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Analysis

'Dismissed With Prejudice': Trial Lawyers Discuss the Role Race Plays in Civil Cases

"We need to recognize that there is an overall systemic problem that we need to continue to address every day," said Walkup Melodia Kelly & Schoenberger shareholder Doris Cheng during Friday's event "Dismissed With Prejudice: A Discussion on Race and the Trial of Civil Cases" which was presented by the American Board of Trial Advocates.
5 minute read

Expert Opinion

Remote Deposition Lessons Learned in the COVID Era: The Inside View From a Court Reporting Agency

Now sixth months into the pandemic, Digital Evidence Group, a court reporting and litigation services firm, has orchestrated more than 400 remote depositions and hearings. Here are 10 lessons David Wiseman and Daniel Bender have learned through this process.
8 minute read

News

2 Manhattan Commercial Division Justices to Retire as $300M New York Judicial Budget Cut Takes Hold

Two longtime Manhattan Supreme Court Commercial Division judges, Justices O. Peter Sherwood and Marcy Friedman, have announced that they will retire from the bench, potentially leaving their Commercial Division roles handling Wall Street-based and other complex business litigation at a time when the state judiciary is facing a hiring freeze.
8 minute read

Q&A

Litigator of the Week: Using Shareholder Litigation to Push for Policy Changes and a $310M, 10-Year Commitment to Diversity at Google's Parent Company

"I'm excited to see the opportunities that are created for women because of this settlement," says Julie Goldsmith Reiser of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll.
14 minute read

News

A Stocked Slate of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

An extremely strong slate of runners-up includes teams Gibson Dunn, Skadden and Covington & Burling
6 minute read

Expert Opinion

Jury Research in the Time of COVID … and Beyond

While alternative jury research methods cannot fully replace traditional in-depth research, they fill an immediate need for developing juror insights during COVID-19.
5 minute read

Analysis

Can Shareholder Derivative Lawsuits Help Move the Needle on Corporate Board Diversity?

Said Darren Robbins of Robbins Geller: "It seems to me like it fits like a glove."
4 minute read

News

New Calif. Laws Will Broaden Racial Bias Claims in Jury Selection, Conviction Challenges

One of the bills was at the center of a late-legislative-session struggle pitting public defenders and criminal defense attorneys who backed the legislation against prosecutors who opposed it.
3 minute read

Q&A

'Holding Court' with Minneapolis U.S. Magistrate Judge Tony Leung on Virtual Settlement Conferences: 'It's Very Different But Also Very Much the Same'

"Only about two cases out of 100 go to trial. So, if only two out of 100 go to trial, you have to ask yourself, 'Is this one of the two out of 100?'"
12 minute read

News

'Hope is Not a Plan': Georgia Judge Looking for a Test Case on Virtual Jury Selection

Cobb County Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard says he thought he had a test case that could go up to the state Supreme Court, before it ended in a guilty plea.
5 minute read

Analysis

Did a Juror COVID Scare Affect the Outcome of a Federal Criminal Trial Against 2 Former Deutsche Bank Traders?

Defense lawyers at Dechert and Ropes & Gray seem to think so.
6 minute read

News

In Second Virtual Asbestos Trial, Jury Awards $2.5 Million

The case, in Alameda County Superior Court in California, lasted 36 days and was the first all-virtual jury trial in the nation.
4 minute read

News

Judge Questions Fortnite Maker's Ability to Pursue Antitrust Claims Against Apple and Google

"As we frequently are in the Northern District of California, we're in a new world," said U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. "They don't call it the Wild West for nothing."
3 minute read

Analysis

In 11th Hour, Why a DC Judge Sided With TikTok Against Trump

In an 18-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols found that TikTok, represented by a team from Covington & Burling, was likely to prevail in arguing that the Trump administration had overstepped in pushing to prevent future downloads of the app.
5 minute read

Q&A

Litigation Leaders: White & Case's Glenn Kurtz on What It Takes to Build a 'Truly Global' Practice

"White & Case is one of the most, if not the most, experienced firm in coordinating large teams of lawyers on multi-jurisdictional matters," Kurtz says. "This allows us to tailor teams of lawyers that have the cultural and geographical understanding needed to provide the best advice in complex cross-border disputes."
12 minute read

News

California Mandates Anti-Bias Training for State Judges

Judicial Council members approved amendments to a Rule of Court that will mandate the training starting in 2021.
3 minute read

News

IP at the Supreme Court: 2 Big Cases and a Lot of Long Shots

Google and Oracle will face off over copyright next month, and the USPTO appointment clause cases appear ticketed for certioarari in Term 2020. Beyond them are a handful of cases with puncher's chances.
16 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Orrick Team Who Beat Back the Government's Pay Discrimination Case Against Oracle

After eight days of trial last December and extensive post-trial briefing, Administrative Law Judge Richard M. Clark in San Francisco on Tuesday issued a 200-plus page decision dismissing the case brought by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
9 minute read

News

Runners-Up for Litigator of the Week and Shout Outs

Where we chat about lawyers for U.S. WeChat users.
4 minute read

Analysis

Jurors Swear to Decide Cases 'So Help Me God,' But How Much Help Is Allowed?

The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit will rehear a case in which a trial court judge removed a juror who said information from "My Father in Heaven" led to him to state at the outset of deliberations that a former member of Congress was not guilty on a host of corruption counts.
6 minute read

Analysis

Want Your Firm's Litigation Teams to Be More Diverse? These Big Law Partners Say Embrace Sponsorship

What does it take to put together litigation teams that reflect the increasingly diverse pool of jurors deciding cases across the United States? That's a question that Kirkland & Ellis litigation partner Atif Khawaja and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius partner Robin Nunn have given a lot of thought
6 minute read

News

A Florida Litigator is Bringing Goats to the Governor's Mansion in Protest Against Herd Immunity Push

"I wish I didn't have to do this," civil litigator Daniel Uhlfelder said.
5 minute read

Profile

A Man of Many Missions: Catching Up With Reed Smith Partner and California Army National Guard Colonel Jesse Miller

"What the state of California and the Guard are doing here is saving lives, whether it's fire or COVID," Miller says.
8 minute read

In Case Testing New York's Choke Hold Ban, DLA Piper Partner Says City Officials Concede Its Weaknesses

DLA Piper's Anthony Paul Coles, who represents a group of New York police unions, argued that the law, which was passed after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer in May, violates police officers' due process rights.
3 minute read

News

Clash of International Video Game Companies Results in $8.5 Million Jury Verdict

A Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton team led by partner Steven Moore piloted Japanese social media company Gree to an $8.5 million verdict in the Eastern District of Texas Friday against Finnish gaming colossus Supercell Oy.
4 minute read

Analysis

This Retired Judge's Take on Mass Arbitrations: 'A Classic Case of Be Careful What You Wish For'

"The defense bar fought against class actions for years," said retired U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin as part of a panel at the virtual Class Action Money and Ethics 2020 conference Monday.
6 minute read

News

New York's Chief Judge Sees 'Long Time' Before Return to Pre-COVID Courthouse Density

New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, however, said Monday that jury summonses will start going out this week for civil jury trials expected to take place as soon as next month in New York City.
3 minute read

News

Consensus Hunters: Justice Kavanaugh Could Be Key to Avoiding a 4-4 This SCOTUS Term

Court watchers note that Kavanaugh often aligns with the chief justice, who was a key swing vote last term.
4 minute read

News

Gibson Dunn Brings on Boies Schiller Partner, Recruiting Head in New York

Boies Schiller Flexner partner Christopher Belelieu first joined Boies Schiller in 2014 and was head of the firm's recruitment effort in New York. He started his career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
2 minute read

News

The Story Behind Justice Ginsburg's Other Judicial Appointment

After nominating Ginsburg for the D.C. Circuit, President Jimmy Carter noted in his diary that she had been "a matter of some controversy," according to a forthcoming biography.
4 minute read

Q&A

'Holding Court' With Civil Presiding Judge Pamela Gates in Phoenix Who's Asking If Technology Can—and Should—Be Integrated Into Jury Trials

"Every different phase of the spread of the virus has resulted in redefining procedures and whenever we change then we have to sort of redefine and restructure."
10 minute read

News

Davis Wright Tremaine Joins the Fray as Judge Grants Injunction Against WeChat Ban

The plaintiffs have shown serious questions going to the merits of the First Amendment claim, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco ruled.
4 minute read

Expert Opinion

'Same Question, Different Answer': The One Courtroom Tool You Should be Using, But Probably Aren't

Impeach a witness on matters that are not trivial when you know you can.
10 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: With $100M on the Line in an 'Earnout' Arbitration, This Sidley Team Left Opponents With Zilch

Angela Zambrano and Yolanda Cornejo Garcia of Sidley Austin got about as definitive a defense win as possible.
10 minute read

News

LOTW Shout Outs and Runners-Up

Snap. Crackle. Pop. Here are your runners-up and shout outs.
3 minute read

Self-Styled 'Annoyance Lawyer' Loses Pro Se Appeal Targeting Alarm.com Over Robocalls

The Second Circuit ruled Wednesday that a district court judge was not required to provide any written reasoning when he dismissed a complaint from Todd Bank—who was ejected from a Second Circuit argument last year for "discourtesy"—alleging violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
4 minute read

Analysis

Gibson Dunn Gets a Chilly Reception in Early Appellate Hearing on Plaintiffs' 'Mass Arbitration' Tactics

The firm's first appellate showdown with plaintiffs represented by Keller Lenkner featured one judge saying he was "completely unsympathetic" to the merits of the argument that filing large batches of individual arbitrations somehow games the system.
4 minute read

San Francisco US Attorney Names New No. 2, Launches Securities Fraud Section

The moves are part of U.S. Attorney David Anderson's ongoing efforts to speed up prosecution timelines.
4 minute read

Kasowitz and Robins Kaplan File Dueling Suits Over Control of Manhattan Art Gallery

Marc Kasowitz argued in court papers that the ex-president of the Marlborough Gallery was removed as part of a "coup d'etat" while his father was seriously ill with COVID-19. But lawyers for the gallery at Robins Kaplan pushed back, saying its former president breached fiduciary duty and misappropriated funds to fulfill a "sense of entitlement."
4 minute read

News

Judge Takes SDNY Prosecutors to Task for Conduct in Prosecution of Iranian Businessman

While their client's conviction was vacated, Steptoe & Johnson attorneys have pursued evidence they suspected the government had withheld. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan said Wednesday that the actions of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office had eroded public trust in the criminal justice system by making "countless" belated disclosures.
7 minute read

Analysis

Can You Get a Representative Jury Pool For Remote Proceedings? Opinions (Really) Differ

Let's just start by saying that the consultants we've talked to have wildly different takes on the topic.
5 minute read

News

Warhol Foundation Asks 2nd Circuit to Uphold Hold 'Fair Use' Win Against Prince Photographer

Quinn Emanuel partner Luke Nikas represented the foundation while Williams & Connolly partner Thomas Hentoff represented photographer Lynn Goldsmith.
4 minute read

Expert Opinion

Protecting Privilege in the Age of Zoom

As we work in new settings and rely more upon the technologies of remote communications, understanding the purpose of the attorney-client privilege and the way courts have handled issues of privilege in the past can help inform best practices in the era of COVID-19.
7 minute read

News

'We Are Guinea Pigs': Connecticut Defense Lawyers Outraged at COVID 'Double Standard'

Some Connecticut defense attorneys are livid on how criminal proceedings are held. They say it's unfair that defense attorneys and their clients have to be in court in person, while judges and prosecutors and clerks can appear virtually.
5 minute read

Q&A

'Holding Court' with Texas Judge Emily Miskel, a Remote Proceeding Pioneer: 'We Can't Pretend That the Traditional Way is Cost-Free'

"Even if you were to say, we're not going to do it on Zoom, we're going to do it in person, it's still not going to be the way you thought it was or the way it used to be."
14 minute read

News

'Discretion is Not Unfettered': Sixth Circuit Pulls Trial Judge Off Case for Refusing to Follow Their Ruling

Judge Amul Thapar wrote that "despite our binding holding, the district judge refused to follow the law and impose an appropriate sentence."
4 minute read

News

New York Court System Going Forward With Additional Jury Trials

As New York continues to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore reported that the state court system is moving forward with more jury trials.
2 minute read

News

At 'Appellate Project' Launch Event, Veteran Judges Tout Value of Diversity

A webinar billed as the Appellate Project's "virtual launch" featured judges speaking from remote locations about their own paths to state and federal appellate bench and the role diversity and multiculturalism play a role in their work.
4 minute read

Q&A

In-House Litigation Leaders: Turo's Michelle Fang on Her Path from Quinn Emanuel Litigation Associate to GC of Startup

"My constant refrain for those rainmaker partners out there is to sponsor and nurture the careers of people who don't look like you. Give them meaningful opportunities for client development and client-facing work."
15 minute read

News

McDonald's Taps Paul Weiss' Loretta Lynch to Defend Against Discrimination Claims

The former attorney general is on the legal team representing the corporation against a discrimination lawsuit from Black former franchise owners.
3 minute read

News

Former SG Donald Verrilli Will Once Again Defend Obamacare at the Supreme Court 

The former Obama-era U.S. solicitor general successfully defended the Affordable Care Act at its inception. Now a partner at Munger Tolles, Verrilli, aiding U.S. House Democrats, will defend the law anew in the upcoming Supreme Court's term.
6 minute read

Q&A

Newly Retired DC Circuit Judge Warns of 'Great Harm' in Politicizing Judiciary

"It's a very dangerous idea if people think judges are beholden to a political party or a partisan agenda. And those who claim we are, they do the republic great harm in that," recently retired D.C. Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith said.
11 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Paul Weiss Team That Kept a Top IBM Cloud Computing Exec from Moving to Microsoft

Bob Atkins and Liza Velazquez obtained a rare injunction based on a noncompete agreement when U.S. District Judge Philip Halpern blocked a former IBM executive from taking the position as Microsoft's corporate vice president, Latin America through May 18, 2021.
9 minute read

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

A couple of major pro bono wins top this week's Litigator of the Week runners-up.
3 minute read

News

Top DOJ Official Says Data Analytics Are Driving PPP Fraud Enforcement Efforts

"The fraud section and its partners deployed the first-in-class data analytics capabilities they have developed and employed to great effect in other criminal investigative areas," Brian Rabbitt, acting head of the Justice Department's criminal division, said in remarks Thursday.
4 minute read

Commentary

One Lawyer's Health Scare Prompts a Reevaluation of Professionalism ... and Video Depositions

Like the rest of America, some lawyers are plowing ahead, not fearing (and sometimes not believing) the risks, while others are of a more careful mindset.
7 minute read

News

Judges: They're Just Like Us ... Only Harder on Themselves

"It's not always easy to get honest feedback from your colleagues because there's a kind of closedness—a 'you don't want to look bad' kind of thing. You don't think it's safe or appropriate," said Jeremy Fogel, the executive director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute, speaking as part of a web presentation Wednesday.
5 minute read

News

In Battle Over Gig Economy Employee Status, Certification Wrongly Withheld From Class of Delivery Drivers

The ruling represents a victory for plaintiffs in a case that is part of a larger battle over independent contractor status in the gig economy.
5 minute read

News

Boies Schiller Is Trying to Fight the Fed—or at Least Its Banks

In a dispute over payment verification patents, the firm is calling on the Supreme Court to declare that the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks are part of the U.S. government, not private corporations.
3 minute read

Q&A

'Holding Court' with Fulton County, Georgia Chief Judge Christopher Brasher: 'Please Don't Bring Me Problems Without Proposed Solutions'

"We're in the 'making people do things' business. We have to be good stewards of that because if we're not then the criminal justice system—which is taking its lumps these days—is only going to be in worse shape."
17 minute read

News

Despite COVID, Chief Judge Says New Yorkers Are Showing Up for Grand Jury Duty

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore reports that more than 1,700 people showed up for grand jury duty in New York City courthouses during a week in August. She says that figure is "only slightly lower" than response rates before the pandemic.
4 minute read

News

One Lawyer's Positive Take on Her Remote Jury Trial Experience (Despite Being Zoombombed During Closing Arguments)

"No matter how many trials you've done, if you haven't done one remotely, you're a brand new lawyer all over again," says Coreen Wilson of Wieck Wilson in Bellevue, Washington, who recently won a defense verdict from a jury who heard much of a trial remotely.
8 minute read

News

How Lawyers Got a $1M Settlement After an Initial $10K Offer

"We not only believed Mr. Ferguson, we have been inspired by his determination to get answers and seek justice," said Donovan Potter of Beasley Allen's Atlanta office.
4 minute read

News

Texas Judge Sanctioned for Comments About Mexicans

Van Zandt County Justice of the Peace Pct. 2 Judge Sandra Plaster said that truck drivers working on a solar farm near her family's property were Mexicans, they were "illegal" and they did not have driver licenses, said the public warning.
4 minute read

News

Jones Day Can't Escape Dad's Bias Suit Over Paternity Policy

A Washington, D.C., federal judge found the firm had failed to make it definitively clear that the eight additional weeks of leave that it generally grants to birth mothers was connected to the "disability" incurred as a result of childbirth.
3 minute read

Q&A

Harvard Law's Martha Minow On How Law Can Encourage Forgiveness Over Vengeance

Minow's book "When should Law Forgive?" explores the restorative justice movement, which focuses on repair and reconciliation instead of punishment.
6 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Milbank Team That Made a Bench Trial Nearly a Decade in the Making a 'Not Close' Call for the Judge

CDOs. CDSs. MBSs. RMBSs. CMBSs. If you, like me, had cleared your memory banks of exactly what's what in that world, this 211-page knockout decision from U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman of the Southern District of New York could be a good refresher.
13 minute read

News

The Latest Round of Litigator of the Week Runners Up

Kudos go out to litigators at Cooley, Davis Wright Tremaine, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Latham & Watkins, and White & Case.
4 minute read

News

How Arnold & Porter Got a $200K Settlement in a Case Where Trump Officials Admitted to Lying

A new filing lays out the behind-the-scenes work attorneys did in the case, where Trump officials eventually admitted to making false statements in court—as well as the lawyers' billing rates.
5 minute read

Commentary

California Civil Trial Juries Need to Be Smaller to Get Courts Back on Track

"We need to get over the idea that there must be 12 jurors in the box to conduct a state court civil trial," writes Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe's Rob Shwarts.
7 minute read

Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Wilson Sonsini's Caz Hashemi on Learning a Client's Business 'Inside and Out'

"We're very committed to attracting more bet-the-company litigation matters and disputes involving complex claims and large-scale enterprises. We're looking to grow the litigation department by 20-25% in headcount, while preserving an optimal partner-to-associate ratio."
14 minute read

News

Longtime Chevron Foe Donziger Ramps Up Effort to Delay or Dismiss Looming Contempt Trial

Steven Donziger, who once won an $8.6 billion judgment against Chevron, has intensified his battle against the special prosecutor appointed to his criminal contempt case, the civil-case judge who leveled the charges against him, and the judge presiding over the looming Sept. 9 bench trial.
11 minute read

News

Georgia Chief Justice Says 'We Have to Start' Finding a Way Back to Court 'Amidst the Pandemic'

"It won't be done the same way," Chief Justice Harold Melton said. "We're not starting up the same thing we used to do, but something different."
4 minute read

News

Morgan Lewis Hires Leading White-Collar, Financial Partners From Quinn Emanuel and Dechert

Robin Nunn, a former in-house lawyer at American Express and Capital One, was most recently the chairwoman of Dechert's consumer financial services practice. Sandra Moser arrives from Quinn, where she had been a co-leader of the firm's white-collar defense practice.
6 minute read

News

'Feels Good Man': Wilmer Lawyers Play Key Supporting Role in New Doc About the Travails of Pepe the Frog Creator

Lawyers from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr don't appear on screen in the new feature-length documentary "Feels Good Man" until about 72 minutes in. But boy, by the time they arrive are you glad to see them.
7 minute read

News

California Justice Shared Views With Lawmakers Weighing Bill Aimed at Discrimination in Jury Selection

"In these communications, Justice [Goodwin] Liu made clear that it's not his role to tell legislators how to vote on this or any other bill," a spokesperson for the Judicial Council said Tuesday.
7 minute read

News

With Irell Shedding Non-IP Lawyers, Firm's Litigation Vice Chair Heads to Gibson Dunn

A securities litigator and executive committee member, Craig Varnen had been with Irell for more than 20 years.
4 minute read

Q&A

'Holding Court': Broward County, Florida Circuit Chief Judge Jack Tuter on Why He's a 'Believer' in Remote Jury Trials

"At the end of the day, it's the lawyers who are going to have to convince their colleagues and their clients that this is a viable option."
16 minute read

'Something Else Going on Here': Allegations Mount Against South Florida Lawyer Accused of Cheating Insurers

It's safe to say that 2020 hasn't been attorney Scot Strems' year. Though his Coral Gables practice, the Strems Law Firm, began the year with a website marketing it as "Florida's most trusted" law firm, the litigator is now suspended, pending an ethics investigation.
10 minute read

News

Kirkland and Quinn Emanuel Spar Over Disclosure of Litigation Funder Contracts In Patent Suit Against Google

If I told you Kirkland & Ellis and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan were squabbling over disclosure of documents relating to a party's arrangement with a litigation funder, which one would you guess represents the party working with the funder?
5 minute read

New Batch of California Superior Court Appointees Includes Big Law Alums

Gov. Gavin Newsom named 15 Superior Court judges overall, including lawyers who logged time with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Baker McKenzie, and Hinshaw & Culbertson.
5 minute read

News

Lost in Translation? Veteran Defender Abbe Lowell Makes Case at Extradition Hearing

For Winston & Strawn's Abbe Lowell, the case has called for an education in Japanese law—and the language—as he has argued against a request backed by the DOJ to extradite two men facing allegations in Tokyo that they aided auto executive Carlos Ghosn's extraordinary escape.
4 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Plaintiffs' Team Behind the $1.6B Essure Settlement

Three plaintiffs lawyers driving the deal—Fidelma Fitzpatrick of Motley Rice, Edward Wallace of Wexler Wallace, and Erin Copeland of Fibich, Leebron, Copeland & Briggs—say the judge overseeing the coordinated state court cases in California kept them moving forward even as pandemic closures pushed off scheduled trial dates this spring.
11 minute read

News

This Week's LOTW Runners Up and Shout Outs

Runners up this week include lawyers at Steptoe & Johnson; Sullivan & Cromwell and Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
4 minute read

Profile

Katzmann Reflects on Book-End Crises During His 7-Year Tenure as Chief Judge of the 2nd Circuit

Robert Katzmann took the role of chief judge as federal courts were facing possible shutdowns as the result of a contentious congressional budget process and more recently presided over the Second Circuit's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
7 minute read

News

Arguing Their Jury Trial Would Be Unsafe, Plaintiffs Win Continuance in $30M Commercial Real Estate Dispute

Arguing that no one should get sick or die to settle a commercial real estate dispute, and that a proceeding now would not be safe, plaintiffs have won a continuance of a Sept. 8 jury trial in Houston, Texas.
4 minute read

News

As Bayer's $10.9B in Roundup Settlements Unravel, More Trials Become Possible

"What I am concerned about is that Monsanto may be manipulating this litigation process to its advantage somehow," said U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, who oversees the Roundup MDL. He gave lawyers until Sept. 24 but said he might lift a stay on litigation and set cases for trial.
6 minute read

News

Long Island Federal Judge Rules that White-Collar Bench Trial Will Move Forward

U.S. District Judge Gary Brown found that "unusual, if not unique, circumstances" in the case of former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission examiner Michael Cohn mean he can have a bench trial in the coming weeks, despite objections from federal prosecutors.
4 minute read

Q&A

Talking Product Liability With Sheila Birnbaum, Dechert's 'Queen of Toxic Torts'

Birnbaum, dubbed the "Queen of Toxic Torts" because of her standing in the defense bar, says government lawyers are using the power of the press conference to help shape public opinion on the sorts of cases she handles
13 minute read

News

Ninth Circuit Says Oakland Can Pursue Discriminatory Lending Claims Against Wells Fargo

The financial institution tapped several Big Law heavy hitters for the appeal, including a Hogan & Lovells team led by Neal Katyal, as well as attorneys from K&L Gates; Munger, Tolles & Olson; and Proskauer Rose.
3 minute read

News

Texas Appellate Court Finds Law Firm Had 'Procedurally Unconscionable' Arbitration Agreement

Houston-based Daspit Law Firm lost its bid to force an ex-client to arbitrate a dispute over a 35% contingent fee contract, which the client alleged he was tricked into signing during a meeting at McDonald's.
5 minute read

Q&A

'Holding Court' With Orange County, California Judge Kimberly Knill: 'We've Had to Create Backups to Backups to Backups'

Knill had been based out of the court's Westminster courthouse prior to March's court closures and is now working from its Santa Ana base. She's seen things change rapidly over the course of the past few months.
6 minute read

News

Early in Antitrust Showdown Between Fortnite Maker and Apple, Lead Lawyers at Cravath and Gibson Dunn Both Irk the Judge

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is overseeing the case, broke out the Zoom mute button with one of the lead lawyers and cut off the other's attempt to argue uncited cases.
5 minute read

News

'How to Read the Room When There Is No Room': Tips for Successful Remote Courtroom Practice

Find a quiet space with a good internet connection. Use a headset with a microphone. Be sure to take time to pause for the judge's questions. And please, put on something besides a t-shirt.
6 minute read

Commentary

Did This Texas Appellate Opinion Exhibit Bad Judgment or Judicial Misconduct?

Would it violate the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct for an appellate court in an opinion to "confess to an impulse to safeguard an industry that is vital to Texas's economic well-being" and describe the "blessing" of being "a conservative panel on an intermediate court in a relatively conservative part of Texas"?
18 minute read

Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Team that Stuck Apple With a $500M Verdict In the First Patent Jury Trial of the Pandemic

Litigators of the Week Jason Sheasby of Irell & Manella and Sam Baxter of McKool Smith led the trial team for patent owner PanOptis in the six-day jury trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas, the first to get off the ground during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5 minute read

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

This week's list includes Wilmer lawyers winning a big Hatch-Waxman case and a lineup of heavy hitters reversing Qualcomm's antitrust fortunes at the Ninth Circuit.
7 minute read

Q&A

Introducing 'Holding Court': A Lit Daily Series Exploring How Trial Judges Are Coping with the Pandemic

"There's a frustration among the bar and among the judges that we know that there's work that we need to do, we're working through the stuff that we can do," says North Carolina state court Judge Richard Gottlieb. "When can we get to the stuff that has to be done?"
10 minute read

News

Ninth Circuit Finds Amazon Delivery Workers' Arbitration Agreements Invalid

"Amazon drivers have been essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic, and it is shameful that the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, has been able to get away with not properly paying the drivers for all of their time and depriving them of all employment protections through their misclassification as independent contractors," said lead plaintiffs counsel Shannon Liss-Riordan of Lichten & Liss-Riordan.
4 minute read

News

The Art of Opening Statements (Or Is It Opening Arguments?)

Getting a case down to its "gist" and to its "core," retired federal judge Nancy Gertner said, involves picking the evidence that's most favorable to your side. "That kind of selection is inevitably argument," she said, as part of a webinar on openings presented Tuesday by NITA and CVN.
6 minute read

News

Black High School Student Won't Have to Cut His Dreadlocks After Akin Gump Pro Bono Win

A pro bono team from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld won a preliminary injunction that stops a school district from enforcing a hair-length policy that would have forced two African American students to cut their dreadlocks, or face punishment.
4 minute read

News

Videoconferencing Rule Long-Planned for New York's Commercial Division Takes Effect Amid Pandemic

The new rule allows attorneys to request permission to appear remotely on a showing of good cause.
4 minute read

News

Battle Over Brews: Anheuser-Busch Hit With Claims New Brand Is Posing as Miami Craft Brewer

A recent study found consumers not only prefer craft beer over big brand beers, but that they would pay more for the purchase of craft beer, according to the complaint.
4 minute read

News

It's Alive! Amazon AI Could Provide 'Volition' for Copyright Infringement, Judge Rules

In an early-round win for Williams-Sonoma, U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex Tse in San Francisco ruled that, whether done by human or machine, Amazon's alleged curation of user photos for product display pages takes it beyond the role of a passive host.
3 minute read

Q&A

In-House Litigation Leaders: Duke Energy's Vijay Bondada on the 'Once-In-a-Generation Shift in the Legal Industry' and What it Means For Who's Getting Hired

"Now, as the legal industry and judicial systems embrace virtual technology, in-house leaders need to find talent that is both substantively capable and technologically savvy."
11 minute read

Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Mintz Levin's Scott Ford on 'Turning Good Lawyers into Great Ones'

"We expect to see an increase in demand in our class action, securities, product liability, real estate and government investigations practices, and we are spending a lot of time with our clients in these sectors helping them stay informed and compliant so that they will be in the best position to avoid, or prevail in, any future litigation."
15 minute read

News

Longtime Chevron Foe Steven Donziger Fires Back After Disbarment, Vows to Appeal

"This is a tremendous miscarriage of justice," Donziger said during an interview with the New York Law Journal. "The acts on which my disbarment are based are false."
7 minute read

Commentary

Taking Stock of Recent COVID-19 Shareholder Litigation

The continued widespread business uncertainty caused by COVID-19 and the associated higher market volatility provide a fertile environment for event-driven securities litigation, says Simpson Thacher & Bartlett's Stephen Blake.
7 minute read

Commentary

Diversity in ADR: Time for Another Uncomfortable Conversation​

It's time to put down the press release and get to work to spur transformational change in the industry once and for all.
6 minute read

Q&A

Litigator of the Week: The Akin Gump Partner Who Revived a Landmark Human Rights Case Over Extrajudicial Killings in Bolivia

Akin Gump partner James Tysse persuaded an Eleventh Circuit panel that the trial judge below had erred when entering judgment post-verdict on behalf of the defendants, the former president and defense minister of Bolivia facing claims stemming from the killing of more than 50 unarmed indigenous people during a period of civil unrest and political upheaval in the South American country nearly two decades ago.
9 minute read

News

LOTW Runners Up and Shout Outs

Featuring litigators from Weil Gotshal, Boies Schiler, Wachtell, Paul Weiss, and Quinn Emanuel.
4 minute read

News

Covington Sues California Psychiatric Hospital After More Than 100 Patients Contract COVID-19

At least two patients at California's Patton State Hospital have died from coronavirus, according to a lawsuit filed by a team at Covington & Burling and Disability Rights California.
4 minute read

Q&A

Talking Shop With the Leaders of Skadden's Securities Litigation Team

A discussion of securities class actions in the first half of the year with Skadden's Jay Kasner, Susan Saltzstein and Scott Musoff.
12 minute read

News

New York's 'Future of Courts' Commission Issues Its First Recommendations

The Commission to Reimagine the Future of New York's Courts, chaired by former New York State Bar Association President Henry M. Greenberg, issued a report outlining recommended plans and goals for restarting in-person court proceedings, including grand juries and jury trials.
3 minute read

News

Morgan & Morgan Joins the California Rush, Bringing on Robins Kaplan Lawyers in San Francisco

Drawn by the bevy of class action lawsuits filed against Bay Area tech companies, the Florida-based plaintiff-side goliath hired away two Robins Kaplan attorneys to lead its new San Francisco office.
3 minute read

News

After Arbitrator Ousted Over Racist Email Forward, NRA Wants JAMS and Winston & Strawn to Foot the Bill

"Winston & Strawn learned about this email at the same time the NRA did, and we immediately agreed that it rendered the arbitrator unfit and he should be removed from the case," the firm said in an email statement.
5 minute read

News

Buchalter Brings on Firm's First Appellate Chair From Haynes & Boone

M.C. Sungaila, who previously co-chaired Haynes and Boone's group, is becoming the first formal chair of Buchalter's appellate practice.
3 minute read

Commentary

Answering Judge Esther Salas's Call for a 'National Dialogue' on Judicial Privacy, Safety After Her Son's Killing

Salas is calling for "a national dialogue" about how to protect the privacy of federal judges in the current hyperconnected age, where virtually everyone's information is available in some capacity to anyone with an internet connection.
6 minute read

Profile

Meet the Sheppard Mullin Litigator Facing Off with California Police Unions Over Misconduct Records

"I think it's critically important to have this information out there so people can have an informed discussion," says special counsel Tenaya Rodewald.
6 minute read

News

DOJ Loses Bid to Decertify Immigration Judges' Union

A regional director with the Federal Labor Relations Authority turned down an effort by the Justice Department to decertify a union of immigration judges.
5 minute read

Latest
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Who Got The Work

Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.

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Who Got The Work

Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.

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Who Got The Work

Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.

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Who Got The Work

David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.

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Who Got The Work

Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.

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