SEC's Atkins Says Proxy Season Disproved 'Dire Predictions'

By Sarah Jarvis

This year's corporate proxy season saw none of the "dire predictions" some had forecasted following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's step back from responding to companies' bids to exclude shareholder proposals from their ballots, the agency's Chairman Paul Atkins said Thursday, while adding that he is rethinking the proposal system as a whole.

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Analysis

State Of 2026 Energy Dealmaking: Midyear Report

By Keith Goldberg

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.

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

By Aislinn Keely

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.

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Coinbase CLO Grewal To Exit, Advise Company Through Oct.

By Michele Gorman

Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal, who led the cryptocurrency exchange through a prolonged, high-profile battle with U.S. regulators, will step down at the end of the month and be succeeded by the company's current vice president of legal, according to a securities filing late Thursday.

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Ropes & Gray, Goodwin Steer Sale Of Russell Investments

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Investment solutions provider Russell Investments, led by Goodwin Procter LLP, on Thursday announced that it has agreed to be bought by a consortium led by Ropes & Gray LLP-advised B Capital.

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Blue Origin's Valuation Soars To $130B, Plus More Rumors

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Blue Origin's valuation hit $130 billion after a $10 billion funding round; state lawyers are finalizing an antitrust lawsuit related to Paramount's planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery; and Fiserv is considering selling its payments infrastructure business to U.S. banking giants.

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Wells Fargo Illegally Fired Muni Bond Whistleblower, Suit Says

By Katryna Perera

A former Wells Fargo municipal strategist says he faced retaliation and was illegally fired for his complaints alleging his senior leaders were suppressing negative information about municipal bonds and inflating bond prices to the detriment of retail investors, in a new suit in New York federal court.

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Levona Pans Greenberg Traurig, Reed Smith Privilege Claims

By Andrea Keckley

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.

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Zeta Must Face Suit Over 'Opted-In' User Data, NY Judge Says

By Katryna Perera

Zeta Global Holdings Corp. must face a proposed securities class action accusing the marketing technology company of misleading investors about the way it collected consumer data and its use of so-called consent farms, with a New York federal judge finding that the suit adequately pleads material misstatements and knowledge of wrongdoing.

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Cookies Retail Led Dispensary Into $1.9M Tax Crisis, Suit Says

By Jonathan Capriel

Six entrepreneurs alleged in a California state court lawsuit that cannabis giant Cookies Retail pushed them out of their dispensary and took control over its bank accounts, leaving the retail shop saddled with nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes.

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Series

NY Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

The year's second quarter brought several notable banking law developments to New York, including a proposal to align state stablecoin rules with the federal Genius Act, fresh fair lending and cybersecurity guidance from state regulators, and a significant Second Circuit holding on preemption, say attorneys at Ashurst Perkins Coie.

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Series

Bass Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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.

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NY Courts Ban 'Smart' Glasses Over Secret Recording Abilities

By Lauren Berg

"Smart" glasses containing cameras and other recording devices will be banned from all state courts in New York beginning later this month, making it the apparent first in the nation to implement a statewide blanket ban on the wearable technology.

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Ex-Associate Says Jackson Lewis Pushed Her Out After Leave

By MJ Koo

A former associate attorney who was on the partnership track at Jackson Lewis PC has brought suit against the employment law firm in California state court, alleging that it refused to accommodate her temporary medical restrictions after she returned from leave and pressured her to accept a demotion or resign.

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Woodward Running DOJ Antitrust Division Alarms Observers

By Bryan Koenig

When Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. quietly took over direct oversight late last month of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, there was no formal announcement, no White House action or U.S. Senate consultation, and little to signal what lies ahead.

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Arizona Atty Faces Possible Sanctions Over Bogus Quotes

By Emily Sawicki

An Arizona federal judge is mulling fee sanctions against an attorney found to have included erroneous quotations in a brief she filed in her client's employment discrimination case, amid what he called her history of "improper litigation conduct" in the pending matter and previous cases.

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Photographers Group Rebuts Judiciary On Court Cameras

By Courtney Bublé

The National Press Photographers Association pushed back on the federal judiciary's claims that allowing cameras in courtrooms would be problematic.

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Chicago US Atty Faces Ill. Judge For Discussing Sealed Case

By Lauraann Wood

Chicago's U.S. attorney stood silent for nearly 30 minutes Thursday as an Illinois magistrate judge sternly criticized him for publicly discussing a gang-related kidnapping case before it was officially unsealed, though she stopped short of finding his conduct constituted a deliberate violation of court orders.

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Ex-Wis. Judge Appeals Conviction In ICE Obstruction Case

By Ganesh Setty

A former Wisconsin state judge convicted of obstructing immigration authorities trying to arrest a defendant after he appeared in her courtroom lodged an appeal before the Seventh Circuit on Thursday, after avoiding a prison sentence but being fined $5,000.

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Grassley Claims Smith's Team Mishandled Classified Docs

By Jack Karp

Individuals working in then-special counsel Jack Smith's office may have mishandled classified information while investigating President Donald Trump, according to messages obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee, committee Chair Sen. Chuck Grassley has told the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Attys Win $2.5M Fee Award After $63K Native Bias Verdict

By Joyce Hanson

A South Dakota hotel must pay an Indigenous advocacy group about $2.5 million in attorney fees following a trial jury's $63,191 verdict in a civil rights case claiming the business discriminated against Native American tribe members based on race, a federal judge has ruled.

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