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Good morning. We now know the charges Donald Trump is facing — and we have an idea of the hurdles prosecutors face in proving them. Plus, new data from Refinitiv shows M&A activity shrank to its lowest level in more than a decade; 3M faced a skeptical U.S. appeals panel over earplug litigation; and the NCAA was hit with a new antitrust suit over college athletes.
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Donald Trump made his first appearance in Manhattan criminal court, and the country got its first glimpse of the charges against the first sitting or former president to face a criminal prosecution. That’s a lot of firsts, and some legal experts say the case could be a tough one for prosecutors, report Jack Queen, Luc Cohen and Jacqueline Thomsen.
Trump’s indictment includes 34 felony counts for falsifying business records related to a “catch and kill” scheme to suppress negative news stories about him ahead of the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
While falsification of business records is a misdemeanor on its own, it is elevated to a felony punishable by up to four years in prison if it is done to conceal or further other crimes. Prosecutors did not specify what those underlying crimes were, to the surprise of some legal experts.
“I was expecting them to have a clear, precise and cogent theory that there was intent to conceal a crime, that this is what that crime was and here’s how he did it. You don’t see that here,” said attorney Mark Bederow, a former prosecutor at the Manhattan DA’s Office.
Read more analysis of the charges.
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Aspiring lawyers will be able to take the Law School Admission Test at home or at a testing center starting in August. The Law School Admission Council will offer most test takers a choice after moving the exam exclusively online in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on in-person gatherings. (Reuters)
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Fastcase and vLex are merging in a deal that the legal technology companies said will speed up the creation of AI tools for lawyers. London-based private equity firm Oakley Capital and Bain Capital Credit are investing an undisclosed amount into the combined company, which will be named vLex Group. (Reuters)
- Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi said she would not support Scott Colom, a Biden administration judicial nominee from her home state. Hyde-Smith’s position could derail the nomination of Colom, a local prosecutor. (Reuters)
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USA TODAY Sports/Jayne Kamin-Oncea
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That’s how much in annual cash payments U.S. universities are permitted to make to college athletes, and it’s the education-related compensation at the heart of a new antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA. The organization in a 2021 rule change — following a U.S. Supreme Court decision — expanded the ability of schools to offer those awards for academic achievement. Lawyers from Winston & Strawn and Hagens Berman said in the complaint in California federal court that the NCAA, its member schools and leagues conspired prior to the rule change to bar cash awards for academic success. The suit seeks class action status to cover certain college athletes since early 2019.
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If everything goes the way shareholder lawyers and defense counsel for AMC Entertainment are hoping, Delaware Chancery Court approval of their proposed $100 million class action settlement will be pretty much an afterthought. But for that to happen, AMC and the plaintiffs who sued to block the company from proceeding with a novel equity restructuring will have to convince Delaware judge Morgan Zurn to forgo the formal process for deciding whether the deal is fair to AMC’s “meme stock” investors before they receive their recovery from the settlement. Alison Frankel explains why the proposed deal is so unusual, both in the compensation to AMC investors and in the timing of that benefit.
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“Let’s arraign Mr. Trump, please.”
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—Justice Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s criminal case in Manhattan Criminal Court. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, as prosecutors accused him of paying two women to suppress their accounts of sexual encounters with him.
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The Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition and other plaintiffs face a deadline to respond to Minnesota’s effort to put on hold a federal judge’s order striking down a state law that said gun permits can only be granted to individuals 21 or older. “The issue will likely be determined by the Supreme Court, and therefore certainly involves the determination of both substantial and novel legal questions,” Minnesota’s lawyers told U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez, in asking her to pause enforcement of her ruling. Menendez will weigh the state’s request at a hearing on April 10.
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The U.S. Sentencing Commission will vote on whether to adopt proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines. The amendments include a proposal to curtail the power of judges to impose longer sentences on defendants based on conduct for which they were acquitted at trial. Another proposal would stiffen prison sentences for so-called straw purchasers of guns.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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Arbutus Biopharma sued Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech in New Jersey federal district court, claiming their mRNA COVID-19 vaccines infringe five of Arbutus’ patents. Lawyers from Morrison & Foerster represent Arbutus, and Quinn Emanuel represents co-plaintiff Genevant Sciences. Pfizer said it disputed the claims and will defend itself in court. Arbutus has other pending litigation involving vaccine patents. (Reuters)
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Twitter was accused of illegally laying off contract workers without notice after Elon Musk acquired the company last year, the latest lawsuit stemming from the significant reductions in the social media giant’s workforce. The proposed class action was filed in San Francisco federal court. Twitter has denied wrongdoing. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in D.C. vacated a rule that exempted medium-sized industrial livestock farms from undergoing environmental reviews before receiving government loans, after finding what she called severe problems with the rulemaking process. A coalition of animal rights groups and farmers challenged the rule in 2018, saying the government sidestepped proper procedure and ignored evidence when it finalized it. (Reuters)
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Virgin Orbit Holdings, founded by billionaire Richard Branson, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after the satellite launching business struggled to secure long-term funding following a failed launch in January. The filing comes less than two years after Virgin Orbit first went public at a valuation of roughly $3 billion. (Reuters)
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Apple lost a bid to register part of a federal trademark for “Apple Music,” after a Federal Circuit panel ruled for a jazz musician on his challenge to the tech giant’s application. The appeals court rejected Apple’s argument that it had priority over trumpeter Charlie Bertini’s “Apple Jazz” trademark rights based on its ownership of an earlier trademark from the Beatles’ Apple Corps. (Reuters)
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Morrison & Foerster added private equity partner Rongjing Zhao in the firm’s offices in Beijing and Shanghai. Zhao was previously at Kirkland. (Reuters)
- Sidley added Rakhee Patel as a Dallas-based restructuring partner. Patel previously was at Winstead. (Reuters)
- Skadden hired Los Angeles-based litigation partner Manuel Cachán from Proskauer. (Skadden)
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McDermott brought on Robert Barton as a Los Angeles-based partner in the firm’s private client practice. He joins from Holland & Knight. (McDermott)
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Proskauer added John Mahon as a D.C.-based partner focused on investment management practice. He was previously at Schulte Roth. (Proskauer)
- Perkins Coie added Thomas Yee as a New York-based partner focused on patent prosecution and portfolio counseling. Yee was previously Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear. (Perkins Coie)
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DLA Piper added San Francisco-based employment partner Troy Valdez. He was previously at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass. (DLA)
- Baker Donelson added New Orleans-based partners Laura Walker Plunkett, who focuses on tax matters, and financial services litigator Erin Kriksciun. They were both previously at Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann. (Baker Donelson)
- Akerman added Donald Pocock, a litigation partner based in the firm’s Winston Salem office. He was previously at Nelson Mullins. (Akerman)
>> More moves to share? Please drop us a note at LegalCareerTracker@thomsonreuters.com.
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UPDATE: A Reuters report on law firm mergers that was highlighted in The Daily Docket’s Number of the Day on April 4 was updated with a new total for first-quarter mergers — 16 — based on the latest figures provided by legal consultancy Fairfax Associates.
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