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Deans from 26 law schools asked the American Bar Association to pull back on a proposal to extend its seal of approval to fully online law schools, saying more employment and bar pass data for graduates of online and hybrid programs is needed before making the change, Karen Sloan reports.
In a public comment, deans including those from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law; the University of Houston Law Center; and Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law wrote that the arm of the ABA that oversees law schools hasn’t made clear why it should modify its longstanding policy of accrediting only law schools with a brick-and-mortar location.
The ABA arm in November began the process of modifying its accreditation standards to allow for fully online law schools, with proponents saying that change would expand access to a law degree and reduce the cost of becoming a lawyer.
The ABA has accredited a handful of fully online JD programs, but only those offered by accredited law schools that also have brick-and-mortar campuses. The proposed change would allow graduates of fully online law schools that are ABA-accredited to sit for the bar exam in any state. The council could make a decision when it next meets in May.
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- A Black lawyer sued Major, Lindsey & Africa, alleging the legal recruiting firm is “blackballing” her after she sued her former law firm, Troutman Pepper, for racial discrimination earlier this year. Plaintiff Gita Sankano alleged in the lawsuit that prominent leaders at MLA warned her not to sue the law firm, and that a day after she did so, MLA informed her that a position she was seeking at a different firm was no longer available. MLA in a statement said it plans to “defend this matter vigorously.”
- Alliance for Justice, Demand Justice and Reproductive Freedom for All are part of a coalition of 23 progressive advocacy groups and civil rights organizations that urged Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic chair of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, to use his oversight power to address “judge shopping.” The groups said in a letter that it appeared that the judiciary’s top policymaking body had “watered down” a policy designed to curb judge shopping following Republican opposition.
- Legal technology company Luminance, which sells software to automate the contracts process for legal teams, raised $40 million in a new funding round led by Santa Monica-based venture firm March Capital. National Grid Partners and the London-based law firm Slaughter and May were also among the investors in the Series B round of funding for the Cambridge, England-based company.
- A former paralegal at Saul Ewing was sentenced to two years in prison for embezzling more than $600,000 from the law firm’s bankruptcy estate accounts. U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland in Chicago also ordered the former paralegal to pay $611,263 in restitution.
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That is the percentage increase in the number of law firm mergers tracked by Fairfax Associates in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same time period in 2023. Twenty law firm combinations were completed in the first quarter of 2024, compared with 16 in early 2023. The merger between two midwest law firms to create 275-lawyer UB Greensfelder was the largest deal that Fairfax tracked in the quarter. The consultancy anticipates the stepped-up activity to continue through the year.
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There is no doubt that shareholders of seven companies in which the now-disgraced investment firm Archegos Capital once held a huge stake were victimized by Archegos’ collapse in March 2021. They brought class actions against two of the banks that helped Archegos amass a huge position in the companies, claiming that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs used insider information to emerge relatively unscathed from the Archegos debacle while causing greater losses to other investors. But in an opinion issued on Monday, Judge Jed Rakoff of Manhattan explained why insider trading law simply doesn’t fit shareholders’ allegations. Alison Frankel has the story.
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“It would have taken a software expert weeks or even months“
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- A 5th Circuit panel will take up whether to continue blocking a Republican-backed Texas law that would let state authorities arrest and prosecute people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The Biden administration has argued the law intrudes on federal government power. In a 2-1 ruling last week, a panel of the New Orleans-based appeals court denied a request by Texas to let the law take effect while the state’s appeal of a ruling blocking it plays out.
- Massachusetts’ highest state court will consider whether plaintiffs can pursue class actions accusing website operators of violating a state wiretap law by collecting their clicks and scrolls using popular analytics tools produced by Google and Meta. The litigation has drawn numerous friend-of-the-court briefs, including from groups such as National Retail Federation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- UnitedHealth’s payment processing unit Change Healthcare faces a deadline today to weigh in about whether and where data-breach lawsuits against it should be consolidated. Change has been hit with at least six class actions accusing it of failing to protect millions of people’s personal data from last month’s hack. Plaintiffs’ lawyers asked a federal judicial panel to consolidate cases in federal court in Nashville, where Change is headquartered.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- The 7th Circuit upheld the dismissal of a proposed class action by parents who say they overpaid for Abbott’s baby formula before one of its plants was shuttered for unsanitary conditions. The parents had urged the appeals court to conclude they had legal standing to sue Abbott, arguing that they would not have paid the purchase price for Similac and other Abbott brands if they had known of the safety risks that led to the plant shutdown and a subsequent recall.
- U.S. District Judge Benjamin Beaton in Kentucky said a Biden administration rule requiring states to set climate targets for vehicles using the national highway system was unlawful. But the Trump-era appointee declined to vacate it as he criticized what has become a “race to the courthouse” by litigants seeking to block government policies from being enforced nationwide.
- Meat processors Mountaire and Case will pay a combined $22 million to resolve workers’ wage suppression claims, and agree to cooperate with plaintiffs as they pursue their antitrust case against other companies. The workers’ lawyers at Hagens Berman and other firms have netted $217 million in deals so far in the litigation in Maryland federal court.
- Citigroup urged a federal judge to dismiss New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit accusing its Citibank unit of failing to reimburse customers who fall victim to online scammers. While recognizing that the problem of online wire fraud “is real,” the third-largest U.S. bank faulted James’ “misguided” effort to hold it liable under a federal law governing electronic fund transfers because it expressly excludes wire transfers.
- WeWork said it is looking to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. and Canada by May 31 and that it had negotiated more than $8 billion, or over 40%, reduction in rent commitments from landlords.
- U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in Chicago dismissed a proposed class action filed by an Illinois mother against The Children’s Place for allegedly selling school uniforms that contain toxic “forever chemicals” without proper warnings. The judge said that it is “at least plausible” that school uniforms contain PFAS, but the Chicago mother has not shown the company lied or misled consumers about it in marketing materials even if they do.
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- Chicago-based law firm Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres hired partner Jim Durkin, who was the top Republican in the Illinois House of Representatives until last year. He will advise local governments on economic development and public finance matters. (Reuters)
- Holland & Hart hired former Trump-era EPA secretary Andrew Wheeler as a partner and head of the firm’s federal affairs team in D.C. Wheeler most recently served as director of Virginia’s Office of Regulatory Management. (Holland & Hart)
- King & Spalding hired Jennifer Recine, Sarmad Khojasteh and David Kupfer as business litigation partners in New York. They arrive from Kasowitz Benson. (King & Spalding)
- Mintz brought on Laura Franco as an IP partner in San Francisco. She previously was at Winston & Strawn. (Mintz)
- Seyfarth Shaw added corporate partner Alex Gendzier in New York from Arnold & Porter. (Seyfarth)
- Alston & Bird brought on mergers and acquisitions practice partner David Shaw in the firm’s New York office. Shaw was previously at Fried Frank. (Alston)
- BakerHostetler added Matthew Wochok in D.C. as a tax partner. He previously was at Morris, Manning & Martin. (BakerHostetler)
- Akin picked up real estate partner Avi Feinberg in New York from Fried Frank. (Akin)
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Brendan Gooley of Carlton Fields discusses the 2024 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey, which revealed that labor and employment class actions jumped about 10% in the last year. Survey respondents reported that labor and employment class actions account for the largest component of defense spending on class actions and that they expect such actions to continue to rise.
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