Gronk, Others To Pay $2.4M In Voyager Crypto Promoter Suit

By Katryna Perera

Retired football star Rob Gronkowski, NBA player Victor Oladipo and NASCAR driver Landon Cassill have agreed to collectively pay $2.4 million to settle allegations they helped promote failed cryptocurrency exchange Voyager Digital Holdings Inc.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Truth Social Investor Grilled By Feds At Insider Trading Trial

By Pete Brush

A Florida investment pro on trial for allegedly exploiting confidential plans to take Truth Social public in a $23 million insider trading case was challenged Tuesday by prosecutors on the timing of trades and communications before the "special" media deal.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FDIC Review Flags 'Patriarchal' Workplace, Chief's 'Temper'

By Jon Hill

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s workplace culture has suffered "far too long" from sexual harassment, discrimination and other abuses that higher-ups failed to adequately address, according to a report released Tuesday that is drawing renewed calls for FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg's exit.

Report attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump Media Co-Founders Seek Chancery Contempt Order

By Jeff Montgomery

Two early investors in Trump Media & Technology Group have called for a Delaware Court of Chancery contempt ruling against Donald Trump's Truth Social media company, saying its attempt to claim their shares in a Florida lawsuit contradicted earlier representations in Delaware.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

5th Circ. Urged To Reject Challenge To Board Diversity Rule

By Jessica Corso

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund urged the Fifth Circuit not to upend a Nasdaq Stock Market rule meant to encourage corporate board diversity, saying in a brief Monday that the rule's opponents have staked out a "radical" position on the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution that threatens to "entrench ... barriers to opportunity."

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

FINRA Fines Broker M1 Over Short Sale Identification Errors

By Sydney Price

Financial services provider M1 Finance has agreed to pay $400,000 to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to settle claims that it failed to correctly identify 12 million short sales, inaccurately marking those orders as "long."

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fenwick-Led Cloud Security Co. Raises $1B At $12B Valuation

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

New York-headquartered cloud security company Wiz, advised by Fenwick & West LLP, announced on Tuesday that it hit a $12 billion valuation after securing $1 billion in its latest fundraising round.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Alight Inks Deal With Activist Starboard For 2 New Directors

By Al Barbarino

Alight Inc., a cloud-based human capital and technology services provider, said Tuesday it has agreed to appoint two new independent directors to its board through an agreement with activist investor Starboard Value LP. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Canopy Growth Expands In US With Wana, Jetty Buys

By Jonathan Capriel

Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth announced Tuesday that its U.S. division has exercised options to acquire two American companies as part of its goal to establish a domestic "brand-focused powerhouse" — acquisitions for which Canopy spent nearly $370 million.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Bloom Energy Gets Final OK For $3M Settlement Over IPO

By Katryna Perera

A California federal judge has granted final approval to a $3 million settlement between Bloom Energy Corp. and investors to resolve claims that the company, its leadership and underwriters for its initial public offering misrepresented or omitted key information in the IPO registration statement.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

PNC Bank Entitled To Atty Fees In Defamation Suit, Court Says

By Katryna Perera

The Georgia Court of Appeals granted an appeal by PNC Bank to receive attorney fees from a customer-launched defamation suit it defeated, finding that the award is mandatory under Georgia law while also ruling that the bank does not have to turn over documents requested by the suing customer.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

6th Circ. Considers Rebooting Crypto Reporting Challenge

By Carolyn Muyskens

Sixth Circuit judges seemed unsure of whether a group of cryptocurrency users can challenge a pending mandate to report large crypto transactions, as the judges grappled Tuesday with whether the plaintiffs have shown they are harmed by the forthcoming rule and whether the challenge is premature.   

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

Report attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

A Recipe For Growth Equity Investing In A Slow M&A Market

Carl Marcellino at Ropes & Gray discusses the factors bolstering appetite for growth equity fundraising in a depressed M&A market, and walks through the deal terms and other ingredients that set growth equity transactions apart from bread-and-butter venture capital investing.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Opinion

SEC Doesn't Have Legal Authority For Climate Disclosure Rule

Instead of making the required legal argument to establish its authority, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related disclosure rule hides behind more than 1,000 references to materiality to give the appearance that its rule is legally defensible, says Bernard Sharfman at RealClearFoundation.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »