 //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591700&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=35434489&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591701&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=35434489&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591702&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=35434489&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591703&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=35434489&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591704&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=35434489&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
|
|
|
| //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=874768&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=35434489&stpe=static” border=”0″ style=”max-height:12px;” /> |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. Alternative attorney licensing pathways gained a key endorsement from the American Bar Association, marking a major shift in its stance, Karen Sloan reports. Plus, a federal judge in Texas blocked a Biden-backed rule expanding gun background checks, TikTok and the DOJ want a fast-track schedule in the social platform’s legal fight, and WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange faces a ruling soon on U.S. extradition. Scroll for our week-ahead calendar and more. Thanks for reading!
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
|
The American Bar Association’s endorsement of alternative attorney licensing pathways that don’t involve the bar exam marked a major shift in the group’s stance on admission to practice law, our colleague Karen Sloan writes. The ABA’s Council of the Section of Legal Education adopted a new policy statement that urges states to “create diverse pathways to licensure.” The ABA for more than a century has backed the use of bar exams for lawyer licensing.
Racial disparities on bar exam pass rates and the cost of taking the bar exam are among the reasons proponents say alternatives are needed. The revision of the policy statement from the ABA’s legal education section comes as more states establish alternative ways to license new law graduates, Sloan writes. Oregon in November adopted an apprenticeship pathway for law school graduates. Washington followed in March. High courts in California, Minnesota and Utah are considering proposals.
The ABA’s legal education policy statements are guidance for law schools. While the ABA controls law school accreditation, it has no power over attorney licensing, which is handled by state courts or other regulatory bodies. The new policy statement also calls on states to create licensing structures that “mitigate the disparate exclusion from the profession of racial and ethnic minorities and individuals of low socioeconomic status.”
|
|
|
| //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=874763&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=35434489&stpe=static” border=”0″ style=”max-height:12px;” /> |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Apple executives hoping to avoid new court-ordered restrictions on the company’s lucrative App Store have struggled to assuage U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who has sharply grilled them over multiple days on whether Apple skirted reforms she ordered in 2021. Apple has denied violating the order and has urged the court not reject plaintiff Epic Games’ bid for a civil contempt order.
- John Eastman pleaded not guilty to charges that he illegally sought to claim Arizona’s 2020 electoral votes for then-President Donald Trump. Eastman and others, including fellow former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, are accused of plotting to assemble a slate of pro-Trump electors who falsely claimed to represent the Southwestern battleground state’s legitimate electoral votes.
- The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct dismissed an ethics complaint against Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money criminal case against Donald Trump, a spokesperson for the judge said. A court spokesperson, citing a statement from Merchan, said the complaint was dismissed “with a caution.” The complaint stemmed from donations Merchan made in 2020. Under commission rules, a caution may be taken into consideration in the event of any future misconduct.
- A retired teacher pleaded guilty to threatening to harm a federal judge in Florida who had rejected a challenge to the state’s so-called “don’t say gay” law restricting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.
|
That’s how much General Motors and South Korea’s LG Electronics have agreed to pay in a U.S. court settlement resolving claims by Chevrolet Bolt EV owners affected by defective batteries. GM first launched Chevrolet Bolt EVs in 2015, and used batteries made by LG entities as part of a business arrangement with the car manufacturer. Co-lead plaintiffs’ firms Miller Law Firm and Keller Rohrback said they would ask for up to 35% in legal fees from the fund. GM started recalls in 2020 after it faced numerous complaints about fires in some vehicles.
|
“Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins, Bats and Ghosts … did not contain any of the artistic carvings as pictured on the product packaging and they were all blank.“
|
—Attorney Anthony Russo, writing in a new lawsuit claiming Hershey’s misled consumers about the amount of artistic detail they would find on several Reese’s peanut butter candies after opening the packaging. Four Reese’s consumers filed a proposed class action in Florida federal court. Photos included in the complaint showed pumpkin-shaped candies missing the advertised eyes and crooked mouths, Jonathan Stempel writes. Hershey didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The plaintiffs said they would not have made the purchases had they known the candies would be unadorned.
|
|
|
|
- A British court could give a final decision today on whether WikiLeaks‘ founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the United States over the mass leak of secret U.S. documents, the culmination of 13 years of legal battles and detentions. Two judges at the High Court in London are set to rule on whether the court is satisfied by U.S. assurances that Assange would not face the death penalty and could rely on the First Amendment right to free speech if he faced a U.S. trial for spying.
- Also today, the U.S. Senate is set to vote to confirm Seth Aframe, a federal prosecutor in New Hampshire, to serve as a judge on the Boston-based 1st Circuit. Aframe heads the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire. If Aframe is confirmed, the 1st Circuit would be a rarity among federal appeals courts because its six active judges would all be appointees of Democratic presidents.
- On Tuesday, California’s top state court will consider a labor union’s challenge to a ballot measure allowing app-based services such as Uber and Lyft to treat drivers as independent contractors rather than more costly employees. The Service Employees International Union and several gig drivers appealed a lower court decision to the California Supreme Court.
- On Wednesday, the FTC is due to respond in Texas federal court to a bid to stay the effective date for the agency’s new ban of noncompetes. The agency’s effort to curtail the use of noncompetes is likely vulnerable to legal challenges, experts said, as some courts have grown increasingly skeptical of federal agencies’ power to adopt broad rules. About 30 million people, or 20% of U.S. workers, have signed noncompetes, the agency said.
- On Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco will weigh Epic Games’ proposed court-ordered injunction that would force Google to make a series of changes to its app store Play. Epic, maker of the popular Fortnite game, wants to open up Play to greater competition after a jury found Google had abused its power as a gatekeeper for apps on the Android mobile platform. Google has argued Epic’s proposal goes too far.
- On Friday, a federal judge in Boston will hold a hearing after a 1st Circuit panel in April revived a lawsuit accusing Whole Foods Market of illegally firing a worker who refused to remove a facemask that said “Black Lives Matter” during the COVID-19 pandemic and complained about alleged racism by the company. The appeals court returned the case to U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, who dismissed all of the plaintiffs’ claims in January 2023.
|
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
|
- Attorneys for Alaska Airlines at O’Melveny & Myers asked a U.S. judge to throw out a consumer lawsuit over the carrier’s plan to buy peer Hawaiian Airlines for $1.9 billion, arguing that the transaction would not unlawfully consolidate its power in the transportation industry.
- AstraZeneca owes Pfizer subsidiary Wyeth $107.5 million in damages for infringing Wyeth’s patents with its blockbuster lung-cancer drug Tagrisso, a Delaware federal jury said. The jury found that AstraZeneca’s drug infringed two Wyeth patents covering methods for treating cancer with the breast-cancer drug Nerlynx, which is sold by Puma Biotechnology.
- The D.C. Circuit refused to temporarily pause a landmark rule issued by the EPA requiring sweeping reductions in carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants and new natural gas plants. The appeals court rejected a request filed by 25 Republican attorneys general for an administrative stay, which would have put the rule that goes into effect in July, on hold while the court considers whether to impose a longer stay order.
- Spotify was hit with a lawsuit in New York federal court that accuses the streaming giant of underpaying songwriting royalties for tens of millions of songs. The lawsuit by the royalty-gathering nonprofit Mechanical Licensing Collective said Spotify underreported its revenue by nearly half in order to avoid paying millions of dollars that it owes to the group.
- A Brooklyn man who ran a business named for a fake company from the TV show “Seinfeld” to swindle $1.34 million from real estate and cryptocurrency investors, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, U.S. prosecutors said.
|
|
|
- Venable opened a Denver office with eight lawyers from Sherman & Howard. Trial attorney partner James Sawtelle will lead the new office. The group also includes commercial litigation partners Jessica Arett and Nick DeWeese, and labor and employment partners Emily Keimig, Beth Ann Lennon and Heather Vickles. (Venable)
|
|
|
|
