National Grid Attorney Among Picks For Mass. State Bench

By Carolyn Muyskens

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced three new judicial nominees for the state's intermediate and lower courts on Wednesday, including a senior litigation attorney at National Grid.

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States Say Trump's DEI Rule For Contractors Is Unclear, Illegal

By Ben Adlin

Attorneys general from 19 states and Washington, D.C., on Wednesday sued numerous federal officials and agencies in an attempt to block the Trump administration's March 26 executive order prohibiting government contractors — including states — from engaging in "racially discriminatory" activity around diversity, equity and inclusion.

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Abbott Wants Ratepayer Protections From Data Center Costs

By Isaac Monterose

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas on Wednesday to do what they can to shield the state's ratepayers from the costs of data center expansion projects.

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EU, African Countries Reach First-Of-Its-Kind Trade Deal

By Jack McLoone

The European Union and four African countries have reached a deal on the bloc's first free trade agreement with sub-Saharan African nations in the hopes of mutual economic benefits, the European Commission said Wednesday.

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Elliott, Stronghold Clash Over Oil And Gas Asset Wind-Down

By Jarek Rutz

Elliott Investment Management LP and Stronghold Resource Partners urged the Delaware Supreme Court on Tuesday to adopt competing readings of a settlement agreement governing the wind-down of an oil and gas investment fund, with each side saying the contract's language supports a different path for liquidating the fund's remaining holdings.

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Feds Say Species Exemption Suits Belong In Appeals Court

By Ganesh Setty

The "God Squad" that waived Endangered Species Act requirements for oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico urged a Washington, D.C., federal district court to toss conservation groups' legal challenges over the move, arguing they've chosen the wrong forum.

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Brief

CNA Units, Gas Co. Settle Explosion Coverage Dispute

By Hope Patti

Two CNA Financial units and a natural gas utility company have agreed to settle a coverage dispute over underlying litigation stemming from a July 2021 explosion, according to a notice filed in Louisiana federal court Wednesday.

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Gibson Dunn Leads Data Center Power Provider's $600M IPO

By Nate Beck

Houston, Texas-based ERock, which supplies natural gas power systems to data centers, began trading Wednesday after raising $600 million at the midpoint of its range with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP advising.

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Electric Co-Op Says Texas Is Wrong Venue For $120M Suit

By Spencer Brewer

An electric cooperative told a federal court that Texas is the wrong place for an infrastructure company to pursue claims that it backed out of a contract after the infrastructure company had already racked up $120 million in costs, saying the work took place in North Dakota.

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FCA, Drivers Spar Over Pacifica Battery Fires, Recall Fix

By Melanie Dorsey

Multidistrict litigation plaintiffs alleging certain Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid minivans are prone to battery fires faced pointed questions alongside FCA US LLC on Wednesday from a Michigan federal judge over whether the automaker knew about the alleged defect before selling the vehicles and whether a later recall cured the warranty claims at the center of the case.

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How Trump's Nuclear EO Has Transformed The NRC

In the year since President Donald Trump issued Executive Order No. 14300, directing sweeping reforms of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency has revised key oversight programs and proposed major rulemakings and new licensing frameworks — but the NRC must continue to center transparency and trust as key values, says Brooke Clark at Morgan Lewis.

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Susman Godfrey Beats, Seward & Kissel Matches Milbank Pay

By Tracey Read

At least four more firms have joined the associate pay raise bandwagon, with Seward & Kissel LLP matching the salary scale recently set by Milbank LLP, and Susman Godfrey LLP exceeding it.

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Judicial Noms Say Biden Won, But Critics Fault Their Caveats

By Courtney Bublé

Three district court nominees on Wednesday said President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, a departure from other judicial nominees in the second Trump administration, but court watchers on the left took issue with how they couched those statements.

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Camp Mystic Fights Sanctions Over 'Burn In Hell' Atty Remark

By Lynn LaRowe

Camp Mystic and parents of a girl killed in flooding there last summer faced off Wednesday over whether the camp should be sanctioned because its attorney said a plaintiff's lawyer would "burn in hell" and for other alleged misconduct in litigation over flooding deaths at the Texas camp.

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Ga. Federal Judge Faces 2nd Set Of Impeachment Articles

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia congressman has filed articles of impeachment against a federal judge who was reprimanded for having sex with a police officer in her Atlanta chambers within earshot of staff, the second lawmaker this week to do so. 

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Unions Rally As 5 Shops Approach Contract Deadline

By Andrea Keckley

Legal service providers across New York City gathered in City Hall Park on Wednesday afternoon as five unions represented by the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys approach their deadlines for a new contract at the end of the month.

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'Anti-ICE Vigilantes': DOJ Says Law Clerks Aided Noncitzens

By Lauren Berg

Two state court clerks in Utah are facing criminal charges after federal prosecutors say they acted as "self-appointed anti-ICE vigilantes" by helping noncitizens leave the courthouse by a back door to evade arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the newly unsealed case.

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Morgan & Morgan Atty Again Blocked From Harvard Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts judge rebuffed a Morgan & Morgan PA attorney's second attempt to appear in a lawsuit over the theft of body parts from a Harvard Medical School morgue, saying he would not reconsider his earlier decision to bar the attorney over an incident in a separate court involving fake AI-generated case citations.

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