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July 26, 2023

What's going on today?

Kevin Spacey was acquitted.
SBF due back in court.
The latest on Hunter Biden's "more limited" plea deal.
Stroock lost 35 lawyers and staff to Steptoe. Plus, your weekly Career Tracker.

Giuliani concedes statements were defamatory in Georgia election workers' case

REUTERS/Amr Alfiky

Rudy Giuliani, onetime attorney for former President Donald Trump, admitted in a court filing that he made defamatory statements about a pair of Georgia election workers. The workers said in a December 2021 lawsuit that Giuliani injured their reputations when he accused them of conspiring to produce and process secret batches of illegal ballots. No evidence supports such claims, which have been repeatedly debunked by Georgia election officials.

Giuliani said in the filing that he was making the concession "solely for purposes of this litigation" and "without admitting to the truth of the allegations." Read more about what's next in the case.

More top news:

Career Tracker

Troubles mount for law firm Stroock as 35 lawyers and staff join Steptoe

REUTERS/Toru Hanai

Steptoe & Johnson hired a large group of lawyers from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, which has seen a string of exits this year as it pursues a potential merger. Steptoe hired 35 people from Stroock, including 27 lawyers, which include key Stroock practice leaders. Read more about the move.

More from the legal industry …

U.S. law firms are seeing more work from the SCOTUS affirmative action ruling ... Linklaters and Freshfields announced their earnings ... A federal judge ordered Covington & Burling to identify some clients caught up in a 2020 hack ... Quinn Emanuel disclosed that an electronic discovery vendor used by the firm suffered a cybersecurity attack that may have exposed client information ... In a first among law schools, Michigan Law banned the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools on applications ... A few legal educators aren’t impressed with the new bar exam ... The fledgling law firm formerly known as Barber Ranen, which was left reeling one month after it was launched by the disclosures of racist emails written by its former founding partners, saw more partner exits ... And columnist Jenna Greene asks: Does requiring four days in office make these firms trendsetters – or outliers?

Moves:

In Washington, D.C. …
Former EEOC chief counsel Bradford Kelley joined Littler as a shareholder.
In New York …
Freshfields hired a new global head for its private funds and securities practice from Goodwin Procter. Evan Kwarta joined Hinshaw as a partner in the firm's aviation and aerospace industry group from Condon & Forsyth. Kristen Curatolo joined Seward & Kissel as the co-head of its private clients and trusts and estates group from Kirkland.
In Newark …
K&L Gates hired a partner in its government contracts and procurement policy practice from Genova Burns. Lewis Brisbois added a partner in its general liability practice.
In Boston …
Goodwin hired two venture-capital focused partners from Cooley. Holland & Knight added five attorneys, including two partners, from Seyfarth Shaw in its real estate practice.
In Chicago …
Corporate partner Kevin Friedmann joined Norton Rose Fulbright as head of corporate, M&A and securities practice from Greenberg Traurig.
In Miami …
Winston & Strawn hired two partners in its tax practice.
In Dallas …
Winston & Strawn added a partner from Weil in its private equity transactions practice.
In Vancouver …
Cozen O'Connor brought on Atoussa Mahmoudpour from Norton Rose to chair its new Canadian life sciences and technology practice.
In Singapore …
Partner Andrew Roche joined Baker Botts’ global projects department from Ashurst.

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'Like a bolt of lightning': How this Cooley lawyer got a murder conviction vacated

During her first year as an associate in 2002, Kathleen Hartnett began representing Nakia Roy pro bono, arguing that his conviction for second-degree murder was tainted by faulty jury instructions. Now co-head of 1,400-lawyer Cooley’s appellate practice, Hartnett last week succeeded in getting Roy’s conviction vacated, thanks in large part to a surprise ruling from the D.C. Court of Appeals. The representation, she told columnist Jenna Greene, stands as reminder of the "importance of staying hungry to fight for our clients, even after initial defeats."

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

And finally...

Crypto bills to face congressional committee vote

Additional writing by R Rohit and Tanvi Shenoy.