WilmerHale

On January 14, WilmerHale will host “The Federal Trade Commission: Priorities for 2025,” a webinar offering perspective from former FTC senior staff and other WilmerHale attorneys into the FTC's direction under new leadership. This event is part of our Post-Election Update Center aimed at providing insights on navigating the second Trump Administration and 119th Congress. Join WilmerHale attorneys Frank Gorman, Jennifer Milici, Kirk Nahra, Arianna Evers and Ali Jessani as they discuss what to expect from the FTC in 2025. Topics will include leadership changes, enforcement priorities, merger guidelines and potential AI consumer and competition harms. Register today at the link below.

Partner Kirk Nahra speaks to Bloomberg Law for an article about the shifting regulatory compliance landscape companies handling sensitive data will face as the incoming Trump administration prepares to start reshaping federal policy in 2025. Read more at the link below.

Counsel Itsiq Benizri, AIGP, CIPP/E co-authored an article published by Lawfare about Mario Draghi’s report claiming that the EU’s extensive digital regulations are adversely affecting Europe’s competitiveness.

WilmerHale represented the Nordstrom family in connection with the acquisition of Nordstrom’s outstanding shares in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $6.25 billion on an enterprise basis. Subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions, following the transaction, the Nordstrom family will have a majority ownership stake in the company it founded a century ago.

On December 3, the Energy Charter Conference in Brussels adopted a long-anticipated and wide-ranging tranche of modernization amendments to the Energy Charter Treaty. In this blog post, Partner Charles Caher and Associate Arthur Azis recap the background to the modernization process, summarize the key changes to the ECT, and explore some of the most potentially significant implications of the Amendments, including the restriction of intra-EU arbitration and the reduced protection for fossil fuel investments.

Wishing you and your loved ones a holiday season filled with joy and happiness!

WilmerHale was featured in a Boston Globe Media article about organizations celebrating the holidays by organizing fundraisers for the publication’s Globe Santa charity, which purchases toys, books and games for families in need. Our Boston office began annual collections for Globe Santa 60 years ago. Each year, a team of employees rally their floors to make donations to Globe Santa in red envelopes. Legal Secretary Paula Ronan is one of our floor collectors, telling the Globe: “I decided to honor my Dad when he passed away 17 years ago by donating to Globe Santa every year to keep this family tradition alive.” Read more about this organization at the link below.

On Thursday, January 16, Partner Mark Selwyn will present during the Sedona Conference Working Group 13 Inaugural Meeting as part of the “Training of AI on Potentially Copyrighted Information” panel.

Partner John Rockwell and Associate Ben Goldfein are proud to have advised TRACTIAN, a leader in manufacturing AI, on its recently announced $120 million Series C financing round. Read more about the financing round at the link below.

WilmerHale is proud to be part of a significant legal challenge addressing the administration of California's capital punishment scheme. Alongside the Legal Defense Fund, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Northern California and the Office of the State Public Defender, we filed a first-of-its-kind extraordinary writ petition in April on behalf of petitioners who assert that the administration of California’s death penalty violates the state’s constitution. The Supreme Court of California has recently ordered parties to respond to questions about the nature of “cruel or unusual punishment” as applied in death penalty sentences, marking an important development signaling the court’s interest in resolving the state's allegedly racially discriminatory use of capital punishment. Read more at the link below.