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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Advocacy Group Says Law Firm Fellowship Program Biased

By Patrick Hoff

A legal advocacy group said Thursday it had lodged U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges against a nonprofit and law firms including Jones Day, White & Case and Morgan Lewis, claiming Muslim and Middle Eastern students were getting unlawful preference in a fellowship program.

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DA Says Trump's NY Hush Money Conviction Must Stand

By Frank G. Runyeon

New York prosecutors told a state appellate court that President Donald Trump's 34-count felony conviction for falsifying business records is "unaffected" by the U.S. Supreme Court's watershed presidential immunity decision and should be upheld.

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Bronx Legal Aid Organization's Union Rejects New Pay Offer

By Andrea Keckley

The Bronx Defenders' executive director said on Thursday that the union representing the organization's over 300 attorneys and staff has rejected an updated offer on wages, with both sides still at odds over the prospect of separate salary scales for lawyers and social workers.

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2 Traders Admit Guilt In Stolen BigLaw Info Scheme

By Chris Villani

Two men pled guilty Thursday in Massachusetts federal court to their roles in a sweeping scheme to trade on inside information stolen from huge corporate law firms about upcoming deals.

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Roundup

Pa. Paraquat, Gov. Shapiro's Neighbors: A Midyear Report

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Mass tort and antitrust cases advanced this year in Pennsylvania, where attorneys await Philadelphia's first paraquat trial and more developments in the class action against the Law School Admissions Council over test fees.

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Trump May Renominate Blanche If GOP Holdouts Block Vote

By Courtney Bublé

With Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., still on the fence about acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation to be attorney general, President Donald Trump said Thursday he might renominate Blanche next year when the two senators are no longer serving in the Senate.

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Linklaters' Legal AI Leader Coming To NY For US M&A Work

By Jake Maher

Linklaters LLP is moving the firm's first dedicated AI lawyer from London to its New York office to work with the U.S. mergers and acquisitions team on an AI-native capability, according to an announcement on social media Thursday.

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ABA Eyes Nixing School DEI Standards To Sway Trump Admin

By Emma Cueto

The American Bar Association is poised next week to eliminate the first of multiple diversity-related law school standards, a controversial move that it hopes will allow it to remain an accreditor despite an uncertain outcome in the face of a Trump administration increasingly wary of the association's role in legal education.

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Judiciary's Bid To Control Courthouses Gets Senate Push

By Courtney Bublé

A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill on Thursday that would create a pilot program for the federal judiciary to obtain direct authority to maintain its buildings, which the judiciary says is desperately needed.

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