Wake Up Call: Former Gibson Dunn Partner to Run for NYC Mayor

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

• Jim Walden, a former partner at Gibson Dunn and O’Melveny & Myers, has announced that he will run for mayor of New York City. Walden is currently handling a lawsuit closely tied to the federal bribery charges against Mayor Eric Adams and remains the lawyer for Joseph Jardin, the chief of fire prevention in the New York City Fire Department. (Politico)
• US District Judge Aileen Cannon is reportedly being considered by Donald Trump as his pick for attorney general, sources familiar with the transition told ABC News. Cannon was nominated to her post by Trump and previously tossed out the former president’s classified documents case. (ABC News)
• Kurt Olsen, an attorney who tried to overturn the 2020 election results, is back in Trump’s circle as the former president looks for possible legal challenges to losses he might sustain in the election. Olsen was previous sanctioned by a federal judge for filing baseless claims about the 2022 midterm elections in Arizona. (The New York Times)
• Any lawsuits against X must be filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas or the state’s court in Tarrant County, according to the company’s new terms of service. The district is favored by conservative litigants because of its large percentage of Republican-appointed judges, including Reed O’Connor, who has personally invested in X owner Elon Musk’s other companies. (ABA Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• H.T. Flanagan joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner in its debt finance group in Dallas and New York. He joins from Freshfields.
• Conrad Steele joined Jones Day as a partner in its real estate practice.
• Jenny Davies joined Cooley as a partner in its life sciences partnering and licensing practice. She joins from Gowling WLG.
• Brian Organ joined Nixon Peabody as partner in its project finance and public finance practice in San Francisco.
• Ian Moss joined Jenner & Block as special counsel in its investigations practice. He joins from the State Department.