Mercer Advisors Nabs Tufton Capital, Adding $3B In Assets

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Mercer Global Advisors on Thursday revealed plans to acquire Tufton Capital Management LLC, guided by Nemphos Braue LLC, and to create a combined business with roughly $3 billion in client assets in the Washington D.C. market.

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PSP Investments, BCE To Form New Fiber Biz With $1.5B Plug

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Canadian communications company BCE Inc., led by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP-advised Public Sector Pension Investment Board on Thursday revealed their plans to form a strategic partnership and jointly launch a new wholesale network provider called Network FiberCo.

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Simpson Thacher-Led Corsair Closes $600M Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP-advised Corsair Capital on Thursday announced it had closed its inaugural multi-asset continuation vehicle and secondary fund with a combined $600 million in tow.

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SEC's Peirce Outlines Path To Exempt Tokenized Securities

By Tom Zanki

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Hester Peirce on Thursday endorsed the creation of "regulatory sandboxes" that would encourage companies to develop trading systems for tokenized securities, enabling them to experiment with new technologies without certain registration requirements that govern stock exchanges.

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Analysis

Rising Tide Of Trump Pardons Not Lifting All Boats, Attys Say

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump signed off on more pardons and commutations during his first 100 days in office than any president in modern history while bypassing the traditional clemency process that goes through the U.S. Department of Justice, potentially giving false hope to those who believe they have a chance to benefit from the executive actions but lack White House connections.

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Couple Slams 'Ping-Pong' Brief In Conn. Waterfront Feud

By Isaac Monterose

A married Bridgeport, Connecticut, couple are urging a state court to strike a post-trial reply brief that was filed by companies that the couple are suing over local waterfront access, arguing that counsel for both sides previously agreed to only make one set of post-trial filings simultaneously.

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Ex-Brookfield Leader Says He Was Fired For Whistleblowing

By Hailey Konnath

A former managing partner at Brookfield Asset Management lobbed wrongful termination and defamation claims at his former employer Thursday, claiming that he was fired for refusing to accept a bribe and for filing a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Court Upholds CMA's £99M Thyroid Drug Price Fines

By Nadia Dreid

A U.K. appellate court has not only upheld a finding that drug company Advanz excessively inflated the price of its thyroid tablets for the National Health Service but also reimposed fines against the company's former owner that a lower tribunal had cut by almost a third.

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Latham-Led TA Associates Bids £570M For UK Tech Biz

By Dawood Fakhir

TA Associates said Thursday that it has agreed to acquire British tech businesses FD Technologies PLC for approximately £570 million ($756 million) in a cash offer to give the U.S. private equity company access to an "industry-leading database and analytics engine."

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Deals Rumor Mill

Nestle Eyes Potential $5B Water Unit Sale, And Other Reports

By Al Barbarino

Nestle is planning to break off a piece of its business to focus, fittingly, on top-performing brands like Kit Kat and Nescafe, as it weighs a potential sale of its sparkling water-led unit at a $5.6 billion value, according to a Reuters report Thursday.

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Cooley Adds VC Partner In Boston To Startup Practice

By Corey Rothauser

Cooley LLP has brought on a veteran emerging companies and venture capital attorney in Boston, deepening its bench in one of the country's most competitive innovation hubs.

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McDermott Recruits Ex-Kirkland Transactions Ace

By James Boyle

An attorney specializing in capital markets transactions and securities has recently moved his practice to McDermott Will & Emery LLP's Chicago office after more than four and a half years with Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

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Brief

Winston & Strawn Launches Secondary Markets Practice

By Matt Perez

Winston & Strawn LLP announced Tuesday the launch of a secondaries and liquidity solutions group, as well as the hiring of a former Kirkland & Ellis partner to help lead the new group.

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Crisis Management Lessons From The Parenting Playbook

The parenting skills we use to help our kids through challenges — like rehearsing for stressful situations, modeling confidence and taking time to reset our emotions — can also teach us the fundamentals of leading clients through a corporate crisis, say Deborah Solmor at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and Cara Peterman at Alston & Bird.

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Judge Seems To Favor Susman Godfrey In Trump Challenge

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge appeared poised Thursday to allow Susman Godfrey LLP's challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting the firm to proceed or to grant the firm a summary judgment win altogether, after she pressed a government attorney on the president's basis for alleging discrimination at the firm.

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Law360's Guide To Trump's Judicial Picks

By Law360 Staff

During his first term, Trump got 234 lifetime judges confirmed. Here Law360 looks at the vacancies, appointments and confirmations of the federal judiciary as Trump attempts to further shape the courts.

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Musk Objects To New Job For SEC's Former Litigation Chief

By Jessica Corso

Elon Musk is opposing a move by plaintiff-side firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP to hire the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's former chief litigation counsel, arguing in a court filing that the lawyer "played a personal and substantial role" in suing Musk while at the SEC.

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Trump Admin Defends Gov't Restructuring As Lawful

By Beverly Banks

The Trump administration defended what it says is a lawful executive order looking to reorganize agencies and terminate workers, telling a California federal judge that unions, nonprofits and local governments "waited far too long" to seek a temporary restraining order.

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Ex-Binance CEO Says He's Asked Trump Admin For A Pardon

By Aislinn Keely

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said he has applied for a pardon from the Trump administration in the wake of a four-month prison term he served as part of a historic plea deal over the cryptocurrency exchange's anti-money laundering failures.

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Trump Replaces Martin With Pirro As US Atty Pick

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump said Thursday he would withdraw the nomination of Ed Martin for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, replacing him with former judge and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.

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ABA Defends Free Speech In Response To DOJ's Grant Cutoff

By Jake Maher

The American Bar Association has told the D.C. federal court the U.S. Department of Justice's decision to cut domestic violence-related grants to the ABA violates its First Amendments rights and sets a precedent that would allow the government to "silence all manner of opposition."

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Dentons Europe, Houston Co. To Settle $4.7M Fee Dispute

By Catherine Marfin

Dentons Europe CS LLP and Houston-area Guidry & Associates Inc.'s $4.7 million fee dispute was dismissed Thursday after the parties notified the court of settlement talks. 

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McCarter & English Partner To Be Picked As US Atty In Conn.

By Aaron Keller

Hartford-based McCarter & English LLP partner David X. Sullivan will be nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut, his law firm confirmed to Law360 on Thursday.

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Critics Warn Tenn. Middle District Rule Could 'Chill' Speech

By Emily Sawicki

Two public interest nonprofit law firms have expressed concerns that local rule changes proposed by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee regarding public communications by lawyers amid litigation are unconstitutionally vague and could impede attorneys' constitutional right to free speech.

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5th Circ. Wipes Out Southwest Attys' Religious Training Order

By Hailey Konnath

The Fifth Circuit on Thursday held that a lower court overstepped by ordering several in-house Southwest Airlines attorneys to undergo "religious liberty training" following a flight attendant's win in a wrongful termination suit, finding that the training wouldn't benefit the flight attendant or persuade Southwest to comply with an earlier order.

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Trump Names 8 More For US Attorney Spots

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has nominated eight more individuals for U.S. attorney posts, several of whom already are serving in the roles on an interim basis.

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Convicted Atty In Embassy Attack Seeks To Avoid Restitution

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida attorney sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison for damaging a San Antonio sculpture and unsuccessfully trying to detonate explosives outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., has asked the court to eliminate his $325,000 restitution obligation because of his inability to pay.

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