Wake Up Call: Biden Names First Openly Gay White House Counsel

In today’s column, New York’s court system is lifting its mask mandate for Covid-vaccinated people; UK Magic Circle firms have opened their wallets to grab intellectual property talent in the US; US law schools are offering money and other help for Ukrainian lawyers to get Master of Laws degrees.

• Leading off, President Joe Biden is appointing deputy White House counsel Stuart Delery to replace White House counsel Dana Remus, who is stepping down, the White House said. A former partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and WilmerHale, Delery will be the first openly LGBTQ person to serve as White House counsel when he starts the job next month. (WhiteHouse.gov)
• Remus, who among other things helped win confirmation for Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the US Supreme Court, is leaving after more than a year and a half as Biden’s top lawyer. (NPR)
• Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a longtime attorney, is joining the Biden administration as senior adviser for public engagement. (WhiteHouse.com) (Axios) (NYT)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• UK elite firms have been using big pay and benefit offers to poach top intellectual property attorneys from US firms. But they’re not just using money to lure the talent, this report says. (Financial Times)
• New York’s Unified Court System said, starting Thursday, it is lifting its mask mandate for courthouse visitors, lawyers, judges, and staff who have proof they were vaccinated against Covid-19. (New York Law Journal)
• The Indiana Supreme Court suspended John Keeler, the former vice president and general counsel of the gaming company New Centaur LLC, from practicing law in the state. Keeler pleaded guilty to tax fraud in April. (The Indiana Lawyer) Bill Cosby’s civil trial on accusations he molested a 16-year-old girl nearly half a century ago is headed to the jury. (Variety)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Big Japanese firm Nishimura & Asahi poached White & Case energy partner Alexander Woody as a partner in Tokyo; Perkins Coie added former Greenberg Traurig intellectual property shareholder Masahiro Noda as a partner in San Diego, also working with its New York office. Noda will serve as the first chair of the group’s new Japan trademark & copyright practice. (PerkinsCoie.com)
• Norton Rose Fulbright appointed Washington-based partner Amanda Wait, a former Federal Trade Commission staff attorney, as its US head for antitrust; Squire Patton Boggs expanded its real estate practice in Paris, getting former Eversheds Sutherland attorney Estelle Vernejoul and Taylor Wessing counsel Thomas Coëffé as partners, plus two associates. Vernejoul most recently was founder of her own real estate and construction-focused firm, Avocatalyse; Barnes & Thornburg recruited veteran corporate in-house leader Martin Montes as a partner and group lead in Chicago for the government services and finance department. He’s previously had top in-house roles at Walmart and at energy company Exelon and its electric utility ComEd; Reed Smith hired tax & finance specialist Todd Anderson as a partner in its global corporate group in New York. (ReedSmith.com)
• Financial services and financial technology-focused boutique Mitchell Sandler added Liana Prieto as a partner. She arrives from Luther Burbank Savings and Luther Burbank Corporation, where she was general counsel and corporate secretary; Houston-based W&T Offshore, Inc. hired former Willkie Farr & Gallagher energy transactions attorney Jonathan Curth as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. He was recently top lawyer at Vine Energy Inc.; the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers said it promoted senior vice president and general counsel Meg Murray to executive vice president, general counsel and business administration; (NBA.com) the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins named Kevin Acklin, a former Saul Ewing partner who has been the team’s chief operations officer and general counsel for the past two years, to the new role of president of business operations. (PGH Hockey Now)

Legal Education

• US law schools are providing scholarships and other help for Ukrainian lawyers to get Master of Laws, or LL.M, degrees. (Reuters)