Kirkland, Jones Day Steer $2.55B Sale Of Circor Aerospace

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Private equity giant KKR and industrial valve manufacturing company Circor International, both advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, unveiled plans on Thursday to sell Circor's aerospace division to Jones Day-led industrial manufacturer Parker Hannifin Corp. in a $2.55 billion deal.

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Analysis

OpenAI Ouster About Governance, Not Bad Counsel, Pros Say

By Dorothy Atkins

Witness testimony offered during a recent high-profile jury trial over Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit restructuring accused the artificial intelligence company's nonprofit board of following bad legal advice when it fired CEO Sam Altman in 2023, although experts say the incident was more likely the product of poor governance rather than lousy legal counsel.

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Analysis

BigLaw Deals Scandal Puts Boston Back On White Collar Map

By Chris Villani

A sweeping insider trading case involving information stolen from BigLaw firms shows a return to bread-and-butter white collar enforcement for Boston federal prosecutors and provides a morale lift in an office that has seen shifting priorities and staff turnover since the signature "Varsity Blues" takedown in 2019, veteran prosecutors told Law360.

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SEC's Peirce To Join Law School Faculty After Agency Exit

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Hester Peirce will join the faculty of Regent University School of Law this November after her time at the agency, the university announced, although the commissioner said her departure date has not yet been set.

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Reversing Course, Judge Tosses SEC Fund Fraud Case

By Jessica Corso

A Pennsylvania federal judge has reversed her decision in favor of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over two investment fund managers it accused of fraud, and instead has permanently dismissed the action after finding the agency failed to prove its claims.

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Citron Founder's Tweets Impacted Stock Prices, LA Jury Told

By Rae Ann Varona

A former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission financial economist testified Thursday in the criminal securities fraud case against Citron Research founder Andrew Left, telling a California federal jury that allegedly deceptive tweets posted by the "activist investor" clearly had a "statistically significant" impact on companies' stock prices.

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Deals Rumor Mill

NFL Teams Valued At $9B In Stake Sales, And Other Rumors

By Al Barbarino

Two reported NFL stake sales this past week highlight the continued surge in professional sports valuations, fueled in part by the entry of private equity investors.

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Haynes Boone Brings On Dentons Corporate Atty In Houston

By Lynn LaRowe

Haynes Boone has bolstered its corporate bench in Houston with a former Dentons lawyer who brings particular experience advising clients with complex domestic and cross-border transactions.

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SEC Enforcement Has Continued Its Asset Management Focus

While the total number of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions is down, certain novel theories of liability have been abandoned, and the SEC has embraced a back-to-basics posture, most of the regulatory risks for asset managers that existed in the prior commission have not gone away, say attorneys at Weil.

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Series

NY Times Word Puzzles Make Me A Better Lawyer

Every morning I let The New York Times humble me with word games, which offer a chance to recalibrate my brain before the day's chaos arrives and remind me that a solution — whether to a puzzle or employment law issue — almost always exists once I find the right angle, says Amy Epstein Gluck at Pierson Ferdinand.

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Goldstein Taps Ex-SG Prelogar Before Sentence, Likely Appeal

By Jeff Overley

One of the nation's most accomplished oral advocates, Tom Goldstein, revealed Thursday he has retained another of the nation's most accomplished oral advocates, Elizabeth Prelogar, ahead of his sentencing and likely appeal in a criminal tax case that has captivated the appellate bar.

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Immigration Judges' 'Anxiety' Dialed Up Amid Mass Exodus

By Emma Cueto

Current and former immigration judges spoke on a web panel Thursday about threats to the independence of immigration judges and the strains on the immigration system, such as a massive backlog of cases at a time when many judges have been pushed out or fired.

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Analysis

How Exxon Attys Beat A 10-Year-Old Securities Class Action

By Spencer Brewer

This month, Exxon Mobil's defense team helped deliver a clean sweep victory for the energy giant when a federal jury in Texas found the company did not lie to investors about the profitability of some operations.

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PBM Swaps Cravath For WilmerHale In Price-Fixing Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

Pharmacy benefit manager Prime Therapeutics LLC has replaced counsel Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP with WilmerHale and another firm in an antitrust case in Michigan federal court brought by the state's attorney general.

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Bush-Appointed Missouri Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge David Gregory Kays of the Western District of Missouri will take semi-retired status in May 2027, according to an update from the federal judiciary on Thursday.

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Feature

5 Podcasts To Keep IP Attys Entertained And Informed

By Theresa Schliep

Whether intellectual property attorneys are hitting the road for a family trip or kicking their feet up at home, podcasts about legal news can offer an easy way for them to stay in the know while (hopefully) not working this Memorial Day weekend.

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