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Former President Donald Trump and Special Counsel Jack Smith had not one, but two run-ins yesterday as the DOJ met with Trump’s lawyers about one case and raised the stakes in another. Plus, the Biden White House named two circuit court nominees; Williams & Connolly faces a malpractice claim; and pharma company Viatris just beat the IRS in a clash over legal fees in patent cases. Let’s dive into Friday’s news.
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A day that began with Donald Trump’s lawyers meeting with DOJ officials investigating his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat ended with federal prosecutors unveiling new charges in the former president’s criminal case over classified documents.
U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith filed three new criminal counts against Trump, accusing him of ordering employees at his Florida resort to delete security videos as he was under investigation for retaining classified documents. Smith also brought new criminal charges against Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira, who is accused of hiding sensitive government documents from officials who tried to recover them.
Trump, who previously pleaded not guilty to 37 counts, now faces 40.
Just hours earlier, Trump said his lawyers had met with the DOJ about the election case, where Smith is investigating actions by Trump to try to reverse his loss to Biden in the 2020 election, which Trump persists in falsely claiming was the result of widespread fraud.
“My attorneys had a productive meeting with the DOJ this morning, explaining in detail that I did nothing wrong, was advised by many lawyers, and that an Indictment of me would only further destroy our Country,” Trump said.
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- Williams & Connolly should face a legal malpractice claim from former real estate investor clients who have accused the prominent law firm of negligent legal advice, U.S. Magistrate Judge Taryn Merkl said in a 36-page report. The D.C.-based litigation firm has called claims in the case a “false narrative” and denied providing shoddy legal services. (Reuters)
- Biden administration appointee U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in San Francisco is recusing herself in an FTC case after a conservative legal group balked at a potential witness’s support of her nomination. Martínez-Olguín cited the need to “avoid even the appearance of partiality” in recusing herself in the agency’s case against Precision Patient Outcomes, represented by the New Civil Liberties Alliance. (Reuters)
- The Biden White House said it will nominate two U.S. Navy Reserve officers to U.S. appeals court slots: U.S. Magistrate Judge Joshua Kolar in Indiana for the 7th Circuit, and senior federal public defender Richard Federico for the 10th Circuit. The administration also nominated Alameda Superior Court Judge Eumi Lee for the Northern District of California, and Judge Jeffrey Brown of the Minnesota Court of Appeals for the Minnesota federal district court. (Reuters)
- Plaintiff-side labor and employment firm Outten & Golden said it has voluntarily recognized a union formed by its 24 associate attorneys. The formation of Outten & Golden United was a “logical next step” given the firm’s work representing workers and unions, including the Communications Workers of America. (Reuters)
- Allen & Overy named Khalid Garousha as interim global managing partner after Gareth Price stepped down for “personal reasons” from the London-founded firm earlier this month. Garousha on Sept. 1 will serve in the global managing partner role for eight months through April 2024. He will maintain his position as Allen & Overy’s regional managing partner in the Middle East and Turkey, the firm said. Price served just over three years of his four-year term. (Reuters)
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That’s how much Viatris’ Mylan claimed in deductions on its 2012, 2013, and 2014 tax returns in legal fees from defending against patent lawsuits triggered by its generic-drug applications with the FDA. These applications open filers to infringement claims from the brand-name drug’s patent owner as part of the Hatch-Waxman Act. A 3rd Circuit panel upheld a lower tribunal’s decision that said Viatris was allowed to write off millions of dollars in legal fees from patent cases related to the generic-drug approval process. The appeals court denied an IRS challenge of a 2021 tax-court ruling.
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Twenty states and the District of Columbia are calling on the en banc 4th Circuit to reconsider a split panel ruling on Georgia-Pacific’s “Texas two-step” restructuring, in which the company created a new entity to bear all of its asbestos exposure, then sent the spin-off into bankruptcy. The Chamber of Commerce responded this week with a robust defense of the maneuver. The dueling amicus briefs, writes Alison Frankel, crystallize the (numbingly technical) debate over the propriety of corporate restructurings that seek to use Chapter 11 bankruptcy to resolve mass tort claims without subjecting the rest of the business to bankruptcy strictures.
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“I of course institutionally hope that you settle.“
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What to catch up on this weekend
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- In the 6th Circuit, Judges Jane Stranch, John Bush and Eric Murphy will take up a case from the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom over whether a wedding photographer can be compelled to create photos and blogs “celebrating a view of marriage she does not believe.” A federal trial judge ruled against the city of Louisville, which appealed to the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit. The case is expected to test the scope of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said the constitutional right to free speech allows certain businesses to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings. The dissenting liberal justices called the conservative majority ruling a “license to discriminate.”
- In D.C. federal district court, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly will hold a status conference in the prosecution of a former top FBI official who was charged with working for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Charles McGonigal, who led the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York before retiring in 2018, has pleaded not guilty to four criminal counts including sanctions violations and money laundering. McGonigal is represented by lawyers from Bracewell.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Bill Hwang, the founder of Archegos Capital Management, asked a judge to let him subpoena documents from 10 banks, in an effort to shift blame as he defends against criminal fraud charges that the firm’s collapse was his fault. Hwang said the documents will show that Archegos’ counterparties “played a pivotal role” in the March 2021 demise of his once-$36 billion firm, and that his swaps trades were legal. (Reuters)
- The U.S. Supreme Court removed an obstacle to completing the long-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline, dealing a blow to environmental groups opposed to the West Virginia-to-Virginia pipeline led by energy company Equitrans Midstream. The justices granted Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC’s request to lift stays imposed by a lower court that had halted construction of a final short section of the 303-mile natural gas pipeline. (Reuters)
- President Joe Biden’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a regulation aimed at reining in so-called ghost guns, or privately made firearms that are difficult for law enforcement to trace, after it was struck down by a lower court. The administration asked the justices to halt a Texas-based federal judge’s nationwide ruling that invalidated a DOJ restriction on the sale of ghost gun kits while the administration appeals to the 5th Circuit. (Reuters)
- A Florida doctor accused of taking kickbacks from Insys Therapeutics to prescribe its fentanyl spray should face a civil trial despite his recent bankruptcy, federal prosecutors are arguing, even as a judge delayed it from going forward. U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber, who is presiding over the case, said in an order he would wait for the bankruptcy court to decide whether the trial can go forward. (Reuters)
- Bankrupt Lordstown Motors must face trial over a rival carmaker’s claim that Lordstown vehicles include stolen technology, ruled U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath in Wilmington, Delaware, dealing a blow to the company’s hopes for a quick bankruptcy sale. Walrath said a sale should not be expedited while a California court is weighing a lawsuit by a rival carmaker that raises questions about some of the assets Lordstown seeks to sell. (Reuters)
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- Miriam Harwood has joined Katten’s New York office, where she will be a partner and chair of the firm’s international arbitration practice. Harwood was previously at Squire Patton Boggs. (Katten)
- McGuireWoods hired Atlanta-based real estate partner Nicholas Dancey from Kirkland. (McGuireWoods)
- Winston & Strawn added partner Matt Durfee to the firm’s Dallas office, where he’ll join the litigation department. Durfee was previously with Alston & Bird. (Winston & Strawn)
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Correction: An Industry Moves item on Thursday misstated where Robert Browning of Quarles & Brady is based. He is a part of the firm’s San Diego office, but he is based in St. Louis.
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