LawStars

The OpenAI Defense: Inside the Wachtell Trial Team That Just Beat Elon Musk

Featured, Headlining, Law Firms, LawStars, Power Briefs, Power Firms, US Law / May 26, 2026

While Elon Musk’s legal team tried to transform a federal courtroom in Oakland, California into an existential debate about the fate of human civilization and a “stolen charity,” Sam Altman’s defenders quietly built a procedural guillotine.

A unanimous nine-member federal advisory jury took less than two hours to reject all of Musk’s claims against OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, and President Greg Brockman, which presumably was both surprising and disappointing for the multi-billionaire.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers immediately adopted the verdict from the bench, dismissing the case in full. The same statute-of-limitations finding wiped out Musk’s aiding-and-abetting claim against Microsoft, an early backer of OpenAI’s for-profit arm.

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The $8 Billion Fight That Shows Why Litigation Is Still the City’s Ultimate Blood Sport

Headlining, Law Stars - LawFuel's Leading Lawyers Profiles, LawStars, UK Law / May 25, 2026

A monster battle is unfolding in the sprawling claim against audit powerhouse PwC, born from the spectacular implosion of Chinese property behemoth China Evergrande, the most indebted property group in the world.

Senior silks like Richard Handyside KC, the Fountain Court Chambers’ Head, are facing off against those from 3 Verulam Buildings (3VB) where Adrian Beltrami KC represents the liquidators as they battle over allegations of negligence and misrepresentation in the $8.4 billion battle.

The numbers are eye-watering, even by City standards. Evergrande’s liquidators (led by Alvarez & Marsal’s Edward Middleton and Tiffany Wong) are pursuing 57 billion yuan (roughly $8.4 billion) in damages from PwC International, PwC Hong Kong, and PwC’s mainland China arm. They allege serious audit negligence and misrepresentation in the years leading up to Evergrande’s historic collapse, a King-sized property failure in a long list of major property failures.

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Quinn Emanuel’s John Quinn Steps Down — The Man Who Built a $2.8 Billion Litigation Empire

Featured, Law Firm Management, LawPreneur, LawStars, US Law / May 12, 2026

John B. Quinn, the Harvard-trained litigator who turned a scrappy four-lawyer Los Angeles firm into the world’s most feared litigation powerhouse, which also achieved ‘fearsome profits’, has stepped down from the helm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan after four decades at the top.

The announcement was made to partners on Sunday and described by some in the legal press as arriving “abruptly”, bringing to a close one of the most remarkable leadership tenures in Big Law history.

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Top Supreme Court Litigator Launches Davis Polk Appellate Practice

Law Stars - LawFuel's Leading Lawyers Profiles, LawStars, Press Releases, US Law / May 2, 2026

Davis Polk today announced the launch of a Supreme Court & Appellate practice. The new practice will be led by Kannon Shanmugam, one of the nation’s foremost Supreme Court litigators. Mr. Shanmugam and fellow leading Supreme Court litigator Masha Hansford join Davis Polk today as partners in the firm’s Washington DC office. “We are thrilled

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Musk v Altman: The Lawyers Running the Biggest AI Trial on Earth | LawFuel

Headlining, LawStars, US Law / April 29, 2026

The Musk v Altman trial is being sold as a grudge match between two tech billionaires over the future of artificial intelligence. But the real contest is between two skilled commercial litigators. Elon Musk has turned to New York trial lawyer Steven Molo of MoloLamken who delivered his opening statement in Oakland to a nine-person jury on April 28, 2026 with Morgan Chu of Irell & Manella’s Los Angeles office playing a supporting role having been lead counsel on Musk’s original state court filings.

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Antitrust Litigator and Former Government Enforcer Joins Morrison Foerster

Law Stars - LawFuel's Leading Lawyers Profiles, LawStars, Press Releases / April 25, 2026

Morrison Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce the arrival of Diane Hazel as a partner in the Antitrust Law Group in the Denver office. Hazel is a nationally recognized antitrust litigator and former government enforcer who represents clients in complex litigation and high-stakes investigations. A former attorney at both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and

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Leading Litigator Joins Paul Weiss From Chicago Boutique

Law Stars - LawFuel's Leading Lawyers Profiles, LawStars, Lawyers, Press Releases / April 22, 2026

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP announced today that Adam L. Hoeflich, a nationally recognized courtroom lawyer with a distinguished practice, has joined the firm as a partner in the Litigation Department. He will be joining the New York office. Hoeflich joins from a prominent litigation boutique. “Adam has a 30-plus-year track record of successful

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Ruth Higgins SC Shatters 125-Year Glass Ceiling as Australia’s First Female Solicitor-General

Australia Law News, LawStars / April 13, 2026

For the first time in 125 years of Federation, both of Australia’s top law officers are women. Dr Ruth Higgins SC will become Australia’s 12th Solicitor-General when her five-year term commences on 8 June 2026 — a milestone appointment that sees one of the nation’s most formidable competition law specialists step into the Commonwealth’s most

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American Lawyer Names Skadden Dealmakers of the Year

Briefings, Featured, LawStars, Press Releases / March 27, 2026

The American Lawyer named Paul Schnell, Brandon Van Dyke and Dohyun Kim among its Dealmakers of the Year for their representation of Union Pacific Corporation in its pending combination with Norfolk Southern Corporation. In a profile, The American Lawyer called the transaction the largest railroad merger in U.S. history, noting that it required “navigating uncertainties that stemmed from the first-ever attempt to complete

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The Private Equity Lawyer Who Will Run Weil Gotshal

Big Law, Headlining, LawStars / March 18, 2026

When Weil, Gotshal & Manges announced last week that Ramona Y. Nee will succeed Barry Wolf as Executive Partner from January 2027, the news landed with the quiet inevitability of a deal that everyone saw coming.

Wolf, who has steered the firm for 16 years, called her “uniquely suited.” He was not exaggerating. For nearly a quarter-century Nee has been the quiet engine of Weil’s U.S. private equity practice and the beating heart of its Boston office. Now the firm is handing her the keys.

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