Wake Up Call: White & Case Hit With Record Fine for Conflict

• A U.K. regulator tagged White & Case with a record 250,000 pounds fine ($326,000) for “reckless” conflict of interest and for failing to protect client confidentiality in a $2 billion court fight between rival Ukranian oligarchs. A disciplinary court ordered a White & Case partner in the case, David Goldberg, to pay a 50,000 pounds fine. ( The Lawyer )

• Jones Day, Skadden and Dentons are the top three Big Law firms that general counsel most use as their go-to outside counsel, or that they recommend most to peers, according to a report by BTI Power Rankings that lists 24 firms GCs say they like the most. ( Above The Law )

• Banking regulators are said be reviewing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans made to Donald Trump’s businesses through the private wealth management unit of Deutsche Bank, which was one of the few banks willing to lend to citizen Trump before he became president. ( New York Times DealBook ) Executives at Deutsche Bank said they anticipate getting subpoenas or other requests for information from Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigations of possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. ( The Guardian ) Trump said he wouldn’t have hired Attorney General Jeff Sessions if he’d known he would recuse himself from the Russia investigation. ( New York Times )

• As the Trump administration moves to loosen or slow environmental regulations, “environmental lawyers have already been mobilized” to fight back in court, while some law firms could see a boom in land contract negotiations for oil and gas drilling companies, says Professor Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University’s Law School and an environmental lawyer since 1979. Big Law Business spoke with Gerrard recently about Trump’s impact on environmental law so far and what that means for law firms. ( BLB )

• When Baker McKenzie recently announced it had adopted guidelines for addressing the needs of its transgender and gender nonconforming employees, it joined a growing group of law firms with formal policies for transgender employees. Law firms are often among the highest-rated workplaces for LGBT equality, according to the nonprofit Human Rights Campaign. ( BLB )

• Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith was hit by a former legal assistant’s sexual harassment and wrongful termination suit filed in New York, while Quinn Emanuel is suing Heineken USA for nonpayment of legal services. And other lawsuits from the Big Law Docket Scanner. ( BLB )

Legal Market

• Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is getting sued in for racial discrimination and retaliation by a black former secretary at the firm. The man’s suit in a Manhattan federal court among other things alleges that a trial logistics director addressed him with racial slurs during a high-profile patent trial. ( Am Law Daily )

• A New York appeals court tossed out convictions of two former London-based Rabobank Groep traders for manipulating the Libor benchmark rate, ruling that their forced testimony to a U.K financial regulator was improperly used against them in a U.S. criminal trial. The ruling Wednesday is a major setback in a seven-year government investigation of rigging in the Libor market and could undermine prosecutions of cross-border crimes. ( Bloomberg )

• The U.K. government’s Brexit legal bill is 1.2 million pounds ($1.5 million ) so far. ( The Lawyer )

• A former general counsel to Florida Governor Rick Scott has been picked to run the business-recruitment agency Enterprise Florida, which is set to have $85 million in funding for infrastructure projects and job training. Pete Antonacci, now the executive director of the South Florida Water Management District, served as Scott’s GC from 2013 to 2015 and has also been a deputy state attorney general, and was a registered lobbyist for Tallahassee law firm Gray Robinson. ( Miami Herald )

Regulators and Enforcement

• The SEC is talking with former Dewey & LeBoeuf executive Joel Sanders with a view to reaching a settlement of its civil case against him. Sanders was convicted last May in a scheme to defraud investors at the firm. ( New York Law Journal )

• New York’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, is investigating collection practices at one of the biggest U.S. owners of private student loan debt, the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts. ( New York Times DealBook )

The Trump Administration

• As Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Vice President Mike Pence hire white collar lawyers to deal with investigations of Trump officials’ contacts with Russia, who is paying the legal tab? ( NPR )

• Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer at the center of controversy over a meeting with Trump Jr, offered to testify in the Senate about the encounter. ( Bloomberg )

• Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign manager, were asked to testify July 26 before the Senate Judiciary Committee as the panel expands its scrutiny of potential links between the president’s associates and Russia. ( Bloomberg )

Happening in Courts

• General Motors Co. won another federal trial over faulty ignition switches installed in millions of vehicles before a 2014 recall, suggesting juries have a high standard for evidence in linking specific accidents to the deadly flaw. ( Bloomberg )

• Google’s fight against France’s bid to enforce the so-called right to be forgotten globally is headed to the European Union’s top court, just three years after its judges ordered the company to strip out some results that people find embarrassing or out of date. ( Bloomberg )

• A judge’s $18 million default judgment stands against insurance company Century Surety Company in Nevada after another judge rejected the insurer’s racketeering and civil conspiracy charges against three Nevada attorneys. The case stems from an accident in which a truck driver severely injured a cyclist. (Las Vegas Review Journal )

• A California federal judge Wednesday gave prosecuturs a green light to use evidence federal agents gathered by hiding recording devices outside the San Mateo County courthouse in 2009 and 2010. The judge said defense attorneys failed to prove that the recordings produced evidence that investigators couldn’t have obtained by lawful means. ( The Recorder )

• A San Jose, California, lawsuit accuses two law firms of violating the RICO statute by using the Americans with Disability Act to file 1,400 phony allegations to shake down businesses and individuals for quick settlements. ( Fresno Bee )

Laterals, Moves, Law Firm Work

• Starbucks promoted its general counsel, Lucy Helm, to be the company’s new human resources head, putting her in charge of about 300,000 employees worldwide. ( Global Legal Post )

• Cozen O’Connor said it hired a new real estate and project finance partner for its Pittsburgh office, getting Jeffrey A. Mills from Reed Smith, where he had a similar role. ( Cozen.com )

• Holland & Knight continued its lateral recruitment spree, getting two new partners for its Boston office. The firm said it hired energy and environmental attorney Mark Kalpin, who comes from WilmerHale, where he served as co-chairman of the energy and cleantech group. Education and employment partner Janet Judge joined the firm in late June, after about 10 years running her own practice, Sports Law Associates. ( Am Law Daily )

Technology

• Congress took the first step toward setting rules for self-driving cars, as a House panel unanimously approved a measure that would allow thousands of automated vehicles to hit the road while federal regulators develop safety standards and preempt state rules. ( Bloomberg )

• Facebook Inc. is getting sued again by the Austrian activist who took on the social-media giant and brought down an international data-sharing pact two years ago. Max Schrems filed a class-action suit that could represent as many as 25,000 users to accuse the social-media giant of further violations of privacy and consumer rights. ( Bloomberg via BLB )

• The iPhone has replaced the BlackBerry as the preferred business mobile device, so why have lawyers largely shunned the MacBook? ( Above The Law )

Legal Education

• College graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math tend to score high on the law school entrance exam, but they don’t seem all that interested in applying for law school, accounting for a small percentage of applicants overall in a recent year, according to a study by the AccessLex Institute. ( Law.com )

Miscellaneous

• Rhode Island Wednesday became the 10th U.S. state to ban the so-called gay conversion therapy for minors. ( Washington Blade )

Compiled by Rick Mitchell and edited by Casey Sullivan.