Good morning. More firms in New York are embracing policies requiring lawyers to be in the office for at least four days a week. Plus, Google just got hit with a class action over data used in AI training; the FTC could face a tough appeal in its Microsoft-Activision case; and a 96-year-old Federal Circuit judge’s ethics case is heading to mediation. Good Wednesday to all, and thanks for reading! Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here. |
Policies requiring lawyers to be in the office at least four days a week are catching on at several New York firms, helping set what could become a new industry standard, reports Sara Merken.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges is the most recent firm to issue the four-day decree, following New York-founded law firms Skadden and Davis Polk. Weil and Davis Polk are giving attorneys a certain number of days they can use to work from home on days when they’d otherwise have to be in the office. "Over the past year, we have all seen the many benefits that come with people working regularly in-person – especially with the predictability of knowing people will be in consistently on the same days," Weil's memo said, citing improved attorney mentorship, professional development and morale. Many firms began requiring at least three days of office work as the pandemic receded. But a recent ABA survey found that many attorneys are willing to leave jobs over remote work. |
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U.S. Judge Pauline Newman’s legal dispute with her colleagues on the Federal Circuit who are investigating Newman, 96, for misconduct was sent to mediation. Retired D.C. Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith was picked to preside over an “informal mediation,” according to a court filing, as both sides seek to resolve an unusually public legal battle between federal judges. (Reuters)
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Womble Bond Dickinson said it combined with San Francisco-based Simmonds & Narita, a small litigation firm focused on defending against consumer finance cases. Womble said it now has more than 50 lawyers in California, and more than 1,000 attorneys in 31 offices across the globe. (Reuters)
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Maynard Nexsen has hired 12 attorneys, including nine shareholders, from rival firms in the Southeast. The firm was created from an April 1 merger between Alabama-based Maynard Cooper & Gale and Carolinas-based Nexsen Pruet, forming a firm with more than 550 lawyers. (Reuters)
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A New York judge ordered Steve Bannon to pay more than $480,000 in legal fees for work on high-profile cases. Davidoff Hutcher & Citron said in its lawsuit that Bannon had failed to fully pay for work it performed for him from November 2020 until November 2022. Bannon has been regularly represented by the firm's partner Robert Costello. (NBC)
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That’s how many open district court judgeships are in states with two Republican senators, out of a total of 36 openings, according to a Reuters analysis of U.S. judiciary data. Although President Joe Biden has won the confirmations of a spate of civil rights lawyers and public defenders – a segment of the legal profession that is typically overlooked for the bench – experts told Reuters things are likely to get a lot harder for him. Under the U.S. Senate’s “blue slip” tradition, nominees need the support of both of their home state senators, and Republicans have fiercely opposed many of Biden’s picks.
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Just about half of the state attorneys general in the U.S. believe the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is an indispensable partner, setting nationwide consumer protection policies that augment the efforts of state regulators. The other half? They say the CFPB is imperious and unaccountable, encroaching on the AGs' regulatory turf and shifting priorities with every change of presidential administration. These entirely divergent perspectives come from dueling friend-of-the-court briefs filed by state AGs at the U.S. Supreme Court, which is slated to decide next year whether the bureau’s funding structure violates the U.S. Constitution. Alison Frankel explains the split among the AGs, who disagree not just on the constitutionality of the CFPB’s funding structure but also — and perhaps more importantly — on the regulatory ramifications if the Supreme Court sides against the bureau.
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"Perhaps bad for Sony. But good for Call of Duty gamers and future gamers." |
—U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, who rejected the FTC’s argument that Sony’s opposition to Microsoft’s planned acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard supported the agency’s argument that the deal would restrict competition for Activision’s wildly popular Call of Duty franchise. The judge said the deal would actually expand the types of consoles that can play the game, which previously was restricted to Sony’s PlayStation or Microsoft’s Xbox. Here’s why experts say the FTC could face a tough road if it chooses to appeal.
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Another round of Biden White House judicial nominees will appear before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. The slate includes federal prosecutors Jerry Edwards Jr for the Western District of Louisiana and Brandon Long for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Maddox, to serve on Maryland’s federal trial bench. Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Edwards and Long "are expected to receive bipartisan support and are the product of working with the White House to find qualified nominees." Watch the hearing.
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The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee plans to vote on FCC nominee Anna Gomez, a Democratic telecommunications attorney who is now serving as a senior adviser for the State Department's Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy. Democrats have been stymied since 2021 from gaining a majority on the five-member telecommunications regulator.
- The 8th Circuit Judicial Conference kicks off in Bloomington, Minnesota. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is expected to speak on Thursday, as is U.S. Sentencing Commission Chair Carlton Reeves.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes. |
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U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney in San Francisco dismissed a lawsuit in which the founder of WallStreetBets, which helped ignite investors' fascination with "meme" stocks, accused Reddit of wrongly banning him from moderating the community and usurping his trademark rights. Chesney rejected Jaime Rogozinski's claim that he owns the WallStreetBets trademark because the market associated it with him and he made it famous. (Reuters)
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U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said that he would consider dismissing the bankruptcy of a New York Roman Catholic diocese if the church cannot build more support among sexual abuse victims who have sued the church and its parishes. Glenn said during a court hearing in Manhattan that he was not eager to be the first judge to kick a Catholic diocese out of bankruptcy, but if the Diocese of Rockville Centre cannot make progress toward a comprehensive settlement of sexual abuse claims, it would be unfair to prevent abuse survivors from resuming their lawsuits in other courts. (Reuters)
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A unanimous 5th Circuit panel ruled that the University of North Texas can require students from other states to pay higher tuition even though it charges the lower in-state rate to immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally but reside in Texas. The panel rejected a conservative group's lawsuit over the policy, but suggested it was open to a potential challenge to a Texas law allowing immigrants without legal status who live in the state to pay in-state tuition. (Reuters)
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Royal Caribbean Cruises must face a lawsuit by the parents of an 18-month-old girl who died after slipping through her grandfather's hands and falling through an open cruise ship window, an 11th Circuit panel ruled. The federal appeals court restored two negligence claims over the July 2019 death of Chloe Wiegand, who had been in a children's play area aboard the ship Freedom of the Seas. (Reuters)
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10x Genomics and Harvard University must face counterclaims in two gene-analysis patent suits that they violated antitrust law with their licensing practices, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said in an opinion. 10x rivals Vizgen and NanoString can press their allegations that 10x and Harvard broke promises that its technology would be subject to open licenses based on a research agreement with the National Institutes of Health. (Reuters)
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Dentons brought on hotels and leisure partners Adam Docks, Lindsay Jewell and Jordan McCarthy from Perkins Coie. Docks, former co-chair of Perkins Coie’s hospitality industry, and McCarthy will join the firm’s Chicago office, and Jewell will be in Phoenix. (Reuters)
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Venable hired commercial litigation partners Valerie Cohen in New York and Adam Weg in Los Angeles. Cohen arrives at the firm from O’Melveny, and Weg was previously at Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin.
- Boies Schiller added regulatory and appellate partner David Lehn in the firm’s D.C. office. Lehn joins the firm from WilmerHale. (Boies Schiller)
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Morrison Foerster hired London-based partner Charlotte Walker-Osborn as a leader of the firm’s European technology practice and the UK technology practice. She was previously at Ernst & Young. (Morrison Foerster)
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Fox Rothschild added taxation and wealth planning partner Brad Shalit to the firm’s Morristown, New Jersey, office. Shalit joins the firm from Connell Foley. (Fox Rothschild)
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Littler added labor management relations partner Thomas Revnew to the firm’s Minneapolis office. Revnew was previously at Peters, Revnew, Kappenman & Anderson. (Littler)
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Proskauer brought on patent litigation partner Erik Milch in the firm’s D.C. office. Milch was previously at Cooley. (Proskauer)
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Willkie Farr added Brian Baltz in D.C. as a broker-dealer and securities regulatory partner. He was previously at McGuireWoods. (Willkie)
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When New York state legalized marijuana, it provided protections to employees of private sector employers who use cannabis recreationally. That raised questions about the responsibilities of employers when a worker is found to be using the drug, write Alex Malyshev and Jonathan Trafimow of Carter Ledyard & Milburn. Here’s why they say employers need to tread carefully.
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