Asset Management

  • January 13, 2025

    Latham-Led StepStone Tops $1B For Infrastructure Fund

    Private markets investment firm StepStone Group Inc., advised by Latham & Watkins LLP, on Monday announced it had clinched its inaugural infrastructure co-investment fund and related separate accounts after securing more than $1.4 billion in capital commitments.

  • January 13, 2025

    Justices Won't Review Reversal Of Firm's Tax Penalty Win

    The U.S. Supreme Court let stand Monday a Fifth Circuit decision overturning a jury ruling that a wealth management company didn't owe $579,000 in tax penalties because an employee's mental health problems excused the company's failure to file information returns on time.

  • January 13, 2025

    3 Firms Build Clearwater's $1.5B Buy Of Enfusion

    Software company Clearwater Analytics on Monday unveiled plans to buy investment management and hedge fund industry-focused software company Enfusion in a $1.5 billion deal built by three law firms.

  • January 13, 2025

    Bechtel Escapes 401(k) Suit Alleging Shoddy Default Fund

    A Virginia federal judge dismissed a retiree's suit claiming Bechtel Global Corp. tapped a pricey and underperforming fund for its retirement plan's default investment option, tossing the suit a second time for failing to show that a comparable fund was a better option.

  • January 13, 2025

    BMO Unit To Pay SEC $40M Over Bond Desk Supervision

    BMO Capital Markets has agreed to pay $40 million to end a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the broker-dealer's supervision of its mortgage-back bonds salespeople, with the SEC saying Monday that the brokerage firm failed to stop employees from providing inaccurate information about the bonds.

  • January 13, 2025

    Justices Won't Hear Auto Parts Co.'s ERISA Arbitration Push

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review the Sixth Circuit's refusal to force arbitration of a suit accusing an auto parts company of packing its employee retirement plan with subpar investment options.

  • January 10, 2025

    X Fights Finding Severance Row Contract Claims Can Survive

    X Corp. and Elon Musk squared off with ex-Twitter workers in Delaware federal court, filing dueling briefs that took opposing stances over whether a district judge should adopt a recommendation to keep alive some breach-of-contract allegations in the workers' proposed class action claiming they were cheated out of severance benefits.

  • January 10, 2025

    Health Co. Wants To Quit Nicotine Surcharge Suit

    Nonprofit health system Advocate Aurora Health is urging an Illinois federal judge to permanently toss former employees' lawsuit targeting an allegedly illegal tobacco-use surcharge in its health plan, arguing that after three tries they still have failed to bring a viable claim.

  • January 10, 2025

    4 Trends That Will Shape Venture Capital Funding In 2025

    Venture capital funding appears primed to improve in 2025 as market participants shake off the effects of a post-pandemic crash, with surging demand for artificial intelligence, expectations of friendlier government policies, and more exits through public listings and acquisitions.

  • January 10, 2025

    SEC's $93M Win Not Backed By Proof, Adviser Tells 1st Circ.

    Commonwealth Financial asked a First Circuit panel Friday to undo a $93 million award the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission won last year, saying the lower court was too quick to find that the firm's disclosure practices harmed investors.

  • January 10, 2025

    American Airlines Faulted For ESG Focus In 401(k) Plan

    A Texas federal judge ruled Friday that American Airlines violated federal benefits law by emphasizing environmental, social and governance factors in its 401(k) plan decisions, but he put off deciding whether the retirees suffered losses and what remedy they should receive.

  • January 10, 2025

    SafeMoon CEO Wants 'Misleading' Reddit Post Explained

    The CEO of bankrupt cryptocurrency asset company SafeMoon LLC asked a Brooklyn federal judge Friday to order the government to explain whether it had a role in a social media user's "misleading" post that promised to connect SafeMoon investors with the U.S. government.

  • January 10, 2025

    Cruise Contractors Drop $2.8M Union Fund Debt Row

    Two cruise ship contractors and a union pension fund have wrapped up their dispute over the contractors' $2.8 million debt to fund, indicating to a Louisiana federal judge Friday that they've settled the last outstanding issue in the case and are ready for the litigation to be dismissed.

  • January 10, 2025

    KKR, PSP Buy $2.8B Stake In American Electric Power Units

    Private equity giant KKR and Canada-based Public Sector Pension Investment Board, both advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, have agreed to take a minority stake in Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP-led American Electric Power's transmission companies in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, in a $2.82 billion deal.

  • January 10, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Davis Polk, Wachtell

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Constellation acquires Calpine, Cintas seeks a deal with UniFirst Corp., Stryker Corp. acquires Inari Medical Inc., and Paychex Inc. buys Paycor.

  • January 10, 2025

    Law Firm's Fee Suit Can't Proceed In Ga., Investment Co. Says

    A Michigan-based investment firm has asked a Georgia federal judge to toss a suit accusing it of failing to pay more than $180,000 in legal fees owed to an Atlanta-area law firm, arguing the court lacks jurisdiction under the state's long-arm statute.

  • January 09, 2025

    SEC Sues To Enforce $3M Cannabis Investment Fraud Deal

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a Utah federal court to enforce an administrative cease-and-desist order requiring a wealth management company and its owner to give the regulator over $3 million they previously agreed to pay to end claims they defrauded investors in a $19.5 million cannabis-linked fund raise.

  • January 09, 2025

    FINRA Fines Fidelity Unit $600K Over Ex-Employee's Theft

    Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC has agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's claims that the firm had an inadequate supervisors system in place from 2012 through 2020 that failed to detect an associated person's theft of $750,000 from customer accounts.

  • January 09, 2025

    Lutnick, Cantor Seek Toss Of BGC Reorganization Suit In Del.

    An attorney for billionaire Howard Lutnick and Cantor Fitzgerald told a Delaware vice chancellor on Thursday that former BGC Partners LP stockholders who sued over allegedly unfair terms in its conversion into a public company raised derivative claims that instead belong to the converted company.

  • January 09, 2025

    Sentara Health Workers Say Retirement Fund Is Mismanaged

    Two Sentara Health employees have filed proposed class action in Virginia federal court accusing the company's retirement fund managers of failing to properly manage a $136 million plan, arguing it lost millions due to the committee's retention of an underperforming stable value fund in the face of better options.

  • January 09, 2025

    5 Things Executive Pay Attys Should Keep An Eye On In 2025

    Tesla chief executive Elon Musk will be seeking a green light for a $56 billion pay package while a new administration in the White House may scuttle proposed incentive pay regulations and a ban on noncompete agreements. Here, Law360 looks at five things executive compensation lawyers will be following in the new year.

  • January 09, 2025

    AI Startup Anthropic Seeks $60B Valuation, Plus More Rumors

    Artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic is seeking $2 billion in a new funding round that would value the company at $60 billion, while fashion giant Shein is now eyeing a mid-2025 initial public offering in London and Constellation Energy is lining up a $30 billion bid to acquire electricity provider Calpine. Here, Law360 breaks down the notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • January 09, 2025

    Musk Could Dodge Some Claims In X Severance Suit

    Six former Twitter employees who alleged they weren't paid severance benefits after Elon Musk took over the company shouldn't be able to proceed with their claims under Texas law, a Delaware federal magistrate judge said, but he recommended that claims under California and New York law be given a second chance.

  • January 08, 2025

    Group Alleges $10M 'Sham' In Fla. Plant-Based Co. Stock Deal

    A Canadian investment group has sued two Delaware corporations in Florida federal court over a "sham" stock deal, alleging it was fraudulently induced to sell its plant-based food technology company and later cheated out of $10 million worth of cash and common stock it was promised.

  • January 08, 2025

    Convicted Ex-Nomura Trader To Settle SEC's RMBS Action

    Ex-Nomura Securities International Inc. trader Michael Gramins, who was convicted in 2017 of scheming to trick mortgage bond buyers, has reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle follow-on civil claims, according to an agency filing on Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Judicial Committee Best Venue For Litigation Funding Rules

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    The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules' recent decision to consider developing a rule for litigation funding disclosure is a welcome development, ensuring that the result will be the product of a thorough, inclusive and deliberative process that appropriately balances all interests, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.

  • The Strategic Advantages Of Appointing A Law Firm CEO

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    The impact on law firms of the recent CrowdStrike outage underscores that the business of law is no longer merely about providing supplemental support for legal practice — and helps explain why some law firms are appointing dedicated, full-time CEOs to navigate the challenges of the modern legal landscape, says Jennifer Johnson at Calibrate Strategies.

  • Don't Phone A Friend: Disclosing Friendships With Executives

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent settlement against a former Church & Dwight chairman for violating proxy disclosure rules by neglecting to disclose his friendship with an executive officer amid a CEO search illustrates the perils of relying solely on responses to questionnaires circulated to boards, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Why Diversity Jurisdiction Poses Investment Fund Hurdles

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    Federal courts' continued application of the exacting rules of diversity jurisdiction presents particular challenges for investment funds, and in the absence of any near-term reform, those who manage such funds should take action to avoid diversity jurisdiction pitfalls, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • The Ups And Downs Of SEC's Now-Dissolved ESG Task Force

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force, which was quietly disbanded sometime over the summer, was marked by three years of resistance from some stakeholders to ESG regulation, a mixed record in the courts and several successful enforcement actions, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    Beekeeping Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The practice of patent law and beekeeping are not typically associated, but taking care of honeybees has enriched my legal practice by highlighting the importance of hands-on experience, continuous learning, mentorship and more, says David Longo at Oblon McClelland.

  • Anticipating Jarkesy's Effect On Bank Agency Enforcement

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    Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, federal courts may eventually issue decisions on banking law principles and processes that could fundamentally alter the agencies' enforcement action framework, and the relationship between banks and examiners, says Brendan Clegg at Luse Gorman.

  • CFTC Anti-Fraud Blitz Is A Warning To Carbon Credit Sellers

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    With its recent enforcement actions against a carbon offset project developer and its senior executives for reporting false information about the energy savings of the company's projects, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is staking out its position as a primary regulator in the voluntary carbon credit market, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    Legal Institutions Must Warn Against Phony Election Suits

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    With two weeks until the election, bar associations and courts have an urgent responsibility to warn lawyers about the consequences of filing unsubstantiated lawsuits claiming election fraud, says Elise Bean at the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.

  • Peeling Back The Layers Of SEC's Equity Trading Reforms

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted amendments lowering the tick sizes for stock trading and reducing access fee caps will benefit investors and necessitate broad systems changes — if they can first survive judicial challenges, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How Cos. Can Build A Strong In-House Pro Bono Program

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    During this year’s pro bono celebration week, companies should consider some key pointers to grow and maintain a vibrant in-house program for attorneys to provide free legal services for the public good, says Mary Benton at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Home Canning Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Making my own pickles and jams requires seeing a process through from start to finish, as does representing clients from the start of a dispute at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board through any appeals to the Federal Circuit, says attorney Kevin McNish.

  • How Project 2025 Could Upend Federal ESG Policies

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    If implemented, Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's policy playbook for a Republican presidential administration, would likely seek to deploy antitrust law to target ESG initiatives, limit pension fund managers' focus to pecuniary factors and spell doom for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate rule, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Opinion

    FDIC's Foray Into Index Fund Rules Risks Regulatory Chaos

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    A proposed Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. rule concerning control over passive index fund investments in banks is outside the agency's remit, clashes with an existing Federal Reserve process and would inhibit competition in the index fund sector, says J.W. Verret at George Mason University.

  • Use The Right Kind Of Feedback To Help Gen Z Attorneys

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    Generation Z associates bring unique perspectives and expectations to the workplace, so it’s imperative that supervising attorneys adapt their feedback approach in order to help young lawyers learn and grow — which is good for law firms, too, says Rachael Bosch at Fringe Professional Development.

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