Wake Up Call: Armstrong Teasdale Lawyer Tied to Revoked Licenses

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

• Armstrong Teasdale partner Eric Walter, one of Missouri’s most influential cannabis lawyers and a key architect of the state’s marijuana legalization amendment, is at the center of a growing controversy over allegedly predatory contracts tied to the state’s social-equity cannabis program. Regulators have revoked dozens of “microbusiness” licenses after finding that 22 agreements written by Walter shifted control from eligible applicants to wealthy or out-of-state investors, violating requirements that licenses be majority-owned by disadvantaged individuals. (Missouri Independent)
• A growing number of pro se litigants are turning to AI tools like ChatGPT for legal research, drafting, and strategy—often with mixed results. Some have successfully used AI to overturn evictions or settle debts, crediting the technology with giving them access to justice they couldn’t otherwise afford. Others have faced sanctions or case dismissals after filing documents containing fabricated or inaccurate information. (NBC News)
• The Golden Gate University is aiming to revive the troubled law school it closed last year, reopening it as a California-accredited institution. The university has asked the State Bar of California for accreditation, which would enable Juris Doctor graduates of the school to sit for the bar in California but not in most other states. (Reuters)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Beverly Perry joined Taft as a partner to lead its new government resource and response group. She was most recently a senior adviser to Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.
• Adam Gershenson joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a partner in its litigation department in Boston. He joins from Cooley.
• Henry Morriello joined Seyfarth Shaw as a partner and co-chair of its structured finance group in New York. He joins from Arnold & Porter.
• Martin Graham joined Proskauer as a partner in its private equity transactions team in London. He joins from Oaktree Capital Management.