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Best Practices

The Outsized Importance of Those First Few Seconds Before a Jury

David Mann, a speaker, trainer, and professional actor/director who works with lawyers on trial communication strategies, says that you get only about 30 seconds of a jurors' attention for free. After that you have to earn it.
4 minute read
News

Morgan Lewis Partner Kenneth Polite Tapped to Lead DOJ Criminal Division

Polite, who was appointed by President Obama as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, joined Morgan Lewis in 2018 in Philadelphia.
2 minute read
Commentary

Amateurism Is Not a Horizontal Price Fix: Reflections on the Recent SCOTUS NCAA Argument

Gregory L. Curtner, an antitrust litigator at Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila who has represented the National Collegiate Athletic Association in many matters, makes the case that courts are not designed to micromanage joint ventures like the NCAA under the guise of the antitrust laws.
8 minute read
News

Kathaleen McCormick Tapped to Be Next Chancellor and First Woman to Lead Court of Chancery

Lori W. Will, currently a partner in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's Wilmington office focusing on corporate, commercial and federal securities litigation, was picked to replace McCormick as vice chancellor.
1 minute read
Q&A

Dominion Energy GC: 'Lawyers Sometimes Have the Myopic View That the Company Cares About Litigation and That's Not True.'

"Winning the fine point of the law frequently is immaterial to the client," says Carlos Brown, the general counsel of Dominion Energy, in our latest installment of In-House Litigation Leaders.
12 minute read
Q&A

Litigator of the Week: The Gibson Dunn Lawyer in D.C. Who Argued to Close a Loophole in California Lemon Law During the Capitol Riots

Tom Dupree of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher went to his office in downtown Washington, D.C., on January 6 to handle a remote argument before the California Court of Appeal.
8 minute read
Quick Takes

Another Loaded List of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

This week's group is led by a joint team from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, the Civil Rights Corps and the San Francisco Public Defender's Office that won a ruling from the California Supreme Court barring courts from detaining arrestees solely based on the fact that they don't have the money to pay for cash bail.
7 minute read
News

SDNY Chief Judge Tells White House She's Stepping Down, Taking Senior Status April 10

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said she plans to continue actively managing her cases. Her move creates a new vacancy on the court and sets up U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain to succeed her as chief judge.
3 minute read
News

Big Law, Civil Rights and Law Professors: Meet Merrick Garland's DOJ

White-collar lawyers expect an increased focus on prosecuting fraud, bribery and other corporate misconduct, and the Garland DOJ is also expected to put a strong focus on the broad protection of civil rights.
2 minute read
Analysis

Litigation-Heavy Firms Faced Financial Headwinds in 2020. Can They Expect a Better 2021?

The economic slowdown that we saw in the first half of 2020 might not have quite the litigation repercussions of prior slowdowns, but open courts make for busier litigators.
7 minute read
Commentary

Potential Mentors Are Everywhere

Mentors can be anyone willing to listen and help and they don't have to look like you, writes former Georgia Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward Sears.
5 minute read
News

Trailblazing Judge Paul Feinman Dead Shortly After Retirement From NY Court of Appeals

The judge redefined what was possible for LGBTQ lawyers in New York, said Matthew Skinner, executive director of The Richard C. Failla LGBTQ Commission, last week.
3 minute read
Analysis

For First Biden Judicial Nominees, Big Law Was More Career Booster Rocket than Brass Ring

Lawyers with Big Law on their resume made up a majority of the president's first batch of nominees. But they might not all consider themselves "Big Law" attorneys.
5 minute read
News

Citing 'Temporary' Effects, Litigation-Heavy Munger Tolles Posts Revenue, Profit Dip

"Unlike some firms, we're not so focused on budget and financial goals and all of that," said Malcolm Heinicke, co-managing partner of the firm.
4 minute read

Liberal Groups Cheer Biden's First Judicial Nominees, But Say Work Remains

"This list powerfully affirms that nominees who are racially diverse and whose professional background reflects a broad range of practice are available to serve on the federal bench," said Sherrilyn Ifill, the president and director-counsel of the NAACP LDF.
8 minute read
News

No Sympathy for the Devil: Nike Turns to Arnold & Porter to Sue the Designer Behind 'Satan Shoe'

Nike on Monday turned to Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer to sue New York-based design company MSCHF for trademark infringement. MSCHF sold a limited run of 666 Nike Air Max 97 sneakers that its website said included "60CC INK AND 1 DROP HUMAN BLOOD" and featured images and themes associated with Satanism.
3 minute read
News

Queens Trial Adjourned After Legal Aid Lawyer Tests Positive for COVID-19

Jury selection in the case began March 24, part of last week's resumption of in-person jury trials around New York state.
2 minute read
Analysis

With 3 Retirements Coming in Less Than a Year, New York's Top Court Enters Period of Uncertainty

Three judges are set to leave the court over a 10-month span. Legal experts say the shakeup is a critical moment for New York's highest court.
5 minute read

With 4 Defamation Suits and Counting, Voting Machine Company Taps Susman Godfrey to Bolster Legal Team

Susman Godfrey is joining Clare Locke as "equal partners" in the defamation lawsuits Dominion Voting Systems filed over statements made about its role in the 2020 election.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Cozen O'Connor's Jim Heller on Building Trial-Ready Products Liability, White-Collar and Class Action Teams

"We have a deep bench of attorneys who have taken trials to verdicts. I am very comfortable stating that each of the attorneys in the litigation department is ready to try cases."
12 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: After COVID Forced a Trade Secrets Mistrial, This Hogan Lovells Duo Scored a $152M Verdict on Second-Go

A nine-figure jury verdict win is impressive under any circumstances. But everything that led up to the East Texas verdict Maria Boyce and Cristina Rodriguez of Hogan Lovells scored for client ResMan makes it all the more impressive.
8 minute read
Quick Takes

A Stoked Batch of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up

Solid results from Goodwin Procter, Mayer Brown, Hogan Lovells, Latham & Watkins, Paul Hastings, and White & Case,
9 minute read
Analysis

Has COVID Created a New Crop of Plaintiff-Friendly Jurors?

Defendants have tended to try to avoid jurors who express a heightened sense of fearfulness and tendency to worry about things. What about fears related to COVID?
5 minute read

Rob Bonta, Progressive Calif. Lawmaker, Is Picked for State Attorney General

"Rob has become a national leader in the fight to repair our justice system and defend the rights of every Californian," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
4 minute read

Burford Capital's Profits Dip for 2nd Straight Year, but Its Business With Corporations Grows

Burford officials pointed to CFOs being increasingly open to working directly with litigation funders.
4 minute read
Profile

Between Two Teds: Gibson Dunn's Star Litigators Become Podcasters

Ted Boutrous and Ted Olson are chatting about their careers in a new podcast, allowing them to promote their names and capabilities to clients, law students and the general public.
4 minute read
Q&A

Meet the Ballard Spahr Partner Protecting Press Access to the Derek Chauvin Trial in Minneapolis

"Let people watch the process, because they will trust it more if they can see it," says Ballard Spahr partner Leita Walker, who has represented a coalition of media outlets covering the trial of the former police officer charged in George Floyd's death.
10 minute read
News

Orrick Saw Flat Revenue, Double-Digit Profit Growth as Litigation Underperformed

Orrick chairman and CEO Mitch Zuklie said litigation accounts for half of the firm's matters, adding that he expects demand to pick back up as the courts reopen in 2021.
4 minute read
Analysis

A Subject That Keeps Partners Up at Night and Law Firm GCs Employed: 'There's Nothing Ever Clear in Conflicts'

For a big enough law firm, conflicts provide enough thorny questions in murky territory to provide a certain level of job security for firm GCs.
3 minute read
News

IP Litigation Boutique Desmarais Expands to Washington, Beefs Up ITC Practice

Three partners from Troutman Pepper, led by Goutam Patnaik, will add to the firm's presence at the International Trade Commission. Partner Justin Wilcox is relocating from New York to manage the office and step up D.C.-area recruiting.
3 minute read

The Federal Courts Have a Transparency Problem. Here's How We Can Fix It.

Gabe Roth, the executive director of Fix the Court, writes that though the third branch says it's the most transparent when it comes to its work, it's the least transparent when it comes to the perks.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigator of the Week: Eli Lilly Turns to Kirkland's O'Quinn to Block New Dispute Resolution Procedure Over Drug Discount Program

A federal judge in Indianapolis this week granted John O'Quinn's motion for a preliminary injunction finding that the government's messaging about the new program to resolve disputes over the 340B drug pricing program were "ambiguous, confusing, duplicitous, and misleading."
7 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and One Big Shout Out

Runners up from Davis Wright Tremaine, Gibson Dunn, Paul Weiss, Quinn Emanuel, and a big shout out to Fisch Sigler.
4 minute read
Commentary

Education or Exploitation? Fair or Foul? The NCAA Plays in a Different Court—The Supreme Court

Gregory L. Curtner, an antitrust litigator at Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila who has represented the NCAA in many matters, makes the case that amateurism should survive a potentially game-changing case at the U.S. Supreme Court.
7 minute read
News

Can You Sue Your Ex For Posting Photos You Took? This Timeshare Mogul Is Trying

Everybody knows that breakups can be messy. But thankfully few venture into the copyright realm.
3 minute read
Analysis

A 'Recipe for Litigation': Have Big Law Litigators' Pandemic Predictions Come True?

The Lit Daily checks in with four litigators whose predictions from a year ago about the types of litigation coming out of the pandemic have proven prescient, even if there's been less of it than they expected.
6 minute read
News

Federal Circuit Judge Evan Wallach Takes Senior Status: 'A Good Time to Create a Place for Someone Else'

Wallach's departure opens the first vacancy for the Biden administration on the nation's patent appellate court. The judge plans to continue hearing Federal Circuit cases while also sitting by designation on district courts.
6 minute read

Leah Ward Sears to Lead Georgia Federal Judicial Nominations Commission

"For far too long, this system has inadequately represented the great diversity of Georgia and America," the state's former chief justice said. "I'm honored to lead Senators Ossoff and Warnock's Commission to bring new, different, and unique perspectives to the federal nominations process and ensure all voices across Georgia are fairly represented."
9 minute read
Analysis

The Stephen Breyer Retirement Watch Gets an Unofficial Kickoff

On what would have been Ruth Bader Ginsburg's 88th birthday, Justice Stephen Breyer delivered remarks to open a lecture series celebrating his late colleague at the National Judicial College. Meanwhile, a Colorado professor took to The New York Times opinion pages Monday to call on Breyer to retire immediately.
4 minute read
News

Chief Judges Says Majority of New York State Court Proceedings Will Stay Virtual, for Now

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, who made the comments in a video posted on the court system website, reported there were upward of 1,200 "virtual bench trials and evidentiary and fact-finding hearings" that started last week statewide.
2 minute read
Q&A

What Was Up With All the Securities Class Actions Targeting Non-U.S. Issuers Last Year? Dechert's Angela Liu Weighs In

Liu and her colleagues recently released a white paper analyzing why the percentage of securities class actions targeting issuers based outside the U.S. jumped from 15% in 2019 to just over 27% last year even though the total number of securities suits was down.
4 minute read
News

Georgia Plaintiffs Lawyer Who Took on GM Says Jury Trials 'Must Resume ASAP'

"When we file a lawsuit on behalf of our client, the most meaningful pressure that is placed on the persons or corporations we sue is the prospect of a jury trial," said Lance Cooper.
4 minute read
Commentary

White-Collar Enforcement in the Biden Era: Where We Were, Where We're Going

Two months in, the Biden administration has already signaled certain departures from the Trump era on white-collar enforcement.
6 minute read
Q&A

Litigator of the Week: The Potential $3B Copyright Headache that Weil Gotshal Erased for Getty Images

Benjamin Marks, who heads the intellectual property & media practice at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, convinced the Second Circuit to uphold his summary judgment win for Getty Images in a case where the company was facing potential statutory damages of $3 billion.
7 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runner-Up and Shout Outs

Quinn lands up as runner-up this week for scoring an early win in the battle over whether XRP, the cryptocurrency backed by Ripple Labs, is a security.
3 minute read
Analysis

Breaking Up Is Hard, Let's Sue: Do Litigation Firm Break-Ups Have to End This Way?

The ugly allegations are flying back and forth in dueling lawsuits between the founding partners of Roche Cyrulnik Freedman, a Boies Schiller Flexner spinoff. Litigators, it seems, spawn more than their fair share of litigious breakups.
5 minute read
News

Why One Miami Trial Lawyer Pivoted to ADR During the Pandemic

Peckar & Abramson construction litigator Melinda Gentile is shifting her practice away from trials as the virtual ADR process entices an increasing amount of her firm's clients.
3 minute read
Conversation

Vern Winters: 'At the End of the Day, We are in a Service Business'

Winters, who is in the process of retiring from Sidley Austin to deal with a painful nerve disease in his feet, said a lightbulb went off for him when a friend asked if he would refer a client to himself knowing what he knows about his condition.
8 minute read
News

Women Argued Less Than 30% of Cases at the Minn. High Court Last Year. This Susman 2nd Year Who Just Argued There Has Some Ideas

"Firms have to allow clients to get to know the associates and the young lawyers, not just when it comes time to do the arguments, but to be part of trial team calls, to be part of the pitch that brings in the case," says Susman Godfrey's Beatrice Franklin.
5 minute read
News

In-Person Civil Jury Trials Set to Resume Later This Month in Brooklyn State Court

While civil jury trials have been largely halted since the pandemic's onset one year ago, Administrative Judge Lawrence Knipel said the Brooklyn court had processed an "amazing" 18,500 matters since the end of April 2020. Civil trials are set to resume on March 22.
2 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Sidley Austin's Yvette Ostolaza and Mark Hopson on Building an Elite International Team of Trial and Appellate Lawyers

"Our best client relationships are those where we are working with multiple teams within the client's legal and business departments," says Hopson. "We are also honest with our clients in terms of what we can and, sometimes more importantly, what we can't do. Clients appreciate that honesty."
11 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Irell Trial Team That Landed a Whopping $2.175B Patent Verdict Against Intel in Waco

After a six-day trial, it took jurors less than four hours of deliberations to side with the Irell team led by Morgan Chu, Ben Hattenbach and Alan Heinrich and their client, VLSI Technology LLC.
5 minute read

Another Stacked Week of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

After three years of litigation on behalf of crew members of the USS Pueblo and their families, a team from Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp last week won a $2.3 billion damages award against North Korea–among the largest ever awards in a state-sponsored terrorism case.
8 minute read
Conversation

AI for Litigators? How McDermott Is Using Algorithms to Flag Potential Issues for Clients and Get Their Hands on Hot Docs Faster

The folks at McDermott Will & Emery say their in-house artificial intelligence tools allow them to visualize data, spot potential compliance issues, and surface key documents quickly.
7 minute read
News

Amazon, Fenwick Win $4.8M Fee Award in Multidistrict Patent Litigation

PersonalWeb Technologies had accused more than 80 Amazon customers of infringement. A federal judge in San Jose wrote that, even accounting only for fees tied to PersonalWeb's misconduct, Amazon was entitled to about 75% of its request.
4 minute read
Commentary

A Big Law Trial Lawyer's Story of Pain, Loss and Healing

What if you had to walk away from your career, right at its height, because of a debilitating disease? Vern Winters, who is in the process of retiring from Sidley Austin, writes about having to face those facts—and to find a way past them.
9 minute read
Commentary

Along Came SPACs, and Then SPAC Litigation

Lawsuits related to special purpose acquisition companies will have many similarities to traditional securities and M&A litigation, but will also develop their own rubrics given the unique features of the SPAC model, writes Stephen Blake of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
9 minute read
Commentary

Wake Up, Big Law: Your Diversity Issues Might Very Well Become Loss-of-Influence Issues

Progressives are calling on the Biden administration to expand the pool of potential federal judicial nominees beyond the Am Law 200 partners and prosecutors who have routinely filled vacancies during the Obama and Trump administrations.
4 minute read
Q&A

What's Up With All the Trade Secret Action at the ITC? Two Latham IP Litigators Weigh In

In the wake of a big trade secret win at the Commission for electric car battery maker LG Energy Solutions, Latham's David Callahan and Bert Reiser discuss how parties are harnessing the protections of the Defend Trade Secrets Act at the ITC.
9 minute read
News

Atlanta Federal Judge Announces Intention to Go Senior But Remain at 'Full Blast'

"We have right now the same number of judge positions we did in '79. It's a completely transformed judiciary in terms of the volume of cases, volume of business, the population," Judge Amy Totenberg said. "The prospect of being able to actually add judges and have very much active senior judges is great."
3 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: This Debevoise Duo Fended Off a $650M Arbitration Claim For the Republic of Iraq

Catherine Amirfar and Ina Popova of Debevoise & Plimpton on Monday secured a complete defense win in a bilateral investment treaty arbitration brought by Agility Public Warehousing Company.
8 minute read
Quick Takes

Another Batch of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs that Shows that You Guys Don't Make This Part of the Job Easy

Death penalty vacated: Check. Antitrust precedent set: Check. Former LOTW verdict flipped: Check.
4 minute read
Profile

How This Senior Judge Became the Federal Judiciary's Most Effective Evangelist for Virtual Trials

U.S. District Senior Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle says the pandemic has forced the federal judiciary to try cases in Quonset huts, gymnasiums and, at least in her court, virtually in jurors' homes. "We should be thankful that the American public is willing to invite us in," she says.
5 minute read
Best Practices

How Jurors Perceive Time in the Virtual World and Why You Should Care About It

Austin, Texas trial lawyer Carl Guthrie suspects remote jurors expect virtual trials to be "instantaneous" much like the medium used to present them.
4 minute read
News

Paul Weiss' Mark Pomerantz Joins Manhattan Prosecutors for Trump Probe

Pomerantz is on leave from the firm to work as a special assistant district attorney.
3 minute read
News

In Rare Showdown, SCOTUS Hearing Reunites Former and Current Hogan Lovells Partners

The unusual faceoff between current and former Hogan Lovells partners began with good luck wishes from Neal Katyal and ended with high praise for the "junior" advocate, now-Assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General Colleen Sinzdak.
5 minute read
Analysis

After COVID Causes Problems with Mail and Paper Checks, Boies Schiller Makes Extra Push to Get Au Pair Class Members Paid

While 75% of the 13,000 class members—mostly young people from abroad who have provided live-in childcare to families in the U.S.—have been able to cash checks, the undeposited checks that remain outstanding average almost $1,850.
4 minute read
News

How Irell's Morgan Chu Is 'Spoon-Feeding' a Billion-Dollar Damages Case to Jurors

Chu told a Western District of Texas jury Monday that "nearly a billion" Intel processors infringe his client's two patents. But he hasn't given jurors a number, yet. Wilmer's William Lee said the right number is zero for VLSI's "imaginary products."
5 minute read
Profile

How Kirkland's First Black Partner Advocated In and Out of Court to Get 4 Maryland HBCUs to the Precipice of a Historic $577M Settlement

In a high-profile case where Kirkland teamed with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Mike Jones says that courtroom advocacy was sharpened by presentations made to newspaper editorial boards and legislators.
6 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Quinn Emanuel Trio Who Fended Off Citi's Attempt to Claw Back Half a Billion in Mistakenly Wired Funds

Adam Abensohn, Benjamin Finestone and Robert Loigman grabbed headlines this week in the case spinning out of a nearly billion dollar blunder that rocked the finance world.
10 minute read
Quick Takes

This Week's LOTW Runner-Up and Shout Outs

Latham & Watkins scored a huge win at the ITC in a trade secret showdown over electric vehicle batteries.
4 minute read
News

California Supreme Court Asked to Move Cases Out of Slow-Moving Appellate Court

A Northern California attorney who accused three Sacramento appellate justices of allowing cases to languish for years has asked the state Supreme Court to transfer dozens of matters from the Third District to other appellate districts.
3 minute read
Analysis

A Lawyer's Death and a $4M Insurance Policy: Inside Florida's First Federal Remote Civil Jury Trial

Armed with heartbreaking security footage, a toxicology report and testimony from witnesses around the country, jurors had to decide whether the former Tampa attorney died accidentally or by suicide.
7 minute read
Analysis

Trial by Combat

Should Rudy Giuliani be disciplined for his conduct relating to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capital and his participation in frivolous lawsuits?
10 minute read
News

Flattery Only Gets You So Far: Plaintiffs Counsel's Praise Doesn't Nudge Gibson Dunn's Stance on Fees in iPhone Throttling Case

You can hardly blame Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy founder Joe Cotchett for trying the catch-more-flies-with-honey approach.
4 minute read
News

Judge Calls for DOJ to Probe Prosecutors' 'Systemic' Disclosure Problems in Iran Sanctions Case

The order from U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan of the Southern District of New York, followed a blistering September opinion that took to task the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office for making "countless" belated disclosures to lawyers representing Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad before, during and after his trial.
3 minute read
Analysis

How Quinn Emanuel Went from Losing a TRO to a Sweeping Win Over Citibank's Half-Billion Blunder

In fast-paced, high-stakes pieces of litigation, winning at the temporary restraining order stage can often be the whole ballgame. Not this time.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Baker Donelson's 'Buck' Wellford on Building a Team With 85 Attorneys Who Have 20-Plus Trials Under Their Belts

"Most large firms have lawyers who have worked on litigation involving claims for significant damages or the potential for unfavorable exposure to the client, but what makes Baker Donelson different is that we have lawyers spread out across our footprint who have actually tried these cases."
15 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Gibson Dunn and Alston & Bird Team to Fend Off an Import Ban on Fitness Trackers

After an all-remote bench trial, Gibson Dunn, working for Fitbit, and Alston & Bird, representing Garmin, this week scored a ruling at the U.S. the International Trade Commission finding the companies didn't infringe a rival's patent.
11 minute read
Quick Takes

LOTW Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Patent wins for Latham and Kirkland lead our latest batch of Litigator of the Week runners-up.
6 minute read
News

You Think Things Have Been Rough in Civil Cases? Have a Look at the Criminal Side of the Docket

A panel discussion between practitioners, judges, and administrators from across the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday made it clear the challenges created by the pandemic have been felt most acutely in criminal cases.
7 minute read
Analysis

What, If Anything, Can Litigators Take from the Opening of the Second Trump Impeachment Trial?

Tuesday's Senate proceedings, which focused on the Constitutional question of whether a former president can stand trial for impeachment, had elements of both opening statements and appellate arguments.
5 minute read
News

Gibson Dunn Teams With Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project to Free Maryland Man After 21 Years Served

"My hat is off to them. They out-lawyered me," a special prosecutor Joseph Michael told a local newspaper reporter covering his office's decision not to retry a Maryland man who served 21 years for a crime he maintains he didn't commit. "If I ever kill anybody, I want them to represent me."
5 minute read
Analysis

How the Pandemic Has Pressed Fast Forward on Access to Justice Efforts Across the Country

Top judges from Nevada, Texas, Michigan and California detailed how the pandemic has forced them to make courts more accessible and service-oriented.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: How Robbins Geller Landed a $1.2B Settlement in the Valeant Pharmaceuticals Securities Case

Jim Barz and Darren Robbins of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd got sign-off this week on the ninth-largest PSLRA settlement ever.
8 minute read
Quick Takes

A Stacked Week of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up

Featuring a long-awaited result in an antitrust challenge to a 2013 merger that went to trial in bankruptcy court in 2019.
5 minute read

How a Potential Wave of Biden Appointees Could Reshape California's Federal Courts

A handful of federal judges in California have announced plans to go senior in the wake of President Joe Biden's inauguration. Some experts say the vacancies open the door for more diverse candidates on the bench.
6 minute read
News

Why This New York Litigation Boutique Is Bringing an Executive Coach Onto Client Service Teams

Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler managing partner Jonathan Harris says the 20-lawyer firm brought on Dr. Monica Delgado as a client resource and to help lawyers keep a focus on the end goal for clients.
4 minute read
Q&A

If a Remote Trial Can Work in a Patent Case …

U.S. District Senior Judge Thomas Zilly, who this fall became the first federal judge to conduct a virtual civil jury trial, earlier this week tried a patent case remotely to a jury verdict. "We as judges feel patent cases are as difficult and complex and as hard to manage as any are. I thought this case went smoothly," Zilly said.
9 minute read
Analysis

A (Hopeful) Case Study in Juror Group Dynamics During the Pandemic

What can we all learn from this case study of a federal criminal jury that navigated the complicated early days of the pandemic?
5 minute read
Commentary

Justice in the Pandemic: In Praise of Trial by 'In-Person' Jury

A lawyer and trial consultant reflect on their conversations with Kentucky jurors in the wake of a trial that was profoundly affected by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
35 minute read
Commentary

'Poetic Justice': Gibson Dunn Client Goes from Suing the Federal Agency Behind Voice of America to Being Its Interim Leader

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher client Kelu Chao, a veteran Voice of America journalist, joined a lawsuit fighting political interference at the U.S. Agency for Global Media during the Trump administration only to be named the agency's interim head by President Biden.
4 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Beveridge & Diamond Team that Made Sure Newark Didn't Face the Same Safe Drinking Water Act Woes as Flint

A Beveridge & Diamond team led by Bina Reddy, Eric Klein, and Roy Prather fended off two preliminary injunction efforts by the Natural Resources Defense Council before favorably settling the case for the New Jersey city this week.
10 minute read
Quick Takes

Another Week of Lit Daily Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Husch Blackwell convinced the Eighth Circuit a Missouri politician wasn't user her Twitter feed fo "official governmental activity," but as communication "akin to a campaign newsletter" leaving her free to select her audience as she sees fit.
4 minute read
Q&A

How and Why Schulte Signed onto the Public Nuisance Suit Over the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Schulte Roth & Zabel this week announced that the firm is joining the legal team in a lawsuit seeking to "remedy the ongoing nuisance" caused by the mob attack which leveled the Greenwood community in Tulsa, left hundreds of Black residents dead, and thousands homeless.
10 minute read
Analysis

If This Early Ruling Is Any Indicator, Plaintiffs Are Going to Have a Rough Time Getting COVID-Related Securities Claims to Stick

A federal judge found plaintiffs hadn't alleged that real estate finance company Velocity Financial could have known the extent of the coronavirus pandemic at the time of its January 2020 IPO—meaning there was no need for any disclosures about the pandemic.
4 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Fish & Richardson's Kurt Glitzenstein on Being the Busiest Patent Litigation Firm in the Land and Keeping it That Way

"When you are number one, you want to stay number one, and that means constantly improving how we service clients and how we help them meet their business objectives."
15 minute read
Q&A

Litigator of the Week: The Debevoise Partner Who Inked Major White Collar Settlements for 2 Name Brands on Back-to-Back Days 

Helen Cantwell of Debevoise & Plimpton closed deals this week wrapping up federal investigations into Capital One and Toyota without any criminal charges against her clients.
6 minute read
Quick Takes

A Stellar List Runners-Up and Shout Outs for Litigator of the Week

A Kirkland & Ellis team got sign-off this week from a bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of Texas for client Chesapeake Energy Corporation's reorganization plan, which trims $7 billion of debt from the oil and gas company's balance sheet.
7 minute read
News

Alston & Bird Snags Former Atlanta US Attorney

Byung Jin "BJay" Pak, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, will join Alston & Bird in February as a litigation partner in Atlanta.
4 minute read
Best Practices

Plexiglass, Microphones and 65-inch TVs: How One Queens Court Handled Its First Criminal Trial During COVID-19

It was challenging to "get a feel for [jurors], because not only are they 50 feet away from you, but they also had masks on," one lawyer said. Still, the judge and lawyers were largely complimentary of the trial and how it went.
6 minute read
News

Latham's Nicholas McQuaid Tapped for Leading Role in Biden DOJ's Criminal Division

McQuaid, named acting leader of the U.S. Justice Department's criminal division, earlier spent more than five years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York before joining the Obama White House in 2013.
6 minute read
Analysis

Judging: What's Kindness Got to Do With It?

Pardon the allusion to Tina Turner, but two leading lights in the judicial training are making a compelling case that kindness should be a core competency of candidates for the bench.
5 minute read

Orrick White-Collar Partner Heads to Crowell & Moring

Warrington Parker's departure from Orrick comes after three other of the firm's white collar attorneys including former San Francisco U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag left for Paul Weiss on Wednesday.
3 minute read
News

Paul Weiss Builds Out Northern California Office With Three White Collar Hires from Orrick

Among the new hires is Melinda Haag, who was global chairwoman of litigation at Orrick and served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California from 2010 through 2015
4 minute read
Best Practices

Is Your Witness a Shrinking Violet or a Master of the Universe? Try Landing Somewhere in Between

Tell the truth, answer only the questions you're asked, and other witness prep tips from a trial lawyer with 30 years of experience.
5 minute read
Analysis

After LA Court Reports COVID-19 Deaths, Lawyers Raise New Questions

Los Angeles court leaders have grappled with how to minimize the spread of the virus while keeping essential proceedings moving in the country's largest trial court system.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigator of the Week: Goodwin's Cannabis Practice Helps Free Man Serving Life Sentence for Marijuana Conviction

Brett Schuman, the co-chair of Goodwin Procter's cannabis practice, says that "those of us making money in the state-legal cannabis industry have a special obligation to help those serving time for the same or similar conduct that we are all profiting off now."
6 minute read
Quick Takes

This Week's Runner-Up for Litigator of the Week and Shout Outs

A quartet of firms—Gibbons P.C.; Kirkland & Ellis; Klingeman Cerimele; and Paul Hastings—won a stunning reversal of criminal convictions for four…
3 minute read
Q&A

A View from the 'Observation Deck': How Latham Harnesses Remote Arguments to Get Associates a (Virtual) Seat in the Courtroom

"Maybe because everything is so unpredictable, a lot of our junior lawyers would say, 'I got interesting opportunities that I wasn't expecting.'" says Michele Johnson, Latham's litigation department chair.
4 minute read
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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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