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Energy
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July 23, 2025
Feds Seek 15 Months For Lobbyist Over Madigan Scheme
Federal prosecutors have urged an Illinois federal judge to sentence ex-ComEd lobbyist Jay Doherty to one year and three months in prison for his "critical role" in a scheme to bribe former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, whose associates were paid as "subcontractors" under Doherty's lobbying contract with the utility even though they did little to no work.
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July 23, 2025
7th Circ. Revives Part Of Solar Firm's Panama Grid Suit
The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday largely upheld an Illinois federal judge's ruling that Spanish energy company Avanzalia Solar could not pursue its claims that Goldwind Americas blocked and delayed access to the Panamanian power grid.
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July 23, 2025
CFTC Settles With Puerto Rico-Based Gas Futures Trader
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a Puerto Rico-based natural gas futures trader on Wednesday announced that they had reached a settlement, ending the agency's suit alleging that the trader used nonpublic information to make profitable energy trades.
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July 23, 2025
Trump Publishes AI 'Action Plan' With 90 Policy Proposals
In an effort to secure America's leadership in artificial intelligence, the Trump administration released a blueprint Wednesday outlining ideas to accelerate innovation, modernize infrastructure and foster international collaboration while safeguarding national security.
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July 23, 2025
Feds Launch Forfeiture Suit For $7M In Fraud-Linked Crypto
The acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington said she is pushing for the forfeiture of about $7 million in cryptocurrency assets seized as part of an investigation into an oil and gas investment fraud scheme.
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July 22, 2025
EQT Investors' $167.5M Deal To End Merger Suit Gets 1st OK
Investors in energy company EQT Corp. have gotten an initial green light for their $167.5 million settlement to end claims the company overstated the benefits of its $6.7 billion merger with Rice Energy, drawing what's purported to be the largest shareholder settlement in the Western District of Pennsylvania closer to a close.
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July 22, 2025
CFTC Denied Early Win In $185M Metals Fraud Suit
A Texas federal judge has denied summary judgment to both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and two individual defendants in a fraud suit that accuses them and their entities of ripping off more than 1,600, mostly elderly, investors and causing over $185 million in customer losses, setting the matter up for a potential trial.
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July 22, 2025
Gov'ts, Tribes Look To Settle Idaho Mining Pollution Suit
The U.S. government, Idaho and a tribal nation are asking a federal judge to approve an unopposed settlement with a phosphate ore mining company over its alleged dumping of hazardous substances within a national forest.
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July 22, 2025
Power Cos., PJM Back FERC Auction Rerun Decision
Power producers and PJM Interconnection LLC told the D.C. Circuit Monday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was right to let PJM rerun an electricity capacity auction with an inflated reliability requirement after the Third Circuit ruled changes to it were retroactive ratemaking.
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July 22, 2025
Judge Rejects Bondholder Claim Against Puerto Rico
A New York federal judge found Tuesday the terms of Puerto Rico's debt restructuring plan bars holders of bonds issued by the island's public electric utility from lodging a claim against its government.
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July 22, 2025
Quantum Wants FTC To Lift Order On $5.2B Natural Gas Deal
The Federal Trade Commission is asking for public feedback on a Quantum Energy Partners petition aiming to set aside a consent order the agency entered over a $5.2 billion deal that EQT Corp. struck with Quantum for oil and gas assets in Appalachia.
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July 22, 2025
Pa. Gas Cos. Sued Over Heater Explosion That Killed 6
Natural gas from a leaking pipeline allegedly filled the basement of a suburban Pittsburgh home, fueling an explosion that leveled three houses and killed six people in 2023, according to lawsuits filed Tuesday by the families of three victims.
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July 22, 2025
Final OK Sought On Energy Co.'s $8.2M 401(k) Suit Deal
A class of employees who participated in a Pennsylvania energy company's retirement plan have asked a federal judge to give final approval to an $8.2 million settlement resolving claims that the employees' 401(k) plans were mismanaged.
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July 22, 2025
Sable Aims To Sink Groups' Suit Over Calif. Oil Platforms
Sable Offshore Corp. told a California federal judge that green groups didn't follow proper litigation notice rules, dooming their lawsuit alleging the federal government failed to require the company to update safety and pollution control plans at drilling facilities.
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July 21, 2025
Mining Co. Says Congo Lithium Deal Violates Arbitration Order
Australian mining company AVZ Minerals Ltd. said Monday that a deal struck late last week between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and California-based KoBold Metals to develop part of a lucrative lithium mining project violates an order issued in its pending arbitration against the country.
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July 21, 2025
DC Circ. Urged To Leave FERC Project Approvals Alone
Grid operator Southwest Power Pool Inc. urged the D.C. Circuit to deny utility petitions challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of four transmission projects developed by Kansas-based Sunflower Electric Power Corp.
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July 21, 2025
Energy Litigation To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2025
Courtroom showdowns between the Trump administration and blue states over U.S. energy and climate change policy will dominate the energy litigation landscape for the rest of 2025. Here is what the energy industry will be watching closely in the second half of the year.
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July 21, 2025
Ex-ComEd CEO Gets 2 Years For Burying Madigan Bribes
The former CEO of Commonwealth Edison and later Exelon Utilities was sentenced to two years in prison Monday for a scheme to pay millions to associates of ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to secure his support for major energy legislation, and for hiding the nature of those payments to circumvent the company's internal accounting controls.
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July 21, 2025
Oil Equipment Co. Says Agent At Fault For Lack Of Coverage
An oilfield equipment supplier said it is facing potential liability exceeding $1.3 million because of its insurance agent's negligence, telling a Texas state court the agent failed to timely notify the company's cyber insurer after a hacking incident.
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July 21, 2025
CME Group, NYMEX Dodge Carbon Futures Suit
A New York federal judge has tossed a suit brought by three investment funds against CME Group Inc. and the New York Mercantile Exchange, alleging they improperly interpreted and failed to enforce rules governing carbon offset futures contracts, finding the plaintiffs do not have statutory standing to bring a private right of action under the Commodity Exchange Act.
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July 21, 2025
Feds Move To Drop Some Counts Against Texas Rep. Cuellar
The federal government on Friday moved to drop counts of a bribery indictment against U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife, citing "prosecutorial discretion."
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July 21, 2025
Reed Smith's Doc Block Motion 'Hyperbolic,' 2nd Circ. Told
Reed Smith LLP cannot block the new owners of reorganized Greece-based international shipping company Eletson from viewing files already in its possession, the company has told the Second Circuit, arguing the law firm's emergency motion to stop the new owners from accessing the files was intentionally timed to head off anticipated district court rulings.
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July 18, 2025
Law360 Names 2025's Top Attorneys Under 40
Law360 is pleased to announce the Rising Stars of 2025, our list of more than 150 attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.
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July 18, 2025
Judge Demands Layoff Plans From Trump Administration
A California federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to hand over reorganization and reduction-in-force plans linked to an executive order directing layoffs at federal agencies, finding that the government's privilege claim was outweighed by the plaintiffs' need for the information to pursue their claims under the Administrative Procedure Act.
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July 18, 2025
Calif. Sues Trump Admin Over $4B High-Speed Rail Fund Cuts
California's High-Speed Rail Authority hit the Trump administration with an Administrative Procedure Act lawsuit in California federal court Friday, claiming the Federal Railroad Administration's abrupt termination of $4 billion in grants to the electric rail project was arbitrary, politically motivated and based on Trump's "extreme antipathy toward California."
Expert Analysis
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Assessing New Changes To Texas Officer Exculpation Law
Consistent with Texas' recent modernization of its corporate law, the recently passed S.B. 2411 allows officer exculpation, streamlines certificate of formation amendments, authorizes representatives to act on shareholders' behalf in mergers and makes other changes aimed toward companies seeking a more codified, statutory model of corporate governance, say attorneys at Bracewell.
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ICSID Annulment Proceedings Carry High Stakes For System
The annulment proceedings brought by Freeport-McMoRan before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, seeking to redress a glaring and prejudicial oversight in its arbitral award against Peru, are significant for delimiting the boundaries of procedural fairness within the ICSID's annulment framework, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients
Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.
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Justices' NRC Ruling Raises New Regulatory Questions
In Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court avoided ruling on the NRC's authority to license private, temporary nuclear waste storage facilities — and this failure to reach the merits question creates new regulatory uncertainty where none had existed for decades, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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Bill Leaves Renewable Cos. In Dark On Farmland Reporting
A U.S. Senate bill to update disclosure requirements for foreign control of U.S. farmland does not provide much-needed guidance on how to report renewable energy development on agricultural property, leaving significant compliance risks for project developers, say attorneys at Hodgson Russ.
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Series
Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm
My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.
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Opinion
Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System
The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.
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In NRC Ruling, Justices Affirm Hearing Process Still Matters
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas safeguards the fairness, clarity and predictability of the regulatory system by affirming that to challenge an agency's decision in court, litigants must first meaningfully participate in the hearing process that Congress and the agency have established, says Jonathan Rund at the Nuclear Energy Institute.
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What Baseball Can Teach Criminal Attys About Rule Of Lenity
Judges tend to assess ambiguous criminal laws not unlike how baseball umpires approach checked swings, so defense attorneys should consider how to best frame their arguments to maximize courts' willingness to invoke the rule of lenity, wherein a tie goes to the defendant, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Series
Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer
To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.
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How Energy Cos. Can Prepare For Potential Tax Credit Cuts
The Senate Finance Committee's version of the One Big Beautiful Bill act would create a steep phaseout of renewable energy tax credits, which should prompt companies to take several actions, including conduct a project review to discern which could begin construction before the end of the year, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Rejecting Biz Dev Myths
Law schools don’t spend sufficient time dispelling certain myths that prevent young lawyers from exploring new business opportunities, but by dismissing these misguided beliefs, even an introverted first-year associate with a small network of contacts can find long-term success, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.
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Move Beyond Surface-Level Edits To Master Legal Writing
Recent instances in which attorneys filed briefs containing artificial intelligence hallucinations offer a stark reminder that effective revision isn’t just about superficial details like grammar — it requires attorneys to critically engage with their writing and analyze their rhetorical choices, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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How New Texas Law Revamps Electric Grid To Meet Demand
A new Texas law enacted in response to the burdens that data centers, crypto mining and other large-scale users are placing on the state's electric grid means that stakeholders must review updated requirements around grid interconnection, disclosure of development plans and operational flexibility during tight conditions, say attorneys at Jackson Walker.