Wake Up Call: Delaware Judge Slams Lawyer ‘Kvetching Sessions’

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

• A Delaware judge struck back at attorneys who claimed during the recent Tulane Corporate Law Institute that the state’s corporate law court was overly unpredictable. “If the kvetching sessions at Tulane...taught us anything, it’s that many people are exercised about these issues and want greater certainty and additional answers,” said Travis Laster, a vice-chancellor on the Delaware Court of Chancery. (Financial Times)
• Wachtell partner Jake Kling says a clerkship for a federal judge in Manhattan was a formative experience, since the judge asked his clerks to take a position on each case—and then defend it. “Learning how to crystalize issues, give definitive advice and make a recommendation to a client is exactly what I do as a corporate lawyer every day,” said Kling. (The Deal)
• Troutman Pepper and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School are partnering with the School District of Philadelphia’s law and mentorship program called Law Pathway. Among other things, teachers say, the program’s aspiring attorneys are learning that being a lawyer is “more than what it appears to be on TV.” (CBS News)
• The 2016 recreational marijuana ballot initiative in Massachusetts spurred Holliston, Mass. lawyer Blake Mensing to develop a “booming legal practice” advising cannabis industry clients—and then to sell his law practice so he could build Coyote Cannabis Corp., a cannabis cultivation and manufacturing business he owns with his brother. “We don’t have corporate overlords to report to,” he says. “We’re just trying to do quality above all else.” (Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Martín Strauch has joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner with the investment funds group. He joins from Fried Frank.
• Eleanor Barnett has been appointed managing attorney of the Miami office of Armstrong Teasdale.
• Andrew M. J. Bernstein has joined Fox Rothschild as a partner in the litigation department in New York. He joins from Armstrong Teasdale.
• Todd Zerega, Mark Parise, and Betselot Zeleke have joined Morgan Lewis as partners. They join from Perkins Coie.