Wake Up Call: GSA’s Lawyer Chief Blocks Biden Transition Funds

In today’s column, 2020’s remote working arrangements and push for racial equality could have a long-term impact on law firms’ partnership decisions; another side effect of 2020’s crises is that law firms are doing more pro bono work; China, which has a shortage of lawyers, is the world leader in legal-tech patent filings.

• Leading off, appointed by President Trump in 2017 to head the the General Services Administration, former Big Law attorney Emily W. Murphy has the power to formally acknowledge the apparent winner of the presidential election, which then allows that president-elect to access federal transition funds and office space. But, although major media outlets have declared Joe Biden winner of the presidential election, Murphy has so far refused to sign a letter that would allow Joe Biden to formally start his transition work, according to reports. According to her LinkedIn profile, Murphy, among other roles, has been a Congressional senior House counsel, corporate in-house lawyer, and worked at two Big Law firms. (Bloomberg News via BLAW) (WaPo) (Politico)
• The legal sector gained about 4,800 jobs in October, following the overall economy’s slow turnaround from the economic battering of the pandemic, new federal data show. (BLAW)
• Remote-working arrangements because of the Covid-19 pandemic and calls for racial equality growing out of Black Lives Matter protests could have a long-term impact on law firms’ partner promotion decisions, according to a report. (American Lawyer)
• The New York State Bar Association passed a resolution urging the state to consider requiring all New Yorkers to get a Covid vaccination, once a vaccine is available. (New York Law Journal)
• Two federal courts in Illinois and Ohio reported new cases of coronavirus in their courthouses this week, as total cases in a single day hit a record high nationally. (BLAW)
• Two new court rulings in New Jersey are bad news for some businesses seeking insurance reimbursement for their losses from Covid-19 shut-downs. (New Jersey Law Journal)

More on Biden Election

• A Trump statement released Saturday denied that Biden has won the presidential election and vowed to fight in court. (BLAW)
• Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, speaking about Trump’s legal fight, told NPR: “I think most experts and certainly all that I have heard that are experts in the election field believe that that would be sort of a fruitless effort. (NPR)
• Trump’s election lawyers mainly come from Republican-leaning small firms and boutiques. (National Law Journal)
• Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, is a media, sports and entertainment partner at DLA Piper. He’s now on track to be first-ever “Second Gentlemen” of the United States, and that comes with certain ethical hazards to navigate. (BLAW)
• What Biden’s election means for federal courts and the Justice Department. (National Law Journal)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Quinn Emanuel senior partner William Burck asked to withdraw as defense counsel in Stephen Bannon’s criminal case, a day after Bannon called for the heads of Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray to be placed on pikes on the White House lawn. (Bloomberg News via BLAW)
• Public “shaming” on diversity seems to have pushed Cravath, Swaine & Moore to finally appoint two black partners, a columnist writes. (American Lawyer)
• A Texas attorney faces a legal malpractice lawsuit filed by a criminal defendant in a sexual assault case who claims the lawyer met him in a coffee shop because he didn’t have an office. (Texas Lawyer)
• General counsel should push to get a key piece of diversity data from their outside firms: who at the firms gets origination, or relationship, credit, for work, and the money that goes with that, says the CEO of a legal spending analysis firm. Interview. (Corporate Counsel)

Pro Bono

• A side effect of the many crises of 2020 is that Big Law firms are increasing their pro bono. But their intentions are not always altruistic. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
• Munger, Tolles & Olson attorneys are representing an artist suing federal construction contractors he accuses of illegally destroying his border wall made of Mexican hard cheese. (Courthouse News Service)

Laterals, Moves

• Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner said via email that it has recruited longtime Baker McKenzie data privacy partner Amy de La Lama to lead its global data privacy & cyber security team. She will be based in Boulder, Colorado. (Linkedin)
• Arnold & Porter got back its former New York office managing partner, Craig Stewart, who returns after a stint as prosecutor and chief counsel for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Stewart returns as a partner in the firm’s New York white collar practice. (BLAW)
• Womble Bond Dickinson hired corporate and securities attorney Reid Avett in Washington as of counsel. He arrives after close to 13 years at Duane Morris. Before law school, Avett worked as an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions. (WombleBondDickinson.com)
• McGuireWoods said white collar defense and government investigations associate Amy Kaplan is leaving the firm to join the U.S. Department of Justice as a trial attorney in the consumer protection branch. (McGuireWoods.com)

In-House

• SoftBank Group Corp. Chief Legal Officer Robert Townsend will retire at month’s end, with deputy general counsel and group compliance officer Timothy Mackey to take his place, according to an internal memo.(BLAW)

Promotions

• Transatlantic firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner promoted 20 lawyers to partner, including seven women. (Global Legal Post)

Technology

• In China, which faces a shortage of lawyers, legal tech patent filings are soaring, as the government promotes court innovation, and artificial intelligence has a prominent role. (Legaltech News)

Legal Education

• LSU Law is getting a wrongful conviction clinic after the school and the Innocence Project New Orleans received a grant for close to half a million dollars from the Department of Justice. LSU students will work with Innocence Project attorneys to assess innocence claims and related DNA evidence of imprisoned people, a report says. (LSU Reveille)