Simpson Thacher-Led Silver Lake Lands $20.5B For 7th Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Technology-focused private equity shop Silver Lake, advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, announced Wednesday the closing of its seventh flagship fund after securing $20.5 billion from investors, beating out the amount raised in its predecessor fund by about half a billion dollars.

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HSF, Ashurst-Led Ardonagh Buys Insurer For $1.5B

By Tom Fish

U.K. insurance broker Ardonagh Group Ltd. said on Wednesday it has agreed to acquire Australia-based PSC Insurance Group Ltd. in a transaction worth $2.25 billion Australian dollars ($1.48 billion), to help it expand into new markets.

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Kirkland Drives Vance Street To $775M Fund IV Closing

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Los Angeles-based private equity shop Vance Street Capital, advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, on Wednesday announced it held the first and final close for its fourth fund with $775 million in tow.

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Truth Social Backer's Insider Trading Alibi In Jury's Hands

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal jury weighed charges Wednesday against a Florida investor accused of fueling a $23 million insider trading scheme that exploited confidential plans to take Truth Social public, after the defense argued it was someone else who tipped speculators.

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Norton Rose Adds Foley & Lardner Private Equity Pro In Texas

By Lynn LaRowe

Norton Rose Fulbright has added a Dallas-based private equity lawyer with decades of experience to its corporate, mergers and acquisitions and securities practice who came aboard from Foley & Lardner LLP.

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Japanese Crypto Exchange Coincheck Eyes US Listing In '24

By Tom Zanki

Simpson Thacher-led Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Group BV plans to complete a long-awaited merger with a special-purpose acquisition company by the year's second or third quarter, a combination that would make it the second U.S.-listed crypto venue.

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ESOP Trustee Can't Ax Suit Claiming $60M Inflated Stock Deal

By Grace Elletson

A Michigan federal judge left most of a suit intact Wednesday alleging the trustee of a steel company's employee stock ownership plan allowed it to buy $60 million in company stock at an inflated price, ruling that the worker behind the suit backed his claims with enough detail.

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Scooter Co.'s Mismanagement Cost ESOP Millions, Suit Says

By Emmy Freedman

A scooter company violated federal benefits law by putting too much of workers' retirement funds into investments that produced meager returns and causing its employee stock ownership plan to lose out on about $3.3 million since 2018, a proposed class action filed in Pennsylvania federal court said.

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Skadden Taps SoFi Bank, Shearman Attys For Co-Lead Roles

By Jack Rodgers

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP has hired two new co-leaders of its financial institutions regulatory group to advise banks, financial institutions and other market participants on regulatory and legislative developments, the firm announced Wednesday.

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Gibson Dunn Adds Ex-Wachtell, Paul Weiss Attys As Partners

By Kevin Penton

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP has added a former Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz corporate attorney and a former Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP lawyer who specializes in liability management as partners in New York, the firm has announced.

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Reed Smith Lands Kirkland Corporate Pro In Houston

By Madison Arnold

A former Kirkland & Ellis partner has joined Reed Smith LLP's Houston office as a capital markets and corporate lawyer, the firm announced Wednesday.

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PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers

A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.

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Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

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Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

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Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

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Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

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ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

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ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

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Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

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Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

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Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

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Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

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NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

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Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

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Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

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