Gibson Dunn

Partner Krystyna Blakeslee, who has led some of the largest and most high-profile commercial real estate transactions in the U.S. in recent years, was recognized by the New York Real Estate Journal in its feature on 2024 Women in Commercial Real Estate. Krystyna spoke to the Journal about some of her major recent deals, including representing a mezzanine lender in the origination of $1.2 billion in mortgage and mezzanine loans for an R&D project in San Diego, and restructuring and exercising remedies on a $1.2 billion construction project. She also addressed the need for women to find balance in their careers. “When I transitioned from a military career in the U.S. Marine Corps, where I served in Iraq, to a demanding legal career, I had to embody resilience and leadership,” she said. “Balancing professional responsibilities with motherhood has been another challenge, one that is rewarding, but requires that same resiliency.”

“Good client relationships are fundamental” to becoming a trusted energy lawyer in Texas, Houston partner Tull Florey told the Texas Lawyer. “Constant nurturing of long-term client relationships, while also maintaining strong ones with our peers, is particularly key to achieving successful M&A transactions.”   Tull also shared some of his most significant achievements of 2023, notably leading the negotiations for Pioneer Natural Resources in its sale to Exxon — the largest transaction in 2023 worldwide and the largest in the upstream oil and gas industry this century.   Tull is a finalist for Texas Lawyer’s Energy Attorney of the Year award. The award will be presented in Dallas on October 15.

In a guest column for the Daily Journal, Century City partner Jillian London and Los Angeles associates Marissa Mulligan and Eric Richardson discuss a recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that reaffirmed a strong First Amendment right to petition and clarified that a showing of “objective baselessness” is required as a first step to meet the “sham” litigation test in most circumstances. 

Our Digital Assets update covers recent legal news regarding all types of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, CBDCs, and NFTs, as well as other blockchain and Web3 technologies.

Our New York associate Katarina Delgado is passionate about providing pro bono representation to underserved communities, including members of the Latinx community. Katarina has built a strong bond between Gibson Dunn and LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a nonprofit organization focused on protecting Latinx civil and human rights. As part of her work, Katarina helped lead a team of Gibson Dunn and LatinoJustice lawyers to draft an amicus brief highlighting the impact of Florida’s Stop WOKE Act on students and educators.    Katarina continues to work closely with LatinoJustice on pro bono matters and was recently selected to join LatinoJustice’s Líderes board. In addition, she was a critical member of a team of Gibson Dunn lawyers who filed a pro bono civil rights lawsuit on behalf of a young woman who was wrongfully incarcerated for six months, despite never being accused of a crime. Katarina uses her pro bono practice to bring her skills as a litigator to bear in defending the rights and liberties of others.

Our SEC Desktop Calendar for 2025 provides both the filing deadlines for key SEC reports, and the dates on which financial statements in prospectuses and proxy statements must be updated before use. https://lnkd.in/gr9U7zpc

Los Angeles partner Jesse A. Cripps, recognized by the Daily Journal as one of California’s Top Labor & Employment Lawyers, spoke with the publication about some of his notable recent achievements, including his representation of Gulfstream Aerospace in a case brought by a former employee alleging age discrimination and other violations. Although the trial took place under a tight timeline due to unusual procedural circumstances, Jesse’s team secured a complete jury trial victory, which he calls “a testament to the power of teamwork.” Jesse surrounded himself with great lawyers “and together, we proved … that even the most complex and difficult of cases can be effectively tried on the most aggressive of timelines.” 

Dallas partner Jeffrey Chapman, a finalist for Texas Lawyer's Dealmaker of the Year award, recently spoke with the publication about his most significant achievements of 2023, which included representing Pioneer Natural Resources in its sale to Exxon — the largest transaction in the world last year. Jeffrey also described the qualities of a trusted transactional lawyer in Texas, foremost among which is integrity: “The board … needs to trust the word of its counsel. For that matter, so does opposing counsel. A trusted transactional lawyer's word must be his or her bond. If it is not, nothing else matters.”   The Texas Legal Awards will be presented in Dallas on October 15.

A Gibson Dunn pro bono team has filed a merits amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in support of the petitioners in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton.   The case concerns whether the Fifth Circuit misstated First Amendment law when it used rational-basis review to uphold Texas H.B. 1181, a law requiring websites hosting adult content to implement age verification. In the brief, our lawyers argue that the Fifth Circuit wrongly applied rational-basis review instead of strict scrutiny, as First Amendment precedent requires. The failure to apply strict scrutiny leaves H.B. 1181 in place. This will allow the law to continue to harm children, because it does not meaningfully address the extent to which Internet users can circumvent website-based age verification, nor does it consider the practical barriers to enforcement across international borders. In fact, the law instead reduces the access of both children and adults to constitutionally protected speech. The brief argues that a more effective and less restrictive mechanism that would withstand strict scrutiny is to require content filtering, which filters content based on whether the user’s device account shows that they are underage.   Our team included partners Amer Ahmed (New York) and Jillian London (Century City) and associates Daniel Adler (Los Angeles), Zachary Montgomery (Los Angeles), Apratim Vidyarthi (New York), Iason Togias (New York), and Kylie Calabrese (Houston). 

The U.S. Department of Justice has updated its evaluation of corporate compliance program guidance focused on AI and emerging technologies.