 //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591700&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31809962&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591701&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31809962&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591702&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31809962&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591703&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31809962&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591704&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31809962&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
|
|
|
| //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=874768&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31809962&stpe=static” border=”0″ style=”max-height:12px;” /> |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. Law schools in states where affirmative action has already been banned are still taking action to boost the diversity of their classes – here’s how. Plus, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will get two trials, and attorney Todd Blanche, representing Donald Trump in two criminal trials, faces a malpractice suit. In observance of Juneteenth, we’re taking Monday off. We’ll see you Tuesday.
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
|
The U.S. Supreme Court is widely expected to ban colleges and universities from considering race as a factor in their admissions decisions before the end of its current term this month, scaling back law schools’ diversity efforts dramatically. But the experience of two highly selective public law schools in states where affirmative action was banned years ago offers a guide for other schools looking to admit diverse students, reports Karen Sloan.
Enrollment at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law among Black, Hispanic and Native American first-year students plummeted after both states banned affirmative action in public university admissions. But over time each school found new ways to boost their percentages of those diverse groups, ranging from participating in pipeline programs that introduce college students to legal careers to looking at applicants’ family income and whether they are the first in their families to attend college.
Nine states now prohibit affirmative action, and law school administrators there said they are fielding requests from out-of-state colleagues on how to enroll diverse classes when race cannot be taken into account. The Association of American Law Schools on July 10 is convening a virtual conference focused on admissions in a post-affirmative action landscape, chaired by Berkeley Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky.
Both Sarah Zearfoss, Michigan Law’s senior assistant dean, and Chemerinsky said achieving diversity without affirmative action requires extra institutional effort.
“My great fear is that after the Supreme Court decision, colleges and universities will give up on diversity,” Chemerinsky said.
|
|
|
- Todd Blanche, a white-collar attorney defending Donald Trump in two criminal cases, is facing a legal malpractice lawsuit by former clients, investment bankers Adam and Daniel Kaplan, who claim Blanche and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft mishandled their defense in a regulatory investigation.The lawsuit says Blanche and his former firm “sabotaged” their efforts to fend off an SEC probe, forged a document and withheld their legal file after Cadwalader stopped representing the pair. This lawsuit has no legitimate legal or factual basis,” Blanche told Reuters, declining to elaborate. (Reuters)
- The U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed Nusrat Choudhury to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, making her the first female Muslim federal judge in the United States. (Reuters)
- Skadden said that Washington, D.C.-based corporate partner Jeremy London will serve as its next top leader. London, 51, will take over as executive partner from Eric Friedman, who has led the 1,600-lawyer firm for the last 15 years. (Reuters)
- A federal judge in Brooklyn sentenced a New York attorney convicted of defrauding his lottery-winning clients out of $107 million to 13 years in prison, federal prosecutors said. Self-styled “lottery lawyer” Jason Kurland, 49, was convicted of wire fraud, honest services wire fraud and money laundering. (Reuters)
- WilmerHale has elected New York white collar and government investigations lawyer Anjan Sahni as the U.S. law firm’s next managing partner. Sahni, a former federal prosecutor, will succeed co-managing partners Susan Murley and Robert Novick on Jan. 1, marking the firm’s first leadership shakeup in more than a decade. (Reuters)
|
“Our Constitution reserves for the Tribes a place – an enduring place – in the structure of American life.“
|
—Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote a concurrence with the majority’s ruling upholding decades-old federal standards that give preferences to Native Americans and tribal members in the adoption or foster care placements of Native American children and rejecting a challenge that claimed that parts of the law were racially biased against non-Native Americans. The court said in part the challengers lacked standing to take on the law, while Gorsuch said the Constitution protects the tribes’ sovereignty.
|
|
|
|
- Lowenstein Sandler’s crypto practice and Rutgers Law School are hosting an event entitled “Regulating Crypto: Perspectives from Key Stakeholders.” SEC Director of Enforcement Gurbir Grewal is listed as a keynote speaker, as is Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer at Coinbase. The event comes a little more than a week after the SEC filed a complaint against Coinbase, accusing the crypto platform of making billions of dollars by operating as a middleman on crypto transactions, while evading disclosure requirements meant to protect investors.
- The 2nd Circuit will hear arguments from IBM’s attorneys at Jones Day as they urge the court to keep an arbitration award given to former employee Elizabeth Stafford sealed, despite a district court’s ruling that it could be shared with other IBM employees involved in separate arbitrations. IBM says it paid the award, which was confidential as part of the arbitration process, and shouldn’t be brought back to court to defend its confidentiality. Stafford, represented by Shannon Liss-Riordan, argues the public has a right to know what her award was.
|
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
|
What to catch up on this weekend
|
- U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan scheduled the writer E. Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial – seeking at least $10 million in damages – against former President Donald Trump for next January. The timetable raises the prospect that Trump might have to defend himself in three trials early next year as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, where he is now the front-runner. (Reuters)
- JPMorgan Chase urged U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff to reject the U.S. Virgin Islands’ demand that CEO Jamie Dimon sit for a second deposition for its lawsuit about the bank’s long relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. In a letter, the bank said Dimon made “crystal clear” in his May 26 deposition that he knew nothing about Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and teenage girls when the disgraced financier was a client. (Reuters)
- In two separate rulings, the New York Court of Appeals expanded the breadth of the state’s sex offender law, saying it can be applied to sex offenders convicted prior to 2005 — when state lawmakers made several amendments broadening its scope — and to sex offenders aged 18 or younger when they committed their crimes. The court said the “youthful offenders” could be banned from being within 1,000 feet of schools, even when it prevents them from attending themselves. (Reuters)
- Louisiana and other Republican-led states have asked a New Orleans federal court to temporarily block the Biden administration’s new federal flood insurance pricing scheme, which they said will increase some premiums more than fivefold. The states, alongside dozens of local Louisiana governments, are pushing for a preliminary injunction, saying FEMA’s 2021 changes to the National Flood Insurance Program amounted to a “classic bait-and-switch” that will harm millions of policy holders. (Reuters)
- CoinEx agreed to pay $1.8 million and be banned from operating in New York – but did not admit wrongdoing – in a settlement resolving state Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit accusing the cryptocurrency exchange of operating illegally because it failed to register with the state. James sued CoinEx in February, saying its failure to register before buying and selling tokens violated the Martin Act, a state law used to fight financial fraud. (Reuters)
|
|
|
-
Wilson Sonsini has hired the co-founder of a satellite servicing company as the firm launches a new industry group – dubbed “NewSpace” – revolving around satellites and commercial spaceflight. Curt Blake, the co-founder and former CEO of launch services company Spaceflight, has joined Wilson Sonsini as senior of counsel in Seattle. ( Reuters)
- In Tokyo, M&A partner Eiji Kobayashi joined Mayer Brown’s corporate and securities practice. Kobayashi previously headed the corporate practice at Norton Rose Fulbright in Tokyo. (Mayer Brown)
|
|
|
Concerns over the role of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in corporate decision-making are likely to continue growing for the foreseeable future, putting companies between the proverbial rock and hard place, write Sarah E. Fortt, Danielle Conley and Nineveh Alkhas of Latham & Watkins. The authors outline steps companies can take to address legal risks associated with DEI initiatives.
|
|
|
Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletter or other Reuters news content.
Get Reuters News App
Want to stop receiving this newsletter? Unsubscribe here.
To manage which newsletters you’re subscribed to, click here.
|
|
|
|
