Billboard's weekly Legal Beat newsletter rounds up the latest music-industry legal news, headlined by the publication's annual Top Music Lawyers list, which profiles attorneys steering major artists and companies through disputes over catalogue sales, record deals and copyright claims. It spotlights Taylor Swift's longtime lawyer J. Douglas Baldridge of Venable, who over the past year has helped her buy back her masters, defeat a copyright suit, obtain a restraining order, fight a trademark case and trademark her own voice, illustrating the breadth of legal work now required to protect a superstar's business interests.

The roundup also covers several other developing cases: major music publishers have agreed to settle a long-running copyright lawsuit against Elon Musk's X, though terms remain undisclosed, while Bad Bunny is challenging a ruling that let a reggaeton-origins lawsuit proceed. Sony Music expanded its litigation against AI firm Udio to include over 30,000 more songs, and Lil Durk is set for trial next month on federal murder-for-hire charges. Other stories include lawsuits against Travis Scott, Ye, and the estates linked to Snoop Dogg and Notorious B.I.G., Madison Square Garden's defamation suit against Wired, Nicki Minaj seeking dismissal from a debt claim, R. Kelly's clemency lobbying, and a community service resolution for Offset.