Energy

  • February 14, 2025

    DC Judge Orders Feds To Restore Foreign Funding

    A D.C. federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore foreign funding in connection with any grants or programs in place before the inauguration, saying aid organizations have made a sufficient showing that the pause threatens their very existence.

  • February 14, 2025

    Energy Group Of The Year: V&E

    Vinson & Elkins LLP helped clients advance billions of dollars of energy transactions, from Permian Basin mega-mergers to major offshore wind acquisitions, and also helped clients embroiled in litigation secure courtroom wins, earning the firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Energy Groups of the Year.

  • February 13, 2025

    House Dems Push Against GOP's Proposed Tax Cuts

    House Budget Committee Republicans on Thursday passed a resolution that would allow for the passage of up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and the repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act.

  • February 13, 2025

    Mexico Says Mining Co.'s $408M Arbitration Claim Is Wrong

    Mexico is fighting back against a Canadian mining company's $408 million damages claim that the country failed to remove an alleged worker blockade at a silver and zinc mine, arguing that the mineral exploration company is to blame for what were peaceful community demonstrations.

  • February 13, 2025

    Madigan Verdict Caps Stunning Fall For Powerful Chicago Pol

    Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's conviction Wednesday on bribery and wire fraud charges marked a stunning fall from grace for a man who was the longest-serving legislative leader in the country and who wielded considerable influence in the state and the city of Chicago for decades.

  • February 13, 2025

    Oil & Gas Co.'s Antitrust Suit Baseless, Insurers Say

    Insurers who hold surety bonds in an oil company and have been accused of colluding with other bondholders to demand additional collateral have urged a Texas federal court to dismiss the antitrust allegations against them, saying the dispute is contractual only.

  • February 13, 2025

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Defaulted Notes, EB-5 Investor Fraud

    The North Carolina Business Court has been handed in the first half of February a receivership case involving a defaulted $17.5 million promissory note, a fraud suit by Chinese EB-5 investors and a request to depose the chief legal officer of Smithfield Foods Inc.

  • February 13, 2025

    Trump Reciprocal Tariff Plan Could Spur Supply 'Nightmares'

    The U.S. will explore imposing reciprocal tariffs that equal rates levied by other countries importing American products, President Donald Trump announced Thursday, a move some experts worry will lead to "compliance nightmares" and COVID-level disruptions to supply chains.

  • February 13, 2025

    EPA Boss Says Biden Admin Wrongly Ceded Control Of $20B

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new leader said Thursday that $20 billion Congress appropriated for an EPA grant program had been inappropriately transferred outside the agency and is lacking adequate supervision — a claim disputed by a Biden-era official.

  • February 13, 2025

    Pa. Sues Feds Over Withheld $2B In Energy-Related Grants

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sued several Trump administration agencies on Thursday claiming the federal government has frozen $2 billion in funds dedicated to state energy- and mining-focused projects in defiance of two court orders, in a "flagrantly lawless" move.

  • February 13, 2025

    EPA Asks 5th Circ. To Pause State Ozone Plan Decision

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked the Fifth Circuit to hold off on deciding whether it was allowed to deny three states' plans to comply with federal ozone standards to give the Trump administration time to evaluate the rule at the center of the litigation.

  • February 13, 2025

    Duke Rate Hike Discrepancy Lacks Reason, NC Justices Hear

    The North Carolina Attorney General's Office urged the state's highest court Thursday to undo what it characterized as a glaring rate hike for Duke Energy Carolinas compared to what a sister entity received, saying state regulators offered no justification for the jump.

  • February 13, 2025

    Energy Group Of The Year: Cravath

    Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP secured groundbreaking legal wins for some of the U.S. energy industry's biggest players, including Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and The Williams Cos., earning the firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Energy Groups of the Year.

  • February 13, 2025

    White & Case Environmental Partner Moves To Weil In NY

    Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP announced Thursday that it has hired a White & Case LLP environmental law partner for its regulatory transactions group in New York.

  • February 13, 2025

    Tribe Can't Revisit $16M Ovintiv Settlement, Feds, Utah Say

    The U.S. government and Utah urged a federal judge to reject a tribe's bid to challenge a $16 million Clean Air Act consent decree with Ovintiv USA Inc., arguing that its comments on the settlement were already considered and rejected.

  • February 13, 2025

    Orrick Hires Former Head Of A&O's Restructuring Practice

    The former head of Allen & Overy's U.S. restructuring practice prior to A&O's transatlantic merger with Shearman & Sterling has joined Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in New York.

  • February 12, 2025

    Republican Senators Float Ending EV Tax Credits

    Republican lawmakers in the Senate on Wednesday unveiled a bill that would end electric vehicle and charging station tax credits that they dubbed "reckless."

  • February 12, 2025

    CPS Energy On Hook For $60M After $109M Explosion Verdict

    A San Antonio jury has awarded $109.5 million to a family whose house exploded due to CPS Energy's alleged negligent maintenance of the home's natural gas system, but the nine-figure verdict was reined in by a "high-low agreement" capping the utility's liability at $60 million, plaintiffs' counsel said.

  • February 12, 2025

    Sea Salt Co. Sued Over Lead And Arsenic Levels

    A salt company was hit with a proposed class action Tuesday in California federal court over allegations that its salt contains arsenic and lead, asserting that there is no safe level of lead.

  • February 12, 2025

    Avangrid Unit's Counterclaim Cut From Plant Cleanup Fight

    The United Illuminating Co. cannot assert a counterclaim against the commissioner of Connecticut's energy regulator as they battle over the cleanup of the defunct and polluted English Station power plant in New Haven because the utility has not overcome the state's sovereign immunity, a state court has ruled.

  • February 12, 2025

    OCC Departs International Network Focused On Climate Risks

    The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Tuesday became the latest U.S. government entity to withdraw from the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System, an international consortium focused on the financial sector's responses and resilience to climate change.

  • February 12, 2025

    Spain Loses Another Stay Bid In Award Enforcement Suit

    A D.C. federal judge has refused Spain's request to maintain a stay in Blasket Renewable Investments LLC's litigation to enforce a €77 million ($80 million) arbitral award while the country challenges a D.C. Circuit ruling in parallel cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • February 12, 2025

    ITC To Review If Voltage Infringes Shoals' Solar Patents

    About a month after Shoals Technologies Group filed a patent infringement complaint against North Carolina solar provider Voltage LLC and a Chinese manufacturing company, the U.S. International Trade Commission voted Tuesday to investigate the entities' importation and sale of accused photovoltaic trunk bus cable assemblies and their components.

  • February 12, 2025

    GOP Sens. Pitch $1K Tax On EVs To Boost Highway Fund

    Republican senators on Wednesday proposed legislation that would establish a $1,000 tax on all new electric vehicles to help bolster a federal fund that pays for highway, road, bridge and transit upgrades nationwide.

  • February 12, 2025

    USPTO Ends Fast Exams Of Patents Targeting Climate Change

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has suspended a program that sped up examination of patent applications for inventions that are intended to mitigate climate change, saying any future petitions to participate in the program will not be granted.

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.

  • 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.

  • What Hawaii High Court Got Right And Wrong In AIG Ruling

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    Though the Hawaii Supreme Court in its recent Aloha Petroleum v. National Union Fire Insurance decision correctly adopted the majority rule that recklessly caused harm is an accident for coverage purposes, it erred in its interpretation of the pollution exclusion by characterizing climate change as "traditional environmental pollution," say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • 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.

  • Useful Product Doctrine May Not Shield Against PFAS Liability

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    Courts have recognized that companies transferring hazardous recycled materials can defeat liability under environmental laws by showing they were selling a useful product — but new laws in California and elsewhere restricting the sale of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances may change the legal landscape, says Kyle Girouard at Dickinson Wright.

  • Opinion

    It's Time To Sound The Alarm About Lost Labor Rights

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    In the Fifth Circuit, recent rulings from judges appointed by former President Donald Trump have dismantled workers’ core labor rights, a troubling trend that we cannot risk extending under another Trump administration, say Sharon Block and Raj Nayak at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • A Narrow Window Of Opportunity To Fix Energy Transmission

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    A post-election effort of the coming lame-duck congressional session may be the only possibility to pass bipartisan legislation to solve the national grid's capacity deficiencies, which present the greatest impediment to realizing state and federal energy transition and emissions reduction goals, says David Smith at Manatt.

  • 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.

  • Key Insurance Implications Of Hawaii's Historic GHG Ruling

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    In Aloha Petroleum v. National Union Fire Insurance, the Hawaii Supreme Court became the first state court to classify greenhouse gasses as pollutants barred from insurance coverage, a ruling likely to be afforded great weight by courts across the country, say Scott Seaman and Gar Lauerman at Hinshaw & Culbertson.

  • 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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