+ The latest lawyer moves.
 

The Afternoon Docket

The Afternoon Docket

A weekly newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

 

By Caitlin Tremblay

What's going on in the legal industry this week?

Lawyers are eyeing a huge potential fee haul from Bayer’s $7.25 billion settlement, while new data shows expenses cutting into strong demand at law firms. The DOJ stepped in to defend Trump ally Jeffrey Clark from discipline, AI tools got another boost, students rushed to beat loan changes, and a former Big Law lawyer surfaced as a cooperating witness in an insider trading probe.

Plus, the latest lawyer moves in this week's Career Tracker. And scroll down for Sara Randazzo's debut column.

U.S. appeals court questions Trump's push to punish major law firms

 

REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

The Trump administration faced a skeptical federal appeals court today in its bid to revive the Republican leader’s executive orders punishing four major U.S. law firms, testing the scope of presidential power after judges in Washington resoundingly rejected the measures as unlawful.

A law firm's business relationships, including the lawyers it hires, are not protected by the First Amendment, DOJ lawyer Abhishek Kambli told a D.C. Circuit panel.

Former Republican-appointed U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, arguing for the law firms, countered that Trump's executive orders "strike at the heart of the First Amendment and the ability of lawyers to zealously represent their clients."

Today's arguments drew a crowd of more than 100 attorneys and other spectators in the courthouse's ceremonial courtroom in downtown Washington. 

Read more about the arguments here.

 

Industry updates

  • Class action lawyers seek $675 million in Bayer Roundup settlement
  • Rising U.S. law firm expenses offset strong demand and rate hikes in first quarter - report
  • DOJ sues to block Trump ally Clark from facing attorney discipline
  • Anthropic expands Claude's AI tools for law firms, lawyers
  • Some U.S. law students enroll early to beat the federal loan clock
  • Former Willkie Farr lawyer turns cooperating witness in insider trading probe
  • Former Wachtell lawyer in insider trading case also worked at boutique bank, sources say
  • ABA must axe law school diversity rules to retain accreditor status, committee says
  • Law firm Keller Postman appeals sanctions in Tylenol injury cases
  • Palestinian law grad sues DLA Piper over rescinded job offer
  • Trump taps judges appointed in his first term for appellate court nominations
  • Fired immigration judge sues Trump administration for discrimination
  • Illinois advances bill limiting influence of outside capital on law firms
  • U.S. judicial panel delays action on AI-generated evidence, deep fakes
  • Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice quits Democratic Party, citing antisemitism concerns
 
 

Career Tracker

In New York:

Taha Khan left Milbank to join Seward & Kissel as head of the firm’s structured credit practice … Simpson Thacher added restructuring partner Jordan Elkin from Kirkland … Litigation and employment partner James La Rocca joined Morgan Lewis from Hunton Andrews Kurth … Private equity dealmaker Griffin Doty moved to Mintz as a partner from McDermott … Proskauer added private funds partner Josh Frankel from PJT Partners … M&A partner Ivan Presant left Mintz for Lowensetin Sandler.

In D.C.:

Real estate partner Ryan Sawyer moved to Mayer Brown from Goodwin Procter … Reed Smith added real estate finance partner Amanda Rapp from Stinson … Litigation and employment partner Michael Edney moved to Morgan Lewis from Hunton Andrews Kurth … eDiscovery firm Redgrave added Rishi Chhatwal as partner from Alvarez & Marsal … Cyber incident response partner Katherine Hanniford moved to Baker McKenzie from Alston & Bird ... Morrison Foerster added