Petrochemical Co. Can Use $230M In Ch. 11 Funding

By Emily Lever

A Texas bankruptcy judge on Tuesday agreed to allow Brazilian-Mexican petrochemical company Braskem Idesa SAPI to tap into $230 million of its new money debtor-in-possession funding as it prepares to collect votes on its Chapter 11 plan.

Declaration attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Political Consultant Gets 5 Years In Venezuela FARA Case

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge on Tuesday sentenced the political consultant convicted alongside ex-Florida Rep. David Rivera to five years in prison after she was found guilty of willfully failing to register as a foreign agent for her work on a $50 million contract with a unit of Venezuela's state-owned oil company.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

EU Guidance Lays Out Cost Adjustments For Carbon Levy

By Josh White

The European Union's carbon import levy on emissions-intensive goods such as aluminum and cement will allow importers to reduce the cost of the levy to mirror carbon allowances granted to EU producers based on benchmark values, according to guidance from the bloc's executive.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Pennsylvania Now Requires Local Approval For Data Centers

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday he has signed an executive order imposing additional requirements on developers seeking to build data centers in the state, including a mandate that projects must obtain approval by local municipalities before the state will allow them to advance.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Alaska Judge Voids 500-Acre Land Swap For Refuge Road

By Crystal Owens

A district court judge vacated an Interior Department decision to exchange 500 acres to allow road construction on Izembek National Wildlife Refuge lands for failing to comply with the provision of a federal Alaskan land law, saying in a Tuesday order that the transaction has no "force or effect."

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOI, Enviro Groups Trade Punches Over Wildlands Policy

By Joyce Hanson

The U.S. Department of the Interior has received pushback from conservation groups that oppose five comment processes among three federal agencies as the DOI reviews policies affecting wilderness areas on public lands nationwide.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

2 Cos. Claim Mich. City's Data Center Moratorium Is Unlawful

By Isaac Monterose

Two companies have accused the Michigan city of Gibraltar of enforcing "an unlawful moratorium" that is preventing them from converting a steel processing plant into a data center.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

ITC Probing Transformers Over Trade Secrets Theft Claim

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission has opened an investigation into a California transformer manufacturer's claims that an Indian competitor stole its trade secrets in order to accelerate its entrance into the U.S. market, along with false advertising and trademark infringement claims.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

2 Firms Guide Ohio Uranium Site Data Center Development

By Nate Beck

OpenAI said it will take a 20-year lease at a planned data center campus being built by Nvidia and SoftBank on a Cold War-era nuclear site in central Ohio, in a project advised by Latham & Watkins LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Blank Rome Taps Ex-Jones Day Partner To Co-Lead Practice

By James Boyle

An attorney with expertise advising clients on major capital development projects in the United States and abroad has moved his practice from Jones Day to Blank Rome LLP's Pittsburgh office, where he now co-leads the firm's construction group.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-Loeb & Loeb RE Pro Joins Greenberg Traurig In NYC

By Isaac Monterose

Greenberg Traurig LLP has hired former Loeb & Loeb LLP real estate partner Brian L. Helweil as a shareholder for its global real estate practice team in New York City, the firm has announced.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein Seeks Release During Appeal

By Rachel Rippetoe

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein on Tuesday asked to be released from federal custody while he appeals his 12 tax and mortgage fraud convictions and a six-year prison sentence, saying he is not a flight risk and it would be a "grave injustice" for him to begin a sentence he believes will eventually get axed.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Q&A

Nutter Leader Eyes Fla. Growth, AI-Driven Billing Shift

By Chris Villani

After overseeing Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP's expansion into New York City, California and Hawaii, co-managing partner Michael Scott is setting his sights on extending the firm's footprint into Florida within the next year and leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to lower clients' bills.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Atty, Ex-Mentor Settle After Harassment, Bias Suit Dismissed

By Melanie Dorsey

An attorney whose sexual harassment and employment discrimination suit against her former mentor was thrown out last month for repeated discovery violations has reached a settlement resolving the remaining claims and counterclaims in the case.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Atty, Son Charged In Probe Of Alleged Penn State Drug Ring

By Rose Krebs

An equity partner based in Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek & Eck PLLC's Pittsburgh office has been charged with tampering with evidence and obstructing an investigation in connection with an alleged cocaine ring at Penn State University that allegedly involved his son, according to news reports.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fed. Circ. Rejects Patent Marking Immunity For NPEs

By Dani Kass

Nonpracticing entities hoping for presuit damages can't get out of Patent Act requirements to mark products with patent information just because licensees don't believe their products infringe, the Federal Circuit held Wednesday.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Jackson Walker Says US Trustee Can't Claw Back Legal Fees

By Clara Geoghegan

Jackson Walker said this week that the U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog is beyond the bounds of its authority in a yearslong effort to force the firm to return millions of dollars in legal fees over an undisclosed relationship between a former partner and a Texas bankruptcy judge.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-US Attys Protest Trump's Swift Firing Of Rogoff In Seattle

By Rachel Riley

Thirty former U.S. attorneys backed Roger Rogoff's bid for reinstatement as Seattle's top federal prosecutor after President Donald Trump fired him on the heels of his court-ordered appointment, arguing Tuesday that Trump is trying to "sidestep the Senate's advice-and-consent role and sideline the judiciary" by letting unappointed individuals play such roles.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Sinema Says Brief Signal Chat Can't Anchor NC Affair Suit

By Hayley Fowler

A single exchange on the encrypted messaging app Signal became the focal point of former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's testimony on Wednesday as she sought to convince a North Carolina federal judge that she cannot be hauled into court in the Tar Heel state over an affair — which she declined to characterize as a "passionate" romance — she had with her married security guard.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Polsinelli Can't Rep Doctor In 'Bad Faith' IP Suits, Cos. Say

By Lauren Berg

Two medical device companies suing Polsinelli PC and its longtime client, a patent-holding doctor, for allegedly pursuing "bad faith" infringement claims asked federal courts in Tennessee and Mississippi to disqualify the firm from defending the doctor in the lawsuits, citing their "diverging interests and liabilities."

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

USPTO Says Patent Atty's Suit Shouldn't Stop Discipline Case

By Theresa Schliep

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has said an Ohio federal court shouldn't pause professional discipline proceedings against an attorney while he sues the agency, saying he's likely to fail with his suit challenging the fact that a judge from another agency is overseeing his discipline case.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »