Wake Up Call: Musical Chairs for Ripple and SEC Trial Lawyers

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

• It’s a game of legal musical chairs in the lawsuit between Ripple Labs, its executives and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as several lawyers for the SEC bow out and new ones join for Ripple and the agency. Recent filings requested permission to withdraw attorneys Richard Best and Robert MacDonald Moye from the trial, and for attorney Pascale Guerrier to be dismissed from the case. The SEC has moved to appeal Judge Analisa Torres’ decision that Ripple’s XRP token is not a security when sold to the general public. (CoinTelegraph)
• Clifford Chance has hired M&A partner Alex Bidlake from rival Magic Circle firm Linklaters to grow the firm’s Asia Pacific corporate practice. “The firm’s plans to further develop and enhance its Asia Pacific public and private M&A practice align well with my experience and ambition,” she said. Clifford Chance’s Asia Pacific M&A practice has advised on a number of high profile deals recently, including on the $6.7 billion sale of Goshawk’s commercial aircraft leasing platform.
 (Global Legal Post)
• Alex Murdaugh accomplice Cory Fleming pleaded guilty to all South Carolina state grand jury charges this week but won’t be sentenced til mid-September. The charges stem from Fleming’s role in aiding and conspiring with disgraced lawyer and convicted murderer Murdaugh to steal client funds. The former Beaufort County attorney, who was Murdaugh’s college roommate, will serve any concurrent state and federal sentences at federal prison FCI-Jesup in Georgia. (Greenville News)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Nola Heller has joined Milbank as the new co-head of the white collar defense and investigations practice in its New York office.
• Peter H. Donaldson has joined Armstrong Teasdale as a partner with the litigation practice group in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• Brian F. Walthart has joined Lewis Brisbois as a partner in the general liability practice in Nashville, Tenn.
• Dan Wilson has joined Husch Blackwell as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office and as a member of its technology, manufacturing and transportation industry group.
• Pulina Whitaker has joined Jones Day as a partner in the labor and employment practice in the London office.