Good morning. Amy Coney Barrett is officially a Supreme Court justice, Judge Juan Torruella of the 1st Circuit has died, creating a vacancy Trump could potentially fill, the lead prosecutor in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal probe is going into private practice, and Kirkland & Ellis is looking to help small businesses amid the pandemic. Let's go!
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
Barrett confirmed in as SCOTUS justice ahead of election
Amy Coney Barrett is set to join U.S. Supreme Court, after the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate late Monday voted 52-48 to add a sixth conservative justice to replace the late liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
Barrett that night was administered the constitutional oath by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas at an event at the White House, where President Donald Trump's third nominee said she would do her job "independently of both the political branches and of my own preferences." The White House held the event even though a Rose Garden ceremony on Sept. 26 to announce Barrett's nomination was later linked to a COVID-19 outbreak that preceded Trump's own infection.
She will begin work today after Justice John Roberts administers the judicial oath to her. That means Barrett will be able to participate in hearing arguments on Nov. 10 in a case in which Trump and Republican-led states are seeking to invalidate Obamacare.
She will also be able to weigh in on election disputes, including in pending cases the court is expected to act on before Election Day. "It really is a potential baptism by fire," Rick Hasen of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, told Lawrence Hurley.
With all eyes on SCOTUS, Trump also reshaped the circuit courts
The circuit courts, most often the last stop for a majority of cases because the Supreme Court takes up less than 100 cases per term, wield a great deal of power. Since he took office almost four years ago, President Donald Trump has appointed 53 judges to the circuit courts -- a record pace. By comparison, former President Barack Obama appointed 55 in eight years in office.
Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation on Monday leaves a vacancy on the 7th Circuit. Last week, Trump announced his intent to nominate U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch of the Northern District of Indiana, to Barrett's seat. 1st Circuit Judge Juan Torruella died on Monday at age 87, leaving a vacancy that would be Trump's first opportunity to name a judge to the court, Caroline Spiezio reports. Trump has appointed judges to every circuit court except the 1st and the Federal Circuit.
While a majority of Trump appointees, largely white males, have replaced retiring judges appointed by other Republican presidents, they have tilted the ideological balance of the 2nd, 3rd and 11th Circuits in a conservative direction. Check out Reuters' Courting Change interactive graphic for a closer look at how Trump has shaped these courts.
Industry buzz
- Eric Rosen, who as an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston led the "Varsity Blues" investigation into a vast U.S. college admissions cheating and fraud scheme, is returning to private practice to launch a white collar defense firm with two recent prosecutors in New York. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan refused to dismiss a former Davis Polk associate's claim that a group of partners retaliated against him after he filed a racial discrimination complaint with the EEOC. (Reuters)
- Judge Juan Torruella, the first Hispanic judge on the 1st Circuit, died Monday at age 87. Born in Puerto Rico in 1933, Torruella was appointed to the court by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 after serving as chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. (Reuters)
- Mordie Rochlin, a lawyer at Paul Weiss for more than 83 years, died last week from complications from COVID-19 at age 107. He was six week shy of his 108th birthday. (New York Law Journal)
- Kirkland & Ellis has been conducting layoffs of support staff. (Above The Law)
- Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, now also represents the family of Javier Ambler II and has filed a civil lawsuit against Williamson County, Texas. Ambler, a Black man, died while in the custody of Williamson County deputies last year. (USA Today)
With small business clinics and racial justice efforts, Kirkland aims to level the playing field
|
Susan Davies Source: Kirkland & Ellis
|
As the legal industry recognizes Pro Bono Week, The Daily Docket is catching up with major law firms about their efforts. Kirkland & Ellis litigation partner and one of the firm's pro bono committee chairs Susan Davies said the firm's ongoing work around racial justice and its work with small businesses were most notable this year.
Kirkland led a network of other firms with Lawyers for Good Government on the COVID small business clinic in a dozen cities across the country. The clinic began in March and will continue for as long as is necessary.
Davies also notes that the firm represented Taylor Dumpson, American University's first Black female student body president in her fight against a white supremacist who harassed her online. Dumpson was awarded more than $600,000 in damages.
"Every time we can tilt the playing field a little closer to even for at least one person it is a glorious and an energizing thing," Davies said. "The lesson of COVID is that we're all vulnerable and for those who are more vulnerable, to be able to take some of that vulnerability away, that's what keeps me motivated."
"The conduct at issue here calls into doubt all internal investigations done at Goldman and demonstrates that the bank and its senior leaders are only concerned with protecting themselves and their executives, not the employees."
Marla Crawford, a former associate general counsel at Goldman Sachs, in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court by lawyers led by Douglas Wigdor of Wigdor that claims the bank attempted to cover up allegations of workplace sexual misconduct by its global head of litigation, Darrell Cafasso. Goldman in a statement said it "conducted a review of the allegations in this complaint and found that they were completely without merit." (Reuters)
In the courts
- The first white collar criminal trial in Manhattan's federal court since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic kicked off Monday, as jurors heard opening statements in a securities fraud case against two former executives of biotech company MiMedx Group Inc. Freshfields' Eric Bruce, a lawyer for former MiMedx CEO Parker Petit, argued that although "some mistakes were made," his client had committed no crime. (Reuters)
- The 9th Circuit rejected the Trump administration's request put on hold pending appeal a judge's order barring it from banning Apple and Google from offering Chinese-owned WeChat for download in U.S. app stores on national security grounds. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan, following a bench trial, found a former analyst at Sterne Agee liable on SEC charges that he covered up a $12,700 ski trip aimed at winning business from a state pension fund. Gardephe said John Paulsen, represented by Armstrong Teasdale's Eric Creizman, knew the trip was an illegal quid pro quo and lied to protect himself. (Reuters)
- The 5th Circuit in a 2-1 vote held that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was not authorized to share confidential information about Ernst & Young's work for a failed bank with the FDIC because it was the receiver for First NBC Bank, not its regulator. The ruling was a victory for former E&Y auditor Daniel Belcher, whose lawyers including Williams & Connolly's Steven Farina appealed a decision that allowed the FDIC to depose him in its investigation of the firm's work for the bank before its collapse. (Reuters)
- A San Diego-based driver for Uber Technologies filed a proposed nationwide class action claiming the ride-hailing company's use of passenger ratings to evaluate drivers discriminates against minorities. Shannon Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan filed the lawsuit on the driver’s behalf. (Reuters)
- Hertz unsecured creditors' committee, represented by lawyers at Kramer Levin, is questioning the car rental company's proposed $1.65 billion bankruptcy loan, saying the terms of the deal are overly beneficial to lenders and that a competing offer may be on the table soon. (Reuters)
- Democratic attorney generals of 13 states and Washington D.C. are urging the 1st Circuit to reconsider its recent decision allowing ICE to arrest individuals targeted for deportation at state courthouses in Massachusetts. (Reuters)
Election 2020 litigation
- The U.S. Supreme Court on a 5-3 vote sided with Wisconsin Republicans in refusing to reinstate a judge's order that extended the deadline for returning mail-in ballots in the state. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan in a dissenting opinion said the decision "will disenfranchise large numbers of responsible voters in the midst of hazardous pandemic conditions." (Reuters)
- A Louisiana state court judge dismissed a lawsuit by Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry seeking to block millions of dollars in grants to local election officials from the Center of Tech and Civic Life to help defray costs. The center's grants come from hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. (The Advocate)
- U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes declined to issue an injunction requiring election officials in Arkansas to notify absentee voters about problems matching their signatures to the ones they have on file so they have a chance to correct the issue. The ruling came in a lawsuit by the League of Women Voters and lawyers at Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Debevoise & Plimpton. (Arkansas Times)
Industry moves
- Barry Nigro stepped down from the DOJ's Antitrust Division last week, where he was No. 2 to Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, and will rejoin his old law firm, Fried Frank. (Reuters)
- Mintz Levin has brought on as partners Geri Haight, a Boston lawyer who was most recently vice president and deputy counsel at Panera Bread, and Douglas Baumstein, a securities and bankruptcy litigator in New York who was at White & Case. (Reuters)
- Former DOJ Acting Assistant Attorney General Ethan Davis rejoined King & Spalding as partner in San Francisco. (Reuters)
- Frank Saviano left Proskauer to join Latham & Watkins as partner in the corporate department and member of the entertainment, sports and media practice. (Latham & Watkins)
- FisherBroyles added Seth Travis as partner in Chicago from Sandia Point Capital where he was general counsel. (FisherBroyles)
- Candice Kline joined Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr as partner in the firm’s bankruptcy and restructuring practice in Chicago, moving over from Carpenter, Lipps & Leland. (Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr)
Columnist spotlight: Assume the camera is always on. And keep your pants on, too.
Last week brought not one but two incidents involving prominent members of the legal community caught on camera in, well, compromising positions. Jeffrey Toobin was allegedly caught masturbating during a Zoom call with colleagues. And, in the new satirical Borat movie, Rudy Giuliani is captured on hidden camera doing… something… involving his nether regions in a hotel room with a beautiful young woman posing as a TV journalist. Both rate high on Jenna Greene’s "eew" scale, and she has some sage advice: Assume the camera is always on. And keep your pants on, too. Read her full column here.
Check out other recent pieces from all our columnists: Alison Frankel, Jenna Greene and Hassan Kanu.
Lawyer speak: Data security in the 'new normal' of teleworking
As technology enables millions of Americans (lawyers included) to remain moderately productive "at work" from the comfort of their homes, hackers are taking advantage of the pandemic-caused increase in remote work in a number of ways. Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs attorneys Kathie McDonald-McClure and Margaret Young Levi offer steps legal practitioners can take to ensure that data remains secure.
Copyright © 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 610 Opperman Drive, Eagan, MN 55123
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list here.
|