Wake Up Call: Trump Taps Thomas Ally to Map Out Future of DOJ

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

• Mark Paoletta, a conservative lawyer and close friend of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is working with Donald Trump’s transition team to craft a policy playbook for the Justice Department if Trump is re-elected next week. Paoletta represented Thomas’ wife before the Jan. 6 House select committee when its members called her to testify over allegations that she had urged Trump’s White House chief of staff to contest Joe Biden’s victory. (Politico)
• Eight of Mexico’s 11 Supreme Court justices said they would step down from their posts at the remainder of their terms instead of participating in a new process in which thousands of judges will be elected next year. The resignations follow a slew of attacks on a judiciary overhaul by President Claudia Sheinbaum and her party, who have said the justices’ response to the changes is motivated by a desire to protect their own privileges. (The New York Times)
• Miami is seeing a boom in business for law firms as it rapidly becomes a hub for Latin American wealth. Increasingly, wealthy Latin Americans and their financial advisers are planting roots in South Florida, creating work in complex tax and pre-immigration planning. (Law.com)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Bethany Hills joined White & Case as a partner in its global life sciences and health-care group and intellectual property practice.
• Sheel Patel joined Mayer Brown as a partner and head of its private credit practice in New York. He joins from King & Spalding.
• Chris Skinner joined ArentFox Schiff as a partner in its international trade and investment practice. He joins from Williams Mullen.
• Jonathan Richman joined Brown Rudnick as a partner in its white collar and investigations practice. He joins from Proskauer Rose.
• Brooke Penrose joined Day Pitney as a partner in its intellectual property practice in Boston.
• Daniel Rose joined Pierson Ferdinand as a partner in its intellectual property practice in Boston. He joins from Volpe Koenig.
• Michael Guerrero rejoined Hinshaw & Culbertson as a partner in its consumer financial services practice in Los Angeles. He joins from Ballard Spahr.
• Cheryl Rosenberg joined Frost Brown Todd as a partner in its public finance practice group in Houston.