SEC Looks To Beef Up Rulemaking Staff For Reg S-K Reforms

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is in the process of hiring additional staff to review the corporate disclosure process as it considers taking a bite out of the amount of information publicly traded companies have to disclose in their annual financial reports and ending quarterly reporting requirements, officials said Thursday.

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SEC Sued Over Proxy Exclusion Policy Change

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission violated the Administrative Procedure Act by implementing "a new, de facto rubber-stamp process" for companies to exclude shareholder proposals from their annual proxy ballots, according to a Thursday suit filed by major shareholder groups.

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MLB Deals With Polymarket, CFTC For Sports Market 'Integrity'

By Aislinn Keely

Major League Baseball said Thursday that it has struck an exclusive licensing deal with Polymarket to bolster the brand and promote the "integrity" of the baseball-focused prediction markets on the platform, and separately reached a first-of-its-kind information-sharing agreement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

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Sens. Urge SEC To Tackle China Exploit Of 'Opaque' Entities

By Rae Ann Varona

A bipartisan group of Senate Banking Committee members said in a Thursday letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Chinese-owned companies' exploitation of a corporate structure controlled through contractual agreements exposes U.S. investors in such "opaque" entities to serious risks, including a lack of meaningful legal protections.

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Feds' Capital Rule Overhaul Would Give Break To Banks

By Jon Hill

Federal regulators moved Thursday to launch a comprehensive overhaul of U.S. bank capital rules, rolling out a long-awaited package of proposed changes that are expected to shave billions off the aggregate amount of capital required for banks of all size ranges.

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Judge Quashes Subpoena Of 5 Firms That Repped Twitter

By Rae Ann Varona

A Delaware federal court ruled Thursday that six former Twitter employees cannot subpoena five law firms that represented the social media company in connection with its acquisition by Elon Musk, rejecting the employees' "conclusory allegations" that the company and Musk used the firms to make false promises of severance benefits.

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Depo Stay Kept As Trump Media Settles Merger Docs Dispute

By David Minsky

A Florida state judge on Thursday kept a roughly one-month pause on the deposition of certain individuals in Trump Media's lawsuit alleging an investor botched the platform's initial public offering, allowing an arbitrator to resolve a dispute over who controls documents related to the merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

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Ex-Bank CEO Cops To $13.6M Fraud, Evading Sanctions

By Carolina Bolado

The former CEO of the Puerto Rico-based Nodus International Bank pled guilty Thursday to running a scheme that stole more than $13.6 million from the now-collapsed bank and evading sanctions on Venezuela.

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Musk Cases, Atty Fees Draw Spotlight At Tulane Conference

By Rose Krebs

Two high-profile Delaware Supreme Court decisions involving Elon Musk's Tesla, the "supersize" attorney fee bids in those cases and others, and artificial intelligence's impact on the legal industry were among the hot topics Thursday as Tulane University Law School kicked off its annual Corporate Law Institute.

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Del. Suit Targets NC Enviro Co. Charter Shielding Directors

By Jarek Rutz

A stockholder of a North Carolina-based environmental technology business has brought a class action in the Delaware Chancery Court seeking to invalidate a provision in the company's corporate charter that he contends unlawfully shields directors and officers from liability for certain misconduct.

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Gemini Investor Sues Over Crypto Co.'s Post-IPO Biz Shift

By Sydney Price

Crypto exchange operator Gemini Space Station Inc. and its founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were hit with a proposed shareholder class action accusing them of not disclosing before the firm's initial public offering its plans to shift focus to the prediction market, pull back on global operations and replace certain members of its leadership.

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Financial Firms Must Face Suit Over Adviser's Thefts

By Julie Manganis

A group of investors whose funds were stolen by a now-jailed financial adviser will get another chance to convince a judge the investment firms he worked for should be held civilly liable, a Massachusetts intermediate appellate court ruled Thursday.

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Oil Company Sues X Critic Over Assets Amid Investor Suit

By José Luis Martínez

Oil and gas asset company Next Bridge Hydrocarbons Inc. claims that an X commenter has falsely accused the company of misleading investors about the value of its assets, in a dispute that comes as investors are appealing the dismissal of claims against the Texas company about misrepresentation of assets.

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Alston & Bird Hires Derivatives Atty From K&L Gates

By Jack Rodgers

Alston & Bird LLP has hired a former K&L Gates LLP lawyer, who has joined its financial services group, the firm announced Thursday.

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6 Noteworthy Changes From SEC Enforcement Manual Update

Recent updates to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement manual represent a commitment to transparency and fair process, with the signature change being a requirement that staff make certain probative evidence available during the Wells process, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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Series

Coaching Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Coaching youth soccer for my 7-year-old son's team has sharpened how I communicate with clients, prepare witnesses, work within teams and think about leadership, making me a more thoughtful and effective lawyer in many ways, says Joshua Holt at Smith Currie.

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HSF Kramer Hires Axinn Antitrust Lawyer In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP has hired a former Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP partner, who represented Google in an antitrust investigation into its advertising technology, and who has represented other global companies in competition and related matters.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen an ex-professional footballer revive a dispute with Charles Russell Speechlys, Virgin Media face a group data protection claim after hundreds of thousands of customers' personal details were exposed online for months, and Mishcon de Reya sued by a real estate private equity firm founded by a former Morgan Stanley executive.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Major shareholder groups sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act. In the meantime, some attorneys think the sanctions that judges are issuing to lawyers over AI-generated errors won't be enough to stop the problem. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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DOJ Rebuked Over Lack Of Candor For 'Imperious Client'

By Jack Karp

A Florida federal judge has rebuked government attorneys for failing to be up-front about legal authority that contradicts their position in a habeas case, warning them not to let their "imperious client" get between them and their ethical obligations.

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Beasley Allen Can't Halt DQ Ruling In J&J Talc Litigation

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state appeals court has refused to pause its decision disqualifying the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing plaintiffs in multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, according to a court order.

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Where Calif. State Courts Landed On Generative AI Use Rules

By Emily Sawicki

The majority of California's 58 superior courts — together making up the country's largest trial court system — have decided to greenlight the use of generative artificial intelligence in their work this year, a Law360 investigation found.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Baron & Budd PC, Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP and Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit revived a major hospital chain's False Claims Act suit accusing large pharmaceutical companies of massive overcharges in a prominent drug discount program.

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Top SEC Enforcer Signals Continuity After Ryan Departure

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's acting enforcement chief said Friday that the agency will continue to "focus on quality over quantity" when it comes to the cases it brings, projecting continuity with his predecessor's approach after her abrupt departure from the agency earlier this week.

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Roundup

Balancing The Scales: $3M Jury Verdict, GEO Appeal Denial

By Orlando Lorenzo

A Philadelphia federal judge rejected bids to disturb a $3 million jury award and impose sanctions on plaintiff's counsel arising from proceedings he described as "near-daily Festivus celebrations, where everyone got to air their grievances 'for the sake of the record'" and a Detroit man saw his murder conviction vacated after 27 years due to the case's reliance on a coerced confession and a lack of physical evidence, among other access to justice stories you may have missed.

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Bondi Keeps Ousted Wisconsin US Atty With New Title

By Lauren Berg

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi swapped Brad D. Schimel's title from interim U.S. attorney to first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in order to keep him in charge of the office after his tenure expired earlier this week.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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