Insights Search
As part of our ongoing monitoring of international and domestic legal developments, this article provides an update on the International Seabed Authority’s (“ISA”) Council Part II of the 30th Session and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (“NOAA”) proposed updates to its regulations implementing the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (“DSHMRA”), which provides the U.S. framework for deep-sea mining.
V&E International Dispute Update
As the Trump administration continues to roll out its sweeping tariff policy, the North American energy industry is working to address the effects of the President’s tariff strategy. The Trump administration intends to “unleash American energy,”1 in part by imposing tariffs designed to remedy what the administration views as unfair trade practices and increase U.S. domestic energy production. The currently imposed and threatened tariffs will inevitably impact the energy industry and its consumers. The particularly relevant tariffs can be defined in two broad categories: (1) sectoral tariffs, in this case, imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, and (2) the country-specific and “reciprocal tariffs” that the Trump administration has imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Published by RiEnergia, July 2025
Parties to transactions should be aware of new requirements for state-level merger reporting – so-called “mini-HSR Acts” – modeled on the Uniform Antitrust Pre-Merger Notification Act (“UAPNA”).
V&E Antitrust Update
The White House recently unveiled “America’s AI Action Plan,” a comprehensive strategy designed to secure United States leadership in the global artificial intelligence race.
V&E Artificial Intelligence Update
On July 24, 2025, the two largest U.S. proxy advisory firms—Glass, Lewis & Co. (“Glass Lewis”) and Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”)—each separately filed suit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas challenging recently enacted Texas Senate Bill 2337 (“S.B. 2337”).
V&E Governance & Sustainability Update
In this article published by Energy Intelligence, Bader Thabti and Eleanor Connolly* explore how the European Commission’s draft regulation on low-carbon fuels could complicate U.S. exports. As the EU pushes forward with its climate goals, new rules on emissions accounting, certification, and methane tracking are raising concerns among U.S. producers, particularly around the recognition of existing non-EU frameworks.
Published by Energy Intelligence
On July 8th, 2025, President Trump issued an order (the “Order”) forcing divestment of U.S.-based Jupiter Systems (“Jupiter”) by its China-based parent company, Suirui Group Co., Ltd. (“Suirui”), more than five years after Suirui acquired Jupiter.
V&E CFIUS Update
On July 11, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) announced that it had settled an enforcement action against two individuals who were alleged to have engaged in insider trading. The SEC’s complaint in SEC v. Trijya Vakil and Neeraj Visen, filed in the Southern District of New York, serves as a pointed reminder that insider-trading enforcement remains a top‐tier priority — even when the dollar amounts appear modest and the conduct occurs far below the C-suite. Trijya Vakil, a senior director at Elanco Animal Health, Inc. (“Elanco”), obtained material non-public information (“MNPI”) while performing due-diligence work on Elanco’s then-confidential plan to acquire Kindred Biosciences, Inc. (“Kindred”). She (i) purchased 500 Kindred shares for herself and (ii) tipped longtime friend Neeraj Visen, who bought 38,000 shares the day before the deal was announced. Following a 46 percent price jump after the June 16, 2021 announcement, Vakil profited by approximately $2,400 and Visen by roughly $109,000.