Burgum, Senate Dems Spar Over Energy Permitting Moves

By Keith Goldberg

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on Wednesday blasted a federal court's recent pause of policies that imposed stricter reviews on wind and solar projects as Senate Democrats said such moves could kill the chances for significant permitting reform legislation.

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5th Circ. Unsure If Exxon Can Be Subpoenaed In French Suit

By José Luis Martínez

The Fifth Circuit seemed skeptical Wednesday of keeping in play a French company's request to subpoena Exxon Mobil Corp. for records to use in a derivative suit over alleged mismanagement at a former Exxon affiliate, suggesting the judge who denied the subpoena explained why they did so.

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EPA Staff Challenge Suspensions Over Critical Open Letter

By Gautama Mehta

Fifteen U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees have filed complaints with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, alleging the agency unlawfully suspended them after they signed a public "declaration of dissent" against the Trump administration's policies.

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Consultant Says Venezuela Work Didn't Require FARA Filing

By Carolina Bolado

The government did not prove that political consultant Esther Nuhfer was operating in bad faith when she worked with former Florida congressman David Rivera under a $50 million contract with a unit of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Nuhfer's attorney said Wednesday in his final pitch to jurors.

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Citgo Bidder Violating Confidentiality Agreement, Court Hears

By Caroline Simson

Counsel for the oil giant Citgo has accused an affiliate of hedge fund Elliott Investment Management LP of improperly revealing and distorting its confidential information as the parties inch closer toward ending a long-running saga aimed at satisfying billions of dollars' worth of Venezuelan debt.

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10,000 Native Okla. Landowners Owed Oil Royalties, Suit Says

By Crystal Owens

Five Oklahoma tribal members are asking a Federal Claims Court to order the U.S. government to provide a full accounting of oil and gas leasing royalties they say are owed to more than 10,000 Indigenous landowners, arguing it failed to properly manage the funds.

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Construction Co. Seeks OK Of $25M Mexican Utility Award

By Joyce Hanson

A Mexico City firm has urged a New York federal court to enforce a roughly $25 million arbitral award it won against the Mexican state-owned utility, Comision Federal de Electricidad, following the failure of a power plant construction project in the state of Sonora.

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Hague Court Lets ICSID Creditor Seize Spain-Owned Building

By Joyce Hanson

An investor who is owed about $124 million by Spain in an arbitration over revoked renewable energy incentives has won The Hague District Court's permission to seize the Cervantes Institute's headquarters in the Netherlands, saying the property will soon be auctioned.

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Shoals, Investors Strike $70M Deal To Settle Wire Defect Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

Shoals Technologies Group Inc. and investors who accused the solar energy equipment-maker of having downplayed defects in its wire harnesses used in aggregating electricity have reached a settlement that, if approved, would pay roughly $70 million to a settlement class, they have told a Tennessee federal judge.

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Del. Supreme Court Says Bylaw Suits Came Too Soon

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the dismissal of stockholder lawsuits challenging advance notice bylaws adopted by The AES Corp. and Owens Corning, ruling that the claims were premature because no actual dispute over the bylaws had yet materialized.

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How To Gear Up For Trump's Pharma Tariffs

President Donald Trump's proclamation establishing tariffs on certain pharmaceutical products holds a few areas of ambiguity that companies should review and prepare for before the tariffs come into effect later this year, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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Improving Well-Being In Law, 10 Years After Landmark Study

An important 2016 study revealed significant substance abuse and mental health issues among lawyers, and while the findings helped normalize the conversation around these topics, a decade later, structural change is still needed, says Denise Robinson at PLI.

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How They Won It

How Sullivan & Cromwell Won An $18B 'Bet The Country' Case

By Chris Villani

It is not often that a Second Circuit ruling is hailed as "the greatest legal achievement in national history" by a country's president, but that's what happened after a team from Sullivan & Cromwell LLP persuaded the appellate panel to nix an $18 billion judgment against Argentina.

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Jones Day Beats Sanctions Bid In $2M Fee Dispute

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois state judge has ruled that Jones Day can pursue punitive damages on several of its claims in a lawsuit alleging a former client made a series of unlawful transactions to avoid paying over $2 million in legal fees, and also denied sanctions sought by the ex-client against the firm.

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'Grotesquely Bloated,' Google Judge Rips Consumers' Fee Bid

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge said Thursday he would likely give final approval to Google's $700 million antitrust deal with states and consumers, but blasted the accompanying request for $85 million in attorney fees, calling the 100,000 hours the consumers' counsel said they spent on the case "grotesquely bloated."

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'Christian Witch' Says Jenner & Block Must Face Vax Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

A former Jenner & Block LLP employee told an Illinois federal judge that she didn't need to disclose that she's a "Christian witch" in order to seek an exemption to the law firm's COVID-19 vaccine requirement, urging the court to reject her ex-employer's bid to toss the case.

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Senate Advances Mont. Judge Pick Rated Unqualified By ABA

By Courtney Bublé

A judicial nominee for the District of Montana who was the only nominee of the second Trump administration so far to receive a "not qualified" rating from the American Bar Association advanced out of committee on Thursday.

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Judge Denies Push To Stop Closed Immigration Hearings

By Tom Lotshaw

A D.C. federal judge denied a Minnesota human rights organization's request to block immigration judges from restricting public and press access to proceedings, ruling that it failed to show an immediate threat of future harm from unlawful hearing closures.

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J&J Says Ill. Ruling Backs Beasley Allen's DQ From Talc Suits

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson told a New Jersey federal court that a recent ruling in Illinois backs the Beasley Allen Law Firm's disqualification from multidistrict litigation over its talcum powder.

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LSC Decries House Subcommittee's Proposed Budget Cut

By Marco Poggio

The nation's largest funder of civil legal aid condemned a House appropriations proposal to slash its budget for fiscal year 2027 by more than half, warning Thursday the reduction could leave nearly 3 million Americans without help for critical civil legal problems.

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Ex-Husch Blackwell Partner Urges Discovery In ERISA Dispute

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

A former Husch Blackwell LLP partner has urged a Missouri federal court to ignore the firm's request for summary judgment in a dispute over employee retirement benefits, arguing discovery should proceed in the proposed class action.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

A pair of door manufacturers ended a landmark private merger challenge, state enforcers are gearing up for a potential Live Nation breakup bid following a crucial jury win, and a separate group of states and DirecTV are challenging Nexstar's $6.2 billion deal for rival broadcaster Tegna.

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Hub Hires: Weil Gotshal, Reed Smith, Morgan Lewis

By Chris Villani

April showers bring legal hires in Boston, with several attorneys on the move. Weil Gotshal snagged an international trade lawyer from Kirkland & Ellis, Morgan Lewis added an attorney from Hunton, and Reed Smith continued to expand its new Boston office.

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