Wake Up Call: Latham Lawyers Absorb Shock of Abrubt Voge Exit

• Lawyers at Latham & Watkins are taking in the news of yesterday’s sudden exit of Bill Voge, the now retired global managing partner and chairman of the world’s biggest law firm by revenue. The firm said Voge resigned after voluntarily disclosing to its executive committee that he had had communications of a “sexual nature” with a woman he’d never met in person and who had no connection to the firm or its clients. The firm’s vice co-chairs, Ora Fisher and Richard Trobman, have assumed responsibility as interim co-chairs of the firm, Latham said. (BLB) (Law.com)
• Voge is just the latest powerful man to fall in the flood of sexual harassment allegations around the country since the Harvey Weinstein scandal. What’s come to be known as the #MeToo movement has fueled a surge in work for employment lawyers. (Bloomberg Law via BLB)
• Speaking of Harvey Weinstein, the movie company he co-founded, Weinstein Co., has been hobbled by more than 80 sexual harassment claims against him and has now filed for bankruptcy. Boies, Schiller & Flexner is among the half dozen law firms listed as unsecured creditors. (Bloomberg) Weinstein Co., which owes nearly $20 million to half a dozen law firms, is getting advice for its bankruptcy from Cravath, Swaine & Moore. (American Lawyer)
• Law firms Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP; Allen & Overy LLP; Clifford Chance LLP; and White & Case LLP, are participating in a $100 million-plus restructuring of struggling commodities trader Noble Group Ltd. (Bloomberg)
• Uber Technologies Inc. named as deputy general counsel Tammy Albarrán, a white-collar defense partner at law firm Covington & Burling. Albarrán co-authored, with former Attorney General Eric Holder, a report that contributed to the eventual departure of then-CEO Travis Kalanick. (Bloomberg)
• AT&T Inc.’s attorney, O’Melveny & Myers partner Daniel Petrocelli, attacked the central claim in the government’s lawsuit to block its merger with Time Warner Inc., denying that the combined company could credibly threaten to deprive its pay-TV rivals of programs. (Bloomberg)
• Dechert LLP settled with two female staffers over their claims that the Philadelphia-based firm discriminated against them because of their sex and age. (Legal Intelligencer)
• Yale Law School again tops the U.S. News & World Report’s law school rankings, while Pepperdine got booted from the latest list due to a “data reporting error.” (USnews.com) (Above The Law)

Lawyers and Law Firms

• Gibson Dunn partner Ted Olson has declined an offer to join President Donald Trump’s legal team, according to another partner at the firm. (National Law Journal)
• Trump’s choice for top lawyer of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Sharon Fast Gustafson, is somewhat unusual because Republican administrations typically choose EEOC general counsels with more management-side experience. Although Gustafson represented employers during her four and a half years at Jones Day, since going solo in 1996 she has focused mostly on representing employees. (Bloomberg Law)

Legal Actions

• Plaintiffs lawyers from Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and Outten & Golden were cited for contempt by the Texas federal judge who blocked the Obama-era overtime rule. The judge agreed with Chipotle that workers and their lawyers violated his order by filing a lawsuit under the defunct rule in New Jersey. They must now pay the restaurant chain’s litigation fees. (Bloomberg Law via BLB)
• Jenner & Block client Aon Hewitt, a management capital services company, is the latest big company to escape a proposed class action challenging its fee arrangement with a so-called robo adviser. The lawsuit was filed by on behalf of investors in Caterpillar Inc.’s 401(k) plan, represented by three law firms. (Bloomberg Law)

Laterals, Moves, Law Firm Work

• Paul Hastings LLP says the growing effects of entertainment on the global economy contributed to the firm’s decision to hire five entertainment partners from Loeb & Loeb LLP to open an entertainment and media practice in Century City, Calif. (Bloomberg Law via BLB)
• Loren Higgins has joined Holland & Knight as a partner in its West Coast real estate practice group. Higgins will be based in the firm’s San Francisco office. Previously, she was a partner at Winston & Strawn. (Hklaw.com)
• Attorney Timothy Clark returned to Dechert as a New York-based partner specializing in investment funds and transactions, after leaving O’Melveny & Myers. And other recent moves. (New York Law Journal)

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