Wake Up Call: Military Lawyers to Handle Civilian Crimes in DC

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

• Military attorneys will be working alongside federal prosecutors based in Washington, DC, in taking on civilian cases as President Trump ramps up the takeover of local law enforcement in the nation’s capital. Twenty members of the Judge Advocate General Corps will be detailed to the US Attorney’s Office in the city. (The Hill)
• Massachusetts’ largest intellectual property law firms are shrinking their attorney ranks even as demand for intellectual property services grows. There has been a nearly 3% overall drop in IP lawyers and a 6% decline in patent specialists over the past year, part of a multiyear trend as firms adopt AI tools that can handle large volumes of document review and other tasks. (Boston Business Journal)
• A Honolulu city attorney escaped sanctions over using a fictional legal citation in an attempt to persuade the judge to prevent a jury from hearing a high-profile civil rights case against the city. The American Civil Liberties Union alleged in court documents that Honolulu Deputy Corporation Counsel David Sgan drafted his brief using artificial intelligence, which created fictional case law. (Honolulu Civil Beat)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Stephen Humes joined Pillsbury as a partner in its energy practice in New York. He joins from Holland & Knight.
• Nathan Sales joined Holland & Knight as a partner in its public policy and regulation and national security and defense industry groups. He joins from Fillmore Global Strategies.
• Michael Coyne joined Manulife Financial Corp. as general counsel.
• J. Logan Rappaport joined Hinshaw & Culbertson as a partner in its consumer financial services practice group in New York. He joins from Bronster.
• Paul Turner joined Baker Donelson as a shareholder in its corporate group in Houston. He joins from Womble Bond Dickinson.
• Rob Cohen joined Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler as a partner in its commercial litigation practice group. He joins from Taylor & Cohen.