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A Texas federal judge’s attorney-sanctions order requiring three senior Southwest Airlines attorneys to take “religious liberty training” at Christian legal rights group Alliance Defending Freedom appeared to be unprecedented, a legal expert told our colleague Daniel Wiessner. It was unusual for a court to order corporate officials to undergo training conducted by a specific group. ADF was not a party in the litigation.
Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr found the Southwest lawyers undermined an earlier ruling in a flight attendant’s religious bias case. Starr said that instead of notifying employees of their rights against religious discrimination, the airline’s lawyers wrote a memo warning workers not to violate the company policy that led it to fire the plaintiff.
Starr previously was a top deputy to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. His order was troubling because ADF historically has advocated a conservative Christian viewpoint, which could interfere with the lawyers’ constitutional rights, according to David Lopez, an Obama-era EEOC general counsel who now teaches law at Rutgers. “The court is moving into some really dangerous territory here,” Lopez said. Starr gave the lawyers until Aug. 28 to attend ADF’s eight-hour training. The airline in a statement said it would file an appeal.
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- Global law firm Dentons split with its China branch, Beijing Dacheng Law Offices, in the wake of new national security restrictions imposed by the Chinese government. The 2015 combination created a 6,600-lawyer mega-firm, with Dacheng accounting for more than 4,000 of its attorneys. The United States has warned that foreign companies operating in China could be punished for their regular business activities under the new law. (Reuters)
- The American Bar Association urged U.S. judicial leaders to study the effects of violent or traumatic incidents on judges, their staff and their families and to recommend steps to improve their safety amid a rise in threats. The ABA’s House of Delegates backed a resolution calling attention to the mental health impacts of high caseloads, threats and violence on judicial staff and their families. (Reuters)
- Law schools should offer academic credit or pay to students heading up law reviews, the ABA’s House of Delegates said. The policymaking body approved a resolution urging law schools to offer academic credit or pay to students who serve as editors of law reviews or other academic journals. (Reuters)
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That’s how much the SEC fined nine Wall Street companies, including Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas and Société Générale over employees’ use of personal messaging apps to discuss deals, trades and other business. All nine firms admitted that from at least 2019 their employees often communicated on personal devices using iMessage, WhatsApp and Signal, the SEC said, in what the regulator said was a “pervasive and longstanding” violation of its record-keeping rules.
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“Statistical data reveal that there is no connection between bar application questions about mental health and attorney misconduct.“
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—The American Psychological Association, which passed a resolution pledging to work alongside the ABA and state bar associations to remove questions about mental health diagnoses or treatment history from the character and fitness reviews of aspiring attorneys. According to the ABA, 38 jurisdictions include at least one such question on their character and fitness questionnaire.
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- Lawyers for freight trucking company Yellow are scheduled to appear in U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware for the company’s first hearing after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Goldblatt will preside at the hearing. Lawyers for Kirkland represent Yellow, a nearly 100-year-old company that halted operations on July 30. Some 30,000 workers at Yellow were looking for jobs after the company filed for bankruptcy protection. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has called for changes to U.S. bankruptcy laws following the Chapter 11 filing, saying that workers must not be “left behind” when big businesses fail.
- In Brooklyn federal court, U.S. District Judge Nina Morrison will hold a status conference in the DOJ’s case against Rare Breed Triggers and Rare Breed Firearms. Morrison in January issued a temporary restraining order against the companies and their owners over the sale of devices that the government said can convert AR-15 style rifles into machine guns. Morrison last week heard arguments on the government’s effort for a preliminary injunction. Lawyers from Dhillon Law Group, representing the defendants, contend the government “fundamentally misunderstands and obfuscates” how the device performs.
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis faces a deadline to file any new court papers backing his effort to dismiss Disney’s lawsuit against him as the two fight over control of a local entity that governs the company’s theme park. Disney, whose legal team includes O’Melveny’s Daniel Petrocelli and WilmerHale’s Alan Schoenfeld, sued DeSantis in April. The complaint claimed DeSantis had “weaponized” the state government against the company for attacking a classroom gender discussion law. Disney is asking the federal court to prevent the state from enforcing new laws directed at the company and to reinstate the development agreements favorable to Disney that were struck with the prior district’s board. Florida’s lawyers include Charles Cooper of D.C.’s Cooper & Kirk.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- New York state Justice Arlene Bluth dismissed Airbnb’s lawsuit against New York City over legislation it called a “de facto ban” against short-term rentals. Bluth said it was “inherently rational” for the city to require that hosts register with a local agency as a means to reduce the thousands of illegal short-term rental listings. (Reuters)
- The 6th Circuit rejected Starbucks’ challenge to a ruling requiring the coffee chain to rehire seven employees at a Memphis store who were allegedly fired for supporting a union, saying that by firing the workers Starbucks likely discouraged other employees from exercising their rights under U.S. labor law. The decision could embolden the NLRB to use the courts to aggressively police Starbucks’ labor practices as they also come under scrutiny from shareholders and Congress. (Reuters)
- Google’s lawyers at Hogan Lovells and Freshfields asked the 2nd Circuit to keep a Texas antitrust lawsuit as a part of a multidistrict proceeding in Manhattan. Lawyers for Texas won a court order last week before a federal judicial panel that said the state could return its digital advertising case to Texas. Google’s legal team now includes Hogan Lovells appellate veteran Neal Katyal. (Reuters)
- Dan Ackerman, editor in chief of the tech-news website Gizmodo, is suing Apple, the Tetris Company and others over claims that his book about the landmark video game “Tetris” was adapted into a feature film without his permission. Ackerman said he sent his book “The Tetris Effect” in 2016 to the Tetris Company, which allegedly copied it for the movie and threatened to sue him if he pursued his own film or television spinoffs. (Reuters)
- Two tech groups represented by DLA Piper are backing TikTok in its lawsuit seeking to block enforcement of a Montana state ban on use of the short video sharing app before it takes effect on Jan. 1. NetChoice and Chamber of Progress said in a joint court filing that “Montana’s effort to cut Montanans off from the global network of TikTok users ignores and undermines the structure, design, and purpose of the internet.” (Reuters)
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- Allen & Overy hired Kfir Abutbul in New York as head of U.S. energy private equity. Abutbul was most recently a vice chair of the energy and infrastructure practice at Paul Hastings. (Reuters)
- Greenberg Traurig hired healthcare and FDA partner Brad Rostolsky in Philadelphia from Reed Smith. (Greenberg Traurig)
- Blank Rome brought on three Chicago-based real estate finance lawyers from Akerman, including partner Joel Sestito. (Blank Rome)
- Baker Botts added a three-lawyer team from Sidley, including partner Jennifer Haworth McCandless and special counsel Maria Carolina Duran. Both are based in D.C. as members of the firm’s international disputes section of the litigation group. (Baker Botts)
- K&L Gates brought on Geoffrey Greeves as a D.C.-based insurance litigation partner. He was previously at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings. (K&L Gates)
- Nelson Mullins added Atlanta-based partner Howard Hirsch, who will focus on real estate capital markets, private equity and corporate governance. He was previously at Morris Manning. (Nelson Mullins)
- Duane Morris hired Robert Nolan as a partner in the firm’s trial practice in San Francisco. Nolan was previously at DLA Piper. (Duane Morris)
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