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Groups of lawyers at two big firms — Wilmer Hale and Gibson Dunn — are sharply focused on this weekend’s Super Bowl, and they are concerned. They represent sports-betting giant DraftKings in the trade-secrets lawsuit that it just filed against a former top executive who has allegedly taken the company’s Super Bowl business plans and jumped to rival Fanatics.
DraftKings is suing Michael Hermalyn in Massachusetts federal court, accusing him of stealing confidential business information, our colleague Blake Brittain reports. The lawsuit claims Hermalyn will “compete unfairly against DraftKings in the most important days in the sports gaming calendar.” Lawyers for DraftKings include Wilmer’s Bill Lee and Gibson Dunn’s Orin Snyder and Jason Schwartz.
The complaint seeks to block Hermalyn from using DraftKings secrets to “divert its most valuable customers” before “one of the most business critical weekends” for sports betting. Hermalyn last week sued DraftKings in California state court, arguing that it was illegally trying to prevent him from moving to Fanatics.
Hermalyn’s lawyers at Beck Redden face a deadline this afternoon to respond to DraftKings’ request for a temporary restraining order. A spokesperson for Fanatics called the case “just sour grapes.” Fanatics, which is not a defendant, said DraftKings is peddling in “ridiculous allegations” against “one of their well-respected executives.” Attorneys from Munger Tolles represent Hermalyn in the California litigation, and Quinn Emanuel is representing Fanatics.
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- UC Berkeley said a lawsuit claiming its campus and law school are rife with antisemitism should be thrown out because the First Amendment bars administrators from punishing student organizations for political speech. The university said in a motion to dismiss that it has denounced bylaws adopted by certain law student groups refusing to invite speakers or publish articles by authors that support Zionism, but revoking official recognition of the groups would violate their free speech rights.
- Compensation is the main reason associates stay at their law firms, followed by work-life balance and opportunities for advancement, according to a NALP Foundation report. Associate compensation received “consistently high scores across all firm sizes, as well as by seniority level, gender identity and race/ethnicity,” the report said.
- SpaceX is being investigated by a California civil rights agency over allegations that the rocket and satellite maker and its CEO Elon Musk have failed to address rampant discrimination and sexual harassment against female employees. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Could the SEC’s groundbreaking case accusing software company SolarWinds of deceiving investors about a devastating Russian hack actually make U.S. companies more vulnerable to cyber criminals? That is the contention of several groups that filed friend-of-the-court briefs backing SolarWinds’ motion to dismiss the SEC’s complaint in federal court in Manhattan. Alison Frankel explains why SolarWinds’ amici contend the SEC lawsuit could end up discouraging companies from probing for potential security weaknesses and cooperating with government investigators after a breach.
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“If I forged that document, it would be perfect.“
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- The Florida Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over a proposed constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights, which received enough signatures of support to go before voters in November’s election. The court could block the measure from appearing on the ballot if it accepts the state attorney general’s argument that its language is overly broad and open-ended.
- A 9th Circuit panel will weigh Facebook’s agreement to pay $90 million to settle a decade-old privacy lawsuit accusing it of tracking users’ internet activity even after they logged out of the social media website. Users accused the Meta Platforms unit of violating federal and state privacy and wiretapping laws by using plug-ins to store cookies that tracked when they visited outside websites containing Facebook “like” buttons. The company denied wrongdoing but settled to avoid the costs and risks of a trial, according to settlement papers.
- A Texas appeals court will consider a bid from the state bar’s disciplinary arm to revive its attorney misconduct case against Sidney Powell, who was among lawyers who unsuccessfully sued over Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Powell defeated the bar’s case before a state judge, who found there were “numerous defects.” Powell, who has denied any wrongdoing, separately faces a state bar action in Michigan.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Actor Gina Carano sued Disney for wrongful termination from Star Wars series “The Mandalorian” in a lawsuit backed by billionaire Elon Musk. Carano argued that she was fired in 2021 for voicing conservative opinions on social media platforms including Twitter, which is now owned by Musk and known as X. A Disney spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
- Donald Trump does not have immunity from charges he plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat, the D.C. Circuit ruled, bringing the former U.S. president a step closer to an unprecedented criminal trial. A three-judge panel rejected Trump’s claim that he cannot be prosecuted because the allegations relate to his official responsibilities as president.
- Consumer products makers Gerber and Perrigo must face a distributor’s lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to box out rivals seeking to sell “store brand” infant formula to major U.S. retailers. Plaintiffs’ firm Lowenstein Sandler represents P&L Development in the antitrust lawsuit.
- Federal prosecutors charged 70 current and former employees of the New York City Housing Authority, the largest public housing agency in North America, with taking bribes in exchange for awarding no-bid contracts. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams called it “the largest single-day bribery takedown” in the history of the DOJ.
- The 9th Circuit grappled with whether President Biden had the authority to set a minimum wage for federal contractors that recently rose to $17.20 an hour. A three-judge panel heard arguments in an appeal by a group of Republican-led states of an Arizona federal judge’s ruling declining to block a Labor Department rule that implemented Biden’s 2021 executive order.
- A Michigan jury convicted the mother of a teenager who fatally shot four classmates at a high school near Detroit of manslaughter after prosecutors argued she bore responsibility because she and her husband gave their son a gun and ignored warning signs of violence. The trial was believed to be the first in which a parent faced a manslaughter charge in the United States stemming from a school shooting by their child.
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- Clifford Chance added Houston-based partner Ty’Meka Reeves-Sobers and D.C.-based partner Marcia Hook to its global energy and infrastructure team. They most recently were at Kirkland. (Clifford Chance)
- Seyfarth Shaw hired Gary Friedman to launch a new advisory group at the intersection of labor and employment law and commercial litigation. He arrives from Weil. (Seyfarth Shaw)
- Crowell & Moring brought on Rafi Azim-Khan in London and San Francisco as leader of its digital law practice in Europe. He most recently was at Pillsbury. (Crowell & Moring)
- Morgan Lewis added San Francisco-based tax partner William Gorrod from Baker Botts. In Los Angeles, the firm added litigation partner Edward Ulloa from Hawkins Parnell.
- Greenberg Traurig hired partner Skip Smith in Denver, where he will lead the firm’s space and satellite industry group. He joins the firm from Sherman & Howard. (Greenberg Traurig)
- Cozen O’Connor brought on Eric Leonard as a D.C.-based government contracts compliance partner. Leonard joins from Wiley Rein. (Cozen O’Connor)
- King & Spalding hired Max Hill KC, who most recently served as the UK’s top prosecutor as director of public prosecutions. He joins the firm as a consultant in London and will work on international investigations and litigation. (King & Spalding)
- Quarles & Brady picked up white-collar defense partner Eric Pruitt in Chicago. He arrives from Cotsirilos, Tighe, Streicker, Poulos & Campbell. (Quarles & Brady)
- Stoel Rives added Adam Witt in San Diego to its real estate group from Finch, Thornton & Baird. (Stoel Rives)
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The question of whether life insurance earmarked for a corporate redemption should count toward a corporation’s valuation for federal estate tax purposes has landed on the docket of the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices’ decision in Connelly v. United States may upend what has been, until recently, an uncontroversial estate planning tool, write Aaron LeClair and David Winkowski of Stradley Ronon. Depending on the outcome of the case, the tool could create significant tax implicationsfor estates.
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