Wake Up Call: DLA Fights Sanctions Grab in Trade Secrets Case

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

• DLA Piper asked a Texas federal judge to reject a legal recruiter’s “outlandish” request for nearly $2 million in attorneys’ fees against it and another law firm as a sanction in a case alleging employment trade secret theft. (Reuters)
• Law on Call said it obtained Arizona Supreme Court approval to practice law in the state making it the the first entirely nonlawyer-owned law firm licensed to practice in two US states. The firm, owned by corporate guide service Northwest Registered Agent, said it previously obtained authorization to practice in Utah. (Globe Newswire)
• London-based law firm Gunnercooke launched its first US office in New York City. The 12-year old firm, which says it has 360 lawyers, said its US chair Noreen Weiss, a former Cleary corporate associate and Home Box Office senior counsel, is managing partner of the New York office. (Gunnercooke.com)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Kirkland & Ellis charges its clients about 20% more for printing and photocopying services than the clients would pay for the same service at Office Depot and more than they’d pay at several other Big Law firms. That’s according to a report based on a review of bankruptcy court fee applications. (American Lawyer)
• Logistics company Schneider National, Inc. paid out $57 million in settlement and other costs for a Delaware breach-of-contract lawsuit involving a trucking company Schneider acquired in 2016. (Transport Dive)
• Baker Botts said it represented specialty chemicals maker Celanese Corp. for its $11 billion deal to buy the mobility and materials business of chemical and pharmaceutical giant Dupont, which closed Nov. 1. Baker Botts said it represented Celanese in securing approval from European Commission antitrust authorities, and in connection with the US investigation of the merger, as well as coordinated work of local counsel in securing merger approvals in, China, Brazil, Mexico, Korea and Turkey. Skadden Arps advised Dupont while Kirkland & Ellis and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher also advised Celanese on the deal. (Baker Botts)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Greenberg Traurig poached an Israeli corporate team from McDermott Will & Emory, including four shareholders and a team of associates. The shareholders, who were all partners at McDermott, include Mark Selinger and Eyal Peled in New York and Gary Emmanuel and David Huberman in Tel Aviv. (GTLaw.com)
• Norton Rose Fulbright appointed Austin partner Eagle Robinson as its US head of intellectual property transactions and patent prosecution. Robinson succeeds Austin partner Mark Wilson, who had the role for more than six years. (NortonRoseFulbright.com)
• Polsinelli appointed two new co-chairs of its business department to replace outgoing chair Frank Ross, Jr., who remains a shareholder. The new co-chairs are health-care shareholder Jane Arnold, who’s also St Louis-office managing partner, and Nashville, Tennessee-based corporate and transactional shareholder Kolin Holladay. (Polsinelli.com)
• Seward & Kissel recruited King & Spalding partners Michael Watling and Russell Johnston in New York as partners focused on securities enforcement and government investigation matters. Watling, a former federal prosecutor and White House attorney, and Johnston worked together about six years as senior enforcement attorneys in the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. (Sewkis.com)
• Proskauer Rose announced its largest ever promotion class, elevating 25 attorneys to partner and eight to senior counsel, across nine of the firm’s offices in the US and Europe. (Proskauer.com) Ropes & Gray named 29 new counsel. (Ropesgray.com)

Legal Education

• At Twitter’s law firm Wachtell Lipton, junior associates were assigned the task of explaining how memes work for the benefit of older partners working on the Twitter v. Musk legal fight. (Financial Times) (Above The Law)