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Good morning. The country’s first large-scale pathway to attorney licensing that doesn’t involve passing the bar exam is poised for a key vote this week. Reporter Karen Sloan dives into the program. Plus, an attorney ethics dispute is raising questions from two litigation funders; the state of Hawaii was named for the first time as a defendant over last month’s deadly wildfires; and Tesla will face off with the NLRB in the 5th Circuit today over union insignia.
A big welcome to legal business reporter and colleague Sara Merken, who is joining Diana Novak Jones and Mike Scarcella on the The Daily Docket writing team. Sara co-wrote today’s newsletter.
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Oregon could soon become the first U.S. state to adopt a large-scale attorney licensing program that does not involve taking and passing the bar exam or graduating from an in-state law school, our colleague Karen Sloan reports. Wisconsin allows graduates of the state’s two law schools to be licensed without passing the bar, and New Hampshire allows a small cohort of law students who complete a specialized curriculum to bypass the bar.
On Thursday, the Oregon Supreme Court will vote on a proposal to allow law school graduates to become licensed after working for 675 hours under the supervision of an experienced attorney as an alternative to the bar exam. The Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners has been developing the alternative licensing pathway concept since 2020, after COVID-19 disrupted the bar exam in many jurisdictions.
Willamette University Law Dean Brian Gallini, who served on the committee that developed the proposal, said 675 hours matches the number of hours most people study for the bar exam. Candidates would also need to submit at least eight examples of legal writing; take the lead in at least two initial client interviews or client counseling sessions; and head up two negotiations, among other requirements. “I think other states are looking at these rules and seeing if it’s viable for them,” Gallini said. “One of the goals of the committee was to draft rules that we think other states could import.”
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- Greenberg Traurig received a license to open an office in the United Arab Emirates, its latest effort this year to expand deeper into Asia. The firm said it hired two real estate and hospitality partners from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner for the new office. (Reuters)
- Three Apple executives can be called as witnesses in the DOJ’s upcoming federal court trial accusing Google of unlawfully maintaining a monopoly in the search engine market. Apple’s team from Skadden had fought trial testimony, saying the execs had already spoken in depositions as part of the case. The trial is set to begin on Sept. 12. Google has denied the allegations. (Reuters)
- Norton Rose Fulbright global CEO Gerry Pecht retired from his leadership role and as a partner at the international law firm. U.S. managing partner Jeff Cody and EMEA managing partner Peter Scott will jointly chair the firm’s global executive committee on an interim basis. (Reuters).
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That’s the amount a pair of Florida hedge funds that invest in litigation said they loaned to Texas law firm McClenny Moseley & Associates, which is wrapped up in a professional disciplinary dispute after a Louisiana federal court barred it from collecting any proceeds from several hundred lawsuits it filed over hurricane damage. The Equal Access Justice Fund and EAJF ESQ Fund have asked U.S. District Judge James Cain Jr to allow them to participate in the disciplinary case. The court suspended all attorneys from the firm in March, and Cain has banned them from collecting any fees from more than 200 lawsuits filed in the Western District of Louisiana. The hedge funds are also pursuing a lawsuit against the law firm in Texas state court.
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The federal judge overseeing the proposed $6 billion settlement of claims against 3M by hundreds of thousands of U.S. military veterans does not seem to be a fan of litigation funding. In an apparently unprecedented order last week, Judge Casey Rodgers of Pensacola barred plaintiffs lawyers from helping their clients strike funding deals with companies that offer high-interest cash advances to plaintiffs waiting for settlement payouts. The judge also barred claimants in the 3M case from making any funding deals without obtaining her approval. Rodgers has good reason to worry about these exploitive deals, writes Alison Frankel — but her order raises a host of questions about the scope of her power and the effectiveness of her chosen weapons.
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“Mr. Paxton has been entrusted with great power. Unfortunately, rather than rise to the occasion, he’s revealed his true character.“
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—Texas Republican state Representative Andrew Murr, delivering the opening statement for the prosecution in the impeachment of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton. State senators were urged to convict the Republican on corruption-related charges and remove him from the office he’s held since 2015 for exploiting the power of his position for his own benefit. The last impeachment trial of a statewide office-holder in Texas was held in 1917. Paxton is not expected to testify, and he has called it a political witch hunt.
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- A 5th Circuit panel in New Orleans will hear arguments from Tesla challenging an NLRB ruling in 2022 that said employers’ efforts to curb workers from wearing union insignia was “presumptively” unlawful. The labor board said in an announcement at the time that it was unlawful for “Tesla to maintain a policy requiring employees to wear a plain black t-shirt or one imprinted with the employer’s logo, thus prohibiting employees from substituting a shirt bearing union insignia.” Micah Jost will argue for the national labor agency, and Michael Kenneally of Morgan Lewis is representing Tesla.
- The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will take up a new round of nominees from the Biden White House, including federal public defender Richard Federico for the 10th Circuit and U.S. Magistrate Judge Joshua Kolar for the 7th Circuit. Two district court nominees — Jeffrey Bryan for Minnesota’s federal bench, and Eumi Lee for the Northern District of California — are also set to appear for their confirmation hearings. Watch the hearing.
- Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell faces a deadline to certify dueling ballot initiatives by an industry-backed group and a labor union that seek to let voters decide whether Uber and Lyft ride-share drivers in the state should be treated as independent contractors or allowed to unionize. Flexibility and Benefits for Massachusetts Drivers filed a proposed ballot question that would ask voters in November 2024 to declare the companies’ drivers are not employees but rather independent contractors entitled to minimum benefits. Labor activists filed a competing ballot initiative seeking to allow drivers to unionize and bargain for working conditions and compensation collectively.
- U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco will take up Altria Group’s plan to pay $235 million to settle at least 6,000 lawsuits accusing it of fueling a teen vaping epidemic through its former investment in e-cigarette maker Juul Labs. The deal would end nearly all of the litigation brought against the tobacco giant over Juul by local government bodies and individuals across the United States. It came shortly after San Francisco’s public school district finished presenting its case against the company in a jury trial, which will now be cut short.
- A former employee of a federal prison in Massachusetts is expected to admit to secretly accepting thousands of dollars from Raj Rajaratnam while the Galleon Group hedge fund founder was serving time for insider trading. Federal prosecutors in Boston said William Tidwell accepted over $90,000 in benefits and a $50,000 property loan from a high net-worth inmate while working as a correctional counselor. The case is before U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Grayscale Investments urged the SEC to quickly approve its proposed exchange-traded fund that would track bitcoin, following the crypto asset manager’s court victory against the agency. The D.C. Circuit in a case that has been closely watched by the industry last week ruled that the agency was wrong to reject Grayscale’s proposed bitcoin ETF without explaining its reasoning. (Reuters)
- Zillow’s lawyers at Orrick and Dechert are preparing to face off against rival home-listing service REX at trial later this month in Seattle federal court. Zillow wants U.S. Judge Thomas Zilly to block REX from making certain arguments, after REX’s antitrust claim was knocked out. REX’s attorneys at Boies Schiller are pursuing false-advertisement and consumer protection violations. (Reuters)
- Private equity firm Prime Group agreed to pay $20.5 million to settle SEC charges related to disclosure failures. The Saratoga Springs, New York-based company failed to adequately disclose millions of dollars in real estate brokerage fees paid to a firm owned by its CEO. Lawyers from Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello and Schulte Roth & Zabel represented Prime Group, which did not admit or deny the charges. (Reuters)
- The SEC charged five investment adviser firms for failing to meet requirements related to the safekeeping of client assets. Disruptive Technology agreed to pay $225,000; Apex agreed to pay $130,000; the Eideard Group agreed to pay $80,000; Bluestone Capital agreed to pay $75,000; and Lloyd George agreed to pay $50,000. They did not admit or deny the SEC’s allegations. (Reuters).
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Paul Weiss hired Ravi Purohit as co-head of the firm’s infrastructure practice. Purohit, who joins as a New York-based partner, previously worked at Latham. (Reuters)
- Rohan Weerasinghe joined Shearman & Sterling as of counsel, based in New York. He retired from Citigroup in 2021 as its longtime general counsel. (Reuters)
- Willkie Farr hired Susan Rohol, who previously served as chief privacy officer of Warner Bros Discovery. Rohol joined the firm’s New York and Los Angeles offices as a partner focused on privacy and other matters. (Reuters)
- Simpson Thacher added Marisa Geiger as an intellectual property partner in New York. She previously worked at Paul Weiss. (Simpson Thacher).
- Jones Day added Javier Muñoz Méndez as a real estate partner in Madrid. He previously was at Madrid-based law firm Pérez-Llorca. (Jones Day)
- Venable brought on white-collar partner Adrienne Gurley in Los Angeles from Silicon Valley Bank, where she was head of litigation. (Venable)
- Foley Hoag hired Beth Neitzel as a partner in D.C. focusing on government-related litigation and investigations. She most recently served as senior counsel to the secretary at DHS. (Foley Hoag)
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K&L Gates added Paul Haswell as a technology partner in Hong Kong. Haswell previously was at Seyfarth. (K&L Gates)
- Allen & Overy added Elaine Hughes to the firm’s U.S. funds and asset management practice. Hughes joins as a partner in New York from Lowenstein Sandler. (Allen & Overy)
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There is uncertainty around liability under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act because courts have addressed the statute differently, including questions involving insurance exclusions, writes Howard Goldberg of MG+M. There is no uniform precedent that clearly lays out when a litigant is entitled to recover the costs for defending or settling BIPA claims, creating an uncomfortable and unclear future for companies that use biometric data. A recent Illinois appeals court decision illustrates the conflict.
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