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A group of 13 conservative U.S. federal judges said that they would not hire law students or undergraduates from Columbia University in response its handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, report Nate Raymond and Karen Sloan.
The judges, all appointees of former President Donald Trump, called the Manhattan campus an “incubator of bigotry” in a letter to Columbia President Minouche Shafik and Law Dean Gillian Lester.
The lead signers of the letter are U.S. Circuit Judges James Ho of the 5th Circuit, Elizabeth Branch of the 11th Circuit and U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Matthew Solomson. Two-thirds of the signatories are based in Texas, including U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in the Northern District of Texas, who gained national attention last year by suspending approval of the abortion pill mifepristone in a case now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Spokespeople for Columbia University and Columbia Law School did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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- A U.S. judge approved a $62 million Google consumer privacy settlement over objections that the deal awards $18 million to the plaintiffs’ lawyers and $42 million to various advocacy groups, but no money to the class members. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila called the deal fair and reasonable. An objector to the pact said it will be appealed to the 9th Circuit.
- Willkie opened an office in Dallas that will be staffed in part by a group of partners from rival U.S. law firm Haynes and Boone. Tom Tippetts, Brandon McCoy and Chase Proctor joined Willkie as partners in its new office.
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That’s the overall pass rate for the February 2024 bar exam in California, up from 32.5% in February 2023, according to our colleague Karen Sloan. An investigation by the State Bar of California concluded that heating issues at a San Francisco-area testing site for the 2024 exam did not impact scores, the attorney licensing body said. The year-over-year uptick followed a national trend in which the majority of states posted pass rate gains. A total of 3,944 took California’s February exam, and 1,337 passed.
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“I do not want to impose a jail sanction and have done everything I can to avoid doing so.“
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—Justice Juan Merchan, who fined former President Donald Trump $1,000 and held him in contempt of court for a 10th time for violating a gag order and warned that further violations could land the former president in jail. Merchan said the nine $1,000 fines he had imposed so far did not seem to be deterring the wealthy business mogul from violating the order, which bars him from speaking publicly about jurors and witnesses in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president. As he imposed the fine, Merchan said he considered jail time “truly the last resort” as it would disrupt the trial, pose extraordinary security challenges and complicate the 2024 presidential election – but said he would do it if necessary.
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- Idaho will urge a 9th Circuit panel to revive a 2023 law making it a crime to help a minor cross state lines for an abortion without parental consent, which a judge blocked last November. U.S. Magistrate Judge Debora Grasham in Boise, Idaho, in her ruling said the law “fails to provide fair notice or ascertainable standard of what is and what is not abortion trafficking.”
- The 1st Circuit in Boston will hear a challenge by the Satanic Temple to the Boston City Council’s practice of inviting guest chaplains to give an opening prayer at its meetings. The challenger’s lawyer contends “Boston’s invocation practice is an endorsement of favored religions.” Boston’s attorneys have asked the appeals court to uphold a trial judge’s ruling rejecting the lawsuit.
- In Philadelphia, a 3rd Circuit panel will take up defamation claims filed by a former classmate of now-Justice Brett Kavanaugh who sued the Huffington Post media outlet over a 2018 report prior to Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. Plaintiff Derrick Evans, who was a high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s, contends he was negatively portrayed in the report. The publication asked the appeals court to uphold the dismissal of the lawsuit.
- The 2nd Circuit will hear arguments in Timothy Shea’s appeal of his conviction and 5-and-¼ year prison sentence after he was charged alongside former Trump aide Steve Bannon in a scheme to defraud investors in the “We Build the Wall” campaign. Shea, the sole defendant convicted at trial, received the longest prison sentence while Bannon was pardoned in the final hours of Donald Trump’s presidency.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Steward Health, a private physician-owned for-profit healthcare network that operates 31 hospitals in eight states, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas, aiming to secure a new loan from its landlord Medical Properties Trust. Steward has come under scrutiny in Massachusetts, where it operates eight hospitals, and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said that Steward’s bankruptcy should provide state officials with more insight into its financial condition and whether it compromised patient care in its pursuit of profits.
- Chief Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn formally ended the U.S. government’s criminal case against Goldman Sachs related to the Wall Street bank’s work for the Malaysian fund 1MDB after it met its obligations and paid $2.9 billion in penalties. The judge dismissed a bribery conspiracy charge against Goldman, after the bank successfully completed a three-year deferred prosecution agreement that expired in October.
- A Delaware federal jury said Activision Blizzard owes $23.4 million in damages for violating patents related to multiplayer features of its hit games “World of Warcraft,” “Call of Duty: Black Ops III” and “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.” The jury agreed with patent holder Acceleration Bay that aspects of the games’ online multiplayer networking technology infringe two of its patents.
- Berkshire Hathaway unit Johns Manville owes a rival manufacturer at least $6.8 million for illegally monopolizing the market for a material used for insulating pipe at oil refineries, power generation plants and other locations, a Colorado federal jury said. The jurors found Johns Manville violated U.S. antitrust law by threatening to stop working with distributors that did business with plaintiff Chase Manufacturing. Damages that the jury awarded can be tripled to $20.3 million under federal competition law.
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- Mintz hired former Proskauer attorneys Siegmund Gutman and David Hanna as IP-focused partners in Los Angeles. Gutman will lead the firm’s life-sciences litigation team and serve as co-chair of patent litigation. (Reuters)
- Paul Weiss hired veteran M&A partner Jim Langston from Cleary Gottlieb in New York. (Reuters)
- Akin added private equity partner Andrew Lehman to the firm’s Houston office. Lehman was previously at McDermott. (Akin)
- Gibson Dunn added financial services regulatory partner Ro Spaziani in the firm’s New York office. Spaziani previously was at Wachtell. (Gibson Dunn)
- Boies Schiller brought on trial and appellate partner John Lyons in the firm’s New York office. He was previously at Shook Hardy. (Boies Schiller)
- Orrick brought on Milan-based M&A and private equity partner Fabio Fauceglia. He previously oversaw Shearman & Sterling’s talian M&A group. (Orrick)
- Troutman Pepper hired Alexandra Steinberg Barrage as a D.C.-based partner in the firm’s financial services group. She was previously at Davis Wright. (Troutman Pepper)
- Haynes and Boone added partner Kelsey Schmidt to its labor and employment practice in Denver. Schmidt was previously with Fox Rothschild. (Haynes and Boone)
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