Announcements, sparingly

A federal jury returned a complete defense verdict for the firm's client, a specialty-chemicals manufacturer, rejecting fraud and breach-of-contract claims seeking $1.2 billion arising from a terminated supply agreement. The jury deliberated for less than four hours after a three-week trial.

Marcus Westbrook led the trial team, with Alexander Reyes examining two of the defense's principal witnesses. “The verdict reflects what the documents showed from the first day of discovery,” Westbrook said. “We prepared this case to be tried, and the jury did the rest.”

The firm has named partner Priya Raghavan co-chair of its Securities Litigation & Enforcement practice, alongside founding partner Eleanor Hayes. Raghavan, an engineer before she was a lawyer, leads the firm's defense of technology issuers and its disclosure-counseling work for late-stage private companies.

“Priya has quietly become the lawyer boards ask for when the alleged fraud lives in the technical details,” Hayes said. “This makes formal what our clients already knew.”