Good morning. A decision by the federal judge overseeing Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ criminal trial to dismiss unvaccinated people from the trial’s jury pool is raising questions about whether an all-vaccinated jury could impact a trial’s fairness. Plus, learn what law firms are launching new coastal offices and which attorneys general are backing a lawsuit over fireworks at Mount Rushmore. Fire up the barbecue, the long weekend is nearly upon us!
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U.S. District Judge Edward Davila’s decision to dismiss nine unvaccinated people from the pool of potential jurors in Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ fraud trial in San Jose is a move other judges may follow as they weigh juror safety against the necessity to conduct trials.
But it also could result in skewed juries, as an all-vaccinated pool isn’t necessarily representative of the population, experts told Brendan Pierson.
Read more to find out what these decisions could mean for trials in the COVID era.
- Cozen O'Connor has opened an office in Boca Raton, Florida, with six attorneys who focus on private client and trusts and estates matters. The Philadelphia-founded firm absorbed two local boutiques: Morris Law Group and Elder Law Associates. (Reuters)
- Willkie Farr & Gallagher is opening an L.A. office, with the help of new partners Alan Epstein, Michele Mulrooney and Alex Weingarten, who come from Venable. (Reuters)
- Greenberg Traurig has hired James Fraser, previously the FDA’s associate chief counsel for litigation, as a litigator for its healthcare and litigation practices. (Reuters)
- Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who was convicted on a felony charge for altering a document during the agency's investigation of contacts between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, had his law license suspended for one year. (Reuters)
- After the DOJ called on lawyers to help tenants facing eviction with the end of the pandemic moratorium, dozens of law schools have joined together in a group hoping to help. (Reuters)
- Miami-Dade’s court system is halting in-person hearings and jury trials for at least two weeks amid a Delta variant surge. (Miami Herald)
That’s how many Republican attorneys general are asking the 8th Circuit to side with South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem in her suit claiming the Department of the Interior’s denial of a federal permit for a July 4th fireworks display at Mount Rushmore was unconstitutional. Read more to find out which states are backing Noem.
Columnist spotlight: SCOTUS case on state-court shareholder class actions is off. For defendants, now what?
So much for this term’s big securities class action at the U.S. Supreme Court. On Thursday, after cloud computing company Pivotal said it had reached a prospective settlement with shareholders who sued the company in California state court over its 2018 IPO, the Supreme Court took the case off the argument calendar. Pivotal was supposed to decide whether shareholders who have filed a Securities Act class action in state court get to evade the discovery stay they would face in federal court. With the Supreme Court case now on ice, Alison Frankel asks if defendants really need a fix – and, if so, what’s the best way to get it?
- Jacob Chansley, known as the “QAnon Shaman,” is set to enter a guilty plea in D.C. federal court before Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. Chansley, who was photographed in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots wearing a headdress with horns and fur, has since repudiated his support for QAnon, said his attorney, Albert Watkins.
- A 2nd Circuit panel will consider whether a citizen of Afghanistan was properly denied lawful permanent residence in the U.S. for providing material support to the Taliban. A federal judge rejected Mohamed Kakar's claim that terrorism-related bars to admissibility did not apply to him because his service to the Taliban, including cooking and cleaning at a camp, was involuntary and provided under duress. Michael Piston of Piston & Carpenter will argue for the citizen of Afghanistan.
- Lawyers for Microsoft and Google are expected today to tell U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., about the status of any remaining discovery issues in the DOJ’s antitrust case against the search and advertising giant. Google, whose lawyers include John Schmidtlein of Williams & Connolly, served a subpoena on Orrick client Microsoft earlier this year seeking information about the company’s Bing search engine.
"There is no exemption for Wall Street bankers and powerful CEOs when it comes to complying with our country's antitrust laws."
Holly Vedova, acting director of the FTC's bureau of competition, after the agency reached a settlement with Capital One Financial Corp CEO Richard Fairbank over claims he failed to report a stock transaction that increased his holdings to $168 million. Read more to find out who represented Fairbank in the deal.
- Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is set to be arraigned on charges that he molested a 16-year-old boy in 1974, a case that makes him the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to be prosecuted for sexually abusing a minor. (Reuters)
- White House Counsel Dana Remus will be part of what President Joe Biden called a “whole-of-government effort” to combat the strict new anti-abortion law in Texas. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California, said Apple can’t dodge a proposed class action claiming its voice-activated assistant Siri violates users’ privacy by listening in after accidental activations. The users are represented by Lexington Law Group, Lowey Dannenberg, Scott + Scott and the Wood Law Firm. Apple is represented by Isabelle Ord, Raj Shah and Eric Roberts of DLA Piper. (Reuters)
- A former Georgia state prosecutor was charged with violating her oath of office and hindering a law enforcement officer over her alleged efforts to protect the men who shot Ahmaud Arbery from arrest. (AP)
- Quinn Emanuel said Will Thompson has joined the firm as a partner in Dallas. Thompson formerly was a partner at Burns Charest. (Quinn Emanuel)
- Mindy Tompkins has joined Day Pitney as a partner in its healthcare, life sciences and technology practice. Tompkins, who will work out of the firm’s Hartford, Connecticut, office, comes from Murtha Cullina. (Day Pitney)
- Lanier Saperstein has rejoined Dorsey & Whitney as a partner in the firm’s securities and financial services litigation practice. Saperstein was previously with Jones Day. (Dorsey)
- Timothy Gladden has jumped to Davis & Gilbert from Rimon PC. He is a partner in the corporate practice. (Davis & Gilbert)
- Andrew Struve has joined Buchalter’s Orange County, California, office as part of the firm’s healthcare and litigation practices. He was previously with Hooper, Lundy & Bookman. (Buchalter)
Lawyer speak: SPAC litigation trends provide a road map for directors and officers
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