Business of Law

March 29, 2024
Up Next After Bankman-Fried Sentencing: FTX Cooperators

Now that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for an $11 billion fraud on the collapsed crypto exchange, it's time for the three top lieutenants who testified against him at trial to face their own judgments — and experts say the cooperators are well positioned to avoid jail time.
March 29, 2024
Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

The Digital Justice Foundation leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Tenth Circuit set aside a fair use win for Netflix Inc. in a copyright suit brought by a former zoo employee who livestreamed the funeral of the husband of "Tiger King" star Joe Exotic.
March 29, 2024
Epiq Says Chubb Owes Costs In Clergy Abuse Data Leak Case

Epiq Corporate Restructuring LLC has sued Chubb-affiliated insurers in Connecticut federal court seeking to be reimbursed for $2.5 million in settlement costs and roughly $1.8 million for its defense of litigation over Epiq's disclosure of sex abuse survivors' names in a Chapter 11 case.
March 29, 2024
'Rust' Movie Armorer Denied New Trial, Remains Jailed

A New Mexico state judge on Friday rejected "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's emergency motion to be released from custody and given a new trial based on what her attorneys argued were erroneous jury instructions leading to her conviction over the on-set shooting death of a cinematographer.
March 29, 2024
GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

Discover argued that allegedly misleading statements on compliance and risk management protocols from top brass were "aspirational" remarks on general practices, and an affiliate of Walt Disney Co. shareholder Blackwells Capital asked Delaware's Court of the Chancery to force Disney to open its books and records. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.
March 29, 2024
Catching Up With Former NC Chief Justice Cheri Beasley

It's been more than three years since former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley left the bench, accelerating her return to private practice and paving the way for a contested U.S. congressional campaign.
March 28, 2024
Fla. Judge Axes Club Owners' Suit 'Intended For The Media'

A Florida federal judge has dismissed a complaint brought by two Little Havana businessmen against top-level Miami officials over weaponizing city resources against them for supporting a local political candidate, saying the lawsuit appeared to be "intended for the media" and needs to be refiled without errors.
March 28, 2024
Munger Tolles, Stroock Alums Tapped For Calif. Judiciary

Among California Gov. Gavin Newsom's picks for judgeships around the Golden State are a former Munger Tolles & Olson LLP attorney, who will serve on the state's Second District Court of Appeal, and a Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP alumna.
March 28, 2024
Laurence Fishburne Portrays Atty's Harrowing Katrina Ordeal

This weekend marks the end of a three-week debut run of the one-man show "Like They Do in the Movies," written and performed by Tony Award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne — which includes the moving story of what his longtime friend Duane Morris partner Joe West endured at a New Orleans hospital during Hurricane Katrina.
March 28, 2024
WeightWatchers Adds 23andMe's Ex-Legal Head As Its GC

WW International Inc., formerly known as WeightWatchers, hired Jacqueline Cooke from ancestry-tracking company 23andMe this month as its new general counsel and corporate secretary.
March 28, 2024
NC Atty Says Career Coaching Business Stiffed Him On Pay

A North Carolina lawyer said this week that he hasn't been paid for his work at a career coaching business in which he owns a minority stake after he discovered the company was bleeding funds and rife with mismanagement, according to an amended state business court complaint.
March 28, 2024
Busy Chief Lawyer Lands On List Of Highest Paid 3M Execs

While 3M Co. laid off thousands of employees in 2023, including some lawyers, its chief legal affairs officer saw his pay increase, earning over $6.7 million in total compensation as he joined the list of the company's five highest paid executives.
March 28, 2024
Morgan Lewis Accused Of Age, Race Bias By Patent Specialist

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP gave preferential treatment to younger white co-workers of a Black patent prosecution specialist, including more overtime and better pay, according to a complaint filed Thursday in Washington, D.C., federal court.
March 28, 2024
Legal Acumen Helped Lieberman In Senate, Colleagues Say

While Joe Lieberman was best known for his political career, where he ran for vice president, supported the Iraq war and cast the deciding vote approving the Affordable Care Act, those who knew him as a practicing attorney recalled his integrity, kindness and respect for the legal process.
March 28, 2024
Career Public Defender To Lead Federal Defenders Of NY

The Federal Defenders of New York named longtime public defender Tamara Giwa as the group's next executive director starting Monday.
March 28, 2024
Ex-BigLaw Atty Calls For Injunction Amid Online Harassment

A former Greenberg Traurig LLP patent attorney locked in litigation in Florida federal court with a social media influencer over claims the influencer mounted a campaign to get him fired and destroyed his reputation reiterated his request for a cyberstalking injunction Thursday as he detailed disturbing recent instances of online harassment he has received.
March 28, 2024
Disbarring Jeffrey Clark Would Chill Gov't Dialogue, Prof Says

A Yale Law School professor said Thursday that he does not believe former U.S. Department of Justice attorney Jeffrey Clark should face punishment for advocating to send a letter to Georgia officials purporting to identify significant concerns with the 2020 election, testifying before a Washington, D.C., attorney ethics panel that such discipline would devastate free dialogue within government agencies.
March 28, 2024
Ex-BigLaw Atty Named Acting GC At Neptune Wellness

Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. elevated to acting general counsel one of its in-house lawyers, who previously worked in BigLaw, the consumer-packaged goods company said in a securities filing on Wednesday, just days after a federal judge's order to replace its legal counsel.
March 28, 2024
Grading Garland: Attys Give AG Mixed Reviews 3 Years In

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland's name won't be on the ticket in November, but his performance three years into his tenure is a subplot in the 2024 presidential election.
March 28, 2024
Fired Alston & Bird Aide Fights Arbitration Of Vax Claims

An Alston & Bird LLP staffer fired after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19 told a Georgia federal court that it should refuse to force her discrimination suit into arbitration, since her employment contract was not a matter of interstate commerce.
March 28, 2024
Another Senate Dem Comes Out Against 3rd Circ. Nominee

A third Senate Democrat, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, has come out against Third Circuit nominee Adeel Mangi, who would be the first Muslim federal appellate judge if confirmed, thus putting his nomination in further peril.
March 28, 2024
Freshfields To Require Attorneys Work 4 Days In US Offices

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP will soon be mandating that all of its U.S. attorneys work from the office at least four days a week, a source with knowledge on the matter confirmed Thursday.
March 28, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

This past week in London has seen investors target fraudsters who ran a fake film tax scheme, Barclays Bank sue privately owned Russian bank PJSC Sovcombank, easyGroup bring a trademark infringement claim against online casino TGI Entertainment for its "easybet" word sign, and a bioethanol fuel company hit high-profile individuals connected to the collapsed Elysian Fuels scheme. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
March 27, 2024
Judge Agrees To Training For 'Overly Harsh' Workplace

The Judicial Council for the Second Circuit has declined to review the dismissal of a law clerk's complaint against a federal judge, who acknowledged the clerk's claims of their "overly harsh" management style and agreed to participate in workplace conduct counseling and training.
March 27, 2024
Sedgwick Trustee's Valuation Of Firm Flawed, Judge Told

An accounting expert hired by two ex-partners fighting the Sedgwick LLP trustee's bid to claw back $1.1 million testified at the close of a three-day California bench trial Wednesday that the trustee expert's valuation analysis is "materially flawed" and took a "sledgehammer" to the law firm's book value.

Expert Analysis

What Will Keep Legal Talent Professionals Up At Night In 2023

Hybrid work environments, high demand for lateral hires and a potential slowdown of the economy defined 2022 in the always-busy marketplace for legal talent, and as BigLaw looks at the year ahead, there are five major sources of concern for the teams charged with securing and retaining that talent, say advisers at Baretz+Brunelle.
The Most-Read Legal Industry Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

A range of legal industry topics drew readers' attention in Law360's Expert Analysis section this year, from the "great resignation" to potential expansion of attorney-client privilege.
Remote Work: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

In 2022, Law360 Expert Analysis writers examined how remote and hybrid work is affecting the legal industry and many areas of law, including employment, cybersecurity, patent venue, immigration and tax.
The Most-Read IP Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

IP Law360 guest experts dug into sanctions on Russia, Elizabeth Holmes' trade secret defense, and other key topics including non-fungible tokens, patent examiner classification and inventor testimony in a busy 2022.
Artificial Intelligence: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This has been a hugely transformative year for artificial intelligence, with rapid advancements in AI capabilities raising a variety of novel legal questions that Law360 Expert Analysis writers explored, including copyright conundrums, murky legal rights and the troubling possibility of deepfake evidence.
Perspectives

The Most-Read Access To Justice Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Law360 guest experts weighed in on a broad slate of emerging access to justice issues last year, ranging from evidence of ineffective counsel to opportunities for nonlawyers to provide legal help and the presumption of innocence.
ESG: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This year, as many companies embraced environmental, social and corporate governance strategies, Law360 Expert Analysis discussions revolved around increasing scrutiny from investors, regulators and state attorneys general, and the influx of anti-ESG bills and litigation.
The Metaverse: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

As the metaverse became a popular destination to explore new business opportunities this year, it raised regulatory questions, with Law360 guest experts discussing risk assessments and compliance procedures across various industries, and NFT issues related to intellectual property, privacy and securities law.
The Most-Read Employment Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

This year, issues related to noncompetes, no-poach enforcement and abortion access were among the most popular employment law topics in Law360's Expert Analysis section.
Trial Tips: The Top Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Law360 guest experts offered commentary on the high-profile trials of 2022 and highlighted best practices for attorneys, such as key principles for sound closing arguments that win over jurors, strategies to help witnesses stay focused, and how to recognize the most common cognitive distortions that can cripple witnesses' testimony.
The Most-Read Securities Law360 Guest Articles Of 2022

Ongoing regulatory uncertainty for cryptocurrencies created fertile ground for litigation and enforcement this year, with Law360 Expert Analysis writers discussing a flurry of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission actions that fulfilled the agency's promises of a clampdown.
What 3 Legal Industry Trends From 2022 Mean For Next Year

Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey & Africa looks back on the year in legal recruiting, including practice areas that saw the most movement, which regions seemed most ripe for new office openings and who was promoted to partner, and makes some look-ahead predictions for 2023.
Learning From This Year's Legal Industry Discrimination Suits

To limit the risk of lawsuits and make the workplace a more welcoming environment for female attorneys, it is important to reflect on lawyers' recent discrimination and sexual harassment claims against law firms and public employers, says Hope Comisky at Griesing Law.
Roundup

The Future Of Legal Ops

Legal operations professionals discuss the most important demands facing corporate legal departments today, and how companies are changing or are expected to change in order to adapt.
Series

The Future Of Legal Ops: AI Has Important Role To Play

Though the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT has prompted some fears about negative impact on lawyers, artificial intelligence technology can be a powerful tool for legal operations professionals if used effectively to augment their work, say Justin Ben-Asher and Gwendolyn Renigar at Steptoe, and Elizabeth Matthews at TotalEnergies.