Texas Lawyer [PDF] reported on remarks made by partner Trey Cox (Dallas and Houston) at the State Bar of Texas annual meeting on June 12, 2026. Trey spoke about Gibson Dunn’s successful representation of Energy Transfer in its case against Greenpeace over protests that delayed the Dakota Access Pipeline.
In his speech, Trey summarized the true value of a closing argument. “By the time you stand up to present at closing, the people on the jury have already made a tentative decision,” he said. “Some people want to call it a closing argument, I actually prefer summation, because what you are doing is you are summing up the evidence, and you are trying to teach your friendly jurors how to argue with your unfriendly jurors in the real final argument, which takes place back in the jury room.”
The winning strategy in the Greenpeace trial, Trey said, was the ability to tie acts of sabotage, shown in police reports and protest photos, directly to Greenpeace’s internal emails, training records, and reimbursement documents.
“You can’t just have them get arrested,” Trey said. “You have to connect the dots and take it from an individual action all the way back to Greenpeace.”
Bloomberg Law’s New York Brief (subscription required) newsletter features an interview with Yaira Dubin, who joined the firm in April and leads our New York appellate practice, which she says has the potential for extensive growth: “Companies are here. New York has some of the most interesting legal questions across the country.”
Yaira rejected the notion that U.S. Supreme Court justices are rigid in their thinking. “You will see, if you listen to arguments, justices asking questions that are genuine—they want to know the answers—and those answers will affect how they think about the case,” she said.
In the interview, Yaira also discussed the book currently on her nightstand (“The Shards” by Bret Easton Ellis) and her favorite lunch spot (Sweetgreen).
“As a firm, we want to lead the global legal services market,” said Armando Albarrán, Partner in Charge of Gibson Dunn’s Madrid office, in an interview with Spanish national media outlet El Confidencial (subscription required).
In the interview about Gibson Dunn’s ambitions and reasons for opening a new office in Madrid, Armando said: “…there are a number of firms competing to establish themselves among that global elite. We want to be part of that global elite, which is why we’re expanding across Europe. We started in London, where we already have a strong presence. We also have offices in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Belgium. The goal is to support our clients by offering them a ‘premium’ service in each of those countries.”
Armando also discussed Spain’s transactional trends and prospects as well as the country’s economic importance in the EU, how the team in Madrid works with other teams at Gibson Dunn, such as London, and the role of AI in the legal sector.
Partner Jaysen Chung is quoted in Law360’s “Fed. Circ. Won’t Trade Detailed Verdicts for Efficiency,” (subscription required) which reports on the Federal Circuit faulting U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s use of jury verdict forms that collapse all infringement allegations down to checking simply “yes” or “no.” The Federal Circuit said that frustration over lengthy trial times doesn’t negate Seventh Amendment rights. Jaysen said that Seventh Amendment concerns could be at issue with certain types of eligibility decisions moving forward.
Multinationals should start preparing now ahead of the 2028 deadline as the European Union recalibrates the anti-corruption landscape, write partner Katharina Humphrey, associate Karla Böltz, and legal trainee Maximilian Schach in their in-depth article for Law360 [PDF] on a new directive aimed at combating corruption.
They note that the directive “does not transform anti-corruption compliance overnight,” but for multinationals “the practical message is to start preparing early. Parallel investigations will become routine, and compliance management systems are now a quantifiable factor in the sanction outcome across the EU.”
Their article looks in more detail at the directive and what those changes mean in terms of risk exposure and compliance in companies operating across the EU.
Bloomberg Law [PDF] has profiled partner Sebastian Fain, who joined the firm in November 2025 as co-head of our cross-border M&A practice. The profile highlights Sebastian’s 18 years of M&A work along with the growth of Gibson Dunn’s M&A practice. According to Sebastian, “the goal is to continue building a marquee M&A practice.”
Five Gibson Dunn lawyers contributed to the latest edition of Lexology’s In-Depth: Transfer Pricing, which provides a practical overview of the main transfer pricing rules in key jurisdictions worldwide.
Partner Sanford Stark is the Editor of the publication. Sanford, along with partners Saul Mezei and Terrell Ussing and of counsel John Craig and Brad McCormack, co-authored the USA chapter.
The Daily Journal [PDF] has profiled partner Rachel Brass, who was named to its list of Top Women Lawyers 2026. The publication noted Rachel’s “deep command of antitrust law, sound judgment, and exceptional service.”
For her part, Rachel noted the evolving nature of the current antitrust landscape, calling it “dynamic, unsettled and facing more immediate potential change than in a long time.”
Rachel is Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition Practice Group.
On June 11, 2026, Gibson Dunn won a precedent-setting and case-ending victory in the Texas Court of Appeals, which reversed the denial of our client Vale S.A.’s special appearance and dismissed all claims brought by plaintiff Itabiriçu Nacional de Pesquisa Mineral Ltda. against Vale for lack of personal jurisdiction.
Based in Brazil, Vale is the world’s largest producer of iron ore. Itabiriçu, also a Brazilian company, sued Vale in Nueces County, Texas in October 2023, asserting claims for conversion, unjust enrichment, and conspiracy arising from Vale’s extraction of iron ore from an area known as the “Polygonal” within Vale’s Itabira Mining Complex in Brazil. Itabiriçu alleged that it possessed superior rights over the iron ore in the Polygonal and that Vale’s extraction of the iron ore therefore was conversion.
Itabiriçu further alleged that Vale processed the disputed ore and shipped it to a factory in Corpus Christi, Texas operated by two European steel manufacturing companies. Itabiriçu sought to collect more than $500 million, which it claimed represented Vale’s profits from selling the disputed ore. Vale filed a special appearance contesting personal jurisdiction. After two years of litigation and jurisdictional discovery on the special appearance issue alone, the trial court denied Vale’s special appearance on October 3, 2025 without issuing an opinion.
Vale appealed the trial court’s denial of the special appearance and moved for an emergency stay of proceedings pending the appeal. Such stay motions are rarely granted, but the Texas Court of Appeals granted Vale’s motion one day after Itabiriçu filed its opposition brief and before Vale even filed its reply brief—a victory that protected Vale from being forced to furnish expansive discovery to which Itabiriçu would have no right under the laws of Brazil (the proper forum for the dispute).
On June 11, just six days after merits briefing was complete, the court granted Vale an unconditional and complete win. In a memorandum opinion, the court held that “there is no ‘substantial connection’ between Vale’s contacts with Texas and the operative facts of Itabiriçu’s claims.” The court held that none of the acts Itabiriçu alleged Vale performed in Texas “are related in any substantial way to the actual conduct which Itabiriçu complains about in its suit” and concluded that “a trial on Itabiriçu’s conversion claim would focus predominantly—if not exclusively—on Vale’s activities in Brazil.” The court further found that even if a substantial connection existed between Vale’s alleged Texas contacts and Itabiriçu’s claims, exercising jurisdiction over Vale would not comport with traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice under the U.S. Constitution. The court ordered the dismissal of all claims against Vale.
In rejecting jurisdiction over Itabiriçu’s $500 million claims against Vale, the Texas Court of Appeal set important precedent for out-of-state defendants sued in Texas. Absent the Texas Supreme Court exercising its discretionary review authority, Vale’s victory in Texas is final and complete.
In a statement to the press, Executive Vice President of Legal Affairs at Vale, Sami Arap, highlighted both the performance of partners Chris Joralemon and David Kusnetz and the importance of vigorous defense and sovereignty in cases in which the matter must be exclusively decided in Brazil. The cross-office Gibson Dunn team representing Vale S.A. includes partners Christopher Joralemon, David Kusnetz, Sydney Scott, and Brad Hubbard, of counsel Benjamin D. Wilson, and associates Michael Klurfeld, Jack DiSorbo, Arjun Ogale, Hayato Watanabe, John Ito, Warren Bloom, Jon Greenberg, and Michelle Gery.
Gibson Dunn represented an affiliate of Related Companies, L.P. in the refinancing of 10 Hudson Yards with a $1.37 billion SASB CMBS mortgage loan from Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, German American Capital Corporation, Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A., and Goldman Sachs Bank USA as co-lenders.
The Gibson Dunn real estate team included partner Harry Silvera, of counsel Genta Stafaj, and associate Brendan Palmieri.
Gibson Dunn’s market-leading Business Restructuring and Reorganization practice has won the IFLR Europe Award for Restructuring Deal of the Year, for its representation of an ad hoc group of senior secured noteholders in the fully consensual recapitalization of Ardagh Group S.A.
The annual IFLR Europe Awards recognize standout cross-border work, innovation, and market-shaping deals. This year’s awards were presented in London on June 11.
Gibson Dunn is counsel to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) on its $75 billion initial public offering, one of the most significant and complex capital markets transactions ever undertaken.
This market-defining offering is the largest IPO in history by far. As part of the IPO, Gibson Dunn also led the first truly global retail offering, enabling participation by retail investors across six jurisdictions around the world, and the first use of the United Kingdom’s Public Offer Platform (POP) regime.
“We are deeply honored to work closely with the extraordinary SpaceX team on this historic IPO,” said Hillary H. Holmes, Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Capital Markets Practice Group. “SpaceX’s visionary leadership has not only redefined aerospace and technology but has now delivered one of the most transformative capital markets events in history. We are proud to have partnered with them to pioneer new innovations in deal structure, global retail access, governance, and market practice. We executed this extraordinarily complex transaction with the same level of excellence, precision, and speed that defines SpaceX itself.”
Working on an accelerated timeline, a multidisciplinary Gibson Dunn team advised on capital markets, corporate governance, securities regulation, executive compensation, Texas corporate law, AI, aerospace, M&A, regulatory, and other aspects of the transaction. Many of the issues and solutions were first of their kind. The matter also drew on Gibson Dunn’s global presence, bringing together more than 50 lawyers across the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Germany.
This offering also marks a significant milestone as the first IPO listed on Nasdaq Texas. Gibson Dunn advised Nasdaq on the creation and launch of the US’ newest stock exchange, Nasdaq Texas, and has led many significant Texas capital markets and redomiciliation transactions. The SpaceX IPO further underscores the firm’s role at the center of Texas’s emergence as a global leader in capital formation.
Gibson Dunn has proudly advised SpaceX on its most transformative transactions, including its acquisition of xAI, its strategic partnership with Cursor, and its acquisition of EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum portfolio, led by partners George Sampas and Robert Little.
SpaceX’s landmark IPO, as well as these M&A matters, reflect Gibson Dunn’s experience tackling the most challenging transactions and advising companies at the forefront of innovation across the aerospace, datacenter, infrastructure, energy, and technology sectors.
The Gibson Dunn Team for the SpaceX IPO was led by partners Hillary H. Holmes, Harrison Tucker, and Atma Kabad, and included associates Benjamin Blefeld, Muriel Hague, Malakeh Hijazi, Lawrence Lee, Mashoka Maimona, Anna Strong, and Daniel Quesenberry, and of counsel Rodrigo Surcan, Robbie Hopkins, Marie Kwon, and Patrick Cowherd. Partner Julia Lapitskaya, of counsel Rob Kelley and David Korvin, and associates Jenny Chen, Antony Nguyen, and Matthew Dolloff advised on governance matters. Partners Gerry Spedale and Collin Cox and associate Jack DiSorbo advised on Texas corporate law and litigation matters. Partners Thomas Kim, Brian Lane, Osman Nawaz, and Alan Bannister advised on securities regulation matters. Partners Gina Hancock and Krista Hanvey and associate Heather Monte advised on employee compensation and benefits matters. Partners George Sampas, Rob Little, and Chris Trester advised on M&A aspects. Partners Cassandra Gaedt-Sheckter, Vivek Mohan, and Frances Waldmann and associates Kyle Clendenon and Arjun Rangarajan advised on AI aspects. Partners Madalyn Miller, Matthew Axelrod, and Lindsay Paulin and associate Chris Mullen advised on aerospace regulatory aspects. Partner Michael Murphy advised on environmental aspects and partner Bradley Smith advised on antitrust aspects. Partners Brian Lutz and Stephanie Brooker and associate Greg Boden advised on litigation aspects. Partners Michael Cannon and Eric Sloan, of counsel Kate Long, and associate Sophia Helverson advised on tax aspects.
For the global offerings: In London, partners Steve Thierbach, Michelle Kirschner, Chris Haynes, and Benjamin Fryer, of counsel Thomas Barker, Martin Coombes, and Graham Crocker, and associates Libby Sycamore, and Konstantinos Flogaitis advised on U.K. retail offering aspects. In Madrid, partner Armando Albarrán and of counsel Alfonso Bernar advised on EU retail offering aspects. In Munich, partner Ferdinand Fromholzer advised on EU retail offering aspects.
About Gibson Dunn
Gibson Dunn is a leading international law firm. Consistently ranking among the world’s top law firms in industry surveys and major publications, Gibson Dunn is distinctively positioned in today’s global marketplace with more than 2,200 lawyers, and 23 offices, in Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Brussels, Century City, Dallas, Denver, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Munich, New York, Orange County, Palo Alto, Paris, Riyadh, San Francisco, Singapore, Washington, D.C., and Zurich. For more information on Gibson Dunn, please visit the firm’s website.
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Gibson Dunn secured a comprehensive victory for Bloomberg BNA in a multi-week Los Angeles Superior Court jury trial brought by a former legal-products sales employee. The plaintiff brought claims of sex and pregnancy discrimination, failure to prevent discrimination, and constructive termination/discharge against Bloomberg BNA, seeking both economic and emotional distress damages. The Court granted nonsuit in Bloomberg BNA’s favor on the failure to prevent discrimination claim, and the jury found in Bloomberg BNA’s favor on the remaining causes of action, awarding no damages.
The plaintiff alleged unfairness in assigned sales territories, commissions, compensation plans, maternity leave timing, and post-leave assignments. Specifically, the plaintiff claimed that after she announced her pregnancy, she was removed from her role and put in another one, but the facts clearly demonstrated that she had not performed well in her existing role and had enthusiastically accepted the new role. She also claimed that upon her return, she was again moved into a different role based on her pregnancy that resulted in her “inability” to earn commissions as a single mother, but the facts demonstrated a different reality.
Gibson Dunn’s strategy included highlighting the substantial evidence of support the plaintiff received from multiple managers despite her poor performance and lack of initiative, while also demonstrating the plaintiff’s lack of credibility. These strategies helped keep the jury focused on the absence of any adverse action or causation of harm telling a consistent story regarding the plaintiff’s performance and Bloomberg BNA’s business needs through all witnesses, including the plaintiff. A very clear pattern emerged that the plaintiff’s story at trial was inconsistent with her statements and actions during her employment, eviscerating her credibility. The case is a strong example of how disciplined trial strategy can overcome a sympathetic narrative and a complicated factual record.
The Gibson Dunn team included partners Michele L. Maryott and Marcellus McRae and associates Allison Mather, Eleni Ingram, Kathryn Chevalier, Haley Denler, and Daniel Liu.
Shout-out to a Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher trial team led by partners Michele Maryott, Marcellus McRae and associate Allison Mather, who represented Bloomberg BNA/Bloomberg Industry Group in a sex and pregnancy discrimination lawsuit brought by a former legal-products sales employee. Last week, after a multiweek trial, jurors in Los Angeles Superior Court sided with the company 11-1 on the plaintiff’s discrimination and constructive discharge claims, beyond the 9-3 threshold needed for a defense verdict. The Gibson Dunn team included associates Eleni Ingram, Kathryn Chevalier, Haley Denler and Daniel Liu.
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Reprinted with permission from the June 12, 2026 edition of “The AmLaw Litigation Daily” © 2026 ALM Global Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-256-2472 or asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com.
The Best Lawyers in France™ 2027 has named 18 Gibson Dunn Paris lawyers as leaders in their respective practice areas, and The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in France™ 2027 has included seven of our lawyers. Partner Ahmed Baladi has also been named Lawyer of the Year for Information Technology Law.
The Best Lawyers in France™ 2027:
- Darko Adamovic (Energy Law; Project Finance and Development Practice)
- Ahmed Baladi (Information Technology Law; Intellectual Property Law; Media Law; Outsourcing; Privacy and Data Security Law; Technology Law; Telecommunications Law)
- Amanda Bevan-de Bernède (Banking and Finance Law; Insolvency and Reorganization Law)
- Clarisse Bouchetemblé (Mergers and Acquisitions Law)
- Eric Bouffard (Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Insurance Law; International Arbitration; Litigation; Product Liability Litigation)
- Bertrand Delaunay (Corporate Law; Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Mergers and Acquisitions Law; Private Equity Law)
- Jérôme Delaurière (Tax Law)
- Jean-Pierre Farges (Arbitration and Mediation; Banking and Finance Law; Insolvency and Reorganization Law; International Arbitration; Litigation)
- Pierre-Emmanuel Fender (Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Litigation)
- Benoît Fleury (Corporate Law; Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions Law; Private Equity Law)
- Nataline Fleury (Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Labor and Employment Law)
- Dorothée Griveaux (Administrative Law; Energy Law; Public Law)
- Ariel Harroch (Corporate Law; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions Law; Private Equity Law; Real Estate Law; Securities Law; Tax Law)
- Vera Lukic (Information Technology Law; Intellectual Property Law; Media Law; Outsourcing; Privacy and Data Security Law; Technology Law; Telecommunications Law)
- Julia-Barbara Michalon (Banking and Finance Law; Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Structured Finance Law)
- Vincent Poilleux (Derivatives)
- Pauline Portos (Energy Law)
The Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in France™ 2027:
- Imane Choukir (Insolvency and Reorganization Law)
- Martin Guermonprez (Insolvency and Reorganization Law; International Arbitration; Litigation)
- David Hania (Insolvency and Reorganization Law)
- Arnaud Moulin (Banking and Finance Law)
- Etienne Paletto (Project Finance and Development Practice)
- Charles Peugnet (Insolvency and Reorganization Law)
- Emma Vernhes (Banking and Finance Law)
In their article for the ABA Litigation Journal [PDF] partner Sam Liversidge and associate Courtney Spears discuss strategies for successfully managing complex litigation matters and teams.
They write that while large, complex cases may generate a lot of “noise” both internally and externally, “ensuring proper organization of teams with clear lines of communication and other authority from the outset will allow you to manage the noise level and channel it into a winning strategy.”
The Daily Journal (subscription required) has named partners Rachel Brass and Theane Evangelis to its Top Women Lawyers 2026 list, which recognizes “the women lawyers shaping California’s legal landscape.”
Gibson Dunn advised Cinven, KKR, and Providence in connection with the sale of the 50% stake held by Lorca Midco Limited in MasOrange to telecommunications company Orange for EUR 4.25 billion.
The sale is one of the largest telecommunications deals in Spain to date and represents the exit of Cinven, KKR, and Providence from its investment in MasOrange.
Advising on the sale were partner Armando Albarrán, senior associate Mario Pacini, and associate Alberto Broseta.
Gibson Dunn represented R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, a leading provider of marketing, packaging, print, and business services to nearly all the Fortune 100, in connection with its upsized Rule 144A high-yield offering of $900 million of 11.000%/11.000% Senior PIK Notes due 2031.
The Gibson Dunn corporate team was led by partner Michael Saliba and included associates James Sullivan, Lily Paulson Stephens, Becca Pecora, and Francesca Faugno. Associate Paul Rafla advised on finance matters. Partner Jennifer Sabin and of counsel Yara Mansour advised on tax matters.
Gibson Dunn advised Mubadala Capital on the hybrid preferred equity financing by a parent company of CI Financial Corp., one of North America’s leading diversified asset and wealth management companies, to support add-on acquisitions of wealth management businesses. CI Financial Corp. was acquired by Mubadala Capital in August 2025.
The Gibson Dunn corporate team was led by partner Michael Saliba and included associates James Sullivan, Lily Paulson Stephens, and Alanah Herfi. Partner Isabel Berger and associates Romain Tourenne and Lena Tarrin advised on U.K. corporate law. Partners Kathryn Kelly and Benjamin Fryer and of counsel Yara Mansour advised on tax matters.