Trump Greenlights Private Equity, Crypto 401(k) Investing

By Kellie Mejdrich

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that aims to make it easier for retirement plans to invest in a wider range of assets, including cryptocurrency, private equity and real estate.

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Investors Back Cancer Ultrasound Tech Firm At $2.25B Value

By Al Barbarino

HistoSonics Inc. said Thursday it has secured a majority stake acquisition led by its management team and backed by a syndicate of investors including K5 Global, Bezos Expeditions and Wellington Management, valuing the maker of the Edison Histotripsy System at about $2.25 billion.

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Del. Court Weighs Final Leads For $13B Endeavor Stock Suit

By Jeff Montgomery

In a rare battle of extremes, attorneys for a single Endeavor Group investor urged a Delaware vice chancellor on Thursday to accept their suit challenging the company's $13 billion take-private deal in March over a suit filed by investment giant Icahn Enterprises LP and a multinational bank based in Sweden.

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Rising Star: Ropes & Gray's Rachel O'Brien

By Lauren Berg

Rachel O'Brien of Ropes & Gray LLP advised Hamilton Lane on its largest fundraise ever, closing with $5.6 billion in tow, and helped The Vistria Group LP clinch $3 billion in investor commitments for its largest-ever private equity fund — earning O'Brien a spot among the fund formation lawyers under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

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Space Tech-Focused Firefly's Upsized $868M IPO Takes Off

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Shares of private equity-backed space and defense technology company Firefly Aerospace began trading publicly Thursday after the company priced an upsized $868 million initial public offering, raising upwards of its already once-revised price range.

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Crypto Biz Ripple Snags VC-Backed Rail In $200M Deal

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions company Ripple on Thursday unveiled plans to buy venture capital-backed global payments platform Rail in a $200 million deal.

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OpenAI Climbs To $300B Valuation, Plus More Rumors

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Tech deals appear to be booming as OpenAI's valuation explodes to $300 billion following an $8.3 billion funding round, Nvidia and CapitalG are rumored to invest in Vast Data in a funding round that could value the artificial intelligence infrastructure provider at up to $30 billion, and AI company Cerebras eyes a $1 billion private capital fundraise.

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NC Biz Court Bulletin: Divorce Dust-Ups And Judicial Rebukes

By Hayley Fowler

Litigation in the North Carolina Business Court is heating up this summer with new complaints centered on fears a former state politician's divorce proceedings will impede his companies' operations and accusations that a climate technology company has failed to pay out a former engineer's ownership interest.

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Fugitive Trader's Wife Can't Pause Liquidation In $67M Fraud

By Aaron Keller

The wife of a fugitive Oak Management Corp. trader cannot temporarily block a receiver's plan to liquidate frozen assets and reimburse victims who lost $67 million to her husband's fraud scheme, a Connecticut federal judge has ruled.

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Haynes Boone Grows NY Office With Ex-Winston Strawn Atty

By Kevin Penton

Haynes Boone has added a litigator previously with Winston & Strawn LLP who once headed the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation division as chair of its financial services investigations and enforcement practice in New York, the firm has announced.

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M&A Ruling Reinforces High Bar For Aiding, Abetting Claims

The Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in In re: Columbia Pipeline may slow the filing of aiding and abetting claims against third-party buyers in situations where buyers negotiate aggressively, putting buy-side dealmakers' minds at ease that they likely won't be liable for seeking the best possible deal, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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New NY Residential Real Estate Rules May Be Overbroad

New legislation imposing a 90-day-waiting period and tax deduction restrictions on certain New York real estate investors may have broad effects and unintended consequences, creating impediments for a wide range of corporate and other transactions, says Libin Zhang at Fried Frank.

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Series

Creating Botanical Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Pressing and framing plants that I grow has shown me that pursuing an endeavor that brings you joy can lead to surprising benefits for a legal career, including mental clarity, perspective and even a bit of humility, says Douglas Selph at Morris Manning.

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Bonus Spotlight

Milbank Offers Summer Bonuses Of Up To $25K To Associates

By Anna Sanders

Milbank LLP has become the first BigLaw firm to announce summer bonuses this year, offering up to $25,000 for associates and counsel after smaller shops also unveiled midyear payouts.

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'Breakdown In Civility' Gets Boies Schiller Sanctioned

By Grace Elletson

A California federal judge slapped Boies Schiller Flexner LLP with a $15,000 sanction Thursday in a former worker's suit claiming Levi Strauss & Co. declined to promote her out of sex bias, faulting the firm for a "uniquely eye-opening breakdown in civility and professionalism."

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Federal Courts Disclose New Cyberattacks On PACER System

By Lauren Berg

The federal judiciary on Thursday disclosed there have been escalating cyberattacks on its case management system, putting sealed and sensitive case documents at risk, and that it is taking steps to strengthen its security.

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Fox Rothschild Must Face Litigation Funding Suit, Court Told

By Rose Krebs

A married couple is urging a New Jersey state judge to reject Fox Rothschild LLP's bid to exit a malpractice suit alleging that they were unlawfully steered to cover medical expenses with high-interest loans from the firm's litigation funder client, saying they've "amply" pleaded claims of misconduct.

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Ex-Boston Heart CEO Defends Jenner & Block Fee Bid

By Rose Krebs

Boston Heart's former CEO is urging the Delaware Chancery Court to order the medical testing company to advance her legal fees to pay Jenner & Block LLP for its defense of her in criminal and civil cases, disputing Boston Heart's claims that the law firm's rates are "grossly inflated."

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DOJ's Boasberg Complaint Violates Judicial Privacy, Sen. Says

By Jake Maher

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has accused the U.S. Department of Justice of misusing private comments from a meeting of the Judicial Conference of the United States to pursue ethics charges against a federal judge who found probable cause to hold President Donald Trump's administration in contempt of court.

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2nd Circ. Says Trial Atty With Brain Disease Not 'Ineffective'

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Second Circuit on Thursday affirmed the convictions of a former New York City law enforcement union president along with its ex-financial adviser for defrauding members out of $500,000, rejecting among contentions that one defense lawyer's abilities were impaired at trial by a fast-moving neurodegenerative disease.

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Calif. Ethics Panel Clarifies Judge DQs In Racial Justice Cases

By Madison Arnold

A California judicial ethics committee has issued a formal opinion advising a judge who is a former prosecutor that a pending case involving a discovery motion under the state's Racial Justice Act does not require the judge's recusal.

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California Anti-Deepfake Law Struck Down By Judge

By Jared Foretek

A California federal judge has agreed to block a California anti-deepfake law as constitutionally and legally invalid, siding with conservative media companies and content creators who argued that the law infringes platforms' First Amendment rights to moderate content on their own and pressures them to censor speech.

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Democracy Forward Launches Appellate Practice

By Lynn LaRowe

The Democracy Forward Foundation has formed an appellate practice on the heels of a hiring spree that has doubled the nonprofit's legal staff since November with former BigLaw and government attorneys, as some private firms have pulled back from taking on cases that challenge the current White House.

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Trump Admin Asks Justices To Halt ICE Arrest Limits In LA

By Hailey Konnath

The Trump administration on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause a California federal court's order temporarily blocking the government from conducting immigration arrests in the Los Angeles area without probable cause, arguing that it threatens officials' ability to enforce immigration laws.

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Sentencing Commission Plans To Reassess Fraud Guidelines

By Stewart Bishop

The U.S. Sentencing Commission on Wednesday said it will consider potential reforms to the federal sentencing guidelines for fraud offenses, including the outsized role of loss calculation in sentencing, one of several priorities the agency has marked for closer examination.

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Trump Taps Economic Adviser Miran For Fed Board Vacancy

By Sarah Jarvis

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has chosen Stephen Miran, the chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers, to fill a vacancy on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors until early 2026 while continuing to search for a permanent replacement.

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