Energy

  • October 31, 2024

    Dallas Judge Kicks 2022 Energy Case Out Of Biz Court

    A Dallas business court judge sent a multimillion-dollar energy dispute back to state district court this week, marking the first time a Texas Business Court judge has weighed in on whether cases in existence before the court's opening could be litigated in the new venue.

  • October 31, 2024

    Madigan Ally Set Up Work For Speaker's Fired Aide, Jury Told

    An ex-lobbyist on trial alongside former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan made arrangements for a political operative that Madigan fired to receive monthly payments while he was unemployed, suggesting he enter into contracts with loyal lobbyists and write up reports on legislators "in case the IRS checks this out," a federal jury heard Thursday.

  • October 31, 2024

    2nd Circ. Backs GE's Win In Ex-Exec's Benefits Denial Suit

    The Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal Thursday of a former General Electric executive's suit claiming the company should have awarded her pension and stock benefits when it moved her into an independent contractor role, ruling that her claims were filed too late.

  • October 31, 2024

    Chubb Says No Coverage For Texas Chemical Explosion Suits

    Two Chubb units told a Texas federal court Thursday they owe no coverage to Team Industrial Services Inc. for two lawsuits seeking to hold it liable for injuries from an explosion at a chemical plant, arguing a pollution exclusion applies because a release of a chemical caused the explosion.

  • October 31, 2024

    Valero To Pay 'Historic' $82M Fine For Bay Area Air Pollution

    Valero Refining Co. will pay a record $82 million penalty to settle claims that it failed to report cancer-causing emissions from its Northern California petroleum refinery for nearly two decades, state and Bay Area air pollution regulators announced Thursday, saying nearly all of the fine will fund local community projects.

  • October 31, 2024

    Enviros Call On EPA To Address Petcoke Plant Water Pollution

    A dozen environmental groups filed a petition Thursday demanding the EPA implement national water pollution standards for petroleum coke processing plants, which they said have slipped through the Clean Water Act's protections.

  • October 31, 2024

    What DOJ's New National Security Obsession Means For Attys

    The Justice Department’s emerging criminal crackdown on corporate national security violations is putting increased pressure on white collar lawyers to be conversant, if not experts, on opaque, complex and swiftly evolving regulations.

  • October 31, 2024

    Exxon Entitled To Interest Deduction On Qatar Deal

    Exxon Mobil is entitled to an interest expense deduction on payments to Qatar under a natural gas deal, a Texas federal judge ruled, rejecting the U.S. government's classification of an underlying transaction as a royalty rather than a loan.

  • October 31, 2024

    Mexican Shipping Co. Fined For Concealing Discharges

    Mexican company Gremex Shipping SA de CV pled guilty in a Florida federal court and was sentenced to pay a $1.75 million fine for falsifying records to conceal unlawful discharges of oily bilge waste, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

  • October 31, 2024

    FERC Unlawfully Rewrote Grid Hookup Policy, DC Circ. Told

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's revised policy on hooking up new power projects to the grid unlawfully imposes a punitive, one-size-fits-all system on transmission owners, regional grid operators and transmission companies told the D.C. Circuit Wednesday.

  • October 31, 2024

    Vinson & Elkins To Open Denver Office With Plans To Expand

    Three Vinson & Elkins LLP partners have been tapped to open the firm's newest office in Denver, the firm announced Thursday, amid an effort to expand its client base and talent roster in the Mountain West region.

  • October 31, 2024

    The 2024 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard

    Check out the Law360 Pulse Leaderboard to see which firms made the list of leaders in all-around excellence this year.

  • October 31, 2024

    Firms' Hiring Strategies Are Evolving In Fight For Top Spot

    Competition for top talent among elite law firms shows no signs of slowing down, even amid economic uncertainty, with financially strong firms deploying aggressive strategies to attract and retain skilled professionals to solidify their market position.

  • October 30, 2024

    Halliburton Loses Fracking Claims At Patent Board

    A Texas business has persuaded an administrative board at the patent office to wipe out all of the claims in a Halliburton Co. patent that covered a method of operating an electric fracking pump.

  • October 30, 2024

    No Ruling On Zeta DQ Bid After Second Marathon Hearing

    A Houston judge declined Wednesday to decide whether to disqualify Transocean's counsel from Hurricane Zeta litigation following the second hearing on a former Arnold & Itkin LLP law clerk-turned-defense-lawyer's work with the plaintiffs' firm, indicating she needed time to figure out when the parties reasonably should have learned of the potential conflict of interest.

  • October 30, 2024

    DOI Invests $46M In Klamath Basin Restoration

    The U.S. Department of the Interior on Wednesday unveiled nearly $46 million in investments from the bipartisan infrastructure law for ecosystem restoration activities in the drought-prone Klamath River Basin of Southern Oregon and Northern California. 

  • October 30, 2024

    Ax Green Groups' Suit Over 'Resiliency' Definition, FEMA Says

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked a D.C. federal judge on Wednesday to throw out a lawsuit brought by environmental advocacy and consumer groups alleging the agency missed its deadline to define "resilient."

  • October 30, 2024

    Brookfield Scoops UK Wind Farms Assets In $2.3B Deal

    Brookfield has agreed to buy a minority stake in four of Danish multinational energy company Orsted's operational U.K. offshore wind farms in a deal valued at £1.745 billion ($2.27 billion), Orsted announced Wednesday. 

  • October 30, 2024

    Maryland Says Electricity Greenwashing Law Is Constitutional

    Renewable energy company Green Mountain Energy Co. and a national advocacy organization cannot block a Maryland law aimed at cracking down on electricity suppliers' "greenwashing" claims, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown argued in federal court.

  • October 30, 2024

    Holtec Wins $6.9M Over Gov't's Failure To Store Nuclear Fuel

    Nuclear plant operator Holtec Palisades LLC has been granted $6.9 million in damages after a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge found the federal government had breached an agreement to store spent nuclear fuel at the company's Michigan facility.

  • October 30, 2024

    Class Members Can't Change Opt-Out Rules In Chevy EV Deal

    A Michigan federal judge won't grant a bid by individual class members to change the opt-out procedure in a $150 million settlement to resolve claims that General Motors sold Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles with defective batteries, calling the motion an improper late objection to the settlement's preliminary approval.

  • October 30, 2024

    AI-Focused SPAC Joins Pipeline With $200M IPO Filing

    Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners II Co., a special purpose acquisition company targeting the artificial intelligence industry, filed plans on Wednesday for an estimated $200 million initial public offering, while another SPAC, energy-transition focused Tavia Acquisition Corp., downsized plans.

  • October 30, 2024

    Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Uranium And Missile Detection

    Over the past month, the Biden administration advanced plans to secure the nuclear energy supply chain with $3.5 billion worth of uranium enrichment contracts and added $1.8 billion to its next-generation missile detection program. Here are Law360's most note-worthy government contracts for October 2024.

  • October 30, 2024

    Jones Day Hires Real Estate Partner For Chicago Office

    Jones Day announced Tuesday that it hired an experienced transactional real estate attorney as a partner for its real estate and energy transition and infrastructure teams based in Chicago.

  • October 30, 2024

    Anadarko Seeks Win In Kickback Defense Coverage Suit

    Anadarko Petroleum Corp. urged a Texas federal court to hand it an early win in its suit seeking defense and indemnity from an environmental remediation company in a decade-old Louisiana kickback lawsuit.

Expert Analysis

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

    Author Photo

    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

  • Opinion

    Portland's Gross Receipts Tax Oversteps City's Authority

    Author Photo

    Recent measures by Portland, Oregon, that expand the voter-approved scope of the Clean Energy Surcharge on certain retail sales eviscerate the common meaning of the word "retail" and exceed the city's chartered authority to levy tax, say Nikki Dobay at Greenberg Traurig and Jeff Newgard at Peak Policy.

  • Series

    After Chevron: SEC Climate And ESG Rules Likely Doomed

    Author Photo

    Under the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright, without agency deference, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure and environmental, social and governance rules would likely be found lacking in statutory support and vacated by the courts, says Justin Chretien at Carlton Fields.

  • Series

    Being An Opera Singer Made Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    My journey from the stage to the courtroom has shown that the skills I honed as an opera singer – punctuality, memorization, creativity and more – have all played a vital role in my success as an attorney, says Gerard D'Emilio at GableGotwals.

  • Navigating The Uncertain Landscape Of Solar Tariffs

    Author Photo

    Solar cell and module manufacturers, exporters and importers must navigate an uncertain compliance landscape, given ongoing challenges to U.S. Department of Commerce antidumping and countervailing duty determinations, which have been mounted both by U.S. and non-U.S. manufacturers, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Amid SEC Rule Limbo, US Cos. Subject To ESG Regs In EU

    Author Photo

    Though the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is facing legal challenges to its climate-disclosure rulemaking, the implementation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in the European Union will force U.S. companies to comply with exactly the kinds of ESG disclosures that are not yet mandated in the U.S., say attorneys at Squire Patton.

  • How Law Firms Can Avoid 'Collaboration Drag'

    Author Photo

    Law firm decision making can be stifled by “collaboration drag” — characterized by too many pointless meetings, too much peer feedback and too little dissent — but a few strategies can help stakeholders improve decision-making processes and build consensus, says Steve Groom at Miles Mediation.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Key To Open, Impartial Process

    Author Photo

    Blanket investor and funding agreement disclosures should be required in all civil cases where the investor has a financial interest in the outcome in order to address issues ranging from potential conflicts of interest to national security concerns, says Bob Goodlatte, former U.S. House Representative for Virginia.

  • The Ethics of Using Generative AI In Environmental Law

    Author Photo

    The rapid emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools is challenging environmental lawyers, consultants and government agencies to determine when and how these tools can be responsibly, ethically and productively integrated into their practices to streamline research, predictive analytics and regulatory compliance, say Ahlia Bethea and Pamela Esterman at Sive Paget.

  • Carbon Offset Case A Win For CFTC Enviro Fraud Task Force

    Author Photo

    An Illinois federal court's decision in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Ikkurty — earning the CFTC a sizeable monetary award that will likely incentivize similar enforcement pursuit — shows the impact of the commission's Environmental Fraud Task Force, say attorneys at Steptoe.

  • What NFL Draft Picks Have In Common With Lateral Law Hires

    Author Photo

    Nearly half of law firm lateral hires leave within a few years — a failure rate that is strikingly similar to the performance of NFL quarterbacks drafted in the first round — in part because evaluators focus too heavily on quantifiable metrics and not enough on a prospect's character traits, says Howard Rosenberg at Baretz+Brunelle.

  • DC Circ. Int'l Arb. Ruling Leaves Award Holders In Legal Limbo

    Author Photo

    In NextEra v. Spain, the D.C. Circuit recently ruled that district courts could enforce arbitral awards in energy investors' decadelong dispute with Spain, suggesting award holders could succeed in U.S. courts, but also that foreign sovereigns could render any such victories economically meaningless, says Jeff Newton at Omni Bridgeway.

  • Replacing The Stigma Of Menopause With Law Firm Support

    Author Photo

    A large proportion of the workforce is forced to pull the brakes on their career aspirations because of the taboo surrounding menopause and a lack of consistent support, but law firms can initiate the cultural shift needed by formulating thoughtful workplace policies, says Barbara Hamilton-Bruce at Simmons & Simmons.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons

    Author Photo

    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy considers certification cases touching on classwide evidence of injury from debt collection practices, defining coupon settlements under the Class Action Fairness Act, proper approaches for evaluating attorney fee awards in class action settlements, and more.

  • Planning Law Firm Content Calendars: What, When, Where

    Author Photo

    During the slower month of August, law firms should begin working on their 2025 content calendars, planning out a content creation and distribution framework that aligns with the firm’s objectives and maintains audience engagement throughout the year, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Energy archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!