Wake Up Call: MoFo Says Fairfax Takes Leave Pending Probe of Sex Assault Allegations

• Morrison & Foerster said partner Justin Fairfax, who’s also Virginia’s lieutenant governor, has taken a leave of absence from the firm pending its investigation into sexual assault allegations against him. The firm said Fairfax is cooperating with the probe, for which it has hired outside counsel, which it didn’t identify. (National Law Journal) Fairfax, who denied the accusations made by two women, has resisted calls to step down as lieutenant governor. (AP via BN)

• Former Amazon in-house lawyer Jon Fine only started his new job in November as deputy general counsel at American Media Inc., parent company of the National Enquirer, and he finds himself accused in participating in attempted extortion of his former boss, Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. Some attorneys said Fine could face discipline from the New York State Bar Association and potential New York state criminal charges over that role. But that wasn’t a unanimous view. (Corporate Counsel)

• Meanwhile, Bezos has turned to Boies Schiller Flexner partner and vice-chairman William Isaacson to represent him in his escalating feud with American Media. (BLAW via BLB)

• Total revenue jumped over $100 million last year at Richmond, Virginia-based McGuireWoods, while profits per equity partner surged 33 percent. (National Law Journal)

• Detective work is part of the job for lawyers in Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s art litigation group, which it launched about a year ago. (BLAW via BLB)

• Ford Motor Co. and car owners agreed to settle class claims over touchscreens in about 360,000 vehicles for $17 million, after a court questioned the attorneys’ fees in their previous proposed settlement, according to a new filing. O’Melveny & Myers, Dykema Gossett, Snell & Wilmer, and others represent Ford. (BLAW)

• Intel Corp., represented by senior litigation attorney Matthew Hult and WilmerHale, had its lower court win in a patent fight canceled by a federal appeals court. (BLAW via BLB) Intel is also facing a federal lawsuit filed by a Swiss company, which is advised by Quinn Emanuel among others and alleges that Intel’s multicore processors include architecture that infringes its patents. (BLAW)

• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett client SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. won’t have to face some claims that it misled investors about attendance declines after the 2013 release of the documentary Blackfish, but plaintiff Highfields Capital I LP, advised by Lowenstein Sandler, has until March 1 to file an amended complaint, a federal court ruled. Katten Muchin Rosenman represented SeaWorld’s former CEO in the case. (BLAW via BLB)

• MetLife Inc.'s Morgan Lewis lawyers beat an attempt by workers challenging their classification as independent contractors to send their suit back to state court. (BLAW via BLB)

• Crypto and blockchain-related congressional lobbying surged in 2018 as some of the industry’s top players realized they should go to Washington before Washington comes for them. (BLAW via BLB)

Laterals, Moves, Promotions

• Baker McKenzie said veteran IP litigator James Blank joined the firm as a partner in New York. According to his LinkedIn, he previously spent over 10 years at Arnold & Porter, and 13 years at Latham & Watkins. (BakerMcKenzie.com)

• Holland & Knight said capital markets and project finance lawyer Peter Baumgaertner, who led Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman’s New York corporate team and Latin America practice, joined the firm as a partner in its New York office, bringing along senior counsels Daniel Brown and Frank Vivero. (HKlaw.com)

• Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe grabbed two structured finance lawyers from Arnold & Porter, one on each coast. New York-based Howard Goldwasser and L.A.-based Skanthan Vivekananda both specialize in collateralized loan obligations and both were previously at K&L Gates. (New York Law Journal)

• Quarles & Brady said energy and environmental attorney Jacqueline Vidmar, a former Seyfarth Shaw partner, joined the firm’s energy, environment & natural resources practice group as a partner in the firm’s Chicago office. (Quarles.com)

Legal Actions, Bankruptcies, Decisions

• The conduct of ArcelorMittal, which was represented by RatnerPrestia and Shook, Hardy & Bacon in a long-running patent case, was troubling, but that didn’t justify attorneys’ fees, a federal court ruled. Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor and Covington & Burling represented AK Steel in the case. (BLAW)

• After a judge asked for more information, Duke University, advised by Morgan Lewis and Womble Bond Dickinson, won preliminary court approval of a $10.65 million settlement with about 40,000 current and former employees who challenged the fees and investment options in the school’s retirement plan. (BLAW)

• The overseer of New York City’s pension funds is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Oracle Corp. misled investors about alleged pay bias across its workforce. (BLAW via BLB)