Good morning. Senate Republicans grilled a 3rd Circuit nominee over her work as a public defender, offering a possible preview of questions U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson may face at her confirmation hearing set to begin March 21. Plus, the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack said former President Donald Trump may have engaged in criminal conduct in trying to overturn his election defeat; a litigation shield for Purdue Pharma was extended to allow mediation discussions to move forward; and Regeneron must face a patent lawsuit over its breakthrough COVID-19 treatment. It’s Thursday already, and we’re dialed in. Let’s go.
Our colleague Karen Sloan, who reports on law firms, law schools and the business of law, is co-writing The Daily Docket while Diana Novak Jones is on parental leave. Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
U.S. Senate/Handout via REUTERS
President Joe Biden’s nominee to the 3rd Circuit, Arianna Freeman, got a hostile reception from Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who criticized her for helping overturn a death row inmate's sentence. Freeman’s work as a public defender emerged as a sore point for her GOP interlocutors, Nate Raymond reports. That could foreshadow questioning by Republicans for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearings, which are set to begin on March 21. Jackson was a public defender from 2005 to 2007. Criminal defense groups and other advocates last year said Senate Republicans had singled out public defenders for “extra criticism compared to lawyers with backgrounds as former prosecutors or corporate lawyers.”
Freeman, a lawyer at the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania since 2009, is one of 23 Biden nominees with public defender experience and would be the first Black woman judge on the Philadelphia-based appeals court. But Republican Senator Pat Toomey of her home state of Pennsylvania declined to support her nomination, saying through a spokesperson that Freeman’s experience is limited to a "very niche area of the law.”
Republicans sharply questioned Freeman over her work on behalf of Terrance Williams, who was convicted of a 1984 murder but whose death sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2016. Texas Senator Ted Cruz even referred to Freeman as a “zealot against the death penalty” during the hearing. For her part, Freeman told the Judiciary Committee that "the justice system works best when both sides have quality representation."
- A 4th Circuit panel appeared skeptical during oral arguments that a former federal public defender in North Carolina could show the federal judiciary's internal process for addressing sexual harassment complaints is unconstitutional. The plaintiff, identified only as Jane Roe, is trying to revive her claims that she was forced to quit her job after complaining about sexual harassment. (Reuters)
- Nelson Mullins continued its expansion with the launch of a Cleveland office. The firm brought on eight product liability attorneys from Tucker Ellis, just a month after adding 31 partners from midsize trial firm Bowman and Brooke. (Reuters)
- The Law School Admission Council, which makes the LSAT, has acquired Law School Transparency—a 13-year old nonprofit group that provides consumer data in industry insights to prospective law students. The group was instrumental in improving the graduate employment data the ABA collects and releases. (Reuters)
- A Pennsylvania lawyer was suspended for six months by the state’s high court for performing legal work while his law license was under an administrative suspension. Andrew Hurwitz was seeking to have his law license reinstated last year when state lawyer regulators found a LinkedIn page under the pseudonym, "Andy Blackman Hurwitz," which said he worked as in-house counsel for a music and marketing company. (Reuters)
Steven Hirsch/Pool via REUTERS
That’s the number of plaintiffs suing U.S. immigration authorities for refusing to provide COVID-19 booster shots to detainees facing deportation. Among them is Anna Sorokin, the fake heiress whose exploits and legal woes are recounted in the Netflix series “Inventing Anna.” The plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU. Sorokin was convicted in 2019 of stealing $275,000 from others through an elaborate scheme in which, using the name Anna Delvey, she claimed to have access to a $67 million family fortune. She was paroled in Feb. 2021 but was soon arrested by ICE for overstaying a visa. Read more.
JPMorgan’s $162 million fight with Tesla: simple contract case or revenge plot? The latest filings in high-profile litigation between the bank and the electric carmaker show that the two sides have radically different conceptions—in both style and substance—of their fight over the impact of Elon Musk’s notorious “going private” tweet and JPMorgan’s warrants for Tesla shares. Alison Frankel digs into the bank’s unusual plan to seek judgment on the pleadings and Tesla’s adjective-laden response.
Floyd and Arbery verdicts deliver a small measure of accountability Recent verdicts against those involved in the killings of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery represent milestone wins for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, writes Hassan Kanu. In both high-profile cases, federal prosecutors obtained an outcome very much in line with what protesters and advocates, and even some family members of the victims, had publicly demanded.
"It's dangerous because state politicians are the people most interested in crafting the rules of the game to help themselves and their side continue to win."
—University of Kentucky law professor and voting rights expert Josh Douglas on Republicans' emergency requests to the Supreme Court to block lower court decisions approving electoral maps for U.S. House of Representatives races that replace ones drawn by the Republican-led legislatures in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Those challenges center on a legal theory known as “independent state legislature doctrine,” which claims the Constitution gives state legislatures—and not other entities such as state courts–the power to set rules governing elections and where district lines are drawn. North Carolina and Pennsylvania’s primaries are May 17. Read analysis from Andrew Chung and Lawrence Hurley.
- The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue one or more opinions in argued cases. In one case from October, the court signaled its willingness to let Kentucky's Republican attorney general defend a state statute — struck down by lower courts — after its Democratic governor dropped the case. The justices appeared likely in another argument that month to restore a death sentence against convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for his role in the 2013 attack that killed three people. The justices don’t announce a schedule of rulings in advance
- The first trial stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol continues today. During opening statements in the case Wednesday, prosecutors said defendant Guy Reffitt told a friend he wanted to drag Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of the building. Reffitt, a Texan who has pleaded not guilty to five charges including carrying a semi-automatic handgun on Capitol grounds, is the first of about 750 people charged with joining the riot by Donald Trump's supporters to face a jury. In a brief opening statement, Reffitt’s lawyer, William Welch, said his client is prone to exaggeration and rants.
- U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts will hold a final pretrial conference ahead of a March 8 trial for a former water polo coach at the University of Southern California charged with participating in the U.S. college admissions scandal. Prosecutors say Jovan Vavic accepted bribes to admit students as fake athletic recruits. Vavic, represented by the firms Larson LLP and BLA Schwartz, has pleaded not guilty. A judge earlier this month sentenced John Wilson, founder of Hyannis Port Capital, to 15 months in prison for his participation in the scheme. A lawyer for Wilson, Noel Francisco of Jones Day, has vowed to appeal.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
- The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol said former President Donald Trump may have engaged in criminal conduct in his bid to overturn his election defeat. "Evidence and information available to the Committee establishes a good-faith belief that Mr. Trump and others may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts," the committee said in a court filing. (Reuters)
- A mediator in Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy case indicated an agreement was in the works between the company's owners and U.S. states pressing for more money to resolve allegations that the OxyContin maker fueled the opioid epidemic. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain extended a litigation shield that protects the Sacklers from being sued for their alleged role in the opioid crisis until March 23. (Reuters)
- A federal judge in New York declined to toss a lawsuit from pharmaceutical company Allele alleging Regeneron misused a patented protein to test its breakthrough COVID-19 treatment. Regeneron argued that it was protected from Allele's claims by a federal law that allows the use of patented inventions to test drugs during the FDA application process, but Judge Philip Halpern said during oral argument that it’s too early to find Regeneron immune from Allele’s claims. (Reuters)
- Ericsson said the U.S. Justice Department accused it of breaking terms of a 2019 deal with prosecutors by failing to properly disclose misconduct and compliance failures in Iraq. The Justice Department also said the company failed to make proper disclosures after the deal was signed. (Reuters)
- A state judge said New York Attorney General Letitia James cannot dissolve the National Rifle Association for alleged corruption and mismanagement, but can still seek the ouster of the gun rights group's longtime Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre. Manhattan Judge Joel Cohen said James' accusations mainly concern private harm to the NRA, its members and donors, and which if proven can be addressed by targeted, less intrusive relief. (Reuters)
- A federal judge in Chicago dismissed a proposed class action claiming strawberry Pop-Tarts don’t contain enough strawberries, in a win for Kellogg. U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen ruled that no reasonable consumer could believe from Pop-Tart packaging that the breakfast staple contained only strawberries, or more strawberries than other ingredients such as pears and apples. (Reuters)
- Oracle and NEC have resolved a copyright dispute over NEC's use of Oracle's popular database software. The companies told a San Francisco federal court that they agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice. Oracle sued NEC for more than $7 million last year, arguing it had exceeded its license to Oracle's flagship database-management software. (Reuters)
Welcome back to the Penalty Box, where The Daily Docket highlights new and notable attorney and judicial discipline orders, hearings, articles and more. We’re looking out for cases and issues of importance, so please do share any observations with us.
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A bankruptcy lawyer who had been sanctioned at least 30 times has agreed to disbarment in Washington, D.C., following a related penalty in Florida last month. Sam Babbs III consented to disbarment in Washington over misconduct allegations that included misusing advance funds from clients and practicing law in states where he was not licensed. Babbs, whose work focused on bankruptcy matters involving individuals and families, told Reuters that he has no interest in practicing bankruptcy law again and decided not to fight the claims. "You have to know when to hold them and when to fold them," he said.
- A Washington, D.C., attorney ethics board said a former federal prosecutor should be suspended for 90 days from practicing law for failing to disclose evidence in the case against the man accused in the 2001 murder of federal intern Chandra Levy. The hearing committee report said Amanda Haines intentionally did not turn over information favorable to the defense of the man prosecuted but never convicted for Levy's death. The report recommended dismissal of charges against one of Haines' colleagues at the time, Fernando Campoamor-Sánchez, now a lawyer at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Haines and Campoamor-Sánchez both denied any ethics breaches. "The Justice Department long ago cleared Ms. Haines of any prosecutorial misconduct because she did not actually commit any prosecutorial misconduct," a lawyer for Haines, Justin Dillon of the boutique KaiserDillon, told Reuters. The D.C. ethics case is pending further board review.
- A U.S. appeals court blocked an attempt by Sidney Powell and other lawyers to evade non-monetary sanctions imposed on them after they sued to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory in Michigan. Powell and the others had asked the 6th Circuit to stay the sanctions, which U.S. District Judge Linda Parker imposed on them last year. The 6th Circuit said the lawyers should have taken their request to Parker first when they had ample time to do so. "They waited more than two months to seek a stay, knowing the February 25 deadline was imminent," the 6th Circuit said in its order.
- Partners Hannah Laming and Wayne Barnes have joined Squire Patton Boggs’ government investigations and white collar practice in London. Laming comes from Peters & Peters, while Barnes joins from Fulcrum Chambers. (Reuters)
- Gibson Dunn added antitrust partner Sophia Vandergrift in Washington, D.C. She previously practiced with Sullivan & Cromwell. (Gibson Dunn)
- Simpson Thacher said partners Nathan Briggs and Nicole Simon joined its registered funds practice from Ropes & Gray and Stradley Ronon, respectively. Briggs is based in Washington, D.C., while Simon is based in New York. (Simpson Thacher)
- Winston & Strawn added litigation partner Paul Salvaty in Los Angeles. He joins from Hogan Lovells. (Winston & Strawn)
- Morrison & Foerster said partner Paul Navarro has joined its emerging companies and venture capital group in Los Angeles. He previously practiced at Perkins Coie. (Morrison & Foerster)
- Partner Saul Breskal joined Blank Rome’s real estate practice in Los Angeles. He comes from Glaser Weil. (Blank Rome)
- Sidley Austin said Frank Favia has rejoined the firm as a partner in its litigation group in Chicago. Favia was general counsel at financial services company Guaranteed Rate. (Sidley)
- BakerHostetler added David Serwer as a partner in its labor and employment practice and immigration team in Chicago. He previously practiced at Baker & McKenzie. (BakerHostetler)
- Cozen O’Connor said Nicholas Richard joined the firm in New York as a real estate practice member. He earlier practiced at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. (Cozen O’Connor)
- Haynes and Boone added partner Ken Parker to its intellectual property litigation group in its San Francisco and Orange County offices. He rejoins the firm from Gibson Dunn. (Haynes and Boone)
Akin Gump lawyers Fadi Samman, Krishna Skandakumar and Amanda Butler-Jones spotlight considerations in launching general partner-led private equity “secondary transactions” that involve interests in existing funds and assets. Such transactions allow managers and sponsors to continue to manage an existing portfolio of assets in a newly formed vehicle. Learn more about the considerations they address.
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