Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall on Tuesday sued Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyCotin, alleging its practices have fueled the opioid epidemic. Alabama’s complaint asserts that Purdue “violated Alabama’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act in the marketing and sale of opioid drugs and, in so doing, jeopardized the public health, welfare, and safety of Alabama residents.” [...]

Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Monday fired two Guantánamo Bay officials responsible for overseeing the trials of accused war criminals including the planners of the 9/11 attack. The officials are Harvey Rishikof, designated by Mattis as the convening authority for military commissions in April 2017, and Gary Brown, the commission’s legal advisor. An attorney [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Uché Ewelukwa of the University of Arkansas School of Law, discusses the dynamic landscape of trade secret law in a multi-part series. In part 1, she introduces current legal trends in trade secrets … Introduction 2018 is already proving to be a busy year for trade secret owners, for attorneys that prosecute [...]

The five-member Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal on Tuesday unanimously reversed the August 2017 order sentencing the pro-democracy 2014 Umbrella Movement protesters Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, quashing their sentences and setting them free. In July 2016, Wong and Chow were found guilty of participating in an unlawful assembly contrary to § [...]

The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the state’s order to close Capital Care, Toledo’s last abortion clinic. This decision overturned previous rulings made in favor of the clinic by Lucas County Common Pleas and the Sixth District Court of Appeals. In 2014 the state health department issued an order to shut down Capital Care [...]

Virginia’s Senate approved legislation on Monday allowing doctors to prescribe oils containing mostly non-psychoactive cannabis extracts, making Virginia part of the majority of states to approve medical marijuana. The bill was approved unanimously in both the state house and senate. Under the legislation, Virginia’s doctors will determine which patients may use medical marijuana, as long [...]

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order on Monday requiring that all future state contracts for internet services will only be given to internet service providers (ISPs) that follow net neutrality principles. The order is in response to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repeal of net neutrality principles. The order outlines how ISPs [...]

The Scotland Court of Session on Tuesday rejected a petition from a group of individuals from the Scotland and EU parliaments asking the court to make a preliminary reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the question of whether the UK can unilaterally stop the Brexit process by withdrawing the notification under Article [...]

California Governor Jerry Brown on Monday signed new workplace conduct legislation into law to protect whistleblowers who disclose workplace harassment or abuse in the capitol. While the California labor code already had protections against retaliation for whistleblowers, AB 403 increases potential penalties. According to the bill, any “individual who intentionally retaliates against a legislative employee [...]

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari signed an executive order Monday “to improve local content in public procurement with science, engineering and technology components.” Buhari announced Executive Order 5 (EO) via his official Twitter account stating: “the EO is expected to promote the application of science, tech and innovation towards achieving Nigeria’s development goals.” Additionally, the EO [...]