Wake Up Call: Goldman Hires Akin Gump As Malaysia 1MDB Crisis Grows

• Goldman Sachs has hired Akin Gump to represent employees questioned by federal authorities over the Wall Street investment bank’s involvement in the Malaysia 1MDB scandal, the Times reports. In a deepening crisis, Goldman faces potentially billions in penalties from U.S. regulators and criminal charges in Malaysia. (New York Times) (Bloomberg News via BLB)

• CBS Corp.'s board denied a $120 million severance payment to former CEO Les Moonves, saying he violated the company’s policies and failed to comply with the internal investigation. The network in September hired Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton to investigate sexual misconduct allegations against Moonves by 12 women. (Bloomberg News via BLB) (AdWeek)

• Women lawyers say harassment from clients is not unusual and can damage their careers, according to a report. Corporate Counsel said it asked over 50 law firms if they have policies to protect women from harassment by clients, and only four--Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Cooley, Much Shelist, and Ogletree, Deakins, said they do. The rest said they don’t have them, declined to comment, or did not respond. (Corporate Counsel)

• Deal-making activity will likely maintain momentum in 2019 in North American and the Asia Pacific, especially if trade talks “become less contentious and partisan,” but global activity looks headed for a slowdown, according to new report from Baker McKenzie. (BakerMcKenzie.com)

• Lawyers from 15 law firms are fighting in court for their piece of a $503 million fee award in the $1.5 billion GMO corn class-action settlement with Syngenta. (Texas Lawyer)

• Shearman & Sterling grabbed a group of four Haynes and Boone lawyers for a capital markets practice in its recently opened Houston office, in a move that reflects the city’s hot legal market, revived by oil and gas activity. Partner Bill Nelson, who was co-chair of his former firm’s capital markets and securities practice, partner Kristina Trauger,and counsels Judy Little and John Menke made the move. (Bloomberg Law via BLB)

• L.A.'s legal market is showing strong demand for entertainment lawyers with high-profile clients. For example, last week Davis Wright Tremaine added solo practitioner Peter Anderson, who has handled high-profile copyright matters for artists including Taylor Swift, Gwen Stefani, and Led Zeppelin, as a partner. (The Recorder)

• Gibson Dunn client Apple Inc. isn’t responsible for a fatal highway accident in which a driver, distracted by a FaceTime video call, plowed into another car, a California appeals court affirmed. (Bloomberg Law via BLB)

Lawyers, Law Firms, Deals

• Sidley Austin is representing Cat Rock Capital in connection with its investment in Just Eat plc, the U.K. food delivery company, which Cat Rock Capital urged to speed up its decision-making and consider selling non-core assets. (BusinessWire.com) (Bloomberg)

• A Delaware federal court ordered the University of Wisconsin’s patent-licensing arm to pay Morrison & Foerster client Washington University in St. Louis $31.6 million for breaching a royalties contract related to a kidney-disease drug that the two universities collaborated to develop. (STLtoday.com)

• Cooley advised The Mom Project, a search platform for “female knowledge workers” returning to the job market after raising kids, on its $8 million Series A funding. (TechCrunch)

Laterals, Moves, Promotions

• Weil, Gotshal & Manges hired an experienced tax lawyer from KPMG, Joseph Pari, as its new co-chair of global tax department based in Weil’s Washington and New York offices. (Bloomberg Law via BLB)

• McGuireWoods said veteran automotive trial lawyer Courtney Shytle joined as a partner in the firm’s national products, environmental and mass torts litigation practice. She arrives from Bowman and Brooke, where she served as co-managing partner of the firm’s Columbia, South Carolina, office. (McGuireWoods.com)

• Sidley Austin said it promoted 30 attorneys to partner effective, Jan. 1, 2019, across nine U.S. offices, and Singapore, and London. (Sidley.com)

Legal Actions, Bankruptcies, Decisions

• Holland & Hart and Ogletree Deakins lawyers for CenturyLink Inc. couldn’t get a federal judge to drop a Montana case alleging the telecommunications company misclassified employees to avoid paying them overtime. (Bloomberg Law via BLB)

• Fitbit Inc. is stuck in court after a Delaware judge refused to dismiss a shareholder derivative suit alleging the company’s board engaged in insider trading. (Bloomberg Law via BLB)

• A Philadelphia lawyer is suing L.A. litigation boutique Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht in a dispute over $160,000 settlement for attorney fees stemming from a former pro footballer and wrestler’s suit against Epic Games, Lester Speight, and Microsoft. (Legal Intelligencer)

Technology

• Clifford Chance launched a legal tech incubator in Singapore. (Artificial Lawyer)