Gibson Dunn represented L Squared Capital Partners in connection with the formation of LSCP BTX CV, a single asset continuation fund for BTX Precision, a leading high-precision manufacturer of mission-critical components and assemblies. The continuation fund was led by HarbourVest Partners with participation from a syndicate of global investors and a new commitment from L Squared Fund IV. Evercore served as exclusive financial advisor to L Squared.
The firm’s team included Kate Timmerman, Edward Sopher, Candice Choh, Evan M. Gusler, Kevin Lafferty, Jeff Xu, Colleen Bazak, Tim Dragonette, Jennifer A. Fitzgerald, Brian T. Smith, Juliana R. Stone, Chelsea Werner, Fiona Xin, and Jason Zhang.
On April 1, Gibson Dunn partners Reed Brodsky and Amer S. Ahmed scored a total defense victory in the Southern District of New York, putting an end to a billion-dollar civil RICO claim launched over eight years ago by major real estate developers with the blessing of the U.S. government.
In 2017, plaintiffs—18 joint venture entities between the U.S. Army and Air Force, on the one hand, and private real estate developers, on the other—filed suit seeking approximately $1 billion in damages and attorney fees from Danny Ray and his co-defendants, Jefferies, Ambac Assurance Corporation, and a former Ambac employee, Chetan Marfatia. Between 2002 and 2012, the plaintiff entities had negotiated and obtained multi-hundred-million dollar commercial loans from Mr. Ray’s former employers to redevelop military housing bases nationwide pursuant to the Military Housing Privatization Initiative Act of 1996 (MHPI). Mr. Ray, a former U.S. Army Captain turned mortgage banker, led the lenders’ teams in bidding for the opportunity to provide financing for these privatization projects, competing with major Wall Street players like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. Although these deals were negotiated by highly sophisticated advisers on both sides and exhaustively memorialized in fully disclosed loan documents, plaintiffs alleged a decade later that the defendants engaged in a RICO conspiracy to extract “hidden” profits from the commercial deals through inflated interest rates on the loans, overstated pricing for credit insurance, and undisclosed fees.
In a 79-page opinion, Judge Paul G. Gardephe granted in full the motions for summary judgment filed by Gibson Dunn client Danny Ray and his former employer, Jefferies, bringing to a close nearly a decade of scorched-earth litigation over alleged fraud in the loans used to privatize military housing. Drawing on millions of documents and the testimony of over 70 witnesses, the Court ruled that the developers’ allegations of fraud failed on statute-of-limitations grounds because they have long known about what they had claimed was concealed from them. The court’s published decision reinforces the strength of statute-of-limitations defenses in civil RICO cases post-discovery and provides a clear framework for establishing “actual or inquiry notice” in the Second Circuit.
The Gibson Dunn team that represented Mr. Ray was led by Reed Brodsky and Amer S. Ahmed and included Joseph Rose, Nathan Strauss, Hannah Kirshner, Cullinan Williams, and Carson Whitehurst, as well as Anne Champion and Nicholas Pulakos.
On March 30, 2026, Gibson Dunn secured a major victory on behalf of client Meta Platforms, Inc., convincing Judge P. Casey Pitts of the Northern District of California to deny class certification in a data-privacy class action against Meta relating to third-party websites’ use of its free Pixel code, which allows websites to send data to Meta and receive analytics about their users. Meta’s terms preclude those websites from sending any sensitive information through the Pixel.
The plaintiffs in this case alleged that the Pixel was installed by various tax-filing websites, including H&R Block and TaxAct, and that those websites sent users’ tax-filing information to Meta, in violation of Meta’s terms. But discovery revealed that Meta received no tax-filing information about any of the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs then pivoted, seeking to certify far broader classes of all people who ever visited the tax sites.
Gibson Dunn convinced Judge Pitts to deny class certification. Judge Pitts accepted Meta’s argument that plaintiffs could not broaden the class definition beyond the class proposed in the complaint, reasoning that class members outside the original definition lacked timely claims and could not benefit from tolling. He also ruled that to the extent Meta had received any tax-filing information about any putative class members, identifying those people would require burdensome individualized inquiries that would predominate over common questions.
Gibson Dunn partner Lauren Goldman argued the case for Meta; the firm’s winning team includes partners Elizabeth K. McCloskey, Darcy C. Harris, Abbey A. Barrera, and Trenton J. Van Oss.
In a recent OpEd in the Houston Chronicle (subscription required), Trey Cox, Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s global Litigation Practice Group and Co-Partner in Charge of the firm’s Dallas office, and Robert Ahdieh, Dean of the Texas A&M School of Law, explain why companies want to incorporate in Texas: the state “has been reforming its … corporate laws to strike a better balance between accountability and value creation.”
At the heart of the Texas reform effort, the authors write, are the creation of the Texas Business Court — a dedicated court for business issues — and changes to the Texas corporate law designed to enhance predictability — specifically, the codification of the business judgment rule, “a foundational doctrine in corporate law that presumes directors and officers are acting in good faith and in a company’s best interest.”
“The developing ecosystem in Texas has already produced striking results,” the authors add: between 2015 and 2025, the number of businesses registered in Texas more than doubled, and some 200 companies have relocated to the state since 2020, including Fortune 500 companies and iconic American brands like Chevron, Oracle, and Caterpillar.
Writing about “Texas Corporate Developments: What Officers and Directors Need to Know” [PDF] in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, partners Hillary Holmes, Gerry Spedale, Gregg Costa and Ronald Mueller note that Texas has recently “attracted headline‑making redomestications, launched multiple nationally significant stock exchanges, and expanded the reach and influence of the Texas Business Court” — developments that “reflect Texas’s accelerating rise as a premier jurisdiction for corporate governance, capital formation, and high‑stakes commercial dispute resolution” and that signal the state’s emergence as an alternative to traditional corporate jurisdictions.
Associates Jack DiSorbo and Muriel Hague also contributed to the article.
Gibson Dunn advised Diversified Energy Company on the pricing of its secondary offering of common stock. The company focuses on acquiring, operating, and optimizing cash generating energy assets.
The Gibson Dunn team included partners Hillary Holmes and Cynthia Mabry, of counsel Patrick Cowherd, and associates Lauren Guzman and Lauren Romagnoli.
Partner Cynthia Chen McTernan and associate Sonia Ghura have co-authored with Sim Singh Attariwala, Director of the Anti-Hate Program at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the New York Law Journal article “ICE Fraud and Abuse: Growing Concerns and a Path for Accountability.” [PDF] The article outlines emerging trends in race-motivated impersonation and abuse of immigration enforcement mechanisms and discusses challenges and opportunities for improvement in the existing legal frameworks to hold perpetrators of these behaviors accountable.
Associates Albert Tian, Stacey Lee, and Elaine Tsui also contributed to the article.
Partners Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. and Theane Evangelis have been named by the Daily Journal to its list of Leading Commercial Litigators for 2026: lawyers who “have built careers on bet-the-company cases — with outcomes that matter for their clients, their industries and the law itself.”
The Daily Journal selected the honorees “based on impact, professional contribution, public service and a commitment to reflecting the diversity of California’s legal community.”
At the recent Global Competition Review awards, Gibson Dunn was named co-winner in the Behavioural Matter of the Year – Europe category for its role in securing early resolution of a major investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority into certain practices by large U.K. housebuilders. The multidisciplinary team led by Ali Nikpay, Co-Chair of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition group, included Doug Watson, Dee Taylor, Joel Harrison, Ben Nunez, Steve Melrose, Helen Elmer, Sophie Hammond, Irfan Walji, Robert Hyde, Tina Asgharian, Crystal Miles, and David O’Flannigan.
The awards, presented in Washington, D.C., honor the world’s leading antitrust lawyers, economists, and enforcers as well as the biggest cases from 2025
Gibson Dunn is advising Marriott International on its proposed joint venture with the Leali family, founders of the Lefay brand. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary approvals and closing conditions.
Lefay will be the first brand in Marriott’s portfolio dedicated exclusively to luxury wellness. The Lefay portfolio includes two award-winning luxury resorts in Italy (Lago di Garda and Dolomiti); a further three properties are under development in Tuscany, Southern Italy, and the Swiss Alps.
The Gibson Dunn team is led by partner Marwan Elaraby and includes associates Krishna Parikh and Caitlin Moss. Partner Claire Shepherd and associate Aakarsh Narula are advising on antitrust aspects.
Gibson Dunn teamed up with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights to secure dismissal with prejudice of a slew of damages claims filed against a former Georgetown University student for speaking out against antisemitism on campus.
The ruling marks a significant win for the firm and its client after a year of litigation in state and federal courts. The student criticized Georgetown’s hiring of an administrator who posted virulent anti-Jewish content on social media. Following an investigation, the administrator was terminated. She then sued Georgetown for wrongful termination and later expanded her claims to include the student and others who expressed their opinions about her conduct.
Representing the student pro bono, Gibson Dunn and the Brandeis Center moved to dismiss the claims on multiple grounds, including that they improperly targeted protected speech and expression on matters of public concern.
In a March 31 opinion, the Court agreed that the suit improperly attacked the student’s First Amendment right to address content that was “an affront to her Jewish identity, especially in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack.” The dismissal order stressed the strong public interest in protecting speech on university hiring decisions, and warned that allowing the suit would “undoubtedly chill campus speech” and undercut the “marketplace of ideas.”
Gibson partner Elizabeth Papez said “Gibson Dunn is proud to have achieved justice for our client in this lawsuit, which improperly sought to punish her exercise of First Amendment rights and chill the expression of countless others. We’re especially pleased that the Court agreed that our client’s First Amendment defense “packs a strong punch” and that the claims against her are so flawed they require dismissal with prejudice.”
The victory advances Gibson Dunn’s longstanding leadership in combating antisemitism by providing free legal assistance to individuals who experience antisemitic discrimination, intimidation, harassment, vandalism or violence.
The Gibson Dunn team was led by partners Elizabeth Papez and David Kusnetz, senior associate Lavi Ben Dor, and former associate Josh Zuckerman. Papez and Ben Dor argued the winning motion with support from associates Tamara Skinner and Ester Cross and former associate Audrey Payne.
A team of Gibson Dunn lawyers has achieved a major win in a First Amendment case against the U.S. government, successfully obtaining a permanent injunction from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for our client NPR against enforcement of a Trump administration Executive Order that targeted NPR for its protected speech.
“Today’s ruling is a significant victory for the First Amendment and for freedom of the press,” said Gibson Dunn partner Theodore Boutrous, who represented NPR. “The district court’s decision bars the government from enforcing its unconstitutional Executive Order targeting NPR and PBS because the President dislikes their news reporting and other programming. As the court expressly recognized, the First Amendment draws a line, which the government may not cross, at efforts to use government power—including the power of the purse—‘to punish or suppress disfavored expression’ by others. The Executive Order crossed that line.”
In addition to Ted, our winning team includes partners Miguel Estrada, Katie Townsend, and Michael Dore; of counsel Sophia Brill; and associates Eric Brooks, Connor Mui, Tate Rosenblatt, and Ellie Schwietering.
Partner Svetlana Gans, Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn’s Consumer Protection Practice and Antitrust team member, has been appointed to serve as the future Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Antitrust Law Section. Svetlana will serve as Vice Chair starting August 2026, with her official term as Chair beginning in August 2028.
As Section Chair, Svetlana will oversee ABA Antitrust Law Section programs, 500+ leadership members, and 12,000+ Section members.
Svetlana has served in ABA Antitrust Law Section leadership for over two decades.
Gibson Dunn and Solomon Simmons Law have secured a significant appellate victory in the Tenth Circuit in Manning v. City of Tulsa, et al., rejecting the qualified immunity defense of the officer who shot and killed Terence Crutcher, an unarmed Black man killed by Tulsa police in 2016. The case will now proceed to trial before a jury to resolve the civil rights claims of Mr. Crutcher’s Estate against the officer for Mr. Crutcher’s unconstitutional killing.
Mr. Crutcher’s death is captured on video, which shows that at the time he was shot, he was unarmed, his hands were raised, and he was not under arrest. His death sparked protests in Tulsa and drew national media attention. Although the officer who killed Mr. Crutcher was criminally prosecuted, she was acquitted in 2017.
Mr. Crutcher’s Estate filed this civil rights lawsuit in 2017, alleging constitutional violations against the officer for using deadly force against Mr. Crutcher when he had no weapon, had his hands raised, and posed no threat. After years of delays, the district court granted the officer qualified immunity. On March 30, 2026, the Tenth Circuit reversed.
The decision is a resounding victory for the Estate. The Court reaffirmed the “baseline principle that a police officer may not seize an unarmed, nondangerous suspect by shooting him dead” and found that under the proper standard, “the evidence supports the Estate’s claim that [the officer] violated [Mr.] Crutcher’s constitutional rights by using unreasonable force.”
The case will now proceed to trial in federal court before a jury.
“This decision confirms what we have said from day one: Terence Crutcher should be alive,” said civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons. “The Tenth Circuit made clear that an officer cannot shoot an unarmed, non-threatening man and hide behind qualified immunity. Now, the question is not what happened—we know what happened. The question is whether the City of Tulsa will finally take responsibility.”
“The Court has sent this case back for a jury to decide,” Solomon-Simmons added. “The City now has a choice: continue to defend the indefensible or step forward and do what justice requires.”
“We all deserve to be free from unjustified police violence. The Tenth Circuit made that clear yesterday and reminded us of the fundamental civil rights the Constitution is designed to protect,” said Karin Portlock of Gibson Dunn, co-counsel for the Crutcher family. “The law has long been established—an officer cannot shoot an unarmed and non-threatening individual—and excessive force will not be tolerated.”
“Terence Crutcher should be alive today,” Portlock added. “We will continue our fight for justice for his family, and we look forward to trying this case before the jury.”
“For nearly a decade, we have carried both truth and grief in the same hands,” the Crutcher family said in a statement. “Today reminds us that persistence matters. Even when justice feels far away, it is still worth fighting for. This moment brings hope, but that hope has come at a cost. It has taken years of waiting, pushing, and holding on when it would have been easier to let go.”
“Our beloved Terence had his hands up. He was unarmed. He needed help, but instead he was killed,” the family added. “We will not stop until there is full accountability.”
View the full decision here.
Gibson Dunn advised 1GT, Morgan Stanley’s Climate Private Equity strategy, on the €1 billion sale of Huel to Danone. Huel is a leading global player in complete meal solutions. Danone is a leading global food and beverage company.
1GT was one of the institutional sellers in this transaction, alongside Highland; other sellers included the founder Julian Hearn and the senior management team. Gibson Dunn had advised 1GT on its investment in Huel in 2023, one of the fund’s first investments.
The Gibson Dunn team was led by partners Till Lefranc and Isabel Berger and included associate Bansaree Shah. Partner Valeri Bozhikov advised on competition aspects, and partner Timothy Loose advised on U.S. litigation aspects.
The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Led by partner Armando Albarrán, Gibson Dunn advised Merlin Properties on its c. $900 million capital increase via an accelerated book build (ABB) offer. The proceeds from the share capital increase will be used for Phase III of Merlin Properties’ data center program, 412MW. The share capital increase via the issuance of up to 56,275,101 new shares represents approximately 10% of Merlin Properties’ share capital.
The cross-border team advising Merlin Properties included London partner Hugo Hernández-Mancha and associate Francesco Mancuso.
Armando Albarrán recently joined the firm as a partner in our Private Equity and M&A Practice Groups. His arrival will be followed by the opening of Gibson Dunn’s Madrid office and represents a significant expansion of the firm’s European transactional platform.
Senior counsel Becky Adams has authored “TCPA Compliance, Litigation, and the Art of Saying (Almost) Nothing” [PDF] for the ABA Litigation Journal. She writes: “From quietly building airtight compliance programs to avoiding oversharing in pre-litigation negotiations, knowing what not to say, and when not to say it, can save companies millions.”
Commentary by partners Oleh Vretsona and F. Joseph Warin is included in the Anti-Corruption Report article “Compliance Reps and Warranties: Definitions and Goals” (March 25, 2026). The report details how compliance representations and warranties are more important than ever.
On March 27, 2026, Gibson Dunn secured a multi-billion dollar victory on behalf of client Luminant Energy Company, LLC in the Winter Storm Uri litigation at the Supreme Court of Texas — convincing the Court to leave intact an earlier appellate victory dismissing billions of dollars in claims against the Texas generation industry in an MDL consisting of over 200 cases and 20,000 plaintiffs.
The Winter Storm Uri litigation arises out of the February 2021 winter storm that caused widespread power outages across Texas and led to hundreds of suits against participants across the ERCOT electricity market. In December 2023, a Dallas team led by partners Allyson Ho and Mike Raiff convinced the First Court of Appeals in Houston to grant multiple petitions for writs of mandamus and direct the MDL court to dismiss the tort claims against the generators on the pleadings alone.
Today, Gibson Dunn convinced the Supreme Court of Texas not to disturb that decision, affording Gibson Dunn’s generation clients (and many other generators) a total victory in a five-year litigation involving billions of dollars in exposure. In addition to Mike and Allyson, the winning team includes associates Elizabeth Kiernan, Stephen Hammer, Rebecca Roman, and Arjun Ogale.
A Gibson Dunn team led by Houston partner and former federal judge Gregg Costa has secured an important victory in a Second Amendment case in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, successfully defending a Texas “sensitive places” gun law.
In May 2025, a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas appointed Gregg and SMU law professor Eric Ruben as amici curiae to defend the constitutionality of Texas’s ban on guns at bars and restaurants, racetracks, stadiums, and interscholastic and sporting events after the Texas Attorney General refused to defend the law in response to a challenge from California-based plaintiffs. In September 2025, the Gibson Dunn team and Professor Ruben filed an amicus brief that drew on deep research into Texas and American firearms regulation.
On March 24, 2026, relying on the research and many of the arguments in the amicus brief, the district court granted summary judgment, rejecting the challenge and holding that Texas’s laws are consistent with the historical tradition of firearm regulation in the U.S. and thus comport with the Second Amendment. The decision reinforces the constitutionality of longstanding “sensitive places” restrictions and provides important guidance for Second Amendment litigation nationwide.
The winning Gibson Dunn team also included associates Kylie Calabrese, Andrew Mitchell, Arjun Ogale, and Alexa Acquista.