Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP escaped a malpractice lawsuit late Thursday over its representation of Patriot National Inc. in a private investment in public equity transaction in the years before the company's downfall.
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TOP NEWS

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No Simpson Thacher Malpractice In PIPE Case, Jury Finds

By Madison Arnold

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP escaped a malpractice lawsuit late Thursday over its representation of Patriot National Inc. in a private investment in public equity transaction in the years before the company's downfall.

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EasyJet Agrees To $7.7B Apollo Buyout, Castlelake Bows Out

By Al Barbarino

Apollo Global Management has agreed to acquire easyJet for approximately £5.7 billion ($7.7 billion), the companies said Thursday, ending a bidding contest with private equity firm Castlelake for the U.K. budget airline.

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Goodwin, Covington Lead Braveheart Bio's $383M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Venture-backed biotechnology firm Braveheart Bio hit the public markets on Thursday after raising $383 million in its upsized initial public offering.

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3 Firms Guide Reusable Spacecraft Maker's $380M SPAC Deal

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Orbital spacecraft maker Blackstar Orbital Technologies Corp. on Thursday unveiled plans to go public by merging with special purpose acquisition company Pono Capital Four Inc. in a deal that values it at $380 million and was built by three law firms.

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LITIGATION

Tax Court Nixes Trader's $170M Dividend Tax Break

By Molly Moses

The Internal Revenue Service correctly disallowed over $170 million in qualified dividend deductions and over $25 million in foreign tax credits to a trading firm in 2012, the U.S. Tax Court held Thursday, finding its transactions failed an anti-abuse rule.

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Telecom Co. Denied Coverage For $27M 'Bump-Up' Settlement

By Danielle Ferguson

Insurers do not owe coverage to a telecom company for a $27 million settlement with shareholders who said they were shorted in an acquisition, the Delaware Superior Court said, finding the settlement was a "bump-up" in shareholder consideration that was excluded under the company's directors and officers coverage.

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DEALS & FINANCING

Deals Rumor Mill

Shein Eyes $40B Valuation Via Hong Kong IPO, More Rumors

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Fast-fashion company Shein is seeking a $40 billion valuation through its Hong Kong initial public offering, betting platform Polymarket is eyeing a new funding round that could value it at $20 billion and Cencora's MWI Animal Health merger with Covetrus faces regulatory scrutiny.

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Wordsmith Raises $14M As It Expands AI For In-House Teams

By Ashish Sareen

Wordsmith AI Ltd. has raised another $14 million from investors as it pushes to expand in North America and targets the financial services and insurance sectors.

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PEOPLE

Simpson Thacher Lands In Chicago With 5-Atty Kirkland Team

By James Boyle

A five-person team of Kirkland & Ellis LLP attorneys are moving their practices to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP to help the firm launch an office in Chicago.

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Veteran M&A Atty Named A&O Shearman's LA Office Head

By Adrian Cruz

Allen Overy Shearman Sterling announced that an experienced mergers and acquisitions and private equity attorney from Sidley Austin LLP has joined the firm in Los Angeles, where she has also been named office managing partner.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

5 Financial Statement Fraud Red Flags To Spot Post-Sripetch

The U.S. Supreme Court recently held in Sripetch v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that disgorgement exists to strip a wrongdoer of unjust enrichment, not merely to compensate victims for what they lost, shifting the work at the center of securities fraud cases in five ways, says Rand Manasse at Green Lane Partners.

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Series

Being A Sommelier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Being a sommelier has quietly shaped how I practice law by changing the way I think, communicate and connect with people, and offers a constant reminder that expertise is about making your knowledge useful and accessible to others, says Kara Du at Sheppard.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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Dems Slam Skadden's 'Nothing To See Here' Trump Deal Reply

By Hailey Konnath

Three Democratic lawmakers on Thursday criticized Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP's response to their request that the firm disclose details of its pro bono arrangement with the Trump administration, saying the firm's "three sentence letter essentially saying 'nothing to see here'" is "not going to cut it."

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New ABA Chief Seeks To 'Streamline' Org., Defend Democracy

By Emily Sawicki

The American Bar Association's new president, Barbara J. Howard, will focus on twin goals of defending democracy against expected unprecedented attacks associated with this year's midterm elections, while also reorganizing the association to run more efficiently, as she kicks off her one-year term this month.

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Richards Layton Under Fire Amid Bid To Avoid AI Sanctions

By Rose Krebs

A firm has asked a Delaware vice chancellor to allow it to submit more "factual information" regarding what it says are inconsistencies in Richards Layton & Finger PA's attempt to avoid sanctions for submitting a filing with errors generated by artificial intelligence.

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Analysis

The Dramatic Moments Set To Shape Tom Goldstein's Appeal

By Jeff Overley and Jared Foretek

Prurient revelations, brash recriminations and purportedly glaring judicial errors in Tom Goldstein's criminal case have captivated the appellate bar for nearly 19 months, and many of those moments will be center stage in the star attorney's imminent appeal.

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2nd Circ. Says Pillsbury Must Surrender $3.6M Retainer

By Jessica Corso

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP was ordered on Thursday to hand over a $3.6 million retainer it was paid to defend a client against criminal and civil fraud charges, with the Second Circuit upholding a ruling that the funds were part of an asset freeze order issued in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission case.

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Ex-GC Hijacked Accounts And Posted Klan Imagery, Suit Says

By Ben Adlin

A Washington state court granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday in a school fundraising company's lawsuit accusing its former general counsel of taking control of its social media accounts and allegedly replacing its LinkedIn photo with a manipulated image of its president in a Ku Klux Klan robe.

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Ex-Girardi Atty Gets Probation For Keeping Silent On Theft

By Lauraann Wood

A former Girardi Keese attorney was sentenced to one day time-served and two years of probation Thursday for staying quiet and failing to report disgraced plaintiff's attorney Tom Girardi's theft of millions of settlement dollars owed to Lion Air Flight 620 plane crash victims.

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Wash. Justices Offer Bar Waiver After July Exam Tech Failure

By Rachel Riley

The Washington State Supreme Court said Thursday it's offering to waive the bar exam requirement for first-time applicants who were unable to take the test last week due to an abrupt cancellation driven by technical issues at the Yakima Convention Center where it was scheduled to be administered.   

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Justices' FTC Ruling Weakens Qui Tam's Constitutional Base

The U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Trump v. Slaughter, expanding presidential control over those exercising executive power, suggests that courts may be receptive to arguments challenging the constitutional foundations of the False Claims Act’s qui tam mechanism, says Daniel Passeser at Wiggin.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Abercrombie & Fitch Co.

American Bar Association

Andreessen Horowitz LLC

Apollo Global Management LLC

Arch Capital Group Ltd.

AstraZeneca PLC

Bouygues

Castlelake LP

Cencora Inc.

Covetrus Inc.

Dell Technologies Inc.

EQT Corp.

Executive Health Resources Inc.

Google LLC

Hard Yaka Inc.

Index Ventures SA

Intel Corp.

LinkedIn Corp.

Nasdaq Inc.

Patriot National Inc.

Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board

SIG Susquehanna

Schneider Electric

The Boeing Co.

Vimeo Inc.

Washington State Bar Association

Willis Towers Watson PLC

Yelp Inc.

YouTube Inc.

Zayo Group Holdings Inc.

easyJet plc

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Anderson Kill

Arnold & Porter

Ashurst Perkins

Bailey Cavalieri

Burns Charest

Cairncross & Hempelmann

Clifford Chance

Conrad & Scherer

Covington & Burling

Crowell & Moring

Girardi & Keese

Goodwin Procter

Greenspoon Marder

HSF Kramer

Heyman Enerio

Holland & Knight

Honigman LLP

Hughes Hubbard

Jenner & Block

Kirkland & Ellis

Loeb & Loeb

London Fischer

Macfarlanes LLP

McDermott Will & Schulte

Milbank LLP

Morrison Cohen

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Pillsbury Winthrop

Potter Anderson

Richards Layton

Seila Law

Sidley Austin

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Skadden Arps

Slaughter and May

Smith Katzenstein

Stearns Weaver

Susman Godfrey

Watson Farley

Weil Gotshal

Werksman Jackson

White & Case

Wiggin & Dana

Williams & Connolly

WilmerHale

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Delaware Court of Chancery

Federal Trade Commission

Internal Revenue Service

Superior Court of Delaware

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Tax Court