US Middle Market PE Surge Expected After Strong 2025

By Al Barbarino

U.S. middle market private equity dealmakers are signaling renewed optimism, with the vast majority expecting a meaningful jump in buyout activity over the next two years after a robust 2025, according to survey results published on Thursday. 

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SEC Disgorgement Powers Stay Intact After High Court Fight

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could collect ill-gotten gains from alleged fraudsters without having to identify victims who were financially harmed by the fraud, declining to place further limits on the agency's disgorgement powers six years after it last did so.

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Data Center Power Co. Innio Prices Upsized $2.4B IPO

By Nate Beck

Innio, a manufacturer of gas engines used to power artificial intelligence systems, began trading Thursday on the Nasdaq after raising $2.4 billion in an upsized initial public offering guided by Latham & Watkins LLP and Milbank LLP.

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Latham, Davis Polk Lead Quantinuum's Upsized $1.7B IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Quantum computer developer Quantinuum hit the public markets on Thursday after raising $1.7 billion in its initial public offering steered by Latham & Watkins LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

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Parking Cos. Face Privacy Class Action Over Plate Readers

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Four private parking operators and technology vendors in Maryland are facing a proposed privacy class action after five drivers accused them of illegally pulling their personal information from the state DMV to send them invoices with exorbitant fees.

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Kirkland, Palantir Team Up On AI Platform For PE Fundraising

By Matt Perez

Kirkland & Ellis LLP announced on Thursday a partnership with data giant and military supplier Palantir Technologies to launch a proprietary enterprise platform designed around private equity fundraising.

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Brief

Simpson Thacher, Davis Polk Lead Liftoff Mobile's $437M IPO

By Nadia Dreid

AI-powered advertising platform Liftoff Mobile Inc. hit public markets Thursday, raising $437 million in its initial public offering that was steered by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

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Advent Co-Leads $200M Funding Round For AI Biz Coralogix

By Dawood Fakhir

Data processing company Coralogix has raised $200 million in its latest funding round, which was led by private equity firms Advent International, Greenfield Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, to boost its artificial intelligence capabilities.

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Deals Rumor Mill

Anthropic, DeepSeek Pivot To New Financing, More Rumors

By Al Barbarino

Anthropic and China's DeepSeek are among a growing group of AI firms turning to new financing structures to meet surging demand for compute power. Reports indicate that private equity giants are assembling a $36 billion private credit vehicle to help fund Anthropic access to certain Google chips, while DeepSeek has reportedly broken from its earlier strategy by arranging more than $7 billion in outside funding.

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AI Co. Midnight Labs Gets Sony Innovation Fund Investment

By Matt Perez

Midnight Labs, a Dublin-based artificial intelligence company focused on intellectual property enforcement, announced Thursday it received an investment from the Sony Innovation Fund to expand its software in the U.S. and Japanese markets.

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Citron Founder Verdict Tests Reach Of 'Half-Truth' Fraud

A California federal jury's conviction this week of Citron founder Andrew Left may be remembered less as a conventional manipulation prosecution than as a case about how far the "half-truth" doctrine can reach when applied to modern market speech, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

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Series

Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

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Quinn Emanuel, Texas Boutique Match Milbank Associate Pay

By Kevin Penton

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and a Texas-based litigation boutique are the latest firms to match Milbank LLP's pay hikes for associates, with annual increases of $10,000 to $20,000 that top off at $455,000.

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Blanche's AG Bid Could Face Rocky Path In Senate

By Courtney Bublé

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will be tapped for the permanent role, but he might not have a smooth path to confirmation.

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Goldstein Seeks Sentencing Delay, Citing New Tax Claims

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein renewed his push Wednesday in Maryland federal court for a delayed sentencing, saying prosecutors blindsided his defense by including additional uncharged years of alleged tax avoidance in the government's sentencing memorandum.

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Georgia Fed. Judge Facing Impeachment Threat, New DQ Bid

By Emily Johnson

A Georgia federal judge reportedly disciplined for having sexual intercourse in her chambers and attending a political event is facing renewed pressure, as a former UPS employee seeks her disqualification from his dismissed racial discrimination lawsuit and a Georgia congressman drafts articles of impeachment to remove her from the bench.

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Deepfake Mocks Judge Spearheading Judiciary Deepfake Rule

By Jeff Overley

The New York federal judge developing policies for phony audiovisual materials revealed Thursday firsthand experience with the subject: an artificial intelligence video on social media that depicts him as a maniacal Nazi who recently sentenced a private equity executive to prison "for being a Republican."

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Analysis

'Parallel' DOJ, SEC Investigations Not So Parallel Anymore

By Phillip Bantz

The level of coordination between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has decreased under the Trump administration, resulting in disjointed investigatory efforts and misaligned timing in parallel investigations, experts say.

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'Kentucky Hammer' Tries To Control Attys, PI Market, Suit Says

By James Boyle

The principal attorney of personal injury firm Isaacs & Isaacs PCS, who advertises as the "Kentucky Hammer," has been accused by a former attorney at the firm of bullying his employees into signing unfavorable contracts and attempting to monopolize the local personal injury market.

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Baker Donelson Seeks 'No Recovery' Ruling In Ponzi Fallout

By Emily Sawicki

Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC on Thursday asked a Mississippi federal court to issue a single check-box form ruling that states the firm does not owe a monetary judgment stemming from a jury's verdict finding it committed negligent supervision amid a timber company's nine-figure Ponzi scheme, which was perpetrated in part by two of the firm's then-partners.

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Calif. Bar Accuses More Attys In Unlicensed Practice Scheme

By Lauren Berg

Three more attorneys at the Los Angeles personal injury firm facing investigation for its involvement in a record $4 billion sex abuse settlement against Los Angeles County are facing disciplinary charges by the State Bar of California, alleging the firm illegally practiced law outside the state.

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NY AG Must Preserve Cohen Docs In Trump's Civil Fraud Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

The New York state trial court judge overseeing President Donald Trump's civil fraud case granted his request to preserve notes from private meetings between state litigators and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen after the key witness said he felt "pressured" to testify.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Robbins Geller's David Knotts

By Sydney Price

Right after graduating from Cornell University Law School, David Knotts, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, landed at one of the world's largest corporate defense firms.

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