Latham Leads Kailera's $625M IPO In Obesity Drug Push

By Yeji Jesse Lee

Obesity biotech Kailera Therapeutics made its public debut Friday, raising $625 million in an upsized initial public offering that represents one of the largest biotech IPOs in recent years.

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Drone Co. Aevex Joins Defense-Related IPOs, Raising $320M

By Bonnie Eslinger

Drone-maker Aevex Corp. began trading Friday after raising $320 million in its initial public ‌offering, steered by a Kirkland & Ellis LLP team and with Latham & Watkins LLP advising the underwriters.

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NorthStar Inks $300M SPAC Deal As Space Debris Risk Rises

By Al Barbarino

NorthStar Earth & Space said Friday it will merge with a blank-check company in a deal valuing NorthStar at $300 million, as the Canadian company bets that increasingly congested orbits will require continuous monitoring to avoid collisions and service disruptions.

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'Constantly Shifting': Judge Rips Musk, OpenAI As Trial Nears

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge Friday appeared frustrated with Elon Musk and OpenAI ahead of trial over Musk's challenge to OpenAI's conversion to a for-profit entity, criticizing the parties' "constantly shifting" positions and doubting whether she has the authority to grant the relief Musk requested.

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Macquarie Selling Romanian Grid Network For About $825M

By Al Barbarino

Premier Energy Group said Friday it has agreed to acquire Romania-based electricity distributor Distributie Energie Oltenia, or DEO, from funds managed by Australia's Macquarie Asset Management for about €700 million ($825 million).

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Aston Martin file an appeal in a row with Chinese carmaker Geely over its winged logo for London black cabs, Ineos sue Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team for a £180 million ($244 million) boat, White & Case face a claim from two energy storage companies, and a golf tour company bring a claim against Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund after the fund invested in its rival.

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: Skadden, Stikeman Elliott

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, Amazon.com Inc. buys satellite communications company Globalstar Inc., waste management company GFL Environmental Inc. acquires Secure Waste Infrastructure Corp., and Standard Life PLC buys the British subsidiary of Dutch insurer Aegon.

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Reed Smith Lands McDermott Fund Finance Pro In Miami

By Rose Krebs

Reed Smith LLP has added a partner in Miami from McDermott Will & Schulte LLP to bolster its capacity to advise clients about fund finance and private capital matters.

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2 Discovery Rulings Break With Heppner On AI Privilege Issue

While a New York federal court’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner suggests that some litigants’ communications with AI tools are discoverable, two other recent federal court decisions demonstrate that such interactions generally qualify for work-product protection under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, says Joshua Dunn at Brown Rudnick.

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Black McDermott Atty Says White Men Favored For Partner

By Lauren Berg

A Black female McDermott Will & Schulte attorney accused the firm of gender, race and pregnancy discrimination in a lawsuit lodged in California state court, saying she has been consistently bypassed for promotion by less-experienced white attorneys and was yanked off casework after taking medical leave following a life-threatening illness during pregnancy.

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'Kind Of Lawyering We Don't Like': Judge Rips Quinn Emanuel

By Bonnie Eslinger

Guardant Health Inc. urged a California federal judge on Monday to make Quinn Emanuel pay nearly $1.3 million on top of $3 million in sanctions already imposed over misrepresentations lawyers made representing its rival Natera Inc., prompting the judge to criticize Quinn Emanuel lawyers for making distinctions so fine they veer into misrepresentation.

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Q&A

She Has A Point: Fish & Richardson's Nitika Gupta Fiorella

By Dani Kass

Fish & Richardson PC principal Nitika Gupta Fiorella is "a no-stone-unturned, always super prepared" lawyer who "epitomizes professionalism and respect," according to Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP partner Cora Holt.

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Fox Lawyer In Dominion Case Confirmed To Texas Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 47-46 Monday evening to confirm Andrew Davis, a partner at Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP who defended Fox News in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case, to serve on the bench in the Western District of Texas.

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Justices Won't Consider IP Theft Allegations Against Akin

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a former Cornell University graduate student's petition trying to revive his malpractice suit against Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP stemming from patent litigation against Illumina Inc. over DNA sequencing intellectual property.

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DC Ethics Office Says Ex-Interim US Atty Can't Remove Case

By Emily Sawicki

Washington, D.C., ethics officials have asked a federal court to send U.S. Department of Justice official Ed Martin's ethics case back to the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, arguing the D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction over a disciplinary matter, which is neither a civil action nor a criminal prosecution.

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Ex-Newman Clerks, Judges Back High Court Suspension Fight

By Adam Lidgett

A group of former clerks for Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, as well as former federal judges, have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the challenge to her suspension imposed by her colleagues.

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Insurer Intentionally Avoiding $200M Loan Claim, Court Told

By Hope Patti

A litigation funding firm has accused its insurer of wrongfully refusing to pay out its policy's guaranteed $200 million in coverage for an unpaid loan, saying the insurer buried it in duplicative and burdensome information requests to avoid paying a valid claim.

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Judge Says Ill. Justices Can't Fire Him Over MAGA Op-Ed

By Jack Karp

Illinois Supreme Court justices have no authority to remove a state judge from the bench for alleged misconduct, so their effort to dismiss a retired state trial judge's claims that his removal for penning a political opinion column violated his constitutional rights should be rejected, the retired jurist has said.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week delivered another mix of procedural rulings, fiduciary duty disputes and deal litigation, highlighting both the court's gatekeeping role and its continued focus on stockholder rights and transactional fairness.

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