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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

CAPITOL PUNISHMENT  - The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is preparing to ramp up its probe—but, as you might expect, the subjects of that investigation are not going to make it easy. As Law.com's Andrew Goudsward reports, legal challenges against the panel have already mounted. Allies of former President Donald Trump who have been subpoenaed for information about the leadup to the violence Jan. 6 and Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election have raised a variety of objections to those demands, including executive privilege and alleged First and Fourth Amendment violations. And increasingly they're going to court to press their objections. Some legal experts have suggested the lawsuits are a stall tactic, a way to forestall potential criminal contempt charges and delay the committee's work until an expected Republican takeover of the House in 2023 shuts down the investigation. The federal appeals court in D.C. has already upheld the legality of the committee and found that it has a valid legislative purpose to subpoena White House records. But lawyers representing potential witnesses have accused the committee of abusing its subpoena power, issuing demands that intrude on personal privacy and violate constitutional principles. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols of the District of Columbia, a Trump appointee, has been assigned several of the cases.

'DISAPPOINTING' DIVERSITY FINDINGS -  At the nation's largest law firms, the percentage of attorneys who identify as racial and ethnic minorities has increased little in the past 10 years despite the firms' stated interest in boosting diversity, Law.com's Jessica Mach reports. In 2020, attorneys who identify as racial or ethnic minorities made up 20% of the legal workforce at more than 200 firms representing most of the Am Law 100 and the NLJ 250, according to a report published Wednesday by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.  That's up from 14% in 2010.The changes indicate a "decade of slow progress" toward improved diversity in the legal industry, read the MCCA report, which described its findings as "disappointing." "For workplaces worldwide, 2020 was a call to reassess traditional operating procedures—and to set about redefining the status quo of work cultures that have not supported all workers," the report said.

UNCHARITABLE BEHAVIOR? - Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Seward & Kissel sued The Charitable Donor Advised Fund L.P. and CLO Holdco Ltd. Friday in New York Southern District Court. The lawsuit, brought on behalf of U.S. Bank, Acis Capital Management and Acis owner Joshua N. Terry, accuses the defendant organizations of waging vexatious and meritless litigation in a harassment campaign driven by Acis' former owner. The suit seeks a declaration that the defendants' claims are blocked by various federal laws and a prior settlement agreement. Attorneys have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 1:21-cv-11059, Terry et al v. The Charitable Donor Advised Fund, L.P. et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  

EDITOR'S PICKS

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

RAREFIED AIR -  Air India has avoided liability in one of the first cases in which the U.K.'s Court of Appeal has been required to determine EU law in the post-Brexit era, Law.com International's Hannah Walker reports. The case centered around whether the airline would be liable to pay compensation for a whole multi-stop journey as a result of a delay to a single leg that it operated. The case involved four stops between Kansas City, U.S. and Bengaluru, India, via London Heathrow. The first two legs involved flights operated by Delta, while the third and fourth were operated by Air India. The third leg was significantly delayed, leading the passenger to claim compensation for a delay to the whole journey.

WHAT YOU SAID

"The notion that the sky would fall and all hell would break loose from an ethical standpoint hasn't come to pass. The ambient worry that you saw expressed—that this would be a gut punch to small-scale practitioners and solo practitioners—hasn't really come to pass."