Jury hears closing arguments in Trump hush money trial, law firms hope for deal rebound, Uvalde school shooting victim families sue Meta, and more ??
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?? Good morning from The Legal File! Here is the rundown of today's top legal news:
?? Defense argues Trump is not guilty as hush money trial nears an end
Donald Trump's lawyer urged jurors on May 28 to look past the salacious details in his criminal hush money trial and focus on the paperwork at the heart of the case as he urged them to find the former president not guilty of criminal behavior.
"This case is about documents. It's a paper case," Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said as he began his closing argument after six weeks of trial.
Blanche said prosecutors had failed to prove that Trump, the 2024 Republican candidate for president, illegally falsified documents to cover up a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to advance his 2016 presidential campaign.
“President Trump is innocent. He did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof. Period," Blanche said as the trial resumed after a week-long break.
Blanche was making his final bid to influence the 12 jurors who decide whether Trump will become the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime.
Once Blanche finishes, prosecutors will sum up the witnesses and evidence they have presented as they argue Trump, 77, illegally falsified records to cover up the payment that ensured Daniels would not go public with her story of a 2006 sexual encounter.
Jurors could begin deliberations as soon as May 29.
?? Louisiana becomes first US state to classify abortion pills as controlled substances
Louisiana's Republican Governor Jeff Landry on May 24 signed a bill making his state the first in the U.S. to classify two abortion-inducing medications as controlled substances, a category that healthcare regulators typically reserve for drugs prone to abuse or addiction.
The new law designates mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV drugs, typically pain-killers and mood-altering medications that merit greater oversight due to their potential for abuse or dependence.
That puts the abortion pills in Louisiana in the same category as anti-anxiety medications Xanax and Valium, though neither mifepristone nor misoprostol is considered by the medical establishment to pose an addiction hazard.
Still, the reclassification makes it riskier for Louisiana residents, who are already subject to a near-total ban on surgical and medication-induced abortions, to obtain the pills from out of state or order them online without a prescription.
The bill cleared the state's Republican-majority House of Representatives and Senate by wide margins, even as efforts by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to expand access to abortion pills is facing a legal challenge before the Supreme Court.
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?? Baker McKenzie hires O'Melveny's US M&A leader as law firms hope for deal rebound
U.S. law firm Baker McKenzie said it has hired Tobias Knapp, the leader of O'Melveny & Myers' U.S. mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice, amid mixed signs of a dealmaking resurgence.
Knapp has joined Baker McKenzie as the co-head of its New York transactional group, the Chicago-founded firm said.
Knapp's M&A clients have included sports-focused streaming service FuboTV and circuit board producer TTM Technologies. Knapp declined to discuss specific companies but said he expects to keep working with his existing clients.
Leading U.S. and international law firms are advising on fewer deals so far this year than last, but the combined value of those deals is larger. Law firms have advised on $1.24 trillion in M&A deals globally this year, up more than 22% from the start of 2023 to this point last year, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group.
??Families of Uvalde school shooting victims sue Meta, Microsoft, gunmaker
Families of the victims of the 2022 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, filed two lawsuits on May 24 against Instagram's parent Meta, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft and the gunmaker Daniel Defense, claiming they cooperated to market dangerous weapons to impressionable teens such as the Uvalde shooter.
Together, the wrongful death complaints argue that Daniel Defense – a Georgia-based gun manufacturer – used Instagram and Activision's video game Call of Duty to market its assault-style rifles to teenage boys, while Meta and Microsoft facilitated the strategy with lax oversight and no regard for the consequences.
In one of the deadliest school shootings in history, 19 children and two teachers were killed on May 24, 2022, when an 18-year-old gunman armed with a Daniel Defense rifle entered Robb Elementary School and barricaded himself inside adjoining classrooms with dozens of students.
The complaints were filed on the two-year anniversary of the massacre.
Earlier last week, families of the victims announced a separate lawsuit against nearly 100 state police officers who participated in what the U.S. Justice Department has concluded was a botched emergency response. The families also reached a $2 million settlement with the city of Uvalde.
?? That's all for today, thank you for reading?The Legal File, and have a great day!
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