Wake Up Call: ABA Opens Door to Enter Law School Without LSAT

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• The American Bar Association voted to create a new process by which law schools can temporarily bypass the LSAT admission test requirement for up to 100% of their incoming classes and share applicant data with the ABA. In 2022, the ABA proposed removing the test requirement from its law school standards on the grounds that it constrains schools from experimenting and that no other accreditor of professional degree programs requires standardized admission tests, even though many professional programs such as medical schools opt to use them. (Reuters)
• Sidney Powell, a former campaign attorney for Donald Trump, was ordered by a federal judge to hand over several years of her financial records to lawyers representing Dominion Voting Systems, which provided voting machines for the 2020 presidential election. Powell had claimed without evidence that Dominion machines were rigged in favor of President Joe Biden and were under the control of the Venezuelan government. (Newsweek)
• A Justice Department lawsuit claims the Mississippi Senate paid Kristie Metcalfe, a Black staff lawyer, about half the salary of her White colleagues throughout her eight-year tenure even though she had similar responsibilities and experience. When she was hired in 2011, Metcalfe’s starting salary was $55,000. The suit alleges the state Senate hired a White lawyer in 2018 and paid him $101,500, almost $25,000 more than Metcalfe’s salary at the time, despite each having the same amount of legal experience and Metcalfe having more legislative experience. (ABA Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Joyce Chang joined Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as a partner in its energy and infrastructure projects group in Washington.
• Stephen Hall joined Morgan, Lewis & Bockius as a partner in Boston. He joins from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
• Noah Bilenker and Christine Murphy joined Goodwin Procter as partners in its real estate practice. They join from Willkie Far & Gallagher.
• Ankush Israni joined Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder in its real estate practice in Los Angeles. He joins from Jones Day.
• Ross Montgomery joined Mayer Brown as a partner in its corporate and securities practice in London. He joins from Dechert.
• Jifree Cader and Mark Knight joined Davis Polk & Wardwell as partners in its restructuring practice in London. They join from Sidley Austin.
• Chadron Edwards joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld as a projects and energy transitions partner in New York. He joins from Mayer Brown.
• Brad Roach joined K&L Gates as a partner in its energy, infrastructure, and resources practice in Singapore. He joins from Gibson Dunn.
• Aaron Coombs rejoined Perkins Coie as a partner in its litigation and insurance recovery practices in Washington. He joins from Pillsbury.
• André Vermeulen joined Squire Patton Boggs as director of its tax strategy and benefits practice in Ireland. He joins from Eversheds Sutherland.
• Jose Sanchez joined Foley & Lardner as a partner in its securities enforcement and litigation practice group. He joins from Deloitte.
• Raymond Aghaian joined BakerHostetler as a partner in its digital assets and data management practice group in Los Angeles.
• Stesha Emmanuel joined Ogletree Deakins as a shareholder in Boston. She joins from McCarter & English.
• Jaye Kasper joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft as a partner in its corporate practice in New York.
• Clay Pulliam joined Locke Lord as a partner in its real estate and finance practice group in Dallas. He joins from Frost Brown Todd.
• Ryne Miller joined Lowenstein Sandler as a partner in its commodities and derivatives practice in New York.
• Rosario Doriott Domínguez joined Holland & Hart as a partner in Denver. She joins from Ryan Law Firm.
• N. Danny Shulman joined Honigman as a partner in its transactions and counseling practice group and corporate department in Washington. He joins from Latham & Watkins.
• Aloke Chakravarty joined Saul Ewing as a partner in its white collar law and government enforcement and cybersecurity and data privacy practices.
• Michael Burns was promoted to senior vice president and chief legal officer at CSX.
• Ricky Benjamin joined Burr & Forman as a partner in its health-care practice group in Atlanta.
• Austin Evers joined Freshfields as a partner in its strategic risk and crisis management practice and co-chair of its congressional investigations team. He joins from the Justice Department, where he was associate deputy attorney general.
• David Lazarus joined Foley Hoag as a partner in its white collar crime and government investigations practice in Boston. He joins from Verrill.