The financing closed for the construction of BP Plc's 301-megawatt Cedar Creek wind farm in Weld County, Colorado, the law firm representing the lenders said.

International law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP said in a release that Cedar Creek entered into a long-term supply agreement with Xcel Energy Inc.'s Public Service Co of Colorado for the sale of electricity from the project.

The law firm represented the lenders, Mizuho Financial Group Inc.'s (8411.T: Quote, NEWS , Research) Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd., Bayerische Landesbank [BAYLB.UL] and HSH Nordbank AG [HSH.UL]. It did not reveal the amount of financing the lenders provided.

Cedar Creek is a venture between BP's BP Alternative Energy North America Inc. subsidiary and Australian investment firm Babcock & Brown's (BNB.AX: Quote, Profile , Research) Babcock & Brown Operating Partners LP.

BP said in a release earlier this month it expected part of the project would to start operating in the second half of 2007.

Once completed, the Cedar Creek project, which is under construction, will have 274 turbines and generate about 301 MW of power - enough to power 120,000 homes.

Separately, Milbank said the financing for the construction of Spanish wind energy company Gamesa's (GAM.MC: Quote, Profile , Research) 80 MW Allegheny Ridge wind farm in Pennsylvania.

Milbank said it represented the lenders Mizuho and HSH Nordbank AG on the Allegheny project.

Gamesa entered into several long-term supply agreements with FirstEnergy Corp.'s (FE.N: Quote, Profile , Research) FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. subsidiary for the sale of electricity from the project.

The Allegheny Ridge project, expected to enter service in early 2007, will have 40 turbines rated at two megawatts each.

NEW YORK- Further demonstrating its commitment to addressing the legal profession’s top challenges, CT, part of Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services, today announces several new enhancements to its Litigation Solutions offerings. And, as an indication of others’ confidence in CT’s products, the company’s solutions have been named as a finalist for five Law Technology News^® Awards.

The Fourth Annual Law Technology News Awards recognize leaders in the field—both in innovation and implementation. CT is nominated in the following five categories: Records Management Software, CT’s hCue; EDD System, CT Summation CaseVault; Knowledge Management System, CTAdvantage.com; Litigation Support Service/Consultant, CT Summation Professional Services; and Litigation Support Software, CT Summation. The winners, as selected by Law Technology News readers, will be announced on January 29, 2007 at the Law Technology News Awards Dinner.

“We are delighted to be nominated in multiple categories this year. We strive to provide the best solutions for our customers, and it’s always nice to have that validated by some of the very people we aim to please,” said Gene Landoe, president and CEO of CT and Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services. “Building upon these nominations, we continue to expand our solutions and are eager to share some new offerings with the LegalTech NY audience. In particular, we are excited about the rapid growth in hosting and eDiscovery, which our CaseVault solution successfully addresses. We are looking forward to even greater growth in 2007 with the addition of a full range of eDiscovery services to complement the CaseVault product, which we believe will cement CT Summation's position as a leader in litigation support software and services.”

CT continues to improve upon its award-winning—and award-nominated—solutions by announcing a new client communications extranet portal, 360° Connections, from CT TyMetrix; the latest version of CT TyMetrix 360°, version 6.12; the release of CT Summation CaseVault 5.0; and the expansion of its CT Summation Enterprise platform support to include Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

“Legal professionals have a lot of challenges facing them each day, such as new rules and regulations and increased work loads—and many different technologies from which to chose that can potentially help,” said Tom Rump, vice president of Litigation Solutions for Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services. “The right mix of technology and in-house expertise can make all the difference when selecting the best tools and services. We strive to find a balance of both worlds to offer our customers solutions that work for them. These latest enhancements are yet another example of our commitment to growing our Litigation Solutions offerings in 2007.”

CT is announcing the following new offerings and enhancements at LegalTech New York:

• CT TyMetrix “360° Connections”: To better serve clients and respond quickly to the management technology needs of a sophisticated market, 360° Connections is a new client extranet from CT TyMetrix. Using a Web browser, clients can securely access information specific to their engagement and find out the latest news about CT TyMetrix developments. And, to elicit feedback from its most important audience, the extranet includes space for clients to post suggestions for enhancements to CT TyMetrix products.
• CT TyMetrix 360° Version 6.12: This new release includes collaborative budgeting with budgeting approval workflows, support for VAT management through tax handling rules, initial support for the LEDES XML 2.0 and additional offerings in the CT TyMetrix 360° reporting suite.
• CT TyMetrix University: To ensure rapid system adoption for new users and expanded platform utilization for experienced users, CT TyMetrix announces CT TyMetrix University. This newly formed group includes a dedicated team of professionals with legal/claims industry experience and training expertise. The 2007 schedule includes a wide array of regular training sessions for all end-users, including clients and their law firms. Participants can take advantage of the CT TyMetrix University via the Web, at client sites and at the CT TyMetrix headquarters in Hartford, Conn.
• CT Summation CaseVault Version 5.0: This major new release delivers ESI workflow to the latest ASP.NET environment. Version 5.0 is the latest advancement in CT Summation's effort to reduce "attorney glass time”—the time attorney's are required to spend using software to search, navigate and categorize evidence. This enables them to spend more time on valuable tasks such as evidence analysis. Also, an intuitive interface and easy to navigate features will enable additional time and cost savings for corporations and law firms.
• CT Summation Enterprise Microsoft SQL 2005 Support: As part of its initiatives to continually upgrade and innovate CT Summation products, CT Summation is expanding its Enterprise platform support to include Microsoft SQL 2005, Vista IE7 and Office 7. Users can take advantage of the platform’s capacity, speed, performance and security enhancements. In addition, law firms who have already adopted Microsoft SQL 2005 can now implement or upgrade existing CT Summation systems. Microsoft SQL 2005 support will be available in early March 2007.

In addition to these enhancements, CT is showcasing its CT Summation LG/iBlaze Version 2.8 with enhanced tagging and foldering to support ESI Review, CT EDGAR Solutions and CT TyMetrix 360° at LegalTech New York from Jan. 29-31, 2007.

About Law Technology News

Law Technology News^® provides timely information and insight into the latest technologies, products and services available for the legal marketplace. Each month, the award-winning magazine features new product announcements, as well as monthly articles and columns written by industry experts and senior law firm decision makers. LTN is distributed to more than 40,000 selected subscribers and is also available on the Web at www.lawtechnologynews.com. The magazine is published by ALM.

About CT

CT, a Wolters Kluwer business, provides intelligent software and service solutions that empower legal professionals to more effectively manage dynamic information, speed workflows and make critical decisions. CT is the market leader for corporate compliance and governance services and solutions, including solutions for managing statutory representation, corporate transactions, and jurisdictional and securities compliance; UCC products and services for corporate due diligence, secured lending, bankruptcy, and real estate, among other areas; matter management and e-billing applications, litigation support software, and eDiscovery services; and innovative trademark research offerings. CT is based in New York City. For more information, please visit www.ctlegalsolutions.com.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer is a leading global information services and publishing company. The company provides products and services for professionals in the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services, legal and regulatory, and education sectors. Wolters Kluwer has annual revenues (2005) of €3.4 billion, employs approximately 18,400 people worldwide and maintains operations across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com.

The American Civil Liberties Union is urging a federal appellate court to continue its challenge to the Bush administration's domestic spying program.

The Bush administration appealed to the court after a federal judge in Detroit ruled the program was unconstitutional.

But the administration now says the case is moot and should be dismissed since the surveillance is monitored by a secret court.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said the judges who oversee the program are reviewing applications to spy on people believed to be linked to al-Qaida, and there is no longer any controversy.

But the A-C-L-U says the administration might return to surveillance outside the secret panel without a court order against it.

As in the past, when large firms like 700-lawyer Simpson Thatcher announce a salary hike, others are quick to follow. Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison matched Simpson Thacher's increase to $160,000 Tuesday afternoon. Last February's increase to $145,000 was first announced by Sullivan & Cromwell, and other firms wasted little time jumping on the bandwagon. Firms generally succumb to the pressure to match salaries to remain competitive in nabbing talent from a small pool of top law students.

Simpson Thacher's decision also comes after a pay increase at a number of California firms, which upped their first-year salaries to $145,000 from $135,000. New York firms may also follow Simpson Thacher's lead in an effort to maintain the Big Apple's status as the top market for associate pay.

A coalition of businesses and environmental groups on Monday called for federal legislation to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. In a letter to President Bush a day before his State of the Union Address, the US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) advocated a "cap and trade" system, in which companies whose emissions exceed mandatory limits could buy credits from companies that produce less pollution. "This approach will ensure emission reduction targets will be met while simultaneously ... stimulating investment and innovation in the technologies that will be necessary to achieve our environmental goal," USCAP wrote in A Call for Action, a 16-page report released by the group Monday. Specifically, USCAP recommended that Congress set short-term and long-term targets for cutting emissions, ranging from a 10 percent reduction within 10 years to as much as 80 percent by 2050.

Scientific research suggests that man-made greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. USCAP's 14 members include large corporations such as Alcoa, BP America, DuPont and General Electric as well as the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Pew Center on Global Climate Change and the World Resources Institute [advocacy websites]. Its report is the culmination of a year-long effort. White House press secretary Tony Snow responded to the USCAP proposal  during his daily briefing, noting that although Bush opposes mandatory CO2 limits, he will discuss alternatives to fossil fuels in his address to Congress on Tuesday. AP has more. C-SPAN has recorded video of the USCAP press conference.

Christopher J. Steskal, a lead prosecutor of a federal task force investigating the backdating of stock options at Apple Inc. and other companies, is leaving his San Francisco post to join a law firm, the United State Attorney’s office in San Francisco confirmed late Friday.

Mr. Steskal’s decision follows the recent resignation of his boss, United States Attorney Kevin V. Ryan.

Mr. Steskal also was the lead prosecutor in the government’s case against Gregory L. Reyes, the former chief executive of Brocade Communications Systems.

Mr. Steskal, who was to try Mr. Reyes’s case in June in San Francisco, is the second of five assistant United States attorneys on the task force to leave since its formation in July. He said he would join the San Francisco office of Fenwick & West within 30 days.

William J. Portanova, a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, said that he believed that the Brocade case would not suffer, no matter who is picked to succeed Mr. Steskal.

“The government has people stacked up ready to pick up the case and run with it,” he said.

Luke Macaulay, a spokesman for the United States Attorney’s office in San Francisco, said that one of two prosecutors the office is planning to hire would replace Mr. Steskal on the task force.