The Iran war has effectively closed a key global shipping lane for oil and gas, and the resulting logjam is causing major headaches for companies responsible for transporting oil and gas from the Middle East to global markets.
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MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Analysis

How The Iran War Has Snarled Global Oil & Gas Shipping

By Keith Goldberg

The Iran war has effectively closed a key global shipping lane for oil and gas, and the resulting logjam is causing major headaches for companies responsible for transporting oil and gas from the Middle East to global markets.

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Gazprom Can't Get Naftogaz $1.4B Award Nixed

By Caroline Simson

Gazprom has failed to convince Switzerland's highest court to set aside a more than $1.4 billion arbitral award issued to Ukraine's state-owned oil and gas company after the Russian state-owned energy giant allegedly failed to pay for natural gas transit services.

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Ethanol Giant Raizen Seeks US Nod For $12B Brazil Reorg

By Hilary Russ

Raizen SA, the largest producer of ethanol in Brazil, and several affiliates filed for Chapter 15 recognition in New York on Thursday with 65.1 billion reais, or about $12 billion, of debt, after striking a preliminary restructuring agreement with some creditors that seeks to halt a downward liquidity spiral.

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Iroquois Pipeline Expansion Fight Is Too Early, Judge Says

By Brian Steele

The town of Brookfield, Connecticut, and an environmental nonprofit cannot yet challenge the state agency process that preliminarily approved the expansion of an Iroquois natural gas compressor station even though it allegedly fails to meet pollution standards, a state court judge ruled in dismissing a midstream appeal.

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Feds Ordered To Reinstate $14M In Eliminated 'DEI' Grants

By Joyce Hanson

An Oregon federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Department of the Interior's termination of $14 million in grants to conservation groups was likely unconstitutional and has granted a preliminary injunction telling the DOI to give the money back to the nonprofits.

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ENFORCEMENT

4 Firms Will Pay $11.5M To Fix Pa. Metals Plant Pollution

By Matthew Santoni

Four companies will pay a total of $11.5 million to clean up a former steel tube manufacturing site in Chester County, Pennsylvania, under a proposed consent decree now open to public feedback, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced Friday.

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OIL AND GAS

Texas Justices Overturn $26M Equinor Verdict

By José Luis Martínez

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday overturned a $26 million judgment against Equinor Energy LP, undoing a jury's finding that it violated an exclusivity clause in a contract to supply water for fracking.

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C3.ai Investor Suit Over IPO Claims Gets Final Trim

By Sydney Price

Investors in artificial intelligence company C3.ai were told by a California federal judge that they can proceed with a slimmed-down version of their suit accusing the company and its executives of touting a worthless partnership with oil company Baker Hughes, but that they have no more chances to update it.

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: Paul Hastings, Duane Morris

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, uniform maker Cintas Corp. acquires workwear company UniFirst Corp., Controlled Thermal Resources Holdings Inc. plans to go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, and a Shell USA Inc. subsidiary sells Jiffy Lube International Inc. to Monomoy Capital Partners.

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Trump Orders Restart Of Calif. Coast Oil Operations

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday invoked the Cold War-era Defense Production Act directing Sable Offshore Corp. to restart a pipeline in Southern California that was shuttered in 2015 following a massive oil spill, drawing the ire of environmental groups that say the "defective" pipeline is too dangerous.

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RENEWABLES

Solar Developer Sues In Del. Over $56.7M Earnout Dispute

By Jarek Rutz

A solar developer and its founder have filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court accusing Pivot Energy Inc. and two executives of deliberately sabotaging a joint venture to avoid tens of millions of dollars in earnout payments tied to community solar projects.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

GM Seeks Toss Of Fla. EV Charger Defect Class Action

By Melanie Dorsey

General Motors has asked a Florida federal court to dismiss a proposed class action over its electric vehicle charger, insisting the buyers who brought the case are trying to sidestep the product's limited warranty and have not adequately asserted a deceptive practices claim.

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Tesla Asks 9th Circ. To Decertify Self-Driving False Ad Class

By Linda Chiem

Tesla has asked the Ninth Circuit to decertify a class action alleging it deceived consumers into believing that its cars could fully drive themselves, saying there's no proof that all class members saw the same purportedly false statement on Tesla's website about its cars' hardware.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Section 122 Tariffs Show Shift In Strategy, Not Trade Policy

By imposing temporary tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act as a stopgap measure while it pivots to less transitory statutory authorities, the Trump administration sent a clear message that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Learning Resources v. Trump, invalidating duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, will not precipitate a change in policy direction, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

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Risk Disclosure Lessons For AI Cos. From Dot-Com Era

Regulatory responses following the dot-com collapse reflected a consistent emphasis on whether public disclosures enabled investors to understand the economic reality underlying reported performance, a focus that is likely to shape how artificial intelligence infrastructure disclosures are evaluated if market expectations similarly deteriorate, say Diana Connor, Adrienna Huffman and Bin Zhou at the Brattle Group.

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Decoding Arbitral Disputes: UK Top Court On State Immunity

The U.K. Supreme Court's recent ruling denying Spain's and Zimbabwe's bids to escape arbitration awards using state immunity claims provides significant clarification of the relationship between sovereign immunity and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes system, and reinforces the finality and enforceability of ICSID awards, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

'Swinging Dicks' Dissent Stirs Uproar Across 9th Circ. Bench

By Jeff Overley

A raunchy dissent in litigation over transgender spa patrons prompted dozens of Ninth Circuit judges to denounce the "vulgar barroom talk" of a colleague, who returned fire by ridiculing his peers for adopting the "fastidious sensibilities of a Victorian nun."

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Atty Who Sought Trump Pardons Accused Of Extorting Client

By Stewart Bishop

A South Carolina attorney and lobbyist who has billed himself as a fixer for prisoners seeking clemency from President Donald Trump made an appearance in Brooklyn federal court Saturday, following his arrest over accusations that he tried to extort a client for over half a million dollars.

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Life Sciences Partner Hiring Up Amid Regulatory Scrutiny

By Aebra Coe

Large law firms' partner additions in life sciences rose slightly across five geographic markets between 2024 and 2025, with several factors including increased regulatory scrutiny driving new additions, according to an analysis by intelligence platform Macrae+.

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Judge Denies US Atty's Recusal Call Over Conflict Concerns

By Rose Krebs

Calling it "procedurally improper, untimely, and lacking merit," a federal judge on Friday nixed a demand from Minnesota's U.S. attorney for the judge to step aside from a habeas case related to the government's immigration enforcement operation since his wife is pursuing litigation over the crackdown as the state's solicitor general.

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NY Republicans Say Chief State Judge Crossed Ethics Line

By Emily Sawicki

Republican legislators on the judiciary committees of the New York state Senate and Assembly have brought a misconduct complaint against New York State Chief Judge Rowan Wilson over statements the judge made at a symposium in support of proposed legislation to reform minimum sentencing guidelines that they believed violated judicial conduct rules on impartiality.

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Immigration Watchdog Sues DOJ Over Secret Court Hearings

By Adrian Cruz

A Minnesota-based human rights nonprofit has sued the U.S. Department of Justice in D.C. federal court over its decision to restrict public access to proceedings at St. Paul's Fort Snelling Immigration Court.

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Ariz. Judicial Council OKs ABS Rules Despite Bar Concerns

By Rachel Rippetoe

Arizona's Judicial Council approved some new restrictions on out-of-state operations for non-attorney-owned law firms allowed to operate under the state's licensure program, despite the Arizona state bar's concerns that the new rules aren't stringent enough.

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Reed Smith Is Ignoring Expanded Back Pay Window, Atty Says

By George Woolston

A former Reed Smith LLP attorney who claimed she was unlawfully underpaid told a New Jersey state court on Friday that the firm's bid to limit the window of time for which she's seeking damages is an attempt to roll the case back in time.

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Q&A

She Has A Point: Finnegan's Cora Holt

By Theresa Schliep

Cora Holt, a partner at Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP in Washington, D.C., has a "do your job" attitude and "getting the stuff done" approach to litigation that earned plaudits from Kassie Helm, co-chair of Dechert LLP, who praised Holt for her work as part of a Law360 series celebrating women litigators.

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Q&A

NC Judge Brings Military Roots, Not Politics, To Biz Bench

By Abigail Harrison

The North Carolina Business Court added decade-long Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley to its bench this month. In an interview, Judge Shirley told Law360 how time as an attorney in the U.S. military helped make him a thorough and punctual jurist, and expanded on his interest in keeping partisan politics out of the judiciary. 

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Esquire's $348M Signature Deal Bolsters Litigation Platform

By Al Barbarino

Esquire Financial Holdings Inc. has agreed to buy the parent company of Signature Bank in a roughly $348.4 million deal that Esquire said will help expand its Chicago-area commercial banking presence and support growth of its litigation banking platform.

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GSA Pans Giving 'Unelected Judiciary' Sway Over Property

By Courtney Bublé

The federal government's landlord told the federal judiciary it is "ill equipped" to have direct authority to maintain its buildings.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

In London, Estée Lauder accused Jo Malone's founder of intellectual property infringement, the wife of an Iranian businessman linked to a £75 million fraud sued several Iranian oil companies, HSBC sued U.S. property tycoon Michael Fuchs, and Charles Russell Speechlys brought a claim against a United Arab Emirates company it once represented in an international arbitration.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP and Clement & Murphy PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Federal Circuit vacated an over $600 million judgment involving the maker of Norton antivirus software for infringing Columbia University patents.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Agenus Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

American Beverage Association

American International Group Inc.

Anthropic PBC

Aviva SA

Baker Hughes Co.

Bank of Scotland PLC

Barclays PLC

Bayer AG

C3.ai Inc.

CACI International Inc.

CJ Cheiljedang Corp.

Center for Biological Diversity Inc.

Center for Constitutional Rights

Character.AI

Cintas Corp.

CoreWeave

Cosan Limited

Criteo SA

Democracy Forward Foundation

Dubai International Financial Centre

Earthjustice

Elevate

Engie

Entain PLC

Equinor ASA

Esquire Financial Holdings Inc.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Fellowship of Christian Athletes

Fidelis Inc.

Gen Digital Inc.

Genzyme Corp.

Google LLC

Grant Thornton LLP

HSBC Holdings PLC

Here Media Inc.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

Industria de Diseno Textil SA

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes

Iroquois Gas Transmission System LP

Jiffy Lube

Johnson Matthey PLC

Jupiter Fund Management PLC

KPMG International

Learning Resources Inc.

Level 3 Communications Inc.

LinkedIn Corp.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Lloyds Bank PLC

Lloyds Banking Group PLC

Major Lindsey & Africa LLC

MasterCard Inc.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA

Meta Platforms Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

Monomoy Capital Partners

Monsanto Co.

Morgan Stanley

Munich Re Group

NVIDIA Corp.

Naftogaz

Navy Federal Credit Union

OpenAI OpCo LLC

Oracle Corp.

Pacific Justice Institute

Pennzoil

Pivot Energy

Plains All American Pipeline L.P.

Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board

Public Joint Stock Co. Gazprom

RLK Solicitors Ltd.

SAE International

Sable Offshore Corp.

Save the Sound Inc.

SentencingStats.com Inc.

Standard Chartered PLC

State Bar of Arizona

Swiss Reinsurance Co. Ltd.

Tatneft

Tesla Inc.

The Advocates for Human Rights

The Brattle Group Inc.

The City University of New York

The Estee Lauder Cos. Inc.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Twitter Inc.

Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

Visa Europe

Yahoo Inc.

YouTube Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

4 5 Gray's Inn Square

Addleshaw Goddard

Agnifilo Intrater

Beck Redden

Birketts LLP

Bracewell LLP

Carmagnola & Ritardi

Casey Gerry

Charles Russell Speechlys

Clarke Willmott

Cleary Gottlieb

Clement & Murphy

Collins Hannafin

Cotchett Pitre

DLA Piper

DWF LLP

Davis Cedillo

Day Pitney

Dechert LLP

DiCello Levitt

Duane Morris

Dykema

Eversheds Sutherland

Finnegan

Fish & Richardson

Gateley PLC

Gibson Dunn

Greenberg Traurig

Hagens Berman

Haynes Boone

Hill Dickinson

Hogan Lovells

Holland & Knight

Hugh James

Jones Day

Kelly Hart

Kennedys Law LLP

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Leach & Walker

Lewis & Roberts PLLC

Luse Gorman

Mayer Brown

Montgomery McCracken

Morgan & Morgan PA

Morgan Lewis

Nelson Mullins

Northridge Law LLP

Osborne Clarke

Patterson Belknap

Paul Hastings

Penningtons Manches

Polsinelli PC

Post & Schell

Potter Anderson

Quinn Emanuel

Reed Smith

Reynolds Porter

Richards Layton

Rosen Law Firm PA

Saul Ewing

Sidley Austin

Signature Litigation LLP

Skadden Arps

Smith Gambrell

Snell & Wilmer

Stinson LLP

Susman Godfrey

Tonkon Torp

Trowers & Hamlins

Vedder Price

Venable LLP

Weightmans LLP

Weil Gotshal

White & Case

Wikborg Rein

WilmerHale

Wright Hassall

gunnercooke LLP

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Arizona Supreme Court

Bureau of Land Management

California Natural Resources Agency

Companies House

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Delaware Court of Chancery

European Commission

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Federal Trade Commission

Financial Conduct Authority

Fish and Wildlife Service

Food and Drug Administration

International Chamber of Commerce

International Trade Commission

Minnesota Attorney General's Office

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

National Park Service

New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct

New York State Unified Court System

New York Supreme Court, New York County

North Carolina General Assembly

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Texas Judicial Branch

Texas Supreme Court

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. General Services Administration

U.S. Government Accountability Office

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. International Development Finance Corp.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Sentencing Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

United Nations

Washington Attorney General's Office

World Bank Group