Wake Up Call: Georgetown Law Commencement Pick Sparks Backlash

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

• Georgetown Law replaced its commencement speaker after former Northwestern President Morton Schapiro withdrew following objections from students over pro-Israel op eds he wrote about Israel and Palestine after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. The law school said rescinding Schapiro’s invitation would have conflicted with its commitment to free inquiry, but Schapiro chose to step aside after learning of the backlash. Professor David Cole was named as his replacement. (Jewish Insider)
• An AI-native law firm is drawing investor interest. Moritz raised $9 million in seed funding over four days and says it has handled $2 billion in contracts across 100 companies in the past three months. Co-founder Pamir Ehsas said the company scrapped an earlier software-only model and relaunched as a law firm, combining AI with experienced lawyers to draft and review routine corporate documents at fixed or tiered prices instead of billing by the hour. (Business Insider)
• AI is forcing the legal industry to confront not just how lawyers develop legal judgment, but whether they have enough business judgment to translate legal analysis into decisions clients can actually use. In a Thomson Reuters Institute commentary, Natalie Runyon says routine tasks that once trained junior lawyers are being automated away, exposing gaps in both legal reasoning and the ability to communicate trade-offs, consequences, and practical next steps to business partners. (Thomson Reuters)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison has hired trial lawyer Andrea E. Smith from Gibson Dunn as a partner in its Houston office’s litigation department.
• Sarah Tauman joined Orrick as a partner in its employment team in Sacramento.
• Richard Shamos joined Akin as a partner in its investment management practice and funds group in Los Angeles.
• Dechert LLP announced Wednesday it has hired three partners from rival McDermott Will & Schulte to build its restructuring practice at its new Dallas office.
• Will Myer joined Vinson & Elkins as a corporate partner in its Denver office.
• Jaimie Nawaday joined Taft as a partner in its compliance, investigations, and white collar defense practice in New York.
• Simon Gamblin joined Duane Morris as a partner in the corporate practice group in London.
• Philipp Kurek joined Haynes Boone as a partner in its international arbitration practice in London.
• Daniel Harrell joined Jones Walker as a partner in its labor and employment practice group in Pensacola, Fla..
• Sports-centric predictions market platform Underdog has hired Nick Lundgren, the previous head of Crypto.com’s event contracts exchange, to serve as chief legal officer.