In what's become a rite of passage for high-profile Trump administration figures, Attorney General nominee William Barr was mocked over the weekend on Saturday Night Live.

But if this is the worst they've got, he's in for smooth sailing.

The president “announced that his attorney general nominee will be William Barr, who served as attorney general from 1991 to 1993. A reboot of someone with the last name 'Barr' who was big in the early 90s? What could go wrong?” said Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost, as a photo of Roseanne Barr flashed on onscreen. “Barr will replace acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker, who previously served as the bodysuit for Krang.”

And hey—not being Matt Whitaker is in and of itself a reason to support Barr. Basically, anyone who was not involved with a company that agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges of defrauding would-be inventors is a step up in my book.

But we can set the bar much higher. (Warning: Expect many more puns like that in the months to come. Sorry.)

In the flurry of “Who Is William Barr” and “[Insert Arbitrary Number] of Things to Know About William Barr” stories, no one suggests he isn't qualified. Having done the job before is pretty much on-point experience—which he then bolstered by going on to serve as general counsel of companies including Verizon.

The profiles tend to stress similar themes—that he thought Trump was justified in firing James Comey, that he has an expansive view of presidential power, that he has suggested Hillary Clinton should be investigated for the Uranium One deal, that he thinks it's problematic that so many of Mueller's team members gave money to Democrats.

The Washington Post's Aaron Blake in The Fix column called these “red flags,” writing that it's “notable that Barr seems to believe it isn't so necessary to erect a wall between the presidency and the nation's top law enforcement official—a wall that Trump has long desired to demolish.”

Still, Yahoo News reported that President Trump last year was interested in hiring Barr as his defense counsel in the Mueller probe, but that Barr declined, citing other obligations.

I take that as a good omen for DOJ independence.

If Barr had wanted to be Trump's lawyer, to do his bidding and fight the Mueller probe, well, he had his chance and said no thank you.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Put a bow on that box, the $12 billion price fixing case over containerboard is all wrapped up.

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a major lower court win by Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz name partner Beth Wilkinson on behalf of Georgia Pacific, as well as Winston & Strawn's Michael P. Mayer for WestRock CP.

The Seventh Circuit previously upheld class certification in the massive suit alleging seven industry players conspired to fix the price of containerboard products like corrugated boxes.

“Before and after that ruling, most of the defendants settled with the purchasers,” Chief Judge Diane Wood wrote for the panel on Dec. 7.  

“But two companies—Georgia‐Pacific LLC and WestRock CP, LLC—decided to fight. They persuaded the district court that there was not enough evidence of a conspiracy to proceed to trial. We agree with that assessment and affirm the judgment dismissing the case.”

Hogan Lovells appellate practice co-head Catherine Stetson handled the winning appellate argument for Georgia Pacific, and Winston's Elizabeth Papez argued for WestRock.

It was an unusually perilous case. The plaintiffs argued that they're owed $11.7 billion in damages—a sum for which any of the seven defendants could have been individually liable.

One by one, the other defendants settled, including International Paper for $354 million in 2017.

That made proceeding toward trial a big risk for Wilkinson and Georgia Pacific. (For WestRock, which was only on the hook for conduct after it emerged from bankruptcy—the last four months of the alleged conspiracy—it was less of a roll of the dice.)

In August of 2017, a judge in the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the case on summary judgment.

“We are thrilled to represent a client that has the courage to stand up and fight when it has done nothing wrong,” Wilkinson said after the appellate decision on Friday. “Georgia Pacific's willingness to continue that fight after its competitors had settled paid off.  We congratulate them.”

That Was Fast

Speaking of appellate wins… Just two days after hearing oral arguments, the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday upheld a decision by Vice Chancellor Travis Laster allowing German healthcare giant Fresenius SE & Co. to walk away from its agreement to buy specialty generic drug maker Akorn Inc.

In a succinct 3-page order, Chief Justice Leo Strine Jr. wrote that the “factual record adequately supports the Court of Chancery's determination, based on its application of precedent” that Akorn had suffered a material adverse effect, and that this meant Fresenius wasn't obligated to close the deal.

The high court also agreed with the Court of Chancery that Fresenius properly terminated the merger because Akorn breached its regulatory representations and warranties, also giving rise to a material adverse effect.

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison's Lewis Clayton led the winning team for Fresenius.

Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever

Williams & Connolly is like the Hotel California of law firms … You can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave.

Firm Chairman Dane Butswinkas is the latest to depart while leaving one foot in the door at the litigation powerhouse.

He got an offer that was just too good to pass up—general counsel of Tesla—but he's not cutting all ties with the firm where he's spent his entire career.

“While serving as General Counsel of Tesla, Mr. Butswinkas will retain a relationship with Williams & Connolly,” the firm said in a statement.

A firm spokesperson told my colleague Mike Scarcella that Butswinkas will remain a partner at the firm, adding that “his full-time job will be at Tesla, but he'll continue to help with client relations and strategic and administrative matters.” 

It's not the first time that's happened at Williams & Connolly.

As the firm pointed out, “Gerson Zweifach served as general counsel and chief compliance officer at 21st Century Fox while continuing at Williams & Connolly as senior counsel. Mr. Zweifach will rejoin the Williams & Connolly partnership in 2019.”

And Terrence O'Donnell left W&C in 2000 to serve as Textron's general counsel, then rejoined the firm in 2012.

Malachi Jones also recently re-joined the firm as its first chief diversity partner after several years away to be a stay-at-home dad and care for his ailing parents.

Butswinkas is moving to Silicon Valley, where Tesla is based, so it'll be a long-distance relationship. (Williams & Connolly is a strictly one-office firm.) But it's clear his colleagues will miss him.

“Dane is one of our most respected, able and important attorneys,” said partner Robert Barnett. “This is an exciting opportunity for him. Tesla is very lucky to have him coming there.”

In court papers filed Friday evening, prosecutors said Manafort told “multiple discernible lies” that could not be considered “mere memory lapses.”

Lock him up!

The arrest, according to the lawsuit, involved another doctor, a general practitioner with the same last name but a differently spelled first name who, at least at the time, practiced in a different city.

The suit claims that the firm mishandled the couple's claim against an obstetrics practice, nurse midwife and hospital for causing injuries to the couple's son during birth.

A pair of lawyers from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel look at the SEC's case against Elon Musk. “Although Musk himself has earned a reputation for being incredibly innovative, the SEC's case against him was not,” they wrote.

Be excellent to each other.

In case you missed it…

“If an individual like Jay can't get a fair cross-section of arbitrators to hear his case, who can? If Jay, with all of the resources and brand power he's worked to amass–can't make sure the justice system is fair to all, who could?”