Good morning. The latest U.S. lobbying revenue figures show Brownstein Hyatt and Akin Gump in a tight race for influence industry leader. Plus, new numbers from the National Association for Law Placement reveal the job-market benefits of having a parent who’s a lawyer, and one law firm shelled out six figures on a public-records request. It’s Thursday, according to our math, and we’ve got you covered!
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
Akin Gump and Brownstein Hyatt are jockeying for the lead in annual federal lobbying revenues.
Brownstein said this week it took in $13.89 million in the third quarter, bringing its total lobbying revenue so far this year to $40.29 million. Akin Gump reported $13.6 million for the quarter, for $39.85 million so far in 2021. Lobbying this year has been fueled by Capitol Hill action on infrastructure and the budget along with tax, trade and health policy.
The new tallies put Brownstein on a narrow course to possibly unseat U.S. lobbying leader Akin Gump, which has led the annual revenue rankings since it supplanted Squire Patton Boggs in 2014. Brownstein and Akin Gump have played quarterly leapfrog since the second quarter of 2019, when Denver-based Brownstein first edged out its larger rival.
Learn more about what’s driving the lobbying boom this year.
- The New York State Court System’s Chief Judge Janet DiFiore said 15,184 of her 15,600 judges and staff have submitted proof of COVID-19 vaccination or requested an exemption in response to the court’s vaccine mandate. Of the 416 individuals who have not complied, more than 300 are on extended leave, the judge said. Read more about compliance with the mandate.
- A bankruptcy trustee overseeing the dissolution of Tom Girardi's defunct law firm is asking a judge to delay Edelson PC’s lawsuit against Girardi's estranged wife, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne Girardi. (Reuters)
- No, Stephen Schwartz is not retiring from the Federal Claims court less than a year after his judicial appointment from the litigation boutique Schaerr Jaffe. Confusion over his status erupted Wednesday after a judiciary administrative office error showed Schwartz planning to step down on Nov. 1. (Reuters)
- Holly Thomas, a former civil rights lawyer turned Los Angeles judge, defended her past work before the Senate Judiciary Committee as it weighs her nomination for a seat on the 9th Circuit. (Reuters)
- Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows has hired George Terwilliger, a McGuireWoods partner in D.C. and former deputy attorney general in the George H.W. Bush administration, to represent him on matters tied to the U.S. congressional inquiry into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. (Politico)
That’s the overall employment rate among first-generation college students in the J.D. class of 2020, according to new data from the National Association for Law Placement. The rate is about three percentage points higher for law grads with a parent or guardian with a bachelor’s degree, and almost five percentage points higher for law grads with a lawyer parent. Read more about the data.
The founder of North Carolina’s traditionalist Charter Day School said a dress code that requires girls to wear skirts or dresses instead of pants was intended to promote “chivalry” and to teach boys to treat girls as “a fragile vessel that men are supposed to take care of and honor.” Last August, a three-judge panel from the 4th Circuit ruled that the girls couldn’t bring an Equal Protection Clause claim because the school, although chartered by the state to provide free public education, is privately operated and thus not a state actor. Now, as Alison Frankel reports, the entire 4th Circuit will reconsider that holding in case that could impact the constitutional rights of millions of kids enrolled in charter schools.
- The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the nominations of Beth Robinson to serve on the 2nd Circuit and Jennifer Sung to serve on the 9th Circuit. Robinson is now a justice on the Vermont Supreme Court, and Sung would join the bench from the Oregon Employment Relations Board. Senate judiciary Republicans criticized Sung over a letter she signed in 2018 that called rulings from then-U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “intellectually and morally bankrupt.” Sung called the letter “overheated rhetoric.”
- U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, federal court will hold a preliminary approval hearing on a proposed $85 million deal to settle a consumer lawsuit alleging Zoom Video Communications violated users' privacy rights by sharing personal data with third parties and letting people interrupt Zoom meetings in "Zoombombing" incidents. Tina Wolfson of Ahdoot & Wolfson and Mark Molumphy of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy represent plaintiffs, and Michael Rhodes of Cooley is advocating for Zoom.
- Closing arguments are slated to begin in the criminal case against Lev Parnas, an associate of former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. Parnas, who is represented by Joseph Bondy, is accused of donating a Russian businessman’s money to U.S. political campaigns in part to help secure marijuana licenses. Bondy has said the money was actually used to fund business ventures.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
“The world did not end because girls are allowed to wear pants.”
ACLU lawyer Galen Sherwin, who is representing a group of charter school students from North Carolina challenging their school’s rule requiring girls to wear skirts. The 4th Circuit granted the girls’ motion for en banc review of a ruling that said they don't have a constitutional claim. Sherwin told Alison Frankel the skirts-only policy has been suspended during the litigation, and there’s been no impact on the students’ performance. Read Alison Frankel’s column on the case.
- Sentencing is set for Feb. 8 for two New York lawyers —Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman — who pleaded guilty Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court for their roles in a Molotov cocktail attack on an empty police car during May 2020 protests over the death of George Floyd. Pryor Cashman suspended Mattis after his arrest. Rahman was a public interest lawyer representing tenants. (Reuters)
- A divided 9th Circuit panel threw out a judge's order requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take steps to stop the spread of COVID-19 at roughly 250 immigrant detention centers around the country, saying the preliminary injunction issued last year improperly placed ICE's entire network of detention facilities under the direction of a single federal judge. The suit was brought by ICE detainees, who are represented by Brian Goldman of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. (Reuters)
- A 9th Circuit panel tossed a $10 million settlement in a class action accusing Massage Envy of raising membership fees without members’ OK after Ted Frank’s Center for Class Action Fairness objected to it, setting new parameters on so-called “coupon” settlements in the process. Massage Envy is represented in the case by Ted Boutrous of Gibson Dunn, and the class is represented by Trenton Kashima of Sommers Schwartz and Jeffrey Krinsk of Finkelstein & Krinsk. (Reuters)
- The law firm Frost Brown is suing the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Washington, D.C., federal court to force disclosures under the federal open-records law. The firm said it paid a $120,000 advance fee to CMS in 2018 “to review and produce responsive documents.” Read the complaint.
- A federal jury in Chicago cleared Atrium Medical of liability in a lawsuit by a patient who had accused the company of supplying adulterated surgical mesh for his 2013 hernia-repair surgery. Randy Africano, represented by James Benak of Tetzlaff Law Offices, sued Atrium claiming the mesh used by his surgeon for the hernia-repair procedure was not sterile. Atrium, represented by Mark Cheffo and Emily Van Tuyl of Dechert, had argued that a complication Africano experienced was unrelated to the mesh. (Reuters)
- Mayer Brown said former Weil Gotshal partner Jon-Paul Bernard has joined the firm’s corporate and securities practice as a partner in New York. (Reuters)
- Goodwin has added private equity partner Rohith Parasuraman to the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Parasuraman earlier practiced at Latham. (Goodwin)
- Wilson Sonsini hired Jordan Jaffe as a litigation partner based in the firm’s San Francisco office. Jordan joined from Quinn Emanuel, where he led the autonomous vehicle practice. (Reuters)
- Hogan Lovells has brought on Matthew Schernecke as a corporate and finance partner in New York. Schernecke arrives from Morgan Lewis. (Hogan Lovells)
- Fox Rothschild said Jeffrey Chang has joined the firm as a Princeton, New Jersey-based real estate partner. Chang formerly practiced at Saul Ewing. (Fox Rothschild)
The valuation of social, environmental and governance (ESG) impacts is taking on increasing urgency, and institutional investors are making sustainability a new standard for investment. The spotlight on ESG is requiring companies to identify risks and opportunities “that are not readily apparent in the traditional corporate financial disclosures,” write Lily Chinn, Anne Carpenter and Alexandra Dapolito Dunn of Baker Botts. Learn more about ESG disclosure frameworks and which companies stand to benefit the most.
Copyright © 2021 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.
|
