Wake Up Call: Littler, Polsinelli Eye Poaching Suit Settlement

In today’s column, South Dakota’s attorney general has been ousted and barred from office; a California Senate committee approved a bill that could scuttle proposals to let nonlawyers perform some legal services; Edelson opened a Washington office.

• Leading off, management-side worklaw firm Littler is in talks with Polsinelli aimed at resolving Littler’s claims that Polsinelli stole its trade secrets when it poached a team of Atlanta-based Littler attorneys last year. Polsinelli is represented by BakerHostelter, while Littler’s got Squire Patton Boggs in its corner. (Reuters)
• California’s Senate Judiciary Committee approved the state bar’s annual fee-license bill, which includes a measure that would restrict the bar’s ability to expand the roles of non-lawyers. (Recorder)
• The South Dakota Senate voted to remove from office yesterday Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, who killed a man with his car in 2020 and told authorities he thought he’d hit a deer. The Senate also voted to bar Ravsnborg, who was impeached earlier this year, from ever holding office in the state again. (Argus Leader)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• As Philadelphia-based insurance defense firm White and Williams continues to lose attorneys, observers blamed an “identity crisis.” (Legal Intelligencer)
• The Washington Post said it obtained a 2009 letter, which it attributes to a WilmerHale partner, that the newspaper said sheds new light on an employee’s sexual harassment and assault complaints against the owner of the NFL’s Washington Commanders football team. (WaPo)
• As traditional venture capital firms, and large institutional investors such as hedge and pension funds, pull back on funding tech startups, corporate investors are stepping in to fill the gap. (WSJ)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Former Washington, DC, assistant deputy attorney general Jimmy Rock announced on LinkedIn, that he joined Edelson PC as a partner and is opening its office in the district. According to his LinkedIn profile, Rock, who started out as a Sidley Austin associate, later served as the DC attorney general office’s deputy director for consumer protection, which he helped start. Edelson said Rock, a Native American, focuses on consumer protection and environmental cases and that he’s also lead for the firm’s public client litigation; health care litigator Jed Wulfekotte joined Crowell & Moring as a partner in Washington. He joins from Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner, where he was a partner; FisherBroyles hired commercial and business litigator Matthew May as a partner in Washington. He arrives from Miles & Stockbridge, P.C.; Dechert hired UBS Securities structured finance lawyer En-Min Chua as a partner in New York. She’s a former Freshfields counsel in New York and was London managing associate at Linklaters. (Dechert)
• Willkie Farr & Gallagher picked up Loeb & Loeb corporate transactions attorney Tilda Shin as a partner in Los Angeles; Cleary Gottlieb snagged M&A dealmaker Christopher Moore as partner in the San Francisco Bay Area. He joins from Hogan Lovells where he was Silicon Valley office managing partner; Dentons added commercial litigator Jonathan Braunstein as partner in Oakland. He arrives after 15 years at Seyfarth Shaw; Holland & Knight grabbed Morrison & Foerster corporate M&A and securities lawyer Alexandra Aguirre as a partner in Miami in its Latin America practice. She earlier spent over 14 years at Greenberg Traurig, including as a shareholder; Womble Bond Dickinson hired criminal defense lawyer James Quander as of counsel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He joins from Quander Rubain, PA, where he was the firm’s founder and managing partner. (Womble Bond Dickinson.com)
• Tesla Inc hired compliance attorney Michael Munro as associate general counsel. He’s been in-house at GE Company Baker Hughes and recently served as general counsel at logistics company e2Log; biotechnology company Arcellx, Inc. hired former AstraZeneca in-house leader Maryam Abdul-Kareem as general counsel. She was recently deputy GC at Kinnate Biopharma Inc. (PR Newswire)

Technology

• The Tennessee Supreme Court said its new tech-equipped “Justice Bus” serves as a mobile law office to provide access to justice in rural and underserved communities. (TNCourts.gov)

Legal Education

• The USC Gould School of Law announced a new Bachelor of Science in legal studies degree. (USC.edu)