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Good morning. After a boycott and several weeks of delays, the U.S. News & World Report law school rankings are out — with some big changes. Plus, Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman is suing over her court’s investigation of her fitness to serve; the Phoenix Suns’ new TV deal gets axed by a bankruptcy judge; and Altria reaches a deal to resolve nearly all remaining lawsuits over Juul Labs That’s just some of what’s in here — scroll on!
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After a headline-grabbing boycott and weeks of delays, the U.S. News & World Report ranking of the country’s law schools is out, and there are some notable changes this year, reports Karen Sloan.
The publication overhauled its methodology, increasing the weight of employment outcomes and bar passage rates and reducing the weight of LSAT scores and undergraduate grade-point averages. As a result, several notable shifts occurred among elite law schools and among schools farther down the list.
U.S. News released a preview of its ranking of the country’s top schools in April, but the final results changed that list somewhat. The final rankings show Stanford Law School and Yale Law School tied at the No. 1 spot, but Harvard Law School, which was No. 4 in the preview, slipped to No. 5 in the final ranking.
Among law schools lower on the list, 62 of them saw their ranks increase or decrease by double digits this year, compared with 27 schools last year. And 27 schools saw their ranks change by 20 spots or more this year.
Read more about the boycott, delay and revisions that plagued this year’s rankings cycle.
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- U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman of the Federal Circuit sued the appeals court’s chief judge and others in D.C. federal court, seeking to block their investigation into her fitness to hold office. Newman, who is 95, said in her complaint that the probe violated her constitutional rights, and she denied that there were legitimate concerns about her mental and physical capacity. Representatives for the Federal Circuit did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reuters)
- A Black former Tesla factory worker accused the automaker’s lawyers of “egregious misconduct” after a jury awarded him $3.2 million in a race bias case, and asked for a third trial so he can seek more money. Lawyers for plaintiff Owen Diaz, who in 2021 was awarded $137 million by a different jury, contend Tesla’s lawyers asked improper questions, baselessly accused a witness of lying and made misleading statements during closing arguments in the five-day trial in March. Lawyers for Tesla and Diaz did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Reuters)
- International law firms are swooping in to bring on finance-focused senior partners and practice leaders in London following the closure of UK-based asset management company MJ Hudson Group’s law business in April. Minneapolis-based Dorsey & Whitney became the latest to add a former MJ Hudson law partner to its ranks, with Paul Durban joining as head of the firm’s finance and restructuring practice in London. (Reuters)
- A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal unlawfully retaliated against one of its own judges for claiming his colleagues secretly added judges to a panel in a patent dispute between Nike and Adidas, a watchdog agency preliminarily ruled. The U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board must reinstate Michael Fitzpatrick to its patent review panels after board officials removed him five years ago. (Reuters)
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That’s the number of people Dechert is laying off, marking the latest indication the legal industry is adjusting to a drop in demand for legal services and M&A dealmaking. The 1,000-lawyer firm is letting go of 55 lawyers and 43 business professionals. Law firms went on a hiring spree in 2021 and early 2022 in order to capitalize on a record-breaking global dealmaking environment. Many firms have found their ranks now swollen with lawyers.
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The plaintiffs firm once known as Roche Freedman, now redubbed Freedman Normand Friedland, has been ousted from another crypto class action because of clandestine — and embarrassing — video recordings of onetime name partner Kyle Roche. But this time, the problem wasn’t the content of the videos, in which Roche appears to boast of his lucrative stake in blockchain company Ava Labs and to suggest that he filed class actions against Ava competitors to boost Ava’s prospects. Instead, a San Francisco judge removed Freedman Normand as lead counsel in a securities fraud class action against blockchain company Dfinity USA because he found the firm to be so consumed with vindicating its own reputation that it could not be relied upon to protect the interests of class members. Alison Frankel has the story.
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“We’re following the evidence
wherever it leads.“
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—SEC lawyer Eugene Hansen, responding in court to U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta’s concerns that its subpoena seeking information from Covington puts the firm in the “very awkward position” of having to identify clients to an enforcement agency without evidence of wrongdoing. Mehta called the SEC’s request “concerning,” but he also appeared skeptical that he had the legal authority to block the demand. Covington’s lawyer, Ted Boutrous of Gibson Dunn, said the SEC has made Covington a “test case” to scrutinize public companies via demands made to their law firms. Mehta appeared to search for resolution short of a court order.
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- In the 2nd Circuit, Chief Judge Debra Ann Livingston, sitting with Circuit Judges Reena Raggi and Maria Araújo Kahn, will hear Elon Musk’s challenge to a Manhattan federal judge’s refusal to end his 2018 agreement with the SEC requiring a Tesla attorney to vet some of his posts on Twitter. Musk, represented by Quinn Emanuel, will ask the appeals court to overturn an April 2022 decision by U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman that allowed the consent decree with the SEC to stand. The decree resolved a lawsuit accusing Musk of defrauding investors by tweeting in 2018 that he had “funding secured” to take his electric car company private, though a buyout was not close. The SEC’s Jeffrey Berger will argue for the agency.
- Gun manufacturers including Smith & Wesson, Beretta U.S.A. and Glock are set to file a brief urging the Boston-based 1st Circuit appeals court not to revive a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Mexico seeking to hold them responsible for facilitating the trafficking of a deadly flood of weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border to drug cartels. Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor ruled against Mexico last September, in a decision that said federal law “unequivocally” bars lawsuits seeking to hold gun manufacturers responsible when people use guns for their intended purpose. Mexico’s attorneys appealed the ruling. Gunmakers in the case are represented by firms including Jones Day and Cozen.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Altria Group said it will 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, which ends nearly all of the litigation brought against the tobacco giant over Juul by local government bodies and individuals, comes shortly after San Francisco’s public school district finished presenting its case against the company in a jury trial. (Reuters)
- Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex received court permission to borrow $7 million in bitcoin to fund the start of its Chapter 11 case. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon in Wilmington, Delaware, said he was persuaded to accept a “novel currency” for the loan because it offered favorable terms compared with other bankruptcy loans, including a relatively low 4% interest rate and built-in protections related to bitcoin’s price volatility. (Reuters)
- Caesars International, MGM Resorts and other casino-hotel operators were sued in New Jersey federal court over consumers’ claims that they artificially boosted room rental rates using a shared pricing data platform. The lawsuit is similar to one filed this year against casino-hotels in Las Vegas. Caesars and other defendants there have denied the claims. (Reuters)
- Vyera Pharmaceuticals, which previously settled price-fixing charges that resulted in founder Martin Shkreli getting banned from the pharmaceutical industry, filed for bankruptcy to sell its assets. Vyera, which is represented by R. Craig Martin of DLA Piper, said its bankruptcy was the result of declining profits, increased competition for generic drugs, and litigation alleging that Vyera suppressed competition for its most valuable drug, Daraprim. (Reuters)
- New Mexico residents sued the state seeking to suspend permits for oil and gas production, claiming the government’s approvals for fossil fuel projects, without proper oversight, violates a state constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment. The lawsuit in state court claimed New Mexico has set up a regulatory and permitting scheme that essentially exempts the oil and gas industry from environmental regulations. (Reuters)
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- Richard Rahm rejoined Littler as a shareholder in its San Francisco office. Rahm leaves DLA Piper to return to Littler, where he was co-chair of the firm’s appellate practice group. (Reuters)
- Greenberg Traurig added Chicago-based labor and employment partner David Stein from Masuda, Funai, Eifert & Mitchell, where he was vice-chair of the litigation practice. (Greenberg Traurig)
- McGuireWoods in Atlanta added partner Adam Sowatzka, a former EPA enforcement lawyer who arrives at the firm from King & Spalding. (McGuireWoods)
- Rimon added Los Angeles-based M&A partner Glenn Smith and San Francisco-based real estate partner Derek Ridgway. Smith comes from Hogan Lovells; Ridgway was with Hanson Bridgett.
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