FERC Pushes Reliability Standards For Data Centers

By Tom Lotshaw

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday pressed for the continued development of reliability standards for power-hungry data centers and other computational loads, and ordered two western grid operators to report on coordination efforts at the seams of their operations.

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Calif. Says AT&T Mustn't Make Move From Copper 'Disorderly'

By Nadia Dreid

The California Public Utilities Commission has told AT&T that it's not pleased to hear that the cost of certain copper services has gone up "exponentially" as the state and the mobile behemoth duke it out in federal court and at the Federal Communications Commission over AT&T's desire to end legacy copper service.

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Mich. Renews Enbridge Line 5 Permit, Tribes Vow Fight

By Melanie Dorsey

Michigan environmental regulators reissued key state permits for Enbridge Energy's proposed Great Lakes Tunnel project, allowing the company to continue pursuing approvals needed to replace the aging Line 5 pipelines beneath the Straits of Mackinac, while tribal leaders and environmental groups vowed to challenge the decision.

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Belgian Energy Revenue Cap Is Lawful, EU Court Adviser Says

By Natalie Olivo

An adviser to the European Union's top court backed Belgium's application of a bloc-wide mechanism for capping revenue collected by certain energy companies, concluding Thursday that the levy didn't deviate from EU law despite applying at a lower threshold.

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USTR Broadens Exemptions Ahead Of 25% Brazil Tariff

By Dylan Moroses

A 25% tariff on Brazilian goods will begin next week with an expanded exemption list following public comments on the action, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced.

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Ukrnafta Must Produce Acct. Records In $150M Award Fight

By Caroline Simson

A Texas federal judge on Wednesday ordered Ukraine's largest oil producer to comply with discovery requests as Carpatsky Petroleum Corp. continues its over eight-year-long effort to enforce a $150 million arbitral award, but denied a similar request targeting Baker Hughes.

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Feds Tell 11th Circ. It Can't Hear BP Offshore Drilling Case

By Joyce Hanson

The federal government has told the Eleventh Circuit it doesn't have jurisdiction to hear an appeal from conservation groups challenging the Trump administration's approval of BP PLC's Kaskida offshore oil and gas drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Driller's Preshift Overtime Claim Survives In Wage Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A Utah federal judge kept alive a former employee's preshift overtime claim in a proposed collective action against a drilling services company, while tossing his rounding, bonus and per diem allegations and most Minnesota wage claims, according to an order.

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Ga. Judge Proposes Streamlining EEOC Disability Bias Suit

By Vin Gurrieri

A Georgia federal magistrate judge has recommended trimming a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit accusing a utility services provider of firing a worker who sought job adjustments following a stroke, but said a key failure to accommodate claim should go to trial.

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Mich. AG Says Solar Financing Scheme Hit 1,700 Consumers

By Susan Smiley

Michigan's attorney general has accused Climax Solar, its owner and the seven financial institutions that financed consumer purchases of the company's home solar systems of participating in a widespread solar finance scheme that promised customers big savings but resulted in long-term debt.

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Brief

US Probes Whether Ethiopian Solar Cells Skip Chinese Duties

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating whether solar cell products completed in Ethiopia using Chinese inputs are circumventing duties against Chinese versions of the products, the department said Thursday.

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11th Circ. Affirms Quarry Valuation Sank $23M Easement Perk

By Kat Lucero

A 103-acre tract's best alternative use is not an aggregate quarry, the 11th Circuit ruled Thursday, rejecting the valuation that supported a partnership's $23 million deduction claim for donating the Georgia property as a conservation easement.

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New Pipeline Repair Rules Shift Burden To Engineer Judgment

A proposal from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to allow operators more flexibility to make analysis-informed repair choices, rather than hew to long-standing prescriptive criteria, could make documenting the engineer’s decision-making process as important to compliance as the ultimate repair performed, says Ahuva Battams at Beatty & Wozniak.

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Series

Being A Magician Makes Me A Better Lawyer

The skills I've developed as a lifelong magician have translated directly into tangible benefits in the courtroom because performing magic and trying cases both live at the intersection of psychology, storytelling, timing and disciplined rehearsal, says Mark Dombroff at Fox Rothschild.

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How Competitive Is Your Compensation? Take Our Survey

Is your compensation keeping pace with the rate of inflation? Do you know what your colleagues made last year? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's Law Firm Compensation Survey.

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Feature

As Law Firms Race To Adopt AI, Cost Concerns Grow

By Phillip Bantz

Pressure is mounting on law firm leaders to dive into the AI waters or watch competitors swim away, but figuring out responsible, cost-effective methods to use high-priced legal tech remains tricky, experts say.

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Richards Layton Apologizes For AI Errors In Chancery Case

By Rose Krebs

Richards Layton & Finger PA and one of its attorneys have apologized to the Delaware Chancery Court for submitting a filing with errors generated by artificial intelligence, asking that sanctions not be imposed.

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McDermott Atty Denies Pressuring Friend To Alter Testimony

By Rose Krebs

A McDermott Will & Schulte LLP attorney has told a Delaware vice chancellor that he is in "complete shock" and "hurt" by a longtime friend's contention that he pressured him to change his testimony in a Chancery Court case, saying the accusation "is false and without any merit."

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Simpson Thacher 'Never' Explained Ill-Fated Deal, Exec Says

By Cara Salvatore

A founder seeking over $100 million from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett over a transaction he says destroyed his insurance services company testified Thursday the law firm provided him no education on various words he wasn't familiar with in the deal.

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Blue-Slip-Backed Trump Judge Selections Advance

By Courtney Bublé

The first two judicial nominations of the second Trump administration to receive supportive blue slips from Democratic senators advanced to the Senate floor Thursday.

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Goulston Docked Ex-Partners' Pay For Joining Rival, Suit Says

By Julie Manganis

Two Goulston & Storrs PC directors who jumped to Troutman Pepper Locke LLP were stiffed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation in retaliation for leaving, according to a suit filed Thursday in New York federal court.

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Feature

In Uber Assault Trial, A Courtroom Tests Truth Face-To-Face

By Hayley Fowler

This is the first in a two-part series about the Virginia Revival Model courtroom in the Charles R. Jonas federal courthouse in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here, judges and attorneys recall how a sexual assault trial against Uber unfolded in a space designed to place focus on the witnesses.

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Tillis Might Back Blanche, As AG Pick Met Epstein Survivors

By Courtney Bublé

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday afternoon met with a group of survivors of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said his condition for supporting Blanche's appointment to the permanent position was for the nominee to speak to them face-to-face.

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