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Corporate
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July 16, 2024
Corporate Pro Joins Kirkland After Role In Private Equity
Kirkland & Ellis LLP has strengthened its corporate practice in Houston with a partner who came aboard following an in-house role at private equity firm Stonepeak.
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July 16, 2024
Gibson Dunn, Kirkland Steer $737M KBR-LinQuest Deal
Gibson Dunn is steering Houston-based defense and space contractor KBR on a new deal to buy LinQuest Corp., a provider of defense analytics to the U.S. government represented by Kirkland & Ellis, for $737 million, according to a statement from KBR on Tuesday.
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July 16, 2024
Dentons To Offer AI-Powered IP Risk Analysis With Tech Firm
Law firm Dentons said Tuesday it has partnered up with an AI startup as part of its intellectual property service, saying the software will be able to speed up IP risk assessments for clients and flag when they need to speak further with a Dentons lawyer.
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July 15, 2024
SEC Urged To Investigate OpenAI For Anti-Whistleblower NDAs
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been contacted by at least one whistleblower urging it to investigate artificial intelligence pioneer OpenAI for allegedly requiring employees to sign agreements discouraging them from reporting potential wrongdoing to federal regulators, according to a letter shared with Law360 on Monday.
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July 15, 2024
Ex-Pfizer Worker Seeks No Time For Paxlovid Insider Trading
A former Pfizer employee argued that he shouldn't go to prison after a Manhattan federal jury convicted him of insider trading over clinical trial results for the drug Paxlovid, pointing out that a friend of his and co-defendant had dodged a custodial sentence in the case after helping prosecutors.
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July 15, 2024
Male Writer Pans CBS' Free Speech Defense In Bias Suit
A straight white male worker who claims CBS discriminated against him by repeatedly choosing to hire more diverse candidates for writer roles urged a California federal judge to reject CBS Studios Inc.'s bid to ax the case Monday, arguing that the First Amendment "doesn't per se" shield entertainment corporations like CBS from liability.
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July 15, 2024
T-Mobile Broke Price-Lock Promise After Merger, Suit Says
T-Mobile's promise to federal regulators not to raise prices for three years after its megamerger with Sprint has now expired and it's hiking prices, even on plans that it told customers it would never raise the rates on, according to a new proposed class action.
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July 15, 2024
JetBlue-Spirit Flyers Seek $20M Atty Fees Following DOJ Win
The private plaintiffs who challenged the failed JetBlue-Spirit merger asked a Massachusetts federal judge to award their counsel at least $20 million in fees, saying they "substantially contributed" to the U.S. Department of Justice successfully squashing the deal and are the prevailing party in their case.
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July 15, 2024
Walgreens Investor Sues Over Challenged Pharmacy Division
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. was hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging it inflated share prices by concealing the lack of viability of its pharmacy division, which it eventually disclosed needed a major overhaul to become sustainable.
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July 15, 2024
CD&R Tells Del. Court Covetrus Sale 'Fully Informed'
An attorney for private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC told a Delaware vice chancellor Monday that stockholders of animal health company Covetrus Inc. were fully informed when they approved a $21-per-share takeover by CD&R and TPG Capital in 2022, disputing allegations of knowing standstill agreement violations and disclosure failures.
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July 15, 2024
SEC Pans Database Privacy Challenge As Too Little, Too Late
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to rid itself of a proposed class action targeting a market surveillance tool known as the consolidated audit trail, telling a Texas federal judge that shutting down a critical market stability tool 12 years after its creation would harm the public without providing any benefit to suing investors.
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July 15, 2024
Record Labels Sue Verizon Over Internet Users' File Sharing
A group of the biggest music labels in the world is suing Verizon for allegedly profiting from what they call "pervasive" and "staggering" copyright infringement of the labels' music, saying in a complaint that the internet service provider "deliberately turned a blind eye" to music pirating on its network.
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July 15, 2024
Calif. Justices Nix 3 Charter Arb. Terms, Remand Severability
The California Supreme Court held Monday that three of four challenged provisions in Charter Communications Inc.'s employee arbitration agreement are "substantively unconscionable" but remanded a worker's discrimination case back to the trial court to determine if those provisions can be severed and the agreement can still be enforced.
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July 15, 2024
Cybersecurity Investor Sues For Docs On PE Merger Wipeout
California-based cybersecurity company Exabeam Inc. has been hit with a books and records request by a shareholder seeking to halt the company's private stock-for-stock merger with competitor LogRhythm, which is owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
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July 15, 2024
Nike Suit Seeks More Than $60M From Counterfeit 'Empire'
Nike filed a federal lawsuit on Monday for more than $60 million against a popular Los Angeles company producing pricey customized sneakers that the sportswear giant claims unlawfully uses Nike's designs and intellectual property, saying the company and its founder are even offering "Nike Counterfeiting 101" classes.
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July 15, 2024
Judge Keeps Most Of TM Suit Against Musk's X Corp. Intact
Elon Musk's Twitter rebrand X Corp. suffered a setback Monday when a Florida federal judge kept intact most of a trademark infringement complaint by X Social Media LLC, an advertising agency for attorneys, with only one claim dismissed from the suit.
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July 15, 2024
Feds Outline Eligibility Criteria For Foreign Entrepreneur Rule
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provided updated guidance on the requirements for foreign entrepreneurs to qualify for short-term immigration benefits under the International Entrepreneur Rule.
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July 15, 2024
Chancery Finds Truth Social SPAC Should Get Docs
The sponsor of the special purpose acquisition company that took former President Donald Trump's Truth Social public must turn over most of the documents the SPAC sought as part of the parties' Delaware litigation, a Chancery Court judge ruled Monday, teeing the case up for trial on July 29.
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July 15, 2024
Gray Reed Helped Water Now CEO In Fraud, Investors Say
Investors in the now-defunct water purification company Water Now have added law firm Gray Reed & McGraw LLP and attorney George Diamond to their suit against the company, saying in an amended complaint Monday the firm helped the company's CEO run the business into the ground while enriching himself.
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July 15, 2024
Towers Watson Asks 4th Circ. To Find Merger Dispute Covered
Towers Watson's insurers must pay out $54 million in remaining directors and officers coverage to help fund a $75 million settlement in a shareholder suit over the company's merger with Willis, Towers Watson told the Fourth Circuit, saying a so-called bump-up exclusion does not apply.
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July 15, 2024
SEC Says German Flouting Discovery In $150M Fraud Probe
A German national suspected of receiving proceeds of a $150 million "pump and dump" scheme from his son can't pick and choose when to avail himself of U.S. legal processes, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday as it seeks to recover funds.
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July 15, 2024
UAW Staff Culture Needs More Work, Monitor Says
Remnants remain of the "culture of fear and reprisal" that gripped the United Auto Workers when union leaders were embezzling funds and accepting bribes from automakers in the 2010s, but progress has been made toward cultural change at the union, a court-appointed monitor said in his latest report.
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July 15, 2024
FTX Proposes $4B Settlement Of CFTC's Massive $52B Claim
FTX Trading Ltd. asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to sign off on a settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, saying the agreement to allow the agency a $4 billion claim in its bankruptcy would end a fraud civil enforcement action and address the "most significant single creditor" in the crypto currency exchange's Chapter 11 case.
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July 15, 2024
JPMorgan Chase Workers Had To Eat At Desks, Suit Says
Chase Bank encouraged workers to perform off-the-clock work but failed to pay them accordingly, while also giving them so much work that they were forced to take their meals at their desks, a former employee said in a suit in California state court.
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July 15, 2024
Lululemon's Sustainability Ads Are 'Greenwashing,' Suit Says
Lululemon's global "greenwashing" marketing campaign has lied to consumers that its products and businesses are eco-friendly while the athleisure company has continued to have a negative impact on the environment, a lawsuit in a Florida federal court said.
Expert Analysis
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DOL's New OT Rule Will Produce Unbalanced Outcomes
The U.S. Department of Labor's new salary level for the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime exemption is about 65% higher than the current threshold and will cause many white collar employees to be classified as nonexempt because they work in a location with a lower cost of living, not because of their duties, says Stephen Bronars at Edgeworth Economics.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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Navigating Self-Disclosures As A Regulated Financial Entity
As enforcement risks heat up for regulated financial institutions, such entities may be forced to weigh the potential advantages and disadvantages of self-disclosing potential compliance gaps, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Takeaways From SEC's New Data Breach Amendments
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent amendment of its consumer privacy rules to require investment advisers and broker-dealers to put procedures in place to uncover data breaches and report them to customers evidences that protecting client records and information remains an SEC priority, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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8 Steps Companies Should Take After An Internal Investigation
Given the U.S. Department of Justice’s increasing focus on corporate compliance and remediation of misconduct, companies must follow through in several key ways after an internal investigation to ensure history does not repeat itself, say Jonathan Aronie and Joseph Jay at Sheppard Mullin.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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A Look At M&A Conditions After FTC's Exxon-Pioneer Nod
The Federal Trade Commission's recent consent decree imposing several conditions on Exxon Mobil's acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources helps illustrate key points about the current merger enforcement environment, including the probability of further investigations in the energy and pharmaceutical sectors, say Ryan Quillian and John Kendrick at Covington.
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Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist
Newly emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court last month found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding is constitutional, the bureau has likely experienced a psychic boost, allowing its already robust enforcement agenda to continue expanding, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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3 Infringement Defenses To Consider 10 Years Post-Nautilus
In the 10 years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s influential Nautilus ruling, the spirit of the “amenable to construction” test that the opinion rejected persists with many patent litigators and judges, so patent infringement defense counsel should always consider several key arguments, says John Vandenberg at Klarquist Sparkman.
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9th Circ. COVID 'Cure' Case Shows Perks Of Puffery Defense
The Ninth Circuit's March decision in a case surrounding a company's statements about a potential COVID-19 cure may encourage defendants to assert puffery defenses in securities fraud cases, particularly in those involving optimistic statements about breakthrough drugs that are still untested, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.
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After Years Of Popularity, PAGA's Fate Is Up In The Air
The last two years held important victories for plaintiff-side employment attorneys in California Private Attorneys General Act litigation at the trial and appellate court levels, but this hotbed of activity will quickly lose steam if voters approve a ballot measure in November to enact the California Fair Pay and Employer Accountability Act, says Paul Sherman at Kabat Chapman.
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FTC Focus: Exploring The Meaning Of Orange Book Letters
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced an expansion of its campaign to promote competition by targeting pharmaceutical manufacturers' improper Orange Book patent listings, but there is a question of whether and how this helps generic entrants, say Colin Kass and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.
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3 Recent Decisions To Note As Climate Litigation Heats Up
Three recent rulings on climate-related issues — from a New York federal court, a New York state court and an international tribunal, respectively — demonstrate both regulators' concern about climate change and the complexity of conflicting regulations in different jurisdictions, say J. Michael Showalter and Robert Middleton at ArentFox Schiff.
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National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 1
The recently published U.S. Department of Defense space strategy represents a recalibration in agency thinking, signaling that the integration of commercial space capabilities has become a necessity and offering guidance for removing structural, procedural and cultural barriers to commercial-sector collaboration, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.