Fintech Startup Chimes In With $864M IPO Above Price Range

By Tom Zanki

Venture-backed fintech startup Chime Financial Inc. priced an $864 million initial public offering above its marketed range on Wednesday, represented by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and underwriters counsel Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, furthering the IPO market's recent momentum.

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Latham, Skadden-Led Insurer Joins IPO Wave With $113M IPO

By Tom Zanki

Small business-focused excess and surplus insurer Ategrity Specialty Holdings LLC began trading Wednesday after pricing a $113 million initial public offering above its marketed range, represented by Latham & Watkins LLP and underwriters Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, as more insurance firms tap public markets.

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Senate Advances Stablecoin Bill As Dems Decry Swift Pace

By Aislinn Keely

The Senate's proposal to regulate stablecoins cleared another procedural hurdle on Wednesday with bipartisan support despite some Democratic outcry over an allegedly limited opportunity to amend the bill.

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SEC Asks To Pause CAT Suit As It Weighs Audit Trail Rework

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission called Wednesday for the temporary suspension of a class action lawsuit accusing it of illegally collecting the private information of millions of American investors, arguing that potential changes to the way that its market surveillance tool operates could moot the case.

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Glass Lewis To GOP: No 'Ideological Agenda' In Proxy Advice

By Sarah Jarvis

The head of the proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. has pushed back against allegations from the Senate Banking Committee concerning the firm's "expansive, opaque, and ideologically driven influence" on U.S. companies, saying it evaluates all shareholder proposals on a case-by-case basis.

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Regulators Delay Compliance On Private Fund Disclosures

By Tom Zanki

A divided U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission agreed on Wednesday to extend compliance dates for new Form PF rules that require additional disclosure from private funds, overcoming objections from one dissenting commissioner who feared the "11th-hour" extension could lead to abandoning the rules altogether.

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AGs Press Meta To Do More To Stop Pump-And-Dump Scams

By Abigail Harrison

Attorneys general from states and territories around the country, as well as the District of Columbia, sent an open letter to Meta Platforms Inc. Wednesday urging the social media giant to help stem the tide of widespread investment scams across Facebook and WhatsApp that they said have caused people to lose "life-changing" amounts of money.

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CarLotz's $13M Investor Settlement Headed To Final Approval

By Sydney Price

A New York federal judge said Wednesday that he intends to grant final approval to a $13 million settlement between CarLotz and its investors who accused it and a special purpose acquisition company of misleading statements about CarLotz's profitability before it went public via merger.

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Link Motion Investor's Suit Should Be Trimmed, Judge Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

A New York federal judge should trim some but not all common law fraud claims from an investor's lawsuit against China-based software company Link Motion Inc. over allegations its chairman fleeced the company, a magistrate judge has recommended. 

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Senate Dems Probe Meta, Trump Stablecoin Plans And Deals

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal sent a pair of letters this week asking for more information on Meta's renewed plans to launch its own stablecoin as well as details on MGX's decision to use Donald Trump's World Liberty stablecoin to make a $2 billion investment in the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

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Stripe Buying Crypto Wallet Co. Privy Amid Expansion

By Al Barbarino

Privy, a startup offering crypto wallet technology for developers, said Wednesday that it will be acquired by payments company Stripe and expects to close the transaction "in the coming weeks."

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A Look At Texas Corp. Law Changes Aimed At Dethroning Del.

Seeking to displace Delaware as the preferred locale for incorporation, Texas recently significantly amended its business code, including changes like codifying the business judgment rule, restricting books and records demands, and giving greater protections for officers and directors in interested transactions, say attorneys at Fenwick.

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OCC's Digital Embrace Delivers Risk, Opportunity For Banks

As the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency continues to release and seek more information on banks' participation in the crypto-asset arena, institutions may see greater opportunity to pursue digital asset and custody services, but must simultaneously educate themselves on transformations occurring throughout the industry, says Kirstin Kanski at Spencer Fane.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Appreciating Civil Procedure

If you’re like me, law school’s often complex and theoretical approach to teaching civil procedure may have contributed to an early struggle with the topic, but when seen from a practical perspective, new lawyers may find they enjoy mastering these rules, says Chloe Villagomez at Foster Garvey.

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Analysis

These Firms Are Landing The Most Patent Litigation Work

By Dani Kass

Rabicoff Law LLC reclaimed its status as the most active firm for patent plaintiffs, having filed more than twice as many cases in 2024 as it did in 2023, according to a new report from Lex Machina.

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DOJ Says Newsom Can't Ask Court To Halt Guard Deployment

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration is telling a California federal judge its decision to federalize the National Guard is unreviewable in court, calling California Gov. Gavin Newsom's effort to stop the takeover "a crass political stunt" in a new filing Wednesday.

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Ex-Copyright Leader Says Firing Risks 'Inoperable' Agency

By Ivan Moreno

The fired leader of the U.S. Copyright Office has asked a D.C. federal judge to block the Trump administration's action while she challenges her termination, arguing that significant functions of the government agency could be rendered "inoperable" without judicial intervention.

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DOJ Legal Policy Chief, Adviser On Judge Selections, Resigns

By Courtney Bublé

Aaron Reitz, a top U.S. Department of Justice official who works on judicial nominations, announced Wednesday he's resigning after being confirmed for the role on March 26.

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DC Circ. Pauses Habeas Order In Alien Enemies Act Case

By Ali Sullivan

The D.C. Circuit has agreed to briefly pause a lower court order requiring the Trump administration to give due process to Venezuelan immigrants deported from the U.S. to a Salvadoran prison under the Alien Enemies Act.

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Analysis

New Patent Cases Rebound As EDTX Seals Top Venue Spot

By Ryan Davis

The number of new patent suits filed in 2024 increased 22.2% over 2023, bouncing back from a historically slow year, and the Eastern District of Texas further cemented its status as the most popular patent venue after a rule change made another Texas district less attractive to plaintiffs.

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Analysis

DOJ's Focus On Cartels Raises Compliance Risks For US Cos.

By Phillip Bantz

U.S. corporations with business interests south of the border are increasingly worried about exposure to terrorism-related criminal charges under the Trump administration for inadvertently working with cartels linked to major business sectors throughout Mexico, from energy and manufacturing to financial services, compliance experts tell Law360.

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JC Penney Blasts Jackson Walker Bid To Escape Fee Dispute

By Lynn LaRowe

J.C. Penney has called on a Texas bankruptcy court to knock down Jackson Walker LLP's bid to escape a fee suit prompted by a yearslong secret romance between a former firm partner and a onetime bankruptcy judge, saying the firm's dismissal bid is "riddled with implausibility, excuse and contradiction."

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Calif. Justices OK More Bar Exam Proposals After Fiasco

By Craig Clough

The California Supreme Court on Wednesday approved more measures to address the widespread problems that arose during the administration of the February bar exam, which includes a provisional license program for applicants who failed or withdrew from the exam. 

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J&J's Beasley Allen DQ Bid Based On 'Innuendo,' Court Told

By Ryan Harroff

A California couple ripped Johnson & Johnson's renewed bid to block two Beasley Allen Law Firm attorneys from representing them in their suit accusing the company of selling carcinogenic talc-based baby powder, arguing the company's opposition is based largely on "innuendo" rather than proof of misconduct by the lawyers.

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Queens Defenders Ex-Director Charged With Embezzling

By Gina Kim

A former executive director of Queens Defenders and her husband are charged with embezzling $60,000 from the organization and spending it on personal expenses including rent for a penthouse apartment, luxury goods, vacations and teeth-whitening procedures, prosecutors say in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York federal court.

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Ex-Judges Urge High Court To Protect Right To Counsel

By Cara Salvatore

A group of six high-profile retired judges urged the Supreme Court to protect criminal defendants' right to consult with counsel during overnight trial recesses, saying a current "patchwork" of practices in this area is bad for judges as well as defendants.

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Trump Presses 2nd Circ. To Federalize Hush Money Appeal

By Stewart Bishop

Counsel for President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged the Second Circuit to take over the appeal of his New York state hush money conviction post-trial, saying a federal judge in Manhattan wrongly denied removal, and the landscape has now changed in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark presidential immunity decision.

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Atty Wants 6th Circ. To Vacate Tenn. 'Gag Order' Rule Decision

By Jack Karp

If the Sixth Circuit does not undo a decision that a Nashville attorney didn't have standing to challenge a since-rescinded Middle District of Tennessee rule concerning lawyers' "extrajudicial statements," it could "be all but impossible" for lawyers to challenge similar court rules in the future, the attorney said Wednesday.

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