enough to support the states' claim that the company misled the public. This is still at a very early stage in the case; the judge hasn't ruled on the merits of any of the claims, and both sides will be exchanging evidence at least for months before any trials are scheduled. But Meta's initial attempt to avoid a prolonged fight has fallen short. What remains to be seen: will these novel cases stand up to the rigors of litigation and, eventually, trials? Reuters https://lnkd.in/enQuTsEH

Courts in battleground states are taking steps to expedite lawsuits over the Nov. 5 election, hoping to avoid drawn-out disputes that could delay the results. Arizona's court system became the latest to adopt special procedures governing election litigation to ensure such challenges are decided as swiftly as possible. Learn more in The Afternoon Docket. Subscribe: https://reut.rs/4aVlZjE

A former corporate lawyer at two large U.S. law firms was sentenced to 16 months in prison on Oct. 15 after failing to pay his federal income taxes for years. Federal prosecutors said Eric Lenzen, 44, spent lavishly on private planes, jewelry and golf memberships. Lenzen?pleaded guilty?in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, federal court in May to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his income taxes for 2016 and 2020. During the tax years in question, Lenzen was a partner and led the financial services and capital markets group at nearly 1,100-lawyer law firm Husch Blackwell. A final restitution amount was not set by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Duffin in Milwaukee on Oct. 15. Lenzen?has admitted to owing more than $3.9 million in unpaid taxes, interest and accrued penalties. David Thomas has more: https://reut.rs/4f6JRTi

A Georgia judge on Oct. 15 temporarily halted a new rule requiring poll workers to?hand count?ballots in November's U.S. elections, in a defeat for?Donald Trump, whose Republican allies pushed the change after he lost the battleground state in 2020. The hand-count rule was passed on Sept. 20 by a pro-Trump conservative majority of Georgia's election board, who said they were attempting to make?the Nov. 5 election?more secure and transparent. Democrats had said the change would sow chaos and delay results. Georgia, where?early voting?began in record numbers on Oct. 15, is one of seven battleground states likely to determine the presidential contest between the former president and his Democratic opponent, Vice President?Kamala Harris. In 2020, Trump made false claims of widespread voting fraud in the Southern state. Jack Queen has more: https://reut.rs/4f0CeO8

The National Labor Relations Board said it received over 3,000 petitions to hold elections for workers to unionize in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a 27% increase from last year and more than double the petitions filed in fiscal year 2021, when President Joe Biden took office. Subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/3Nto8t6

#Unions filed twice as many petitions seeking to hold elections over the last year than they did in 2021, the National Labor Relations Board said on Oct. 15, due in part to a nationwide surge in organizing in industries that have long been union-free. The NLRB said it had received 3,286 election petitions in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, a 27% increase from last year and more than double the 1,638 petitions filed in fiscal year 2021, when Democratic President Joe Biden took office. Biden, who had previously vowed to be the most pro-union president in U.S. history, said in a statement that his administration was the first in five decades to oversee an increase in union election petitions. 'When unions do well, all workers do well and the entire economy benefits,' Biden said. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gGSEEmdJ #legal #labor

Courts in US battleground states are taking steps to expedite lawsuits over the Nov. 5 election, hoping to avoid drawn-out disputes that could delay the results. A federal judge has ordered Boeing and the DOJ to detail the impact of diversity and inclusion policies on the selection of an independent monitor before he decides whether to accept the planemaker's plea deal. A former corporate lawyer at two large US law firms was sentenced to 16 months in prison after failing to pay his federal income taxes for years. Meta must face lawsuits by US states accusing it of fueling mental health problems among teens by making Facebook and Instagram addictive, a federal judge in California ruled. Here's your legal file ??