KKR, ECP Win Energy Biz Backing For Up To £5.75B Takeover

By Najiyya Budaly

DCC Energy PLC said Monday that it is backing an offer worth up to £5.75 billion ($7.7 billion) from KKR and Energy Capital Partners, making it the latest London-listed company targeted in a take-private deal by U.S. buyers.

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White & Case-Led Natural Gas Giant Inks $1.25B Marketing Buy

By Al Barbarino

Expand Energy said Monday it will acquire privately held natural gas marketer Twin Eagle Holdings for $1.25 billion from Five Point Infrastructure, a deal that will help bolster the North American natural gas production giant's marketing operations.

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Fried Frank, Kirkland Steer $466M Luxfer Go-Private Deal

By Al Barbarino

Wynnchurch Capital has agreed to buy aerospace materials maker Luxfer Holdings in a nearly $466 million deal, the companies announced Monday, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP advising Wynnchurch and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP advising Luxfer. 

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PE Shop Founder Pleads Guilty In $50M Ponzi Scheme

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

The managing partner of a New Hampshire-based private equity firm has pled guilty in New York federal court to multiple counts of fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme that solicited over $50 million in investments for purported health and wellness companies.

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Cooley Owes $25.4M Judgment To NJ Biotech Co. Founder

By Brian Steele

A New Jersey state court on Monday entered a $25.4 million judgment against Cooley LLP after a jury found the multinational firm had committed malpractice in its representation of a biotech founder who said his own lawyers assisted in shoving him out of his company.

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ATI Beats ERISA Suit Over $1.5B Pension Risk Transfer

By Kellie Mejdrich

Defense and aerospace company ATI won escape from a proposed class action alleging it put retirees' benefits at risk by transferring approximately $1.5 billion of pension obligations to a private equity-backed insurance company, convincing a Pennsylvania federal court Monday that ex-workers hadn't sufficiently demonstrated standing to sue.

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Del. Judge Tosses Challenge To Envestnet's $4.5B Bain Sale

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court has dismissed a stockholder challenge to Envestnet Inc.'s $4.5 billion take-private sale to Bain Capital affiliates, ruling that investors approved the deal through a fully informed vote and that the complaint failed to support claims that the company's independent directors or financial adviser Morgan Stanley acted improperly.

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Yale, Biohaven Win $4M In Biotech Trade Secret Trial

By Ivan Moreno

A Delaware federal jury has awarded Yale University and Biohaven Therapeutics $4 million after finding that venture capital firm RA Capital Management GP breached a confidentiality agreement and, along with co-defendant Avilar Therapeutics, misappropriated a Yale-developed trade secret for designing protein-degrading drug molecules.

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Simpson Thacher Atty Says Patriot Nat'l Founder Sank Co.

By Madison Arnold

A Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP partner wrapped up her testimony Monday in a Florida state malpractice trial brought by the founder of Patriot National Inc., telling the jury that the founder was willing to forgo establishing a floor on the value of so-called Series B warrants, which he says contributed to the company's demise.

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Former JPMorgan Banker Levels Race Bias, Harassment Suit

By Vin Gurrieri

A former JPMorgan Chase employee filed a race discrimination and sexual harassment suit against the investment bank in Manhattan federal court Monday, on the heels of dropping a similar state court complaint that triggered an ongoing defamation case from his former boss. 

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week tackled disputes involving restrictive covenants, corporate governance, trade secrets, real estate investments, receiverships, and books and records demands.

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Antares Raises $470M For Military Nuclear Reactor Push

By Elaine Briseño

U.S. Department of Energy Reactor Pilot Program participant Antares announced Monday that it had raised $470 million in its Series C funding, which will allow the company to accelerate the commercialization of its nuclear power systems.

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White & Case M&A Dealmaker Jumps To Freshfields In NY

By Tracey Read

Freshfields LLP announced Monday that a prolific dealmaker has left White & Case to join its New York office as a partner in the mergers and acquisitions and corporate practice.

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Paul Weiss Hires Ex-Ropes & Gray Capital Markets Partner

By Matt Perez

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP said Monday it has hired a former partner at Ropes & Gray LLP as a partner in its capital markets group within the firm's corporate department.

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Series

Judges On AI: Examining Administrative, Organizational Uses

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas examines how artificial intelligence could transform a court's ability to deal with administrative work and organize materials when preparing for hearings or drafting opinions, thereby affording judges more time to resolve contested issues.

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Trader In BigLaw Deal-Tipping Scheme To Plead Guilty

By Chris Villani

A Florida resident is set to plead guilty to his alleged role in a sweeping scheme to trade on insider information about impending acquisitions that was stolen from major law firms, according to a court filing Tuesday.

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Simpson Thacher Stock Work Hurt 2 Companies, Jury Told

By Madison Arnold

The chief financial officer for an insurance company told a Florida jury Tuesday that a stock drop for Patriot National Inc. — which is suing Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP for malpractice for allegedly putting together a shoddy securities offering — dramatically affected his own business as well.

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AT&T Whistleblower Told To Cut Facts From Ethics Case Filing

By Sue Reisinger

Former AT&T in-house counsel and whistleblower Theodore Marcus has been asked to delete part of his response to professional misconduct charges pending against him in Washington, D.C., because the filing allegedly contains privileged information.

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1st Circ. Asked To Save Mayer Brown $21M Fee Bid In RI Suit

By Linda Chiem

The American Trucking Associations told the First Circuit that its attorneys at Mayer Brown LLP reasonably justified their request for $21 million in fees and costs after securing "substantial" wins in long-running litigation over Rhode Island's truck tolling program, disputing a district court's determination that the trucking trade group wasn't actually a "prevailing party."

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Winston Taylor Seeks Sanction Against Ex-Client Hunter Biden

By Rae Ann Varona

Winston Taylor urged a D.C. state court on Monday to sanction its former client Hunter Biden in its legal bills collection suit, saying the former president's son destroyed Signal communications that would have proved he understood that he owes the law firm more than $50,000.

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Court Is In Session Whenever A Judge Says It Is, 6th Circ. Told

By Susan Smiley

Court is wherever and whenever a judge says it is, counsel for a Detroit judge told a Sixth Circuit panel Tuesday, arguing that subjecting a student to a mock arrest and trial because she fell asleep during a field trip was within his jurisdiction.

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Senate Confirms Jay Clayton As National Intelligence Chief

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Jay Clayton as director of national intelligence, two weeks after Clayton, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, refused to answer who he thought won the 2020 election during his confirmation hearing.

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Queens Defenders Head Gets 3.5 Years For Looting The Nonprofit

By Pete Brush

A Brooklyn federal judge on Tuesday sentenced the former director of the Queens Defenders to more than 3.5 years in prison after the longtime attorney admitted to a course of embezzlement that destroyed the group dedicated to legal services for the poor.

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