Good morning. The U.S. Supreme Court's next term now has the potential to make conservatives' dreams come true with that big abortion case, the top court has handed oil companies a win in the climate change litigation, Rudy Giuliani's lawyers say SDNY wants to treat him as if he's the "head of a drug cartel or a terrorist," and a top Apple executive has taken the stand in the company's defense against Epic Games' antitrust claims. Can you believe yesterday was only Monday? Get ready to roll!
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With abortion case, SCOTUS conservatives signal blockbuster term ahead
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Monday to consider gutting Roe v. Wade signals potential fireworks for next October's term that could result in just the type of rulings liberals fretted about once Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court
The conservative-majority court had already agreed to take up a major Second Amendment gun rights case when it agreed with Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to consider whether to overturn the prohibition against abortion bans before fetal viability.
By October, it could have even more contentious cases, Andrew Chung and Lawrence Hurley report, including a case against Harvard University that could end the consideration of race in college admissions. It could also weigh in on new voting restrictions enacted by Republican-led states.
With rulings due in June 2022, big decisions could land in the middle of an election season, potentially angering liberal voters at a time when progressives are already calling for new seats to be added to counter the conservative justices.
Chicago-Kent College of Law professor Carolyn Shapiro said the court's recent moves also illustrate how Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative known for his incremental approach, has lost power following Barrett's appointment. "I would say the most significant thing is that the chief can’t stop his colleagues, who are all further to the right than him, from making significant and explicit changes in the law," she said. Learn more.
Industry buzz
- Rudy Giuliani's lawyers criticized Manhattan federal prosecutors for searches conducted at his home as part of a criminal probe into his business dealings in Ukraine. In a court filing, defense attorneys including Robert Costello of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron said prosecutors "simply chose to treat a distinguished lawyer as if he was the head of a drug cartel or a terrorist, in order to create maximum prejudicial coverage of both Giuliani, and his most well-known client,” former President Donald Trump. (Reuters)
- Cooley is the latest out-of-state law firm to blow into the Windy City - and the first major Silicon Valley firm to make that Midwest move. Its Chicago office opens with nine partners lured from Latham & Watkins, DLA Piper and Winston & Strawn. (Reuters)
- Celebrity vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli has filed a $150 million lawsuit in New York against Pryor Cashman, claiming the law firm aided an attempt by her former business partner to steal her ownership stake in the restaurant chain that bears her name. Coscarelli, who won Food Network’s Cupcake Wars in 2010, is represented by Robins Kaplan’s Ronald Schutz and Patrick Arenz. (Reuters)
- Linklaters is launching a U.S. data solutions, cyber and privacy practice co-led by new hire Erez Liebermann, who was in-house at Prudential Financial. It's the latest London-based firm to expand stateside — Freshfields and Clyde & Co have opened new U.S. offices since 2020 — and the latest law firm in general to grow its data privacy capabilities, as corporate clients grapple with changing regulations in that space. (Reuters)
- Attorneys for Steven Donziger, the disbarred lawyer who has been in a decades-long fight with Chevron over claims of pollution in the Ecuadorian rainforest, rested their defense of him in his criminal contempt of court trial in Manhattan federal court after just a 10-minute presentation without calling a single witness. Post-trial briefing will precede the eventual verdict by U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska. (New York Law Journal)
- Norton Rose Fulbright is the latest law firm to standardize associate pay across its U.S. offices, through changes to its year-end bonus structure. Holland & Knight and Womble Bond Dickinson both pledged to boost associate salaries nationwide last week. (Above the Law)
- Proskauer has won Facebook's Law Firm Diversity Champion Award, given annually to one of the social media company's U.S.-based outside counsel law firms. Proskauer ranked first out of 40 firms, based on Facebook's 2020 diversity survey analysis; other top-ranked firms included White & Case, McDermott and Baker Hostetler. (Proskauer)
Number of the day:
$43 billion
Five law firms, including Sullivan & Cromwell and Debevoise & Plimpton, advised AT&T’s $43 billion deal to spin off its WarnerMedia unit and merge it with reality TV company Discovery, a move that marries the studios behind the Harry Potter and Batman franchises with the maker of shows like "90 Day Fiancé." Sullivan & Cromwell’s Eric Krautheimer and Melissa Sawyer counseled AT&T. Debevoise M&A partners Jonathan Levitsky, Sue Meng and Jeffrey Rosen and Proskauer's Rob Freeman counseled Discovery. Wachtell Lipton and Paul Weiss also advised parties on the deal. (Reuters)
Coming up today
- AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez will testify before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform as part of a series of hearings called by the committee on "unsustainable" drug prices. AbbVie has come under fire particularly for its arthritis drug Humira, the top-selling drug in the world, and is facing multiple lawsuits accusing it of using anticompetitive tactics to maintain its U.S. monopoly over the drug.
- Larry Krasner, who as Philadelphia's district attorney became a leading figure in the progressive prosecutor and criminal justice reform movements, faces a closely-watched Democratic primary challenge from Carlos Vega, a longtime prosecutor who has the support of the city's police union and who has blasted Krasner for a surge in homicides.
- The 11th Circuit will consider whether sex-trafficking victims may pursue civil lawsuits against the hotel franchisors Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Choice Hotels International who they said profited from the use of Atlanta-based hotels by the traffickers. Plaintiffs' counsel Tiana Mykkeltvedt of Bondurant Mixson & Elmore will urge the court to revive their claims under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. David Sager of DLA Piper and Sara Turner of Baker Donelson will argue for Wyndham and Choice Hotels, respectively.
- Two former federal prosecutors will face a D.C. Bar disciplinary proceeding over claims they failed to timely disclose information to a man they prosecuted for the murder of Washington intern Chandra Levy. The D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel last year filed ethics charges against Amanda Haines and Fernando Campoamor-Sanchez, who as assistant U.S. attorneys prosecuted Ingmar Guandique for Levy’s high-profile death in 2001. His conviction was overturned in 2015 based on questions about the credibility of a jailhouse informant. The ex-prosecutors dispute the claims against them.
- Cancer diagnostic company Genomic Health will ask Delaware Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights to dismiss a proposed class action alleging its board and major backers failed to act in shareholders' best interests in completing a $2.8 billion 2019 merger with rival Exact Science Corp. The lawsuit is being pursued by lawyers at Robbins including Stephen Oddo. Skadden’s Robert Saunders is defending Exact and Genomic.
- The Chicago-based 7th Circuit will consider whether to revive a proposed class action accusing barcode printer maker Zebra Technologies of making misleading statements to investors about its finances following its $3.45 billion acquisition and “troubled” integration of Motorola Solutions’ enterprise business. Steven Hubachek of Robbins Geller and James Ducayet of Sidley Austin will argue for the plaintiffs and company, respectively.
- The 2nd Circuit in New York will consider whether to revive a lawsuit by investors who bought and sold Korean stock index futures in off-market hours and accuse Tower Research Capital of violating the Commodity Exchange Act through spoofing. Lawyers for the investors including Cohen Milstein's Michael Eisenkraft argue a lower-court judge created "an unprecedented loophole" in finding that the trades, which were made on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Globex platform but settled on the Korea Exchange the following day, were not subject to the CEA. Noah Levine of WilmerHale represents Tower.
Gordon Rees' managing partner eyes how to re-open following CDC mask guidance
In 2019, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani did what no other law firm had done before: Open an outpost in all 50 U.S. states. And then a year later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
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Dion Cominos Gordon Rees
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The San Francisco-founded firm despite virtual working and the pandemic saw its revenue grow in 2020 to nearly $442.3 million, up 25.9%. Now Dion Cominos, its managing partner, is navigating how his 1,013-lawyer firm should approach re-opening. He had the CDC's new mask guidance on his mind when The Daily Docket got him on the phone.
On how and when to invite employees back to the office: "We have over 70 offices throughout the country. Because of that, we've been forced to take a highly regionalized approach to managing COVID issues. So we've decided to take the same approach with regard to returning to the office. We've left it to the office managing partners in each city to draft a plan, and present it to the management."
On where it is reopening: "In some of the states like Florida, Texas, that have had looser regulations, we're seeing earlier reopenings. Places like New York, New Jersey and California obviously are further behind. It does seem to kind of track what local policy is in that regard."
On whether the CDC's mask guidance affects whether to require vaccinations among in-person employees: "You have to do one of two things. You can have more of an honor system and say these are our rules, but we're not going to enforce them in terms of mandating proof of vaccination. The other way to go is to actually require proof of vaccination. I think the vast majority of businesses, and we probably fall into this category, are in the former group."
On how the pandemic has affected future planning: "We learned a lot, and we think we can pivot very quickly if something similar happens. This may not be the last pandemic or thing of this nature. Certainly we have much greater awareness on cyber security, with people being remote."
"What is reasonable for vehicles is different from what is reasonable for homes."
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in a 9-0 ruling in which the court declined to make it easier for police to enter a home without a warrant for reasons of health or public safety. The court threw out a 1st Circuit ruling dismissing a lawsuit brought by a Rhode Island man, Edward Caniglia, who accused police of violating his rights after officers entered his home and confiscated his guns. Skadden's Shay Dvoretzky, who represented Caniglia, called the ruling "a significant victory for Americans concerned about the sanctity of their homes." (Reuters)
In the courts
- Apple on Monday began its formal trial defense in the antitrust case brought by "Fortnite" game creator Epic Games by calling its App Store chief Phil Schiller to the stand. Under questioning by Gibson Dunn’s Richard Doren, Schiller told U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, that the App Store — whose payment restrictions are central to the case — was developed to help Apple avoid having third-party software on iPhones that could "create unreliable, unstable devices." (Reuters)
- The U.S. Supreme Court on a 7-1 vote ruled in favor of energy companies including BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell in a ruling in a lawsuit by the city of Baltimore that could make it easier for oil companies to force climate change-related cases to be litigated in federal rather than plaintiff-friendly state court. Kannon Shanmugam of Paul Weiss argued the case for the companies in January and went up against Victor Sher of Sher Edling for the city. (Reuters)
- S&P Dow Jones Indices agreed to pay $9 million to settle SEC charges that its negligence in managing one of its indexes caused huge losses for securities issued by Credit Suisse during extreme market volatility. The company, a joint venture of S&P Global and CME Group, in a statement said it was committed to "transparency and the integrity of its benchmark determination process." Christopher Garcia of Weil Gotshal repped the company in the probe. (Reuters)
- Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Florida's Seminole County who has become central to the investigation into Republican U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz for possible sex trafficking of a minor, pleaded guilty in Orlando to federal charges of sex trafficking a child, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. He's agreed to cooperate with investigators, and his attorney, Fritz Scheller, said he's "feeling a sense of remorse" over his actions. (Reuters)
- New York Attorney General Letitia James' office is preparing an insider-trading lawsuit against Eastman Kodak and Jim Continenza, its chairman and CEO, focused on stock purchases that preceded an ill-fated deal in which the Trump administration would lend it $765 million to back production of pharmaceutical components for help fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the company and people familiar with the matter. An internal investigation conducted by Akin Gump found Continenza viewed Kodak’s chances of receiving the loan as uncertain when he bought shares. (Reuters)
- Electric vehicle startup Canoo Inc disclosed that the SEC has opened an investigation into the company that covers its merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that enabled it to go public. (The Verge)
- Bond insurer Ambac may access a limited pool of materials explaining Puerto Rico’s cash position amid ongoing efforts to restructure the commonwealth’s debt stack, but is not entitled to more information related to the territory's real estate assets right now, U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein ruled. The rulings were largely a setback for Ambac’s attorneys led by Milbank’s Dennis Dunne. Martin Bienenstock of Proskauer Rose reps Puerto Rico’s federally-appointed oversight board. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson in Nashville rejected a bid by a Tennessee landlord repped by the conservative legal group New Civil Liberties Alliance to block a CFPB rule requiring notice to delinquent renters of a national eviction ban. (Reuters)
Industry moves
- Two more partners have left Thompson & Knight ahead of its pending merger with Holland & Knight. Akin Gump said that Jesse Betts and Cole Bredthauer joined its corporate transaction practice in Dallas and Fort Worth, respectively, as partners. (Reuters)
- Jeffrey Greene, who led Cooley's trademark and advertising practice, has returned to his former law firm Foley & Lardner in New York. He'd spent about a decade at Foley before leaving it in 2017 for Fenwick & West. (Foley & Lardner)
- Former IRS official David Farhat has left a gig at accounting firm EY to join Skadden's tax group as a partner in Washington, D.C. Skadden is at least the fourth law firm to add a tax partner since the Biden administration released its proposed tax plan. (The American Lawyer)
- Dentons has added John Richmond, a lawyer who has spent much of his career combating human trafficking, as a partner in its federal regulatory and compliance practice in Washington, D.C. He was most recently in the U.S. Department of State, serving as the U.S. ambassador-at-large to monitor and combat trafficking in persons. (Dentons)
- New York-based Willkie Farr & Gallagher is also growing its D.C. presence, swiping executive compensation and employee benefits lawyer Alexander Ryan from Groom Law Group. Ryan joins as a partner. (Willkie Farr)
- DLA Piper announced it's added litigation and regulatory practice partner Tracy Weir in its D.C. office. Weir, who advises on Medicare reimbursement and compliance, telehealth and digital health, was previously at Baker Donelson. (DLA Piper)
- On the West Coast, DLA Piper lost a partner, San Francisco-based renewable energy project finance and private equity lawyer Evelyn Kim. She joined McGuireWoods, bringing two associates with her. (McGuireWoods)
- In Denver, Big Law rosters are shaking up: King & Spalding snagged local government investigations and litigation partner Cliff Stricklin from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, while Baker McKenzie added trial advocacy trainer Allison Rocker from the Denver City Attorney's Office. Haynes and Boone hired corporate partner Jason Zachary, who will split his time between Denver and New York, from Greenberg Traurig. (King & Spalding, Baker McKenzie, Haynes and Boone)
'It's exhausting': Why women want out of the legal profession. The results of a recent survey about why lawyers want to leave the profession might have been a surprise to researchers, but Jeena Cho is unfazed. "It's a recipe for burnout," said the lawyer and mindfulness instructor who works with law firms on well-being. Hassan Kanu talks with Cho about the differences in men and women's experience of being a lawyer. Among them: A quarter of women lawyers said they were thinking about leaving the profession due to mental health issues, stress or burnout, compared with 17% of male respondents. The main reason? The work-family conflict created by trying to raise kids and practice law. Learn more here.
As SCOTUS declines racial slur case, civil rights lawyers say they'll keep pushing. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court took a pass on Robert Collier's civil rights case, which posed the question of whether an employee's exposure to the most racially offensive word in the American vernacular is by itself so dehumanizing that it warrants a hostile workplace claim under the Civil Rights Act. The odds were always against the justices granting review , but lawyers for Collier and his amicus supporters told Alison Frankel that the former hospital aide’s petition was not in vain. Read Frankel's latest column to see why civil rights advocates say they're playing a long game.
Lawyer speak: Getting to the blockchain basics
NFTs, DLT, DeFi - what’s it all mean? Brown Rudnick attorneys James Bedar, Patrick Gilman and David Rosenthal explain the blockchain basics, answering the top two questions they get from those trying to enter the market: "How can I use this to make money; and, What are my risks?" Read more.
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