SpaceX Launches Plans For Massive $75B IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

SpaceX on Wednesday outlined a price target for its blockbuster initial public offering, telling U.S. regulators that it expects to raise $75 billion in what would mark the largest IPO in history.

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BigLaw Insider Trading Defendants Have Big-Name Legal Help

By Chris Villani

An insider trading case involving nonpublic information prosecutors say was stolen from some of the largest law firms in the U.S. has ensnared more than two dozen defendants, many of whom have turned to lawyers with notable clients including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione.

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4 Firms Steer Sixth Street's $1B Investment In Kpler

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Trade intelligence and data analytics firm Kpler on Wednesday announced it has secured a more than $1 billion growth equity investment from private equity shop Sixth Street in a deal built by four law firms.

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Kirkland-Led Defense Firm Applied Aerospace Inks $650M IPO

By Elaine Briseño

Applied Aerospace & Defense Inc., with a market value of $3.4 billion, began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday after raising $650 million with an initial public offering guided by Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

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Sysco Reveals Deal Probe, Promises 'Gov't Will See Benefits'

By Bryan Koenig

Sysco's CEO has disclosed that U.S. antitrust enforcers launched an in-depth probe into the wholesale restaurant food distributor's plan to acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot at a total enterprise value of approximately $29.1 billion, while expressing confidence that officials will find no issues with the transaction.

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Crescent Capital Wraps $10.8B Direct Lending Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Alternative credit investment firm Crecent Capital Group LP on Wednesday revealed that has it closed its latest U.S. direct lending fund with $10.8 billion of investable capital.

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EU Approves BASF Buy With Conditions

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The European Commission on Monday approved the acquisition of BASF's coatings division by investment company Carlyle Group and the Qatar Investment Authority.

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Vista Equity Hit With Stockholder Suit Over $1.7B IAS Sale

By Rae Ann Varona

A former Integral Ad Science stockholder has launched a proposed class action in Delaware Chancery Court, asserting that a controlling stockholder sought the media measurement platform's $1.7 billion sale to affiliates of Novacap Management Inc. to eliminate exposure to his derivative claims alleging insider trading.

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KeyBank, Investment Advisers Settle Suit Alleging Client Theft

By Adam Lidgett

KeyBank affiliate Key Investment Services LLC has agreed to settle its suit accusing two former investment advisers of stealing trade secrets and violating their employment agreements by soliciting customers.

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Feds Pitch 63-Month Sentence For Player In Oil Investor Scam

By Rachel Riley

Federal prosecutors argued Tuesday that a Washington man should be sentenced to 63 months in prison for moving tens of millions of dollars from investors to overseas bank and cryptocurrency accounts as part of a fraud scheme, while the defendant sought a 15-month sentence, saying he was enticed by "sophisticated international criminals."

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Cooley Adds 2 More Kirkland Attys To Infrastructure Team

By Andrea Keckley

Cooley LLP announced Wednesday that it has hired a pair of Kirkland & Ellis LLP attorneys who the firm says strengthen its ability to guide clients through the full life cycle of infrastructure investments.

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Private Lender Verification Lessons From Recent Fraud Cases

Recent fraud allegations involving private credit borrowers raise compliance red flags for lenders, who must recognize that financial and collateral verification is an essential safeguard as failures in underwriting and monitoring infect the broader market, say Michael Bresnick at Venable and Brian Mich at Control Risks Group.

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5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

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Hueston Hennigan Follows Milbank's Lead In Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

The race to match Milbank LLP's attorney pay hikes is officially on, with trial firm Hueston Hennigan the latest to announce it will increase associate pay by $10,000 to $20,000 annually.

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Analysis

The Plaintiffs Atty Now 5-0 At High Court With No Dissents

By Jeff Overley

It's true that Jennifer Bennett is undefeated at the U.S. Supreme Court, but it's also an understatement. Bennett's five wins, including two recent ones, were all unanimous decisions. They showed that the plaintiffs bar can still persuade a conservative supermajority. And they turned the tide after a spree of decisions keeping workers and consumers out of court.

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Goldstein Cites Addiction To Avoid Time, DOJ Seeks 8 Years

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors recommended a 97-month prison sentence for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, telling a Maryland federal court he has bilked the government out of more than $9.5 million in unpaid taxes. Goldstein, meanwhile, asked for a suspended sentence and supervised release, citing a "severe and longstanding gambling addiction."

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Rocade Capital Buys LFG To Create Combined $2B Lit Funder

By Ryan Boysen

Rocade Capital LLC has acquired fellow litigation funder Law Finance Group LLC, creating a combined platform that has deployed more than $2.3 billion and specializes in $10 million to $50 million deals, including post-judgment financing, portfolio deals and lending to plaintiff's firms.

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Court Reporter Shortage A 'Crisis,' Calif. Supreme Court Told

By Bonnie Eslinger

Two legal nonprofits urged the California Supreme Court to issue an order entitling low-income civil litigants to electronic recording if a live court reporter is not available, saying at a hearing Wednesday that a court reporter shortage in the Golden State has created a "crisis."

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9th Circ. Suspends 2 Attys For 6 Months Over AI Hallucinations

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday temporarily suspended two California immigration attorneys from practicing before the appellate court for filing briefs in a deportation relief case containing artificial intelligence-generated hallucinations, finding no excuse for their "extraordinary confession" of not vetting citations used by unlicensed brief writers.

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Tenn. Firm Gets AI Sanctions In Suit Against Baker Donelson

By Emily Sawicki

A Tennessee federal judge has sanctioned a Memphis, Tennessee, law firm over its misuse of artificial intelligence amid a malpractice suit against Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, ordering the regional firm to reimburse costs associated with the matter and report the misconduct to the state's disciplinary counsel.

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Feature

'Read The Cases': Conn. Judge Offers AI Advice To Attys

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge told a gathering of attorneys Tuesday that his law clerks are not allowed to use generative artificial intelligence for any purpose involving legal research, his interns are barred from using it at all, and lawyers must be careful when relying on the material that the tools produce.

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Atty Can't Shake $120M Verdict In RICO, Defamation Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

An Alabama federal judge refused to disturb a $120 million verdict against a former Conrad & Scherer LLP managing partner, ruling there was enough evidence at trial for a jury to find the attorney liable on Drummond Co.'s racketeering and defamation claims.

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Graham Pushes Federal Tort Path After DOJ Drops $1.8B Fund

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice seemed, at least briefly, to support a Republican senator's alternative solution to the "anti-weaponization" $1.8 billion fund that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday the department is abandoning.

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DOJ Sets New Healthcare Fraud Convictions Record

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced that its Health Care Fraud Unit secured six jury trial convictions across the country in less than three weeks, with the cases involving more than $1.1 billion in fraud losses.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Dardarian Ho's Linda Dardarian

By Lynn LaRowe

Despite being on the other side of a disability rights case that will cost his municipality at least $150 million, Kevin McLaughlin, city attorney for Oakland, California, believes that if more lawyers were like Linda Dardarian, there would be far less lamenting about civility in the legal profession.

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