EU Opens Inquiry Into €42M Renewables Award

By Caroline Simson

Europe's executive branch has opened an investigation to determine whether a €42.2 million ($48 million) arbitral award issued to renewable energy investors in 2024 after Romania nixed financial incentives for such projects violates the bloc's state aid rules, according to a notice Wednesday.

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Paul Hastings, Vinson & Elkins Guide $2.2B Permian Combo

By Al Barbarino

SoftVest LP and Blackbeard Holdings have agreed to combine the Dallas-based Permian Basin Royalty Trust with Blackbeard's oil and gas mineral and land assets in a transaction valued at about $2.24 billion, with Paul Hastings LLP advising SoftVest and Vinson & Elkins LLP representing Blackbeard.

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Feds Say High Court Ruling Justifies Calif. Pipeline Oversight

By Elaine Briseño

The Trump administration has told the Ninth Circuit that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision clarifying federal arbitration jurisdictional boundaries backs its assertion that it has exclusive jurisdiction over the Santa Ynez pipeline system in California.

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King & Spalding Told To End 'Shenanigans' In Bid To Exit Case

By Brian Steele

The individual defendants in a $300 million fraud lawsuit have accused King & Spalding LLP of appellate "shenanigans" while it seeks to exit the case due to an alleged ethics conflict, claiming the firm has falsely denied representing corporate clients despite an attorney's appearance suggesting otherwise.

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Brief

Chinese, Indian Graphite Electrodes Face US Duties

By Jack McLoone

Chinese electrodes used for smelting are facing a triple-digit countervailing duty rate while such products from India may be hit with lower rates after preliminary findings by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday that they are benefiting from government subsidies.

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Insurers Owe $10M For Ethanol Kickback Award, Ag Co. Says

By Danielle Ferguson

The owner of an agricultural management company said liability insurers owed more than $10 million in damages for what he and the company paid toward an arbitration award in a dispute alleging a pay-to-play kickback scheme, saying the insurers improperly applied exclusions and appointed ill-prepared counsel.

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Calif. Tribes, Enviros Challenge Mojave Groundwater Project

By Crystal Owens

California tribes and environmental groups are challenging a decision by the federal government to approve a plan to revive a once defunct oil and gas pipeline to transport groundwater beneath the Mojave Desert, arguing that the "ill-conceived water-extraction scheme" will damage ecosystems that are part of sacred Indigenous cultural resources.

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Delta Can't Knock Out Consumer's Greenwashing Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A California federal judge narrowed a proposed class action accusing Delta Air Lines of overstating its emissions progress and falsely touting itself as the first carbon-neutral airline, denying a bid for injunctive relief but refusing to toss California law claims. 

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Brookfield, NextEra Plan $100B Data Center Build At DOE Site

By Nate Beck

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP is advising Brookfield on a U.S. Department of Energy effort announced Wednesday to redevelop parts of an agency site in Paducah, Kentucky, into a $100 billion data center campus that would also include new affordable energy infrastructure as part of a venture with NextEra Energy and local utilities.

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Crack Down On States Neglecting Pole Regs, FCC Told

By Nadia Dreid

States have to actually make pole attachment rules if they want to take control of such regulations themselves, a telecom trade group told the FCC, which is currently mulling putting new rules in place for states that want to claw back control through so-called reverse preemption.

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Shady Power Deal Used In Goldman Compliance Prep, Jury Told

By Stewart Bishop

A Goldman Sachs banker told a New York federal jury how Goldman bailed on backing what prosecutors say was a corrupt deal for a Turkish energy company to bribe Ghanaian officials for a power plant contract, a scenario Goldman uses in compliance training as an example of what to avoid.

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Madigan Asks Supreme Court To Review His Bribery Verdict

By Celeste Bott

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to review his conviction on bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud charges, arguing that the "novel" theories behind his prosecution "stretch federal bribery law in ways that threaten to criminalize and chill lawful interactions between state and local officials and their constituents."

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GAO Finds Flaws With DOE's Nuclear Cleanup Contract Model

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Department of Energy's new contracting model for nuclear waste cleanup has failed to consistently deliver more reliable costs, faster cleanup and better results, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report Wednesday.

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10th Circ. Trims $20M Judgment In Wyo. Coal Royalty Row

By Tom Lotshaw

A Tenth Circuit panel said a Wyoming federal judge erred when she ordered Bridger Coal Co. to recalculate royalty payments to Wildcat Coal LLC going back to 1986 in a dispute over payments between 2016 and 2020.

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DLA Piper Welcomes 4 Finance Attys

By Andrea Keckley

DLA Piper announced Tuesday that it has brought four attorneys onto its finance team, touting their history advising investors, lenders, sponsors and companies.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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Simpson Thacher Hung Client Out To Dry, Jury Hears

By Madison Arnold

A legal ethics expert told a Florida jury Wednesday that he believes Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP's actions when representing Patriot National Inc. constitute legal malpractice leading up to the insurance services company declaring bankruptcy.

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Senate Postpones Key Vote For AG Nominee Blanche

By Courtney Bublé

The committee vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's bid to take the permanent role, slated for Thursday, was postponed after Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., were not fully on board.

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GOP Bill To Curb Judge Shopping May Have Limited Effect

By Courtney Bublé

A Senate Republican has introduced legislation that he says will fix the judge shopping issue, but court observers don't think it will make much of a difference.

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9th Circ. Vacates Orrick Win In Stock Transfer Deal Dispute

By Hailey Konnath

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday reversed a lower court's finding that Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP can't be held liable in a battle over a stock transfer agreement gone awry, ruling that California law does allow a party to the transfer to pursue equitable indemnity in the case.

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DOJ Wants To Let Immigration Judges Fine For Contempt

By Britain Eakin

The Executive Office for Immigration Review proposed a rule Wednesday that would allow immigration judges to impose civil monetary penalties for contempt on attorneys, their noncitizen clients and witnesses, operationalizing a power that has lain dormant since 1996.

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Legal Aid Union Alleges Unlawful Incentives To Break Strike

By Andrea Keckley

The Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem union announced on the third workday of its strike Tuesday that it has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing its management of offering unlawful incentives to cross the picket line.

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Former Trump Lawyer Officially Takes The Helm At SDNY

By Hailey Konnath

James McDonald, a former Sullivan & Cromwell LLP partner who represented President Donald Trump in his appeal of his criminal conviction, was sworn in as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday after McDonald's predecessor Jay Clayton departed to serve as director of national intelligence.

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2nd Circ. Backs Ex-Shkreli Atty's 401(k) Restitution Deal

By Lauren Berg

A New York trial judge erred in rejecting a retirement-fund garnishment deal that would have protected Martin Shkreli's convicted former lawyer from tax penalties, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday.

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DOJ Wants New Judge In Fired Court-Appointed US Atty's Suit

By Jack Karp

A lawsuit from the Seattle U.S. attorney who was swiftly fired from his post by President Donald Trump shortly after being appointed to it by a federal court should be reassigned to a different judge, the administration has told a Washington federal court.

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Segal McCambridge Settles Fired Secretary's Age Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

Law firm Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney Ltd. has struck a deal to end a New York federal court suit from a former secretary who said her colleagues mistreated her because of her age, according to a Wednesday court filing.

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Comey Rips '86 47' Case, Says Warrants 'Misstated Facts'

By Lauren Berg

James Comey is taking another angle in his effort to dismiss an indictment stemming from a picture of seashells he posted on Instagram, telling a North Carolina federal judge that the government is pursuing the "vindictive" case because of President Donald Trump's "deep-seated animosity" toward the former FBI director.

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