http://www.law360.com/ Latest articles for organization: Cleary Gottlieb Copyright 2009 Portfolio Media, Inc. en-US http://www.law360.com/images/headings/logo.gif http://www.law360.com/ http://www.law360.com/articles/132793 Plaintiffs’ counsel in shareholder derivative litigation over alleged misrepresentations associated with Bank of America Corp.’s purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. have won permission to subpoena deal adviser Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, the bank’s defense counsel Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and former Merrill CEO John A. Thain. http://www.law360.com/articles/132793 http://www.law360.com/articles/132908 A wholly owned investment subsidiary of China Investment Corp. has entered a $1.58 billion stock purchase agreement with global power company AES Corp., acquiring a roughly 15 percent equity interest in the company, the parties announced Friday. http://www.law360.com/articles/132908 http://www.law360.com/articles/132886 Citigroup Inc.'s life insurance subsidiary Primerica Inc. will make an initial public offering of 100 million shares of its stock, as part of the banking giant's continued efforts at selling units outside its primary business. http://www.law360.com/articles/132886 http://www.law360.com/articles/132662 Ethics scandals such as the arrest of a Ropes & Gray LLP associate for alleged insider trading and claims that a Troutman Sanders LLP partner scored kickbacks don't necessarily signify a BigLaw culture of corruption, even in an industry that also spawned the infamous Marc S. Dreier, but firms still need to act quickly to control the damage wrought by unscrupulous lawyers, experts said. http://www.law360.com/articles/132662 http://www.law360.com/articles/117476 Between Sarbanes-Oxley, the executive compensation disclosure rules, shareholder proxy access and so on, it is hard to imagine where further reform is needed at the moment, and it would be good for everyone to step back and evaluate what changes have actually improved investor protection, says Robert C. Juelke, vice chair of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP's corporate and securities group. http://www.law360.com/articles/117476 http://www.law360.com/articles/132058 Dutch financial giant ING Group NV announced Tuesday it will sell three of its U.S. independent retail broker-dealer units to private equity firm Lightyear Capital LLC, just a week after revealing plans to split its banking and insurance divisions and divest all its insurance operations by 2013. http://www.law360.com/articles/132058 http://www.law360.com/articles/131890 A federal judge has dismissed a New York attorney's lawsuit alleging Citigroup Inc. abused its dominant position in the airline special facility bond underwriting market to block the use of a new method she invented for financing airline terminal projects. http://www.law360.com/articles/131890 http://www.law360.com/articles/131769 A pension fund for New York state plumbers is seeking lead plaintiff status in a group of suits claiming J.P. Jeanneret Associates Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and others shirked their duties as financial advisers by investing in Bernard L. Madoff's sham investment firm. http://www.law360.com/articles/131769 http://www.law360.com/articles/131488 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. only has to partially disclose a settlement with Royal Dutch Shell PLC in a suit alleging price-fixing of engineered rubber components by affiliates of Bayer AG, Dow Chemical Co. and Polimeri Europa SpA, a judge has ruled. http://www.law360.com/articles/131488 http://www.law360.com/articles/130318 Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, underwriters for the bank’s share offerings and individual defendants have lambasted a consolidated shareholder complaint they say opportunistically alleges fraud in the aftermath of the financial crisis. http://www.law360.com/articles/130318 http://www.law360.com/articles/130553 Affiliates of Bayer AG, Dow Chemical Co. and Polimeri Europa SpA have asked a judge to force Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to fully disclose a settlement with Royal Dutch Shell PLC in a suit alleging price-fixing of engineered rubber components by the four chemical giants — a request the tire maker immediately opposed. http://www.law360.com/articles/130553 http://www.law360.com/articles/130037 Securities regulators have filed an amended complaint in their closely watched lawsuit against Bank of America NA, accusing the bank of omitting information about billions of dollars in bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. executives in a proxy statement filed prior to the financial giants' fall 2008 shotgun merger. http://www.law360.com/articles/130037 http://www.law360.com/articles/129346 The plaintiffs in the flat glass multidistrict antitrust litigation are seeking to keep the European Commission out of the class action as they continue to pressure one of the defendants to turn over documents related to an earlier EC investigation into the construction flat glass industry. http://www.law360.com/articles/129346 http://www.law360.com/articles/128980 Executives who negotiated Barclays PLC's purchase of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s U.S. brokerage arm agreed in advance that Barclays would get a $5 billion discount, and some Lehman executives who moved to Barclays got large undisclosed bonuses, according to newly unsealed motions in the Lehman bankruptcy. http://www.law360.com/articles/128980 http://www.law360.com/articles/128779 Bankruptcy judges have given the green light for telecommunications company Nortel Networks Corp. to sell its optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets, with communications equipment supplier Ciena Corp. as lead bidder. http://www.law360.com/articles/128779 http://www.law360.com/articles/128660 A federal appeals court has overturned a lower court's ruling barring Argentina's government from transferring about $200 million in Argentine pension funds out of the United States, where they are currently held, ruling that the funds are immune from attachment. http://www.law360.com/articles/128660 http://www.law360.com/articles/128578 A federal judge has approved Bank of America NA's agreement to waive attorney-client privilege in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit over alleged misrepresentations the bank made in its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., exposing individual executives and law firms involved in the deal to scrutiny over executive bonuses. http://www.law360.com/articles/128578 http://www.law360.com/articles/127930 Bank of America Corp. has agreed to waive attorney-client privilege in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's case over alleged misrepresentations in the bank's acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., potentially exposing individual executives and law firms involved in the deal to the agency's scrutiny. http://www.law360.com/articles/127930 http://www.law360.com/articles/128004 Progress on the Doha Round of trade talks will require other countries to open up their services markets, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told a trade summit Tuesday. http://www.law360.com/articles/128004 http://www.law360.com/articles/127719 Two retirement funds have asked a federal judge to reopen a securities fraud class action alleging Sanofi-Aventis made misrepresentations regarding the side effects of an anti-obesity drug while it was awaiting U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. http://www.law360.com/articles/127719