SolarWinds Beats Most Claims In SEC's Data Breach Suit

By Jessica Corso

A New York federal judge on Thursday delivered a heavy blow to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case against software developer SolarWinds Corp. by dismissing substantial portions of the lawsuit, including claims that the company committed securities fraud by minimizing the severity of a state-sponsored attack on its flagship product.

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Crypto Law Firm's SEC Challenge Met With Doubt At 9th Circ.

By Aislinn Keely

A Ninth Circuit panel appeared skeptical Thursday of a law firm's quest for a judgment that its use of the crypto asset ether doesn't offend securities laws, questioning whether the firm has shown it faces enough of a threat from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to keep its case against the regulator alive.

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5th Circ. Remands ESG Rule Row Citing Chevron's End

By Hailey Konnath

The Fifth Circuit on Thursday instructed a Texas federal court to reconsider a Biden administration rule allowing retirement plan advisers to consider environmental, social and governance factors when choosing investments, pointing to recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have "upended" the legal landscape.

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Chancery Strains To Unwrap Shareholder's Amazon Order

By Leslie A. Pappas

A Delaware Chancery Court vice chancellor struggled on Thursday to wrap her head around a shareholder's demand for corporate documents to probe antitrust allegations at Amazon.com Inc. after a magistrate's report found the shareholder had not presented enough evidence to force the retailer to open its books.

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Las Vegas Developer Says SEC's EB-5 Fraud Suit Falls Short

By Gina Kim

A Las Vegas developer urged a Nevada federal judge to toss securities regulators' allegations she misappropriated $10 million raised by overseas investors hoping to come to the U.S. to pay down a loan for a project unconnected to their applications, arguing Wednesday the regulators fail to allege a wrongful state of mind.

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Cozen O'Connor Targets Penny Stock Co. CEO For Legal Fees

By Brian Steele

Cozen O'Connor is asking a Connecticut state court judge to affirm two Pennsylvania judgments against a penny stock company CEO who lost a federal enforcement action, alleging Bernard Findley and two of his companies owe nearly $750,000 in legal fees.

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Feds Collar Would-Be 'Smart Ring' CEO For Investor Fraud

By Emilie Ruscoe

Los Angeles federal prosecutors have charged a Florida woman with securities and wire fraud with allegations detailing a $2 million investment scheme involving a purported "smart ring" company.

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4 Men Cop To $2M 'Instant Deposit' Robinhood Fraud

By Katryna Perera

Four men have pled guilty in New York federal court to being involved in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from trading firm Robinhood by exploiting a program that gave them access to cash advances.

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Bizlato Founder Avoids More Time For Illicit Crypto Deals

By Stewart Bishop

The founder of Bitzlato Ltd. on Thursday was spared further incarceration for using the cryptocurrency exchange to process what prosecutors say was over $700 million in criminal proceeds, the latest case among many where judges factor in the vile conditions at Brooklyn's notorious federal jail, the Metropolitan Detention Center, as a reason for leniency.

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Chancery Awards $6M Stockholder Atty Fee In Moelis Suit

By Jeff Montgomery

A Delaware vice chancellor granted a $6 million fee request on Thursday from attorneys who won a Chancery Court strike-down of a stockholder agreement granting Moelis & Co. founder Ken Moelis expansive control over the global investment bank's decisions.

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Del. Justices Asked To Undo Firm's 'Malicious' Suit Escape

By Rose Krebs

Applied Energetics is asking the Delaware Supreme Court to revive a complaint alleging Gusrae Kaplan Nusbaum PLLC and a former partner filed a frivolous federal securities fraud suit in order to hobble other litigation against the company's former chief executive officer.

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Brief

Biopharma Shareholder Sues In Del. For Docs On Akeso Deal

By Leslie A. Pappas

A shareholder of Summit Therapeutics Inc. sued the Florida biopharmaceutical company in Delaware's Court of Chancery on Thursday, seeking corporate records to investigate whether a $520 million financing arrangement connected to a partnership with Akeso Inc. benefited the company's co-CEOs at the expense of public stockholders.

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LPL Reaps Benefits From Forced Cash Sweep, Suit Says

By Sydney Price

LPL Financial was hit with a putative class suit by a customer who claims the broker-dealer automatically moves customers' uninvested cash into its cash sweep programs, primarily benefiting the firm at the expense of its clients.

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American Airlines Hit With Class Action Over Sales Strategy

By Spencer Brewer

An investor launched a proposed class action against American Airlines over the company's botched sales and distribution strategy, saying that American touted its strategy as driving revenue while hiding the fact that the strategy was "driving customers away" in a Texas federal court on Thursday.

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Auto Software Co. Cerence's Brass Sued Over Licensing Woes

By Katryna Perera

A shareholder of Cerence Inc. has sued the automobile software company's current and former top brass in Delaware Chancery Court, alleging they made misleading and false statements about the company's expected revenue and the types of licensing deals the company was pushing and entering into.

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Ocugen Execs Hit With Derivative Suit Over Shoddy Controls

By Sydney Price

The top brass at biopharmaceutical company Ocugen Inc. were hit with a derivative suit alleging the company's lack of effective internal financial controls caused it to be misvalued and allowed shareholders to approve proposals based on incomplete information.

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Another Enphase Investor Suit Claims Execs Hid Slow Growth

By Madeline Lyskawa

Enphase Energy's top brass has been slapped with another shareholder complaint in California federal court, alleging they misrepresented the energy technology company's financial outlook by concealing a decrease in battery shipments and slower manufacturing outputs, which artificially inflated its stock price.

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Brief

Investor Signs $897K Settlement Over R. Kelly Show Funding

By Brian Steele

After security and credit agreements for the promotion of a concert series at the Foxwoods Resort Casino headlined by R&B artist R. Kelly fell apart, an investor has signed a roughly $900,000 deal in a Connecticut state court to recover an out-of-state settlement.

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Moody's Says White Ex-Director's Depo 'Fatal' To Bias Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

Financial analytics company Moody's on Wednesday told a Pennsylvania federal judge that it was clear a former employee who sued it for discrimination wasn't fired for being white and old, pointing to his "fatal" admission that he'd still be employed had he responded to a company vaccination survey.

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Brief

CEO Firing Case Tied To Mogul Going To Mediation

By Travis Bland

A former chief executive and a European IT company tied to convicted mogul Greg Lindberg will head to mediation as part of a back-and-forth case involving allegations of firing without warning and spending company money on women's lingerie.

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Womble Bond Adds Finance Atty With Latin America Focus

By Andrea Keckley

Womble Bond Dickinson's growing New York office is welcoming a capital markets and structured finance attorney after his more than 10 years with Hogan Lovells, most recently in Brazil.

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Ex-Venable Trusts And Estates Partner Joins Stradling In LA

By Adrian Cruz

Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC announced that it launched a trusts and estates practice with the hiring of an experienced Los Angeles-based partner from Venable LLP.

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Cyber Incident Response Checklist For SEC Compliance

In light of recent guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which clarified the distinction between two types of cybersecurity incident disclosures, companies should align their materiality assessment, incident response and disclosure control processes to bolster compliance and provide a measure of protection, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

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BCLP Seeks Merger Partner As Departures Continue

By Aebra Coe

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP's headcount has declined by more than 20% since the law firm's seminal combination, according to firm data, with a surge of lateral departures this spring and summer. Sources have told Law360 Pulse that firm leaders are currently seeking a merger partner.

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Several State Courts Impacted By Global Tech Outage

By Sarah Martinson

Several state courts have been impacted by a global Microsoft Windows outage Friday morning causing operational challenges and courthouse closures.

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DOJ Seeks Probe Of Conflicts In Ex-Fed. Judge's Cases

By Jack Karp

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked its internal watchdog to look into why federal prosecutors kept quiet about the fact that they allegedly knew now-resigned Alaska federal Judge Joshua Kindred had inappropriate relationships with several attorneys appearing before him, the DOJ confirmed to Law360 Friday.

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NASCAR Names New General Counsel Amid Shake-Up

By Sue Reisinger

NASCAR Holdings' has named a new general counsel and a new deputy general counsel and head of privacy to fill out the team of chief legal officer Amanda Oliver.

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Calif. Bar Backs Creating New Virtual Bar Exam To Cut Costs

By Hailey Konnath

The State Bar of California's Board of Trustees has signed off on plans to negotiate a potentially $8 million, five-year deal with Kaplan North America LLC to replace the Multistate Bar Exam with its own state exam that could be taken remotely, according to a statement issued Friday.

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Kavanaugh Murder-Attempt Suspect Set To Face Trial

By Rae Ann Varona

A man charged with attempting to kill U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has failed to reach a plea deal after nearly two years of negotiations, setting his case up for trial in Maryland federal court, federal prosecutors said Friday.

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2nd Circ. Upholds Ax Of Ex-Ropes & Gray Clerk's Bar Exam Suit

By Ryan Boysen

A former Ropes & Gray LLP attorney who was fired after twice failing the New York bar exam can't sue the state agency that administers the test for failing to accommodate her disabilities, the Second Circuit ruled Friday, finding the agency is protected by sovereign immunity.

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Apple Wants Litigation Funder To Explain Role In Patent Row

By Rose Krebs

Apple Inc. wants a Delaware federal judge to order litigation funder Omni Bridgeway LLC to turn over documents explaining its relationship with Finnish company MPH Technologies Oy and its financial interest in MPH's ongoing patent litigation against Apple in California.

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NYC Bar OKs Attys' Financial Stakes In Alternative Biz Entities

By Andrea Keckley

A new ethics committee report says a New York City lawyer may hold a financial interest in alternative business structures in jurisdictions that let them provide legal services, provided the lawyer is merely a financial investor, not practicing law through the entity.

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Judge Recuses As Tech Firm Slams Dow Chemical's Request

By Ryan Harroff

An Ohio federal judge has recused himself from a trade secrets case brought against Dow Chemical Co. after the technology firm that sued it showed the court a settlement offer without approval that would grant Dow Chemical's recusal motion, which the tech firm said was a "cavalier approach to a drastic remedy."

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Class Seeks $1.5B Settlement In Payday Loan Dispute

By Crystal Owens

A class of borrowers has urged a Virginia federal court to approve what would be the largest settlement ever obtained in a challenge to participants in the tribal lending industry, arguing that the agreement would give significant relief to hundreds of thousands in the form of debt cancellations and cash payments.

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Law Profs Throw Flag On NFL's 'Unconscionable' Arbitration

By David Steele

Allowing the NFL's arbitration system, with commissioner Roger Goodell as the arbitrator, to prevail in Brian Flores' discrimination dispute with the league is "unconscionable" and "egregious," a dozen law professors have told the Second Circuit in an amicus brief supporting the former Miami Dolphins head coach.

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Calif. Firm Beats Rival's Claims In 'Sweet Justice' TM Fight

By Rachel Rippetoe

A California federal court on Thursday nixed a personal injury firm's countersuit against its rival in a battle over the trademark use of the term "Sweet Justice," ruling that the firm's counterclaims are a "mirror-image" of the underlying suit.

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'Texit' Atty Sues State Rep., Judge Over Defamation Fees

By Catherine Marfin

A civil rights attorney who has represented the group behind the "Texit" movement filed a lawsuit against a state representative and court officials in a North Texas county, accusing the group of colluding to run up attorney fees against him in a defamation case connected to the pro-Texas-secession group.

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Colo. Federal Judges Point Out Recent High Turnover

By Daniel Ducassi

Colorado's chief federal judge on Friday observed "there has been a lot of turnover" on the bench in the district over the past several years, noting five out of the seven active district court judges were nominated by President Joe Biden. 

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Blanche Law PLLC and Continental PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Florida federal judge tossed the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his allegedly illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

A kidney care company has asked a federal judge to throw out a former in-house counsel's lawsuit that claims she was fired for raising concerns about violations of federal anti-kickback statutes, and a study showed the world's most extensive public country-by-country tax reporting rules would require 51% of large U.S. multinational corporations to disclose tax arrangements. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen a libel clash between comedian Paul Currie and the Soho Theatre Company over allegations of anti-semitism, technology giant Huawei face a patents claim by Mediatek, Westfield Europe pursue action against Clearpay Finance for contract breaches and tour operating company Carnival hit chartered airline Maleth Aero for significant flight delays. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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