Wake Up Call: New York AG Convenes Law Firms on Post-Roe Plans

In today’s column, New York’s attorney general is convening law firms and legal nonprofits to prepare for the likely demise of Roe v. Wade; Goodwin poached a three-partner tech venture capital group from Latham in Los Angeles; litigation funder Validity Finance branched out to California;

• Leading off, Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp wrote to other Big Law firm leaders to tell them that New York Attorney General Letitia James is convening a task force of law firms and nonprofit reproductive rights legal groups on June 14. The plan is to prepare for the possibility that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade. The task force would provide pro bono serivces to women, New York health care providers, and others helping pregnant women seeking and receiving abortions in New York. A similar effort was announced earlier in San Francisco. (Business Insider)
• Boston-headquartered Goodwin Procter poached a three-attorney corporate team from Latham & Watkins as partners in its Santa Monica, California, office. Joining Goodwin on its technology life cycle team are Chris Shoff, who was a partner and co-chair of Latham’s L.A. corporate practice, and partners David Ajalat and David Pendergast. (GoodwinLaw.com)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Litigation funder Validity Finance said it hired former Covington & Burling litigator Mark Chen as portfolio counsel working out of its new office in Los Angeles. Also in L.A., Pearson, Simon & Warshaw trial counsel Thomas Nolan joined as senior adviser and litigation valuation expert Gene Phillips joined as special adviser. J. Thomas Hannan, a trial counsel at Bartko Zankel Bunzel & Miller, joined Validity as senior adviser in San Francisco. (Litigation Finance Journal)
• San Francisco’s progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin is out of a job after getting taken out by a business-led recall campaign. (Politico) Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a former Mayer Brown litigation and conflict resolution partner, started her campaign for reelection. (Chicago Tribune)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• California-headquartered Cooley poached Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher transactional lawyer William Sorabella as a partner in New York in its mergers & acquisitions practice; Mayer Brown grabbed Cadwalader fund finance lawyer Cassandra Best as a partner in New York. She’s a former executive and corporate reorganizations counsel at investment bank BNY Mellon; Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr hired former Robins Kaplan business litigation and appeals principal Katherine Barrett Wiik as a partner in Minneapolis; Jones Day snagged Dentons trade and regulatory compliance attorney Nadiya Nychay as a partner in Brussels, Belgium, in its government regulation practice. (JonesDay.com)
• Ropes & Gray brought in DLA Piper investment funds attorney Peter Mugo as counsel in San Francisco its asset management practice; Polsinelli recruited Robinson & Cole tax credit finance attorney Jerome Garciano as a shareholder in Boston. He arrives with an associate; veteran bankruptcy attorney Jeanette McPherson joined Fox Rothschild as a partner in Las Vegas; Nixon Peabody got back health care transactions and compliance attorney Scott Simpson, who was previously at the firm as an associate and returns in Rochester, New York, as counsel. (NixonPeabody.com)
• Long Beach, California-based cannabis company Glass House Brands Inc. said its general counsel & corporate secretary, Jamin Horn, has resigned to take a job as legal counsel for Triumph Labs, Inc. a venture capital-backed fintech company in San Francisco; former US Department of Justice compliance counsel Hui Chen joined Ropes & Gray consulting group R&G Insights Lab as senior adviser. (WSJ)

Legal Education

• High Point University hired former North Carolina Chief Justice Mark Martin as the founding dean of its new law school. He was recently at Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, as dean and professor of law. (HighPoint.edu)