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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL - Georgetown Law seems to be giving Penn Law a run for its money in the battle over which campus can claim the most free-speech controversies in Q1 of 2022. Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho appeared before Georgetown Law's chapter of the Federalist Society on Tuesday and, rather than deliver a planned speech on the doctrine of originalism, decided to perform a surprise set dedicated to defending Ilya Shapiro. Shapiro, the new executive director of Georgetown's Center for the Constitution, is currently on paid leave after tweeting that D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan is "objectively" the best pick for SCOTUS, and that any nominee President Joe Biden selects will be a "lesser black woman." Ho defended Shapiro's view that race shouldn't factor into Biden's nomination, and argued that policies that aren't color blind are "offensive and un-American." Now, as Law.com's Avalon Zoppo reports, some law professors say Ho's own speech was inappropriate and could potentially lead to recusal issues in future affirmative action cases. "The question isn't whether he subjectively believes he is impartial… When Judge Ho is speaking the way he was speaking, he's advocating for a position that is not the law. And that's his personal prerogative as a citizen to have those views, but it runs headlong into his responsibilities," Hofstra Law professor James Sample said.

PARTNERSHIP ASPIRATIONS - In-house lawyers like to think of themselves as "strategic business partners"—whether others view them that way is a different story, however. When reflecting on his company's first-ever acquisition in a Feb. 7 year-in-review post, ConvertKit CEO and founder Nathan Barry lumped lawyers in with other "challenges" like onerous contracts and tech snafus. While it was unclear whether Barry was referring to outside counsel, in-house counsel or both, the post prompted Boston Globe Media deputy GC Heather Stevenson to respond with an observation of her own on LinkedIn. "It's always useful to see people say things like that, as a reminder of how lawyers are often viewed," she wrote. "Yes, as a profession, we have a major PR problem. But as individual lawyers and legal departments, we can work to fix that problem—or at least to do better ourselves." In an interview, Stevenson told Law.com's Phillip Bantz that it's incumbent upon lawyers to present themselves as "real business partners and not roadblocks." "We hear about the 'Department of No' and the risks of that and doing everything we can to redirect the path to a goal rather than saying, 'No.' Whenever we can do that legally and ethically, it's essential," she said.

WHO GOT THE WORK?℠ - Womble Bond Dickinson and Chicago IP firm Rakoczy Molino Mazzochi Siwik are defending Fieldturf USA Inc. and Tarkett Sports Canada Inc. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The case, which centers on shock pads used in artificial turf fields, was filed Nov. 29 in Georgia Northern District Court by Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders and Lee Sheikh Megley & Haan on behalf of Brock USA. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Eleanor L Ross, is 4:21-cv-00224, Brock USA, LLC v. Fieldturf USA, Inc. et al. Read the complaint on Law.com Radar and check out the most recent edition of Law.com's Who Got the Work?℠ column to find out which law firms and lawyers are being brought in to handle key cases and close major deals for their clients.