Judge Blocks Edwards' $945M Heart Valve Deal

By Matthew Perlman and Bryan Koenig

A D.C. federal judge issued an order on Friday preventing Edwards Lifesciences Corp. from moving ahead with its planned $945 million deal for JenaValve Technology Inc., torpedoing the merger challenged by the Federal Trade Commission.

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Ropes & Gray Steers IPO Plan For Bob's Discount Furniture

By Aaron Keller

The Ropes & Gray-led Bob's Discount Furniture Inc. announced plans to offer its stock to the public Friday for the first time since its 1991 launch, but a Bain Capital investment fund may remain in control the retailer, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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Paul Hastings-Led Oncology Firm Prices Upsized $318M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Boston-based biotech firm Atkis Oncology began trading publicly Friday after raising roughly $318.6 million in its upsized initial public offering, marking the first sizable IPO of 2026.

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Biotech AirNexis Wraps Funding Round With $200M Raised

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Clinical stage biotech firm AirNexis, advised by Fenwick & West LLP, on Friday announced that it wrapped its Series A funding round with $200 million in tow, which will be used to fund the global clinical development of a therapy used for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

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Bernstein Litowitz Asks To Exit $13B Endeavor Stock Suit

By Lauren Berg

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP asked the Delaware Chancery Court on Friday to allow its attorneys to withdraw as lead co-counsel for the shareholder class action over sports and entertainment company Endeavor Group Holdings Inc.'s $13 billion take-private merger.

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AI Can Help Advisers With Proxy Voting, SEC Official Says

By Sarah Jarvis

Artificial intelligence can assist investment advisers with handling corporate proxy voting decisions, an official with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a speech decrying the proxy advisory landscape as dysfunctional.

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Skechers, Tech Co. Investors Sue For Stock Appraisals In Del.

By Jeff Montgomery

New entrants have joined two stock appraisal suits now before Delaware's Court of Chancery, potentially adding millions to the stakes in existing battles over the value of shares of footwear venture Skechers Inc. and restaurant software company Olo Inc.

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Future Risk Not Enough To Save Verizon Pension Annuity Suit

By Grace Elletson

A New York federal judge tossed a suit from a group of retirees who claimed Verizon Communications Inc. and its independent fiduciary State Street Global Advisors Trust Co. illegally converted $6 billion in pension benefits to risky annuities, ruling that the workers hadn't shown that the annuity holders were unlikely to follow through on their benefits.

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Roundup

NC Biz Court Bulletin: Trade Secrets Row, A Patient Data Deal

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court closed out the year by tossing a trade secrets fight brought by a corrugated packing manufacturer against its onetime star salesman and signing off on a $2.45 million settlement ending claims a healthcare system sold patients' data to Meta.

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: King & Spalding, Torys, Milbank

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, power generation company Vistra Corp. acquires Cogentrix Energy from Quantum Capital Group, real estate firm Minto Group partners with Crestpoint Real Estate Investments to take Minto's apartment-focused real estate investment trust private, and engineering services provider Jacobs acquires a remaining stake in PA Consulting.

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Fintech-Focused Lafayette Digital SPAC Prices $250M Offering

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Special purpose acquisition company Lafayette Digital Acquisition I began trading publicly Friday after raising $250 million in its initial public offering, with plans to target the financial services and technology industries.

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Sanchez Energy Lenders Float Deal To End Ch. 11 Lien Fight

By Vince Sullivan

The owners of the reorganized equity in oil driller Sanchez Energy proposed a deal Friday in Texas bankruptcy court that will end lien-related litigation with unsecured creditors by paying $8.5 million of legal fees incurred by representatives for those creditors in the fight over rights to equity recoveries in the Chapter 11 case.

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Opinion

The Case For Emulating, Not Dividing, The Ninth Circuit

Champions for improved judicial administration should reject the unfounded criticisms driving recent Senate proposals to divide the Ninth Circuit and instead seek to replicate the court's unique strengths and successes, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

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Bruce Fein Axed As Counsel In Maduro's NY Drug Case

By Rachel Rippetoe

A New York federal judge on Monday said constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein could not represent Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro after Fein admitted to having never spoken to or entered into an agreement of representation for the foreign leader, who was indicted on narco-conspiracy charges this month.

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Analysis

The Issues That Could Decide The Tom Goldstein Tax Case

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors are set to begin making their case against famed U.S. Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein at trial Wednesday, alleging that he deliberately hid millions of dollars in high-stakes poker winnings from the Internal Revenue Service between 2016 and 2021 and lied on mortgage applications.

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Haynes Boone Opens Boston Office Led By Ex-K&L Gates Atty

By Tracey Read

Dallas-founded Haynes Boone announced Monday that it has opened its 20th office in Boston, and that it has added a former K&L Gates LLP asset management and investment funds partner to lead the Beantown launch.

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SEC Draws From BigLaw To Appoint Enforcement Deputies

By Jessica Corso

Two former BigLaw attorneys, one of whom served as counsel to President Donald Trump during his first term in office, have joined the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as deputy directors of enforcement, the agency announced Monday.

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Sitting Judges Advocate For Bill To Allow Them To Carry Guns

By Courtney Bublé

Three federal judges have come out in support of a Republican-led bill to allow judges and prosecutors to carry concealed firearms across state lines.

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NJ US Atty Office's 3-Person Leadership Unlawful, Court Told

By Emily Sawicki

Criminal defendants in the District of New Jersey are challenging the three-person leadership structure now in place at the Garden State's U.S. attorney's office following the disqualification of Alina Habba, telling the court their due process rights have been violated by the allegedly unlawful system.

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Compromise Funding Bill Gives Judiciary $9.7B

By Courtney Bublé

Congressional appropriators have unveiled a bipartisan compromise funding bill for the federal judiciary for fiscal 2026, which includes the judiciary's requested funding for court security and federal public defenders.

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House Passes Bill To Double Ch. 7 Trustee Fee

By Clara Geoghegan

A bipartisan bill doubling the fixed per-case fees for Chapter 7 trustees is headed to President Donald Trump for a signature, after the U.S. House of Representatives passed it Monday night.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court closed out the week with developments ranging from leadership changes in a $13 billion take-private case and posttrial sparring over a major earnout to fresh governance fights, revived fraud claims and sanctions tied to advancement rights.

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