Wake Up Call: New DeSantis Board Lawyers Up for Disney Fight

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

• The new board handpicked by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to take over management of The Walt Disney Company’s special taxing district has hired lawyers for a possible legal fight with the entertainment giant, according to reports. It turns out that shortly before the hostile takeover by the DeSantis’ board, Disney “quietly” made an agreement with the previous board to maintain control of the district for 30 years. (CNN) (Disney Tourist Blog) (Above The Law)
• Disney let go its senior vice president and chief compliance officer, Alicia Schwarz, as the company undergoes a big overhaul that includes layoffs. Disney’s senior executive vice president and general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, is taking over her roles. (Deadline)
• The Trump Organization dumped defense lawyer Nicholas Gravante, who had been representing its jailed former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, because Gravante was seen as too willing to work with prosecutors, according to a report. (Daily Beast)
• Florida Supreme Court Justice Ricky Polston, set to retire Friday, is taking an apparently better paid job as general counsel of the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Tampa Bay Times) (Florida Politics)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Cahill Gordon & Reindel’s revenues plunged 19.5% to $415.2 million as its capital markets and transaction work dried up, while litigation was a bright spot. Its partner profits dove 27.1%. (American Lawyer) Atlanta-based Kilpatrick Townsend grew revenue 2.6% to $520.7 million as it focused on midmarket private equity and its work for technology giants, particularly intellectual property. Costs pulled down its average profits per equity partner by 4.9% to $1.34 million. (Daily Report)
• Big companies, especially global pharmaceutical businesses, are increasingly open to initiating antitrust litigation, the top lawyer for generic drug giant Teva Pharmaceuticals said. (Legal Intelligencer)
• A Florida assistant US attorney faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to steering contracts to her spouse. (Justice.gov)
• The Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office announced that new special prosecutors have been appointed to oversee criminal charges against actor Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in the Rust shooting. (Hollywood Reporter)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Barnes & Thornburg grabbed Fox Rothschild real estate partner Wali Rushdan II as partner in Delaware. (BTLaw.com)
• Buchalter Nemer hired a three attorney family law practice group from Sideman & Bancroft led by partner Monica Mazzei to launch its own practice group in San Francisco. Mazzei, who represents high net worth clients throughout California, joins as shareholder and chair of the group. (Buchalter)
• Transatlantic firm Womble Bond Dickinson hired corporate and securities lawyer David Vance Lucas in Huntsville, Alabama, as a partner. He’s a former general counsel at tech companies Intergraph and eLab solutions and arrives recently from Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, where he led the international practice group. Corporate associate Andrew Tuggle, advising on international trade and cross-border transactions, also made the move. (WombleBondDickinson.com)
• Former DLA Piper patent law attorney Lisa Hillman, who has a doctorate in microbiology, joined Lathrop GPM as an intellectual property partner in Boston. (LathropGPM.com)
• Hybrid firm Rimon PC snagged DLA Piper product litigation partners Keelin Kavanagh, David Jaroslaw, and Arthur Hoffmann as partners in New York. (RimonLaw.com)
• Helio Risk, an Oklahoma based risk and insurance services company, hired former Aon health-care chief risk adviser Heather McClure as general counsel and chief risk adviser. (Captive International)

Legal Education

• Harvard Law School said it is partnering with Paul Weiss to launch a new pre-law fellowship program aimed at first-generation and low-income participants. (Harvard.edu)