Keep your finger on the legal world's pulse

Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft are merging to form a new firm, Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, with combined revenues exceeding $3.6bn. The merger will create the world's fifth-largest law firm, employing over 3,000 lawyers. “Clients are increasingly looking for law firms with deep sector expertise and broad global reach to advise on their most complex mandates around the world,” said Hogan Lovells CEO Miguel A. Zaldivar Jr.  “Cadwalader, a premier Wall Street institution, brings top of the market finance capabilities, which combined with Hogan Lovells’ powerful global platform, expands our abilities to comprehensively advise clients at a time when cross-border investment is increasingly driving growth in key sectors - including finance, energy, technology, life sciences and others.” Zaldivar will lead the new entity. Partners will vote on the merger in spring, with completion expected by June. Despite potential office overlaps, job losses are not anticipated. 

 

Law

Bloomberg Law

ABA Journal

The Global Legal Post

The Wall Street Journal

Managing People? These Are the Employment Laws You Can’t Afford to Miss

One compliance misstep can drain budgets and morale—so let’s get ahead of it.

Traliant’s Employment Law Fundamentals Certificate Program helps your workforce navigate employment laws in all 50 states. Created with the guidance of our in-house team of legal experts, the program consists of 4 interactive training courses that help your company avoid violations and costly claims.

Complete all 4 self-paced courses in about 2½ hours and walk away with a shareable certificate (and a calmer legal team).

The 4-course lineup:

• Interviewing & Hiring Lawfully: Ask better questions, avoid the EEOC nightmare.
  
• Wage & Hour Fundamentals: Apply FLSA, overtime, and exemption rules right the first time.
  
• Disability, Pregnancy & Religious Accommodations: Grant requests with empathy and iron-clad compliance.
  
• Family, Medical & Other Protected Leave (FMLA): Turn “life happens” moments into smooth, policy-backed decisions.

Ready to bullet-proof your managers?

👉 Trial the course here.

Join Traliant’s webinar, 2026 Employment Law Changes: Preparing for What's Next, Jan 14 at 2 pm ET. Experts help you get ready for new federal and state laws in the year ahead. Earn SHRM/HRCI credit.

👉  Register for webinar

 

Andrea Lucas, chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), has called on white men to report experiences of workplace discrimination based on race or sex. “Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws,” Lucas, a vocal critic of DEI, wrote on social media platform X. The post urged eligible workers to reach out to the agency “as soon as possible" and referred users to an EEOC fact sheet on “DEI-related discrimination” for more information. David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at the NYU School of Law, said the posts were indicative of a “fundamental misunderstanding of what DEI is,” observing that opponents of DEI “tend to frame it as a set of illegal preferences . . . [but] It's really much more about creating a culture in which you get the most out of everyone who you're bringing on board, where everyone experiences fairness and equal opportunity, including white men and members of other groups.”

 

U.S. News

President Donald Trump has instructed his administration to expedite the reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. This change, while not legalizing marijuana federally, could enhance the marijuana industry's profitability and facilitate medical research. Mr. Trump acknowledged the need for a more tolerant federal stance, saying: "The facts compel the federal government to recognize that marijuana can be legitimate in terms of medical applications." The reclassification could also allow marijuana businesses to claim tax deductions, potentially saving them hundreds of millions. However, concerns about increased commercialization persist.

 

US News and World Report

Global financial crime auditors, including officials from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), interviewed Canadian financial companies and 13 government agencies in November, according to sources with knowledge of the visits. Among those interviewed were executives at TD Bank, which last year paid the largest-ever fine to settle a U.S. money laundering case. Reuters notes that a negative report from the FATF could hurt Canada’s foreign investments and the country’s reputation at a time when Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking to boost productivity and make the Canadian economy less reliant on the United States.

 

Reuters

Chris Brooks, chief of staff to UAW President Shawn Fain, will leave the union on December 31 after a federal monitor's report found he improperly sought to remove duties from secretary-treasurer Margaret Mock. The UAW has been under federal oversight since a 2020 corruption settlement. The monitor, in its report, called the union's recent actions, including holding Brooks accountable for the treatment of Mock, steps that signal “to union staff and membership that the union is willing to address acts of retaliation, even at the highest level of the union.”

 

U.S. News

Giovanni Pennetta, a New York investment manager, has been charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft for allegedly scamming investors out of millions via a fraudulent pre-IPO investment scheme related to drone manufacturer Anduril Industries. Prosecutors claim Pennetta misled clients into believing they had access to exclusive shares in Anduril, despite having no legitimate connection to the company. Anduril's spokesperson noted that any investment offers not directly from the company are likely scams, underscoring the rising risks of investment fraud as private tech firms continue to grow.

 

Reuters

A U.S. federal judge has reinstated former Starbucks finance chief Rachel Ruggeri as a defendant in a shareholder lawsuit over alleged misleading statements tied to the company’s “Triple Shot” strategy. The court ruled Ruggeri could be considered a “controlling person” under Section 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act, reversing her earlier dismissal. Shareholders allege Ruggeri and former chief executive Laxman Narasimhan misled investors about revenue projections and growth in China.

 

CFO Dive

The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Instacart to pay $60m in refunds to settle allegations that it used deceptive practices to raise costs for shoppers. The federal agency alleged that the company misled consumers by saying their first order was “free” despite charging a mandatory grocery delivery fee, according to a complaint and settlement filed in California federal court. It also noted that Instacart failed to clearly disclose the terms of its Instacart+ subscription service and refused to offer refunds, instead giving consumers a credit toward a future order. “We flatly deny any allegations of wrongdoing by the Federal Trade Commission, and we stand firmly behind the integrity and transparency of our programs”, the company said in response.

 

TechCrunch

Bloomberg

CNBC

Wall Street Journal

Williams & Connolly litigator Paul Boehm has joined Sidley Austin as the new co-head of its products liability practice. He will work alongside Heidi Levine and Jennifer Saulino in the firm's product liability and mass torts litigation group in Washington. Yvette Ostolaza, chair of Sidley's management team, expressed enthusiasm about Boehm's arrival, saying: “a star litigator and trial lawyer, and we feel quite fortunate that he has chosen to join the Sidley team.”

 

Bloomberg Law

Brazil's Supreme Court has reaffirmed protections for Indigenous land rights, stymieing attempts by Congress to limit the recognition of reservations. The country's top court rejected a law approved in 2023 by the conservative-controlled Congress, which limits Indigenous claims to lands to those they were occupying when Brazil's constitution was adopted in 1988. Auzerina Duarte Macuxi, a lawyer for the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon, celebrated the ruling, but warned that the establishment of a new deadline of 10 years for the federal government to conclude a long-running territorial demarcation process could fuel future disputes.

 

France 24

Reuters

Bloomberg reports that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s campaign to crack down on drug cartels which smuggle huge amounts of fuel into the country has also led to the arrest of a high-ranking naval officer and precipitated the ouster of Sheinbaum’s attorney general, who had been heading up the investigation. Sheinbaum’s critics say this demonstrates her ruling party has ties to the smuggling. Sheinbaum has denied wrongdoing by members of her left-leaning National Regeneration Movement. 

 

Bloomberg

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has withdrawn millions in grants from the American Academy of Pediatrics, affecting critical research on reducing sudden infant death syndrome and identifying autism early. AAP Chief Executive Officer Mark Del Monte expressed concerns that the "sudden withdrawal of these funds will directly impact and potentially harm infants, children, youth, and their families." The AAP said it is considering legal action in response to the funding cut.

 

Bloomberg