Energy

  • July 09, 2026

    State Of 2026 Energy Dealmaking: Midyear Report

    The war in Iran is the most influential development that has shaped energy dealmaking so far in 2026, and that figures to still be the case in the second half of the year. Other factors include data center demands and tax credits. Here, attorneys outline to Law360 the trends that are defining energy transactions this year.

  • July 09, 2026

    Judge Backs Feds' Valuation Method In Windfarm Grant Fight

    A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge ordered several California wind farm owners and the federal government to largely employ a method the government proposed to value their facilities and hash out a decade-old dispute over grants worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

  • July 09, 2026

    Exxon, Chevron Can't Exit Climate Suit Over Wash. Heat Death

    A Washington state judge said Wednesday that Exxon, Chevron and other oil giants must face a lawsuit over a death in a 2021 heat wave, distinguishing the case from other climate torts brought by cities and rejecting the companies' contention that the family of Juliana Leon is seeking to regulate global greenhouse gas emissions.

  • July 09, 2026

    EPA Floats Compliance Changes To Truck Emission Regs

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed reducing the mileage for which trucks that will be built in 2027 have to adhere to emissions standards established in 2023.

  • July 09, 2026

    Russia Says No Arbitration Pact Backed $219M Crimea Award

    Russia has now revived its argument that it never agreed to arbitrate a $219 million dispute with a subsidiary of one of Ukraine's largest privately owned energy distributors, telling a D.C. federal court that underlying treaty protections don't apply to Crimean investors.

  • July 09, 2026

    DOJ Joins Another Suit Aimed At Calif. Emissions Rules

    The U.S. Department of Justice has intervened in another lawsuit targeting California's emission rules for heavy-duty trucks, arguing the Clean Air Act bars states from attempting to enforce or adopt their own emissions standards for new vehicles.

  • July 09, 2026

    Orbital Data Centers Pose Environmental Risks, FCC Warned

    Groups aimed at combatting pollution have urged the Federal Communications Commission to assess the environmental effects of low-orbit, satellite-based data centers before issuing any licenses for such projects, saying existing proposals "describe their plans in grandiose, civilization-changing terms."

  • July 09, 2026

    Investors Look To Enforce €52M Romania Energy Award

    A Dutch investor and related European entities have urged a D.C. federal court to enforce an arbitral award now worth some €52 million ($59 million) that they won against Romania after the country yanked a series of incentives for renewable energy projects.

  • July 09, 2026

    Transportation Cases To Watch: Midyear Report 2026

    Clashes over the Trump administration's bid to void California's vehicle emissions standards, federal restrictions on commercial drivers' licenses for foreign truckers and Boeing 737 Max securities litigation involving class certification standards are among the court battles that transportation attorneys are monitoring in the latter half of 2026.

  • July 09, 2026

    CFTC Puts CME's 24/7 Crude Oil Contract Trading On Ice

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday slammed the brakes on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's plan to offer round-the-clock trading on crude oil futures, calling the exchange's attempt to self-certify the contracts "wholly inappropriate" after the agency publicly sought feedback on the risks of 24/7 trading in the energy industry.

  • July 09, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Hunts For Definition Of Heat-Resistant Brick

    A Federal Circuit panel pressed attorneys Thursday on how to define specialized heat-resistant bricks when compared to a similar product while considering a claim that the U.S. Court of International Trade essentially nullified duty orders on bricks by reinterpreting a previous appellate court decision.

  • July 09, 2026

    States Flag Freedom Forever's Deal With Financier In Ch. 11

    A dozen states have objected to Freedom Forever's settlement with one of its key financing partners, telling a Delaware judge they were concerned about the deal's impacts on customer contracts with the bankrupt solar panel installer.

  • July 09, 2026

    EU, South Africa Meet To Discuss Clean Energy Trade Deal

    South African and European officials began an intergovernmental dialogue Thursday to continue implementation efforts on the green energy trade deal signed last year, with particular focus on the kinds of businesses and investment projects the deal should encourage, according to a news release by the European Commission.

  • July 09, 2026

    Levona Pans Greenberg Traurig, Reed Smith Privilege Claims

    Levona Holdings has urged a New York federal judge to order Reed Smith LLP and Greenberg Traurig LLP to turn over privilege logs in discovery related to the company's motion for sanctions, saying there are "reasons to doubt" the firms' privilege claims.

  • July 09, 2026

    WTO, IMF, World Bank, IEA Cite Uneven Iran War Toll

    The ongoing war in Iran sharply raised energy and fertilizer prices when it began, and although those prices have dropped, the conflict continues to fuel significant trade volatility, according to a joint statement issued by the leaders of four global economic rule-setting bodies.

  • July 09, 2026

    DLA Piper Adds Kirkland Project Finance Partner In DC

    DLA Piper has announced it hired a Kirkland & Ellis LLP partner who primarily works on U.S. and Latin American project finance matters with clients focused on natural resources financing.

  • July 08, 2026

    Slovenia Defeats $684M Claim Over Fracking Ban

    Ascent Resources PLC has lost its €598.7 million ($684 million) claim against Slovenia after an international tribunal on Tuesday rejected the British oil and gas exploration company's argument that a 2022 fracking ban violated the country's obligations under the Energy Charter Treaty.

  • July 08, 2026

    US To Pay Anchorage $180M To End 12-Year Port Upgrade Suit

    The federal government will pay $180 million to the city of Anchorage, Alaska, to settle the municipality's more than decade-old lawsuit accusing the U.S. Maritime Administration of breaching contractual agreements related to a failed Port of Alaska expansion and upgrade project, the parties have announced.

  • July 08, 2026

    Comcast Says Power Co. Still Flouts FCC Pole Upgrade Order

    Comcast says it's time for the Federal Communications Commission to step in and force Appalachian Power Co. to follow the agency's orders when it comes to covering the cost of fixing utility poles for broadband upgrades.

  • July 08, 2026

    Former DOE Worker Avoids Prison For Bribery Scheme

    A former U.S. Department of Energy employee who pled guilty to trying to bribe a colleague in exchange for government contracts for his consulting company was sentenced Wednesday to probation in Massachusetts federal court.

  • July 08, 2026

    3rd Circ. Wonders If Pipeline Approval Passed CWA Muster

    The Third Circuit on Wednesday pressed New Jersey's environmental regulator to show that the revived Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline plan complied with the Clean Water Act, considering it lacked details about how state water quality standards would be monitored.

  • July 08, 2026

    Archer Looks To Toss Remainder Of Joby's Trade Secret Suit

    Archer Aviation has asked a California federal judge to throw out what's left of rival electric air taxi-maker Joby Aviation's trade secret suit, saying Joby had ignored the court's instructions to proceed with narrowed claims and instead tried to expand its allegations without adding more substance.

  • July 08, 2026

    Energy Litigation To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

    The energy litigation landscape for the rest of 2026 features high-profile lawsuits over climate change, including a potential moment of truth for climate tort litigation, as well as challenges to Trump administration efforts to boost fossil fuel development. Here are several energy-related lawsuits on attorneys' radar for the second half of the year.

  • July 08, 2026

    Kirkland-Led Avant Wraps Latest Fund With $1B In Tow

    Avant Natural Resources, advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, revealed Wednesday the Denver-based energy investment firm closed its latest fund at its hard cap after raising over $1 billion in total equity commitments.

  • July 08, 2026

    5th Circ. Says Green Groups Lack Standing In LNG Fight

    A new Fifth Circuit ruling declining to review a case brought by environmental groups for lack of standing has paved the way for a deepwater liquefied natural gas project, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Landing a trophy striped bass and closing a big deal both require cultivating the patience to finesse — not force — your way to desired outcomes, changing course when your old approach isn’t working and learning from the ones that got away, says Jon Ruiss at Alston & Bird.

  • PacifiCorp Ruling Shows Limits Of Aggregate Wildfire Loss Models

    Author Photo

    An Oregon appeals court's recent decision in James v. PacifiCorp illustrates that in litigation involving multiple wildfires, materially different causation theories, and evidence tied to particular fires and locations, a single undifferentiated damages model is vulnerable to attack, say Paige Van Oosten and Jason Kim at Hunton and Kevin Cahill at FTI Consulting.

  • How Reincorporating In Texas May Alter Earnout Disputes

    Author Photo

    While the DExit debate has focused on shareholder suits, far less attention has been paid to what reincorporating in Texas means for M&A disputes, making it particularly important to understand the nuances between Delaware and Texas earnout jurisprudence, say attorneys at Selendy Gay.

  • Roundup

    The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

    Author Photo

    This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

  • Structuring Space Nuclear Deals For Regulatory Risk

    Author Photo

    With the White House's recent focus on space nuclear power, a highly important question for companies that want to build orbital reactors, lunar surface systems or critical components is whether the transaction documents can handle foreign investment constraints, export controls and treaty-linked liability, says Kristie Blase at Frazer + Blase.

  • Justices' Cuba Ruling Narrowly Recasts Sovereign Immunity

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed Exxon Mobil's bid for $1 billion in damages for Cuban-seized property to proceed, but the ruling's doctrinal significance is in treating the Helms-Burton Act as a later, specific and self-contained statutory displacement of the default jurisdictional immunity regime, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • Proof, Not Just Timing, Will Decide Clean Energy Credits

    Author Photo

    For wind and solar projects that sprinted to begin construction before the accelerated placed-in-service deadline of July 4, project owners must now assemble and maintain documentation to qualify the project and defend against a potential clean energy credit audit, says Peter Lowy at Nelson Mullins.

  • Texas Business Court Rulings Show Deal Terms Paramount

    Author Photo

    As the courts within the Texas Business Court system have begun reaching the substantive merits of the cases before them, they are persuasively demonstrating they will not only enforce the terms of transactions as written, but will also embrace a holistic approach to complex transaction documentation interpretation, says Christopher Pace at Winston Taylor.

  • Why SEC Climate Rule Rescission Wouldn't End Disclosure

    Author Photo

    If the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent proposal to rescind its 2024 climate-related disclosure rules is adopted, companies would no longer need to prepare for the rules' specific governance, emissions, attestation, financial statement and tagging requirements, but several important constraints would remain, say attorneys at Venable.

  • High Court's FCC Fine Ruling Reframes Agency Enforcement

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T sweeps aside uncertainty about what kinds of regulatory enforcement trigger a Seventh Amendment right, say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • Opinion

    Exxon Shareholders Were Right To Save New Voting Program

    Author Photo

    Following Exxon shareholders’ recent vote that rejected a bid to dismantle the company’s new retail voting program, other companies should replicate it as a way to lower the friction for shareholders who already vote with the board to keep doing so without wrestling a ballot every spring, says J.W. Verret at the Antonin Scalia Law School.

  • Series

    Choral Singing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Singing in the New York City Bar Chorus — a hobby partly inspired by the late U.S. District Judge Richard Owen, who infused my clerkship year with opera music — has improved my legal career by refining my abilities to listen, exude confidence and develop emotional intelligence, says Bonnie Baker at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

    Author Photo

    As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

  • Leveraging AI In MDL Discovery And Case Management

    Author Photo

    Generative and agentic artificial intelligence tools can help teams organize and digest the vast volume of documents inherent to multidistrict litigation, but workflows must be designed to maximize the tools' strengths and maintain human control of key operational and ethical factors, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Perfectus Deal Raises Trade Missteps To Enterprise Risk Level

    Author Photo

    Former inspector general Parisa Salehi at Parker Poe discusses what the U.S. Department of Justice's recently settled False Claims Act case against Perfectus Aluminum can teach companies about satisfying trade reporting obligations as agencies increasingly coordinate enforcement.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here