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Good morning. The decision to ditch logic games on the LSAT is getting some strong reactions from lawyers and aspiring attorneys on social media and message boards. Plus, New York University faces a new lawsuit claiming the process for selecting students who work on its flagship law review unlawfully gives preference to women and minorities; a U.S. judge in San Diego declared California’s ban on assault weapons unconstitutional; and demand for Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and other drugs used for weight-loss is driving a global surge in counterfeits. We made it to Friday!
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From elation to disappointment, lawyers and aspiring attorneys have some strong feelings about the removal of the so-called “logic games” from the Law School Admission Test, our colleague Karen Sloan reports. They flocked to social media, blogs, and message boards to either lament the demise of the puzzle-like questions that some called the sole enjoyable section of the test or to celebrate the elimination of what others said are confounding scenarios that bear little correlation to the work lawyers do.
The Law School Admission Council, which develops and administers the LSAT, said earlier this week that it would drop logic games, AKA analytical reasoning questions, from the exam and replace them with more of its logical reasoning questions beginning in August 2024. Analytical reasoning has been on the LSAT since 1982.
“There are some people who love them, and some people who really dislike them,” said council president KellyeTesty, who noted that logic games have generally been the most polarizing part of the test.
The decision to ditch logic games comes after the council in 2019 entered a settlement with two blind LSAT takers who claimed logic games violated the Americans With Disabilities Act because they could not draw diagrams that test takers often use to complete that portion of the test. That settlement gave the council four years to revise the logic games.
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- The Illinois comptroller fired a lawyer in her office over virulently antisemitic remarks the attorney allegedly made in an exchange on Instagram. A spokesperson for Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said the attorney was “immediately fired” after the office became aware of her private comments to an Instagram account. (Reuters)
- Conservative group America First Legal sued New York University, claiming its flagship law review unlawfully gives preference to women and minorities when selecting its student editors and other staff. The lawsuit in Manhattan federal court marks the second time the NYU Law Review has been the target of litigation over its diversity policies in recent years. (Reuters)
- A senior associate at WilmerHale sued the law firm in New York state court, alleging he was discriminated against because of his race and defamed in his 2022 year-end evaluation. Jean Dassie, who is Black, alleged that despite performing above average the firm told him he was not on track to be promoted to counsel by the end of the year. The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reuters)
- Schulte Roth & Zabel sued Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, seeking a judgment prohibiting it from liquidating and disbursing funds in the trust account for 26 Capital, a former SPAC client of Schulte. It is the second lawsuit in the law firm’s bid to recover more than $1.9 million in legal fees from 26 Capital, whose merger plans with the Philippines’ largest casino fizzled. (Reuters)
- The New York Court of Appeals removed judge Robert Putorti from the Whitehall Town and Village Court, a town court in the northern part of the state. The court concluded a 2015 incident in which Putorti waved his gun at a criminal defendant who approached the bench quickly, and Putorti’s behavior afterward, provided enough grounds to remove him from the bench. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reuters)
- The pass rate for the July New York bar exam held steady at 66%, state law examiners said. First-time examinees had a pass rate of 76%, up slightly from 75% in July 2022. With 9,779 people sitting for the July test, New York historically has the most bar exam takers in the country. Florida’s overall pass rate for July climbed to 61% from 51% the previous year, while Pennsylvania increased two percentage points to 70%. California has yet to announce its results.
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Having your name in the caption of a securities class action doesn’t mean you have standing to appeal the dismissal of the case, according to a decision last week from the 9th Circuit. Shareholder Mark Habelt filed the first prospective class action against health tech company iRhythm in 2021. He didn’t apply to be lead plaintiff, making way for a Mississippi pension fund. But when the fund decided not to appeal the case’s dismissal, Habelt stepped up to revive the class action that still bore his name. Alison Frankel has the story on the split decision swatting down Habelt’s appeal.
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“We have what we think may be an elegant solution for the problem.“
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—9th Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, chair of the U.S. Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules, at a hearing in which committee members appeared largely supportive of key provisions of the latest draft of a rule requiring filers of amicus briefs to disclose when much of their revenue comes from a party in a case or its lawyers. The draft rule would require disclosure when a party or its counsel contributed 25% or more of the gross annual revenue of the entity filing a friend-of-the-court brief. It wrestled with exactly how to calculate that 25% and over what period.
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What to catch up on this weekend
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- Deutsche Bank’s $75 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit by women who accused the German bank of facilitating the sex trafficking of late financier Jeffrey Epstein will go before U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan federal court for a fairness hearing. Deutsche Bank was accused of missing red flags in Epstein’s accounts that he was engaged in wrongdoing. The bank has acknowledged its error in making Epstein a client and said it has made investments to bolster controls, processes and training, and hired more people to fight financial crime. The victims’ lawyers include litigator David Boies, whose hourly rate of $2,110 was shown in a filing in the case.
- U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Fort Pierce, Florida, will consider whether a defense lawyer for a Donald Trump aide charged with mishandling classified documents has a conflict of interest. Stanley Woodward, a lawyer for aide Walt Nauta, has represented or is currently representing three people who might be called as witnesses in the case, Florida federal prosecutors said in a filing. Trump, also charged in the case, and Nauta have pleaded not guilty.
- SEC lawyers will head to court in D.C. for a status conference in the agency’s case against Mikhail Kokorich, former chief executive of space exploration company Momentus. Kokorich was accused in the civil action with others of making misleading claims about a planned merger. According to the SEC, Kokorich and Momentus told investors that it had “successfully tested” its propulsion technology in space, when its only in-space test had failed to achieve its primary objectives or demonstrate the technology’s commercial viability. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in March declined to dismiss the lawsuit. Kokorich has disputed the allegations.
- The 9th Circuit will hear arguments in a medical researcher’s appeal of the DEA’s rejection of his petition to reschedule psilocybin so it can be prescribed and studied. Dr. Sunil Aggarwal and his attorneys from Yetter Coleman, the National Psychedelics Association, Perkins Coie and Porter Wright have been locked in a fight with the DEA over the drug, better known as “magic mushrooms.” They argue that the FDA has recognized medical uses for it, but the U.S. still classifies the drug as illegal.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Eli Lilly said it sued 11 online pharmacies to stop them from importing, selling and distributing products claiming to contain the active ingredient in its diabetes drug Mounjaro, which is expected to be approved for weight loss later this year. The lawsuit comes one month after Eli Lilly sued 10 U.S. medical spas, wellness centers and compounding pharmacies for selling products claiming to contain tirzepatide, Mounjaro’s main ingredient. (Reuters)
- Amazon’s lawyers at Davis Wright urged U.S. District Judge John Chun in Seattle to dismiss what they called an “unconstitutionally vague” lawsuit challenging the ecommerce giant’s Prime subscription service. Amazon said it had clearly presented Prime’s terms to consumers. The FTC is seeking an injunction in the lawsuit. (Reuters)
- Altria’s e-cigarette brand NJOY is seeking an injunction in California federal court against a number of companies manufacturing and selling allegedly illicit e-vapor products in the U.S. Arnold & Porter filed the suit, which claimed products marketed by 34 foreign and domestic companies violated the state’s flavor ban law and “illegally competed” against companies that complied with state and federal laws. (Reuters)
- New York Attorney General Letitia James sued cryptocurrency firms Genesis Global, its parent company Digital Currency Group and Gemini for allegedly “defrauding” investors of more than $1 billion. The attorney general is seeking restitution for investors and “disgorgement of ill-gotten gains,” along with a ban on all the three cryptocurrency firms from the financial investment industry in New York. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in Virginia approved a $70 million settlement resolving claims from the city of Providence and other plaintiffs that pharmaceutical companies Merck and Glenmark conspired to artificially inflate the price of brand and generic versions of the cholesterol medication Zetia. The court’s order includes $23.3 million in legal fees to class counsel at Miller Law and Motley Rice. Merck and Glenmark denied any liability. (Reuters)
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- Weil added restructuring partner Céline Domenget-Morin to the firm’s Paris office. Domenget-Morin was previously at Goodwin. (Weil)
- Greenberg Traurig brought on energy and natural resources partner Regina Pearson in Austin. She most recently practiced at Faegre Drinker. (Greenberg Traurig)
- Arnall Golden Gregory hired former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lawyer Brian Stimson as a litigation and healthcare partner in Washington, D.C. He most recently practiced at McDermott. (Arnall Golden Gregory)
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