Good morning. Law firms such as Dentons, Dechert and Orrick are experimenting with giving their lawyers a break to combat burnout, three law firms that repped Purdue Pharma are giving up fees in a settlement with the DOJ's bankruptcy watchdog, more alternative legal services providers are being given the green light to play in Utah's legal "regulatory sandbox," and the U.S. Supreme Court's conservatives split in a ruling that handed immigrants challenging their removal a win. Chug that coffee down, let's get through the news and finish this week!
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Law firms ask: Can fewer meetings make happier lawyers?
The U.S. legal industry's long-term struggles with burnout, depression and substance abuse were only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, experts say. Now some large law firms are taking steps to make things easier for their attorneys and staff.
David Thomas reports that Dentons, the world's largest law firm, this week asked its U.S. partners to cancel their routine, nonessential, non-client meetings to free up everyone's schedule. Dechert and Orrick meanwhile separately announced they were doling out days off to their attorneys and staff.
Canceling nonessential meetings gives people an opportunity "to switch off a bit," said Dentons US CEO Mike McNamara, who expressed hope that it will lead to some meeting times to be reduced or dropped altogether.
Industry experts call it a first step but just that. "Firms looking for ways to lower the flame a little bit, to just turn down the temperature a bit and give people a little more breathing room is wise," said Patrick Krill, a former practicing attorney who now advises law firms on mental health issues. See what other steps firms are taking.
Industry buzz
- The law firms Skadden, WilmerHale and Dechert have agreed to relinquish $1 million in fees they earned representing OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma during its Chapter 11 case to resolve claims by the DOJ's bankruptcy watchdog that they failed to adequately disclose a joint defense agreement between the drugmaker and members of the wealthy Sackler family who own it. (Reuters)
- Willkie Farr & Gallagher swiped four insurance lawyers from Mayer Brown, including the co-leader of the firm's U.S. insurance regulatory and enforcement group, Kara Baysinger. It marked the latest poaching of top talent by the New York-based law firm, which, The American Lawyer earlier reported, plans to bring on the head of Morrison & Foerster's New York office, Brett Miller, and two other bankruptcy partners. (Reuters)
- Among the more than 100 colleges and universities that have announced vaccine mandates for students in recent weeks are at least 38 with law schools, including Yale, Stanford, Columbia, New York University, Georgetown and the University of Michigan. (National Law Journal)
- The Utah Supreme Court authorized four more entities to participate in the state's "regulatory sandbox" program, which aims to promote innovative legal business models and services. The newly approved entrants include an AI-powered contracts company that does business as LawGeex and digital real estate legal services company Jordanelle Blocks. (Reuters)
- Chicago-based Schiff Hardin is seeking a merger partner following declining revenue and partner departures, sources told The American Lawyer. One source said D.C.-based Arent Fox has been in talks with Schiff about a combination. The firms declined to confirm the discussions. (The American Lawyer)
- Jennifer Abruzzo, President Joe Biden's nominee for NLRB general counsel, was questioned by Republican Senator Richard Burr and other members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about her involvement in Biden's firing of former general counsel, Peter Robb. Burr said the Trump-era GC was fired at the urging of Abruzzo, and members of the White House transition team, and she was "now here to take that job." (Reuters)
- Federal prosecutors in Chicago charged alderman and attorney Patrick Daley Thompson, who is the nephew of legendary mayor Richard Daley, with making false statements about $219,000 in loans he received from a now-shuttered bank and filing false tax returns. Prosecutors said one of the loans, for $100,000, was for Thompson's capital contribution to an unnamed law firm in 2011, the same year he joined Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella from DLA Piper. (Reuters)
U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Reuters in an exclusive interview that most gig workers in the country should be classified as "employees" deserving of related benefits, an apparent policy shift that is likely to raise costs for companies that depend on contract workers such as Uber and Lyft. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2017 reported that 34% of the U.S. workforce, 55 million people, were gig workers, a proportion that was projected to rise to 43% in 2020. Uber and Lyft have been engaged in long-running legal battles to avoid having their drivers be classified as employees. (Reuters)
Coming up today
- The convicted former movie producer Harvey Weinstein is expected to appear virtually before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case in Buffalo, New York, for another hearing on whether to extradite him to California to face an indictment there accusing him of sexual assault involving alleged misconduct toward five women from 2004 to 2013. Weinstein is separately appealing his conviction and 23-year prison sentence in New York for sexual assault and rape. Norman Effman is representing Weinstein.
- Lawyers for Google, the DOJ and various state attorneys general will appear before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in D.C. for a status conference in antitrust lawsuits accusing the company of abusing its market power to maintain a monopoly in the search and search advertising markets. Google is defended by lawyers who include John Schmidtlein of Williams & Connolly, Susan Creighton of Wilson Sonsini and Mark Popofsky of Ropes & Gray.
- U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn in Manhattan will hold a hearing on claims by Ripple, the blockchain payments company associated with the cryptocurrency XRP, that the SEC has been "improperly leveraging" agreements with foreign regulators to get evidence from the company’s overseas business partners. Its lawyers, including Debevoise & Plimpton's Andrew Ceresney, call that an "intimidation tactic" in the regulator's case alleging XRP sales amounted to a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering.
- Restaurant equipment and supplies distributor TriMark USA and its private equity owners Blackstone Group and Centerbridge will ask Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Joel Cohen to dismiss a lawsuit by a group of first lien lenders accusing them of putting together a $427.5 million refinancing package that unlawfully put certain lenders in the top position in the repayment line. Selendy & Gay's Jennifer Gay will be arguing for the plaintiffs. Quinn Emanuel's Victor Noskov represents TriMark while the leaders and private equity firms are being defended by attorneys at Wachtell Lipton, Kobre & Kim, Kramer Levin and Debevoise.
Video: Keker team wins release of father who served 15 years for infant's death
Reuters legal columnist Jenna Greene spoke with Keker, Van Nest & Peters partner Khari Tillery and associate Anjali Srinivasan, whose firm is this month's Pro Bono Hero for securing the release of Clifton Jones. He was convicted for the death of his infant son, and served 15 years, on the basis of medical testimony no longer viewed as valid by the pediatric community. Watch the video, and check out Greene's column.
What we learned this week
- Amid a surge in mass shootings, the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a National Rifle Association-backed challenge, argued by Kirkland & Ellis partner Paul Clement, to New York state's restrictions on carrying concealed handguns in public. New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who has been fighting to dissolve the NRA, called the state's restrictions consistent with the Second Amendment.
- The U.S. Supreme Court also signaled support for arguments by two conservative groups, the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the Thomas More Law Center, that a California requirement that tax-exempt charities disclose to the state the identity of their top financial donors ought to be struck down in full as it could lead to harassment and threat to donors.
- Mishcon de Reya, the UK firm known for complex litigation and representing Diana, Princess of Wales, in her divorce in 1995, plans to do what U.S. law firms can't: Become publicly traded.
- Law firms are coming out with new initiatives aimed at lawyers' mental well being. Crowell & Moring, Katten Muchin, Latham & Watkins, Morgan Lewis and Reed Smith are supporting a nonprofit to focus on mental health in the profession.
- Sidley Austin announced that Yvette Ostolaza would be the next chair of the 2,000-lawyer firm's management committee next year, making her not only the first woman in the firm's 155-year history to chair the firm, but also the first Latina and the first partner not based out of Chicago, where the firm was founded, to do so.
- And Jenna Greene dove into data from Leopard Solutions to understand why women are leaving law firms in droves — and where those who continue to practice law go when they quit. The No. 1 destination for 48% of them? In-house.
"Entities doing business in multiple states must comply with those states' valid consumer protection laws — this is nothing new, and nothing that the extraterritoriality doctrine frowns upon."
U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore, as part of a three-judge 6th Circuit panel that rejected arguments by a trade association that challenged Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's enforcement of price-gouging laws against Kentucky's merchants who at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic were selling sanitizer and N95 masks at "outrageous" prices. The ruling reversed an injunction won by the Online Merchants Guild, represented by Aaron Block of The Block Firm, which argued that enforcing the state's laws in connection with nationwide Amazon sales would have unconstitutional extraterritorial effects.
In the courts
- Defense lawyer Bobbi Sternheim released the first new photo of her client Ghislaine Maxwell since her arrest last year, depicting the British socialite with a "black eye" that she suggested might be due to using a sock or towel to shield her eyes because guards shine light into her cell every 15 minutes. Maxwell is in custody awaiting trial on charges that she enabled Jeffrey Epstein's sex abuses. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan ordered prosecutors to respond to Sternheim's court filing by May 5. (Reuters)
- The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision that divided its conservative block bolstered the efforts of some long-term immigrants to avoid deportation, issuing a ruling that faulted the federal government for improperly notifying a man who came to the United States illegally from Guatemala to appear for a removal hearing. Goodwin Procter's David Zimmer argued the case for Agusto Niz-Chavez, who contended the notice he received was insufficient because the information was provided in multiple documents instead of a single one. (Reuters)
- National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre during the last day of testimony in the trial in Dallas bankruptcy court over the legitimacy of the gun rights organization's Chapter 11 said that keeping the NRA part of "mainstream America" is critical to its success. The case is expected to wrap up on Monday. New York Attorney General Letitia James and the NRA's former ad agency, Ackerman McQueen, are seeking to have the Chapter 11 case thrown out. (Reuters)
- German software maker SAP agreed to pay $8 million in penalties as part of a non-prosecution agreement resolving allegations that it violated federal law by exporting some of its software products to Iran. It's the first time a company has taken advantage of a DOJ policy that gives companies a path to avoid prosecution for unlawfully exporting goods to sanctioned countries, businesses or individuals by self-reporting them to the government. Kwame Manly and Robert Luskin of Paul Hastings advised SAP. (Reuters)
- The 9th Circuit on a 2-1 vote ordered the EPA to to ban all food uses of the insecticide chlorpyrifos or retain only the uses that the agency concludes are safe for workers and children. The ruling was a victory for health and labor organizations, represented by Earthjustice. "The court got it right: EPA’s time is now up," said Patti Goldman, a lawyer at Earthjustice. (Reuters)
- The 11th Circuit upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson by a woman who said she was injured after her doctor, a frequent paid expert witness for the company, implanted her with its pelvic mesh. The court rejected the contention by her lawyer, James Ferraro of The Ferraro Law Firm, that under Florida law, financial bias could overcome the so-called learned intermediary doctrine that required her to prove J&J didn’t warn her doctor, rather than her, of its product’s risks. Butler Snow’s Susanna Moldoveanu argued for J&J. (Reuters)
- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court for the first time ruled on the validity of a "no poach" provision that was ancillary to a services contract between businesses, holding that it was not enforceable under the state’s laws. The ruling came in a lawsuit by Pittsburgh Logistics Systems, which sued after rival logistics company Beemac Trucking hired several of its employees. Stephen Del Sole of Del Sole Cavanaugh Stroyd and Paul Steinman of Cozen O'Connor represent PLS and Beemac, respectively. (Reuters)
- Groupon won the dismissal of a proposed class action accusing the e-commerce company of concealing from investors that its merchandise offerings and membership program were not generating new customers for its local deals offerings. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in Chicago, siding with Groupon's lawyers at Skadden led by Matthew Kipp, called the complaint an example of "puzzle pleading" that left the judge to guess what statements were alleged to be false. (Reuters)
Industry moves
- Kenji Price, who recently resigned as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii, has joined McDermott Will & Emery’s litigation practice in D.C. (McDermott)
- Barnes & Thornburg has added Austin Bersinger, who founded Bersinger Law in 2019, as a partner in the firm’s litigation department in Atlanta. Bersinger focuses on insurance recovery litigation and complex business disputes. (Barnes & Thornburg)
Columnist spotlight
Deposition disaster: What happened in ex-SEC Enforcement head Alex Oh's Exxon case anyway? After just five days on the job, former Paul Weiss partner Alex Oh resigned Wednesday as director of the SEC's Enforcement Division, writing that a "development" related to one of her previous cases in private practice has created "an unwelcome distraction." Jenna Greene writes that Oh's departure follows an order by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in D.C. on Monday involving a deposition gone bad in a human rights lawsuit against Exxon Mobil. So what exactly happened during those seven hours in February when an Exxon in-house lawyer was being deposed? Hint: opposing counsel Kit Pierson of Cohen Milstein called it "an infomercial of non-responsive and self-serving readings." Greene dives into the details here.
Massachusetts high court sets bold example in fireman's bias case. A Black former firefighter's 11-year fight with officials in Brookline, Massachusetts, over the town's response to an incident in which his co-worker used the N-word resulted in a ruling by the state's top court that Hassan Kanu writes was "remarkable for its clarity and common-sense analysis rarely seen in employment discrimination cases." The court ultimately decided Brookline didn't have just cause to fire Gerald Alston, despite some legitimate concerns about continuing his employment. An "employee whose unfitness is determined to be caused by racist remarks and retaliation in the workplace and the employer's arbitrary and capricious response to such remarks and retaliation may not be terminated by the employer responsible for causing the unfitness," Associate Justice Scott Kafker wrote for the court. Kanu said the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's approach acknowledges that some events have multiple causes and that determining causation can require untangling many factors. Read more.
Apple wants to seal the courtroom so investors can’t hear from Epic's expert witness. With days to go before a bench trial of Epic Games' antitrust suit against Apple, Apple's lawyers at Gibson Dunn filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to seal the courtroom during testimony by Epic's expert witness on the profitability of Apple’s app store. The company's rationale? The stock market might be spooked by the non-public, unaudited financials in the Epic witness’ analysis – even though Apple also contends the expert's claims are easily refuted. There's scant precedent for the kind of court shutdown Apple has requested, writes Alison Frankel. Find out why she thinks Apple's motion could backfire.
Check out other recent pieces from all our columnists: Alison Frankel, Jenna Greene and Hassan Kanu.
Lawyer speak: Environmental justice in the Biden administration - early actions draw first bold lines
The Biden Administration in its first 90 days has unambiguously articulated a commitment to the issue of environmental justice. The actions of the White House and the EPA are significant and portend further policy and legal changes that will shape the regulatory landscape over the coming years. Nicholas Targ and Indigo Brown of Holland & Knight in an article discuss the Biden administration's environmental justice initiatives and predict some likely next steps. Read more.
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