A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Sara Merken

What's going on today?

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

A judge in Texas dealt litigation funder Burford Capital a setback in its bid to collect on a $35 million investment in antitrust lawsuits brought by bankrupt food distributor Harvest Sherwood.

Burford affiliates sued Harvest Sherwood in July, asserting that their 2022 agreement with the company to fund antitrust claims worth as much as $1.1 billion functioned as a secured loan and gave Burford a first-priority right to proceeds from the cases.

Chief Judge Stacey Jernigan of the U.S. bankruptcy court in Dallas rejected those arguments in a ruling last week, holding that Burford affiliates Blakemore Investments and Milwaukee Investments had not shown that their so-called capital provision agreement entitled them to payment ahead of secured creditors such as JPMorgan Chase. Read the ruling.

Burford and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Attorneys for Harvest Sherwood had no immediate comment. My colleague Mike Scarcella has more about the case.

In New York: Former Proskauer partner Jon Oram joined Davis Polk as head of its sports practice … Antitrust and competition partner Kyra Bromley moved to Latham from Debevoise … Cozen O’Connor added international tax partner Oz Halabi from Pearl Cohen … Proskauer hired litigation partner Gregory Morris from O’Melveny.

In D.C.: White collar partner Margot Laporte joined Barnes & Thornburg from Dorsey & Whitney … King & Spalding rehired antitrust partner John Carroll from Sheppard Mullin, where he led the healthcare antitrust team … Spencer Fane added FDA and life sciences partner Brian Malkin from Teva Pharmaceuticals … BCLP picked up corporate transactions partner Laura Brank from Dechert.

In Dallas: Vedder Price tapped former federal prosecutor Andrew Robbins … Stinson hired health care William Hopkins from Spencer Fane. 

Across other cities: Ropes & Gray brought back Amanda Morrison in Boston from Advent to co-lead its global private capital transactions practice … Ogletree Deakins added former Delta executive Chris Puckett in Atlanta as co-chair of its aviation industry group … Morgan Lewis picked up technology and outsourcing partner Kari Krusmark from Gibson Dunn in Los Angeles … Quarles brought back Linden Barber in Indianapolis from Cardinal Health … Buchalter hired litigation partner Leah Capritta in Denver from Holland and Knight … K&L Gates added international arbitration partner Maria Kostytska in Paris from Winston & Strawn … Houston-based energy partner Anna Irion joined Baker Botts from Jackson Walker.

The fate of Wall Street's staggering bets on artificial intelligence will rest squarely on Nvidia today when the chipmaker reports results … The U.S. trade deficit narrowed more than expected in August as businesses imported fewer goods against the backdrop of higher tariffs … The West's push to build a home-grown magnets supply chain to reduce its reliance on China