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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.

BUTTERFLY EFFECT - Butterfly Network, a provider of medical imaging tools, and its top officers were hit with a securities class action Wednesday in New Jersey District Court in connection with its 2021 SPAC merger with Longview Acquisition Corp. The action, filed by Pomerantz LLP, contends that the proxy statement issued in connection with the transaction contained misleading statements regarding the company's financial projections by failing to consider the pandemic's broad consequences on the health care industry. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 2:22-cv-00854, Rose v. Butterfly Network, Inc. et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.  


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EDITOR'S PICKS

Police Officer Sues University of Illinois Chicago Law School Over Faculty's 'Discriminatory' Emails About Law Enforcement By Christine Charnosky

Ex-Willkie Co-Chairman Caplan Reinstated to Practicing Law After 2-Year Suspension Over College Admissions Scandal By Jason Grant

My Paralegal Tried to Kill Me: Lawyer Claims 'Ride-or-Die' Employee Poisoned Him, Stole From Firm By Adolfo Pesquera

Meta Taps Big Law Associate to Be Lead Counsel of IP Litigation By Trudy Knockless

'I'm Not Going to Let This Go': Attorney Who Accused Opposing Counsel, Judge of Fraud Ordered to Pay Nearly $18K Sanction By Allison Dunn


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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

IF YOU CAN'T JOIN 'EM, BEAT 'EM - EY Law has rapidly expanded in Australia over the past few years, causing traditional law firms to take notice of intensifying competition from the Big Four firm. But to hear Sarah Ralph, EY Law's new Oceania leader, tell it, her outfit has no interest in running that race. "We do not consider ourselves to be a traditional law firm. We don't really see ourselves competing," she told Law.com International's Christopher Niesche. Instead, EY Law's focus is on being part of a multidisciplinary business within the broader firm, she said. "We look for opportunities for other parts of the business. The other parts of the business look for opportunities for law in terms of issues that clients might have," Ralph said. She added: "Traditional law firms really struggle to do that because they don't have that depth of skill and capability outside a legal sphere."


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WHAT YOU SAID

"We validate what society values. This won't be taken as seriously if we leave it to individual schools, and it won't happen in a consistent manner that it needs to."