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Good morning. Large and midsize law firms saw higher profits at the end of 2023 after a dismal 2022, a new report says. Plus, a judge ordered Elon Musk to testify again in the SEC’s probe of his takeover of Twitter; authors suing OpenAI asked a California court to block what they called “copycat” lawsuits in New York; and French skincare company L’Occitane is taking aim at the tactics of a U.S. plaintiffs’ law firm. It’s a new week. Welcome to Monday!
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A new industry report found law firms ended 2023 on strong financial footing after a sluggish start, reports Karen Sloan.
Fueled largely by rate growth and increased demand for countercyclical work, profits rose year-over-year among both large and midsize law firms in the fourth quarter following a dismal 2022, according to the latest Thomson Reuters Law Firm Financial Index. Profits-per-equity partner jumped 6% among the top 100 most profitable U.S. law firms. Firms in the second 100 segment of the market saw 2.5% growth in profits over the fourth quarter of 2022.
Each segment of firms saw profit declines of 4% or more in 2022, though 2023’s profitability gains fell short of the double-digit increases law firms enjoyed in 2020 and 2021.
Law firms showed “resilience” in 2023 by “aggressively” raising rates while also reining in costs, especially those tied to associates, said Tommy Williams, interim general manager of global and large law firms at Thomson Reuters.
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- Litigation funder Burford Capital won’t be allowed to step in and steer antitrust cases belonging to one of its financing clients, food distributor Sysco, after a judge spurned its bid to maximize profit on a $140 million investment. Minnesota-based U.S. Magistrate Judge John Docherty said Burford had no interest beyond a financial stake in Sysco’s lawsuits accusing major beef and pork suppliers of price-fixing.
- L’Occitane is taking aim at U.S. class action plaintiffs’ firm Zimmerman Reed’s tactics in a new lawsuit that seeks to undo portions of a state anti-wiretapping law. The company, represented by ArentFox Schiff, sued the law firm for allegedly “manufacturing” mass arbitration claims against it by having people visit L’Occitane’s website and claim their privacy was violated by third-party tracking software. Zimmerman Reed’s managing partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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That’s how many men are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Boy Scouts’ $2.46 billion bankruptcy settlement from moving forward while they appeal its approval. The group, a small minority of the 82,000 people who filed claims saying they were sexually abused by Boy Scout troop leaders, have argued that the settlement unlawfully stops them from pursuing lawsuits against organizations that are not bankrupt, like churches that ran scouting programs and insurers that provided coverage to the youth organization.
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When Scott Peterson was convicted amid a massive media frenzy in 2004 of killing his pregnant wife Laci and their unborn son, prosecutors couldn’t prove exactly how, when or where she died. Now, the Los Angeles Innocence Project wants a crack at answering those questions, filing motions for DNA testing and post-conviction discovery on Peterson’s behalf. Jenna Greene in her latest column looks at the 1,524 pages of material – and wonders how Peterson, who was represented at trial by Mark Geragos, got a pro bono golden ticket for his post-conviction fight.
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“Defendants chose to take advantage of New York’s market and laws. So they can’t complain.“
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—U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who wrote for a 2nd Circuit panel that revived an investor class action accusing the Mexican branches of several multinational banks of manipulating the prices of billions of dollars’ worth of Mexican government bonds in the United States. The panel said the banks must face the investors’ claims for now, finding that the alleged price-fixing had enough connection to New York to maintain the case in the United States.
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- On Monday, Deere’s Wirtgen America will try to convince a federal jury at a week-long trial in Delaware that Caterpillar’s road-milling machines, used to remove road surfaces before repaving them, infringe its patents.
- On Tuesday, the 8th Circuit will hear oral arguments in Minnesota’s bid to revive its law banning gun permits for people under age 21. The rule was struck down by a federal district court last year, but that ruling has been stayed until the 8th Circuit rules in the case.
- On Wednesday, the 2nd Circuit is slated to consider an appeal of a jury verdict holding that Connecticut whiskey company W.L. Deutsch & Sons’ bourbon bottles copied the design of Diageo’s Bulleit whiskey bottles. The jury ruled that Diageo’s bottle design was entitled to trademark protection and that Deutsch diluted its distinctiveness. The court later blocked two updated designs Deutsch put forward after the ruling.
- On Thursday, a hearing is set in Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York on charges of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star. Justice Juan Merchan is expected to decide on a possible change to the March 25 trial date at the hearing, as well as decide on the parties’ pre-trial motions.
- On Friday, Tron founder Justin Sun is expected to move to dismiss the SEC’s case accusing him of fraud and manipulation of digital assets. Sun and his companies Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry were accused of scheming to distribute billions of crypto assets known as Tronix and BitTorrent and artificially inflating trading volume. He was also accused of concealing payment to celebrities to promote TRX and BTT on social media accounts, misleading the public into thinking they had unbiased interest.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Gun rights groups asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their challenge to Maryland’s ban on assault weapons like the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle before a federal appeals court can rule on the long-running case. They sought Supreme Court review after the 4th Circuit took the rare step last month of voting to allow all 14 of its active judges to hear the case before a three-judge panel that had heard arguments on the matter in December 2022 could rule.
- Novo Nordisk has reached settlements with a medical spa and a weight loss clinic in Florida that it had accused of marketing knockoff versions of its diabetes and weight loss drugs. The agreements, which have been approved by federal judges, bar the companies from using Novo’s trademarks on diabetes drugs Ozempic and Rybelsus, or weight management drug Wegovy, to promote compounded drugs purporting to contain semaglutide.
- Three female marketing managers who filed a proposed class action accusing Amazon of widespread sex discrimination claimed that the tech giant has retaliated against them, including by firing one and forcing another to quit. The workers in an amended complaint filed in Seattle federal court claim Amazon’s illegal conduct only escalated in the weeks after they initially filed the lawsuit in November alleging violations of federal and Washington state laws.
- The U.S. government did not violate the University of South Florida’s patent rights by breeding mice with Alzheimer’s disease for research purposes, the Federal Circuit said. The government had the right to use the patented mice based on the National Institutes of Health’s funding of the USF research that led to the patent, the court held.
- Sixteen financial firms will pay more than $81 million to settle SEC charges for widespread recordkeeping failures. The firms include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, Guggenheim Securities and U.S. Bancorp Investments.
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- Frost Brown Todd brought on Kathryn Eckert in Lexington, Kentucky, as a partner in its environmental practice and energy team. She arrives from McBrayer. (Frost Brown Todd)
- DLA Piper added D.C.-based investment funds partner David Solander from McDermott (DLA Piper)
- Baker Botts hired Travis McRoberts in Dallas as a financial restructuring partner from Squire Patton Boggs. (Baker Botts)
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