Wake Up Call: Bar Exam Takers Warned Some Laptops Not Test Ready

In today’s column, Russia’s Sberbank has new US counsel; a federal judge booted lawyers from a shareholder suit against FirstEnergy Corp; and two big companies named “Merck” are locked in a legal battle.

• Leading off, ExamSoft, the company whose software used for online bar exams across the US has been plagued by glitches, notified law students preparing to take the upcoming July test online that they will not be able to use Windows laptops equipped with Intel’s latest 12th generation chips. The company said the new processors aren’t supported by its Examplify software package. (The Verge)
• Bar exam and LSAT tutor Sean Silverman tweeted: ”The reality is that there may in fact be some people who cannot now take the bar exam because they don’t satisfy the technical requirements required to take the test. Too late to fix.” (Twitter)
• Miami boutique firm Corp Law, led by a former Greenberg Traurig associate, pays its lawyers bonuses for weekend work and is exploring doing the same for support staff. (American Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Sanctioned Russian bank Sberbank has new lawyers in US litigation linked to the downing of an airliner. The bank lost Debevoise & Plimpton and White & Case as counsel after it was sanctioned stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Reuters)
• An Ohio federal judge kicked lawyers off a shareholder lawsuit they filed against FirstEnergy Corp. because he said they failed to “diligently prosecute” the case against the scandal-plagued company. (Ohio Capital Journal) The judge has criticized a pending settlement on nearly identical claims in another federal court in the state. (BLAW)
• Two companies named Merck—Germany science and tech firm Merck KGaA and U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co.—are in a multicountry legal fight over their shared name. (Fierce Pharma)
• Cooley said the Law Society of Hong Kong has approved, after three years, its application to operate as a single entity in the city. (LinkedIn)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Katten Muchin recruited former JP Morgan Chase in-house counsel Ilene Froom as a partner in New York in its financial markets and funds practice. She was recently a partner at Reed Smith; FisherBroyles picked up veteran M&A, private equity, and corporate governance attorney Kenju Watanabe as a partner. He’s among other things been a New York and Tokyo partner for Skadden, Arps and Paul Hastings; Ropes & Gray hired away Paul, Weiss securitization finance attorney Evan Berman as counsel in New York; Skadden Arps recruited former Internal Revenue Service commissioner De Lon Harris in Washington as senior adviser for tax resolution strategies. (Skadden.com)
• Dykema hired worklaw attorney Sean Darke as a member in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He was recently a partner in Litchfield Cavo’s Chicago office; Squire Patton Boggs said partner Petrina Hall McDaniel, co-leader of the firm’s class action & multidistrict litigation practice, is the new managing partner for its three-year-old Atlanta office; Nixon Peabody named its Boston office managing partner, Chris Froeb, to be the new firmwide leader of its 100-plus lawyer real estate practice. (NixonPeabody.com)
• Former Baker & Hostetler worklaw partner Nancy Inesta noted on LinkedIn that she left the firm in June for a job as Los Angeles-based deputy general counsel at grocery store chain Trader Joe’s; RRA Capital, a Phoenix-based investment firm, hired former Dilworth Paxson partner Dimple Patel as general counsel and chief compliance officer; Scottsdale, Arizona-based Axon Enterprise, a maker of technology and weapons for security, including TASER electroshock weapons, promoted general counsel Isaiah Fields to chief legal officer. (PR Newswire)
• Baker McKenzie’s China joint operation partner FenXun Partners rehired capital markets attorney Yang Yingfei, who returns from Puman Asia Capital, where she was chief operating officer and partner; Chinese biotech company Beigene Ltd. hired industry in-house leader Chan Lee as general counsel, effective July 18. He’s currently GC for North America at French pharmaceutical company Sanofi (Business Wire)