Wake Up Call: Leon Black Seeks Sanctions on Accusers’ Attorneys

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

• Quinn Emanuel attorneys for Leon Black, the billionaire co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc, asked a New York state judge to sanction Wigdor, the firm representing two women who accuse Black of rape. (New York Law Journal)
• Digital currency traders and exchanges with links to bankrupt crypto exchange FTX are seeing their insurers deny or limit their coverage. That’s leaving the companies uninsured for losses from hacks, theft, or lawsuits, according to a report citing market participants. (Reuters via US News & World Report)
• DLA Piper, Fenwick & West, and Katten are the latest Big Law firms to announce year-end associate bonuses that match the Baker McKenzie/Cravath standard. The firms are offering more money for big performers, but the slow down in demand hitting law firms could make that extra cash tough to get. Fenwick is also bringing back its program offering condo weeks in Hawaii for associates who made “extraordinary contributions.” (Above The Law)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• CBS News’ 60 Minutes had a special report on litigation funding. (CBS News)
• Crowell & Moring is moving out of its New York offices at 590 Madison Avenue in Midtown, going west in Manhattan to new premises. The firm signed a deal with Brookfield Properties to occupy 71,000 square feet on two floors at 2 Manhattan West in Hudson Yards starting in early 2023, according to reports. (New York Post) (Commercial Observer)
• Cleary attorney Nicole Tatz applied to withdraw as counsel for Ripple Labs Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bradley Garlinghouse in his defense against a lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, because she is leaving the law firm. All other counsel remain on Ripple’s case, a report said. (U.Today)
• A Colorado judge who was suspended after allegedly threatening his stepson with an assault rifle is in the news again. The judge is accused of screaming at attorneys in court two days after his return from his suspension, which required him to get anger management counseling. (Yahoo! News)
• Eric Lipman, former general counsel for the Florida Elections Commission, is serving a six-year sentence in state prison for distributing child porn. He was ejected from the state bar last month. (Miami Herald)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Jones Day hired Dechert LLP fund formation lawyer Zack Oswald as of counsel in its private equity practice in Singapore. According to his LinkedIn profile, Oswald earlier spent five years at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, including three months as a partner. (JonesDay.com)
• Miller & Chevalier said litigator Sandeep Prasanna, recently a counsel advising the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, joined the firm as senior associate. (MillerChevalier.com)
• Allen & Overy said Jones Day tax partner Florian Lechner is joining A&O as a partner in Frankfurt, Germany, starting Feb. 1, 2023. He earlier spent over two decades at Linklaters. (AllenOvery.com)
• Cooley LLP grabbed Shanghai-based M&A and private equity attorney Ruomo Li from Morrison & Foerster. Li started her practice in Silicon Valley before relocating to Hong Kong and later moving to Shanghai. (Cooley.com)
• Microsoft Corp. said National Security Council senior director for climate and energy Melanie Nakagawa is joining the company in January as chief sustainability officer and corporate vice president. She previously had several policy and legal roles in the State Department. (Microsoft.com)
• Boston-based Trinity Life Sciences hired veteran tech company in-house leader Paul Lucchese as general counsel. (Trinity Life Sciences)
• Arnold & Porter elected 12 lawyers to partner, nine to counsel, and two to managing director, effective Jan. 1, 2023. (ArnoldPorter.com)