Feb. 18, 2022

Good morning. The Purdue Pharma mediator will soon outline recommendations for ending the company’s bankruptcy, and a new study challenges the widely held notion that lawyers are an especially unhappy professional lot. Elon Musk stokes the SEC: “Enough is enough;” 5th Circuit Judge Jerry Smith wrote a fiery dissent in a COVID-19 case; and NBC got hit with a copyright lawsuit over an ice skating pair’s music choice at the Beijing Olympics. It’s Friday, and we can jump and dance for that.

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Purdue mediator to recommend ways to end bankruptcy

REUTERS/George Frey

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain has granted a Purdue Pharma request to extend a legal shield through March 3 that prevents opioid lawsuits from going forward against members of the Sackler family. Purdue has said the shield, in place since 2019, was needed while the parties try to work out a settlement.

A mediator will soon outline recommendations for ending Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy, which is expected to provide billions of dollars to address the opioid crisis that the OxyContin maker has been accused of fueling, our colleagues Tom Hals and Dietrich Knauth write.

The Sackler family owners of Purdue and attorneys general from eight states and the District of Columbia have been negotiating in court-ordered mediation since early January. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman, the mediator, was expected to file a report with the court by Friday, Purdue attorney Marshall Huebner told Drain at a hearing in White Plains, New York court.

Chapman said in recent filings that the parties were close to an agreement and that the Sacklers would make a "substantial" additional contribution. She has twice asked Drain to extend the deadline for the mediation.

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Maybe lawyers aren’t uniquely unhappy after all, study says

REUTERS//Hannibal Hanschke

Conventional wisdom holds that lawyers are a pretty discontented lot, with higher-than-normal rates of mental health and substance abuse problems. But that’s not the full picture, according to a recent study by Yale Law professor Yair Listokin and law student Ray Noonan, who used public health data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control from 2010 to 2017 to look at lawyer wellness as compared to the overall U.S. population and other highly educated professions.

Their study corroborates earlier research in finding that lawyers have higher rates of problem drinking, Karen Sloan reports. In fact, the 1,000 attorneys in the data sample were about twice as likely as others with advanced professional degrees to report excess alcohol consumption.

But in contrast to previous research, Listokin found that the percentage of lawyers with moderate to severe mental health issues is significantly lower than the percentage found in the overall population, and in line with other professionals like doctors and dentists. He theorizes that previous research on lawyer wellness based on voluntary surveys and interviews may overstate the problem since lawyers impacted by those issues could be more likely to participate. Regardless, the legal profession still must take action to improve the wellbeing of lawyers, Listokin warns.

Industry buzz

A Trump-era U.S. attorney made inappropriate public comments about one of the prosecutors in his office who signed a letter that was critical of then-Attorney General Bill Barr's order to pursue voting-related investigations in the 2020 presidential election, U.S. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found. (Reuters)
Skadden represented audio streaming giant Spotify in its acquisition of two podcasting tech companies that track user engagement. Goodwin Procter advised Chartable, while boutique New York firm Hand Baldachin & Associates represented Podsights. (Reuters)
Former Willkie Farr co-chair Gordon Caplan was reinstated to the New York bar after being unable to practice since late 2019, following his month-long prison stint in connection with the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal. Caplan pleaded guilty in 2019 to paying $75,000 to rig his daughter’s ACT exam. (Reuters)
Cybersecurity prosecutor Eun Young Choi will serve as the first director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. She most recently served as senior counsel to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. (Reuters)
Lawyers for indicted former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge to dismiss a criminal false statements case against him, saying in a new court filing that the case marked “extraordinary prosecutorial overreach.” Sussmann is represented by a team from Latham. He was charged as part of John Durham’s special counsel probe of the origins of the FBI investigation of ties between Russia and former President Donald Trump’s campaign.

Number of the day:

REUTERS/Chip East

That’s the number of pages 5th Circuit Judge Jerry Smith wrote in dissent — more than twice the length of the majority’s 23-page decision — in a dispute over United Airlines and its employee vaccination rules. Smith disagreed with two colleagues, Judges Jennifer Walker Elrod and Andrew Oldham, who revived employees’ bid for a preliminary injunction. Smith wrote: “In its alacrity to play CEO of a multinational corporation, the majority shatters every dish in the china shop.” In Footnote 95, Smith said “the Good Ship Fifth Circuit is afire. We need all hands on deck.” Three footnotes later, he extended an olive branch: “This is no personal criticism of my two conscientious co-panelists, who serve with integrity, dedication, and skill.” Read more about the decision.

Columnist spotlight: How Aetna convinced the 3rd Circuit of the public’s interest in sealing its docs

The 3rd Circuit is a staunch defender of the public’s right of access to documents admitted as evidence. But when Aetna challenged a decision unsealing evidence it produced in the FTC’s investigation of a Philadelphia hospital merger, it told the appeals court that the public also has an interest in keeping Aetna documents under wraps. Scratching your head? Alison Frankel explains the counterintuitive argument.

Check out other recent pieces from all our columnists: Alison Frankel, Jenna Greene and Hassan Kanu.

Video: Satellite companies duke it out in the 'Wild West' of inner space

NASA recently expressed concern over a request from Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch tens of thousands of new satellites. But as competing companies rush to fill low earth orbit with satellites as part of global broadband systems, the law hasn't caught up. Reuters talks to experts on what liabilities are in store for an increasingly crowded space.

"Musk and Tesla respectfully seek a course correction. Enough is enough."

—Quinn Emanuel partner Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk, claiming in a Manhattan federal court filing that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is harassing his clients with an "endless" and "unrelenting" investigation to punish Musk for being an outspoken critic of the government. The SEC declined to comment. Read more about why Musk is upset.

Coming up today

A Minnesota judge will sentence former police officer Kimberly Potter for manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Black motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, with prosecutors seeking seven years in prison and her lawyers asking for leniency. Potter said she mistakenly fired her handgun instead of her Taser during a traffic stop in April. A 12-member jury found Potter guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the death of the 20-year-old Wright.
The U.S. Justice Department will press its request in a new court filing that the 5th Circuit revive a Biden administration mandate requiring federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The government has said it faces "significant harm" if the New Orleans-based appeals court does not reverse an injunction barring enforcement of the mandate for government workers. The plaintiffs are represented by C. Boyden Gray and R. Trent McCotter of Washington, D.C.-based Boyden Gray & Associates. The Fifth Circuit will hear the dispute on March 8.
Shareholders of smart-glass maker View Inc will ask Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Chancery Court to fast-track a lawsuit seeking documents to investigate the fairness of the company's $1.6 billion merger with a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

What to catch up on this weekend

M&A is hot. Litigation is not. What's next for law firms in 2022?

Large law firms set reopening dates as pandemic plans shift

Walter Dellinger, Supreme Court advocate and legal scholar, dies at 80

'Go ahead and cancel me too.' Judge defends embattled Georgetown Law hire

Del. judge says Carlyle can't use waiver argument to toss Authentix sale case

Students at Yale and other top schools ask AGs to probe fossil-fuel investments

Judge who dealt Sarah Palin loss in New York Times case known as a maverick

U.S. appeals court says Boeing must face contractor's trade-secret claims

In the courts

Gibson Dunn partner Mark Schonfeld is representing James Velissaris, the founder and former chief investment officer of investment adviser Infinity Q Capital Management who faces criminal and civil charges alleging he engaged in a fraudulent scheme to inflate the value of assets the firm advised. Schonfeld, co-chair of Gibson Dunn’s securities practice, said Velissaris managed investments at Infinity Q with the “highest integrity.” (Reuters)
NBC, U.S. Figure Skating, and figure skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier are accused in a lawsuit of copyright violation over the use of a version of "House of the Rising Sun" at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The law firm Marderosian & Cohen represents the plaintiff musicians professionally known as Heavy Young Heathens. (Reuters)
Former President Donald Trump and two of his adult children have 21 days to submit to questioning from the New York attorney general’s office as part of its civil probe into the family company’s business. Justice Arthur Engoron of New York state court in Manhattan said investigators had "the clear right" to question the Trumps after having uncovered "copious evidence of possible financial fraud." (Reuters)
The FTC voted unanimously to file a lawsuit opposing the merger of Rhode Island's two largest health care providers, Lifespan Corp and Care New England Health System. Care New England president James Fanale said: “We thought it was the right thing to do, but now we will need to move on to a new path forward.” (Reuters)
A federal judge in Maryland blocked the state’s novel law requiring publishers to offer public libraries licenses to ebooks and digital audiobooks on reasonable terms. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said the statute likely conflicts with federal copyright law, in a case brought by the Association of American Publishers. (Reuters)
A 9th Circuit panel expressed some skepticism over the substance and timeliness of antitrust claims from three application developers who alleged Meta’s Facebook unfairly restricted access to social data. Brian Dunne of Bathaee Dunne argued for the developers, and Aaron Panner of Kellogg Hansen represented Facebook. Watch the hearing.

Industry moves

Dentons has brought on Aragon St-Charles as its first global head of environmental, social and governance. St-Charles was previously the head of sustainability for Hogan Lovells. (Reuters)
Buchalter said it added three shareholders to its Salt Lake City office. Litigator Douglas Farr was previously at Snell & Wilmer, while corporate shareholders Lance Lenhof and Blake Cooper were at local firm Carman, Lehnhof and Israelsen. (Reuters)
Hogan Lovells added corporate and finance partners Peter Cohen-Millstein and Megan Ridley-Kaye to the firm’s New York office. They arrive from Linklaters. (Hogan Lovells)
Perkins Coie added partner Alex (Kwan-Ho) Chung to its intellectual property practice in Washington, D.C. He was previously at Jones Day. (Perkins Coie)

Lawyer speak: State AG cooperation on opioids: a model for protecting consumers

State attorneys general have demonstrated their ability to achieve substantial monetary recoveries, write Stephen Piepgrass, Chris Carlson and Rachel Buck of Troutman Pepper. Attorneys general are comparing ongoing opioid litigation to their efforts confronting tobacco and public health. Learn more about opioid litigation, and other areas where state AGs are asserting their authority.

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