Wake Up Call: More States Look to Curb Outside Firm Investment

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

• The Illinois House approved legislation that would prohibit any entity involved in a law firm’s legal practice but not fully owned by lawyers from charging the firm any fees, controlling its hiring, or interfering with its lawyers’ professional judgment. California’s Assembly has also approved legislation that would prohibit corporate investors from interfering with a lawyer’s professional judgment. (Reuters)
• Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner Tom Ara topped this year’s list of the Hollywood Reporter’s 100 most powerful entertainment industry lawyers. Ara advised Domain Capital Group during Village Roadshow Entertainment’s Chapter 11 restructuring on its ownership rights to the company’s catalog and on the catalog’s sale. He also advised the investor consortium behind Angry Birds 3 on its Paramount distribution pact and guided a Peaky Blinders producer in the sale of her production company. (The Hollywood Reporter)
• Florida attorney general James Uthmeier sent a letter to the dean of Miami-based Barry University School of Law, accusing the school of “blatant viewpoint discrimination that violates the school’s professed policies and values and may raise consumer protection concerns” after it denied a student-led request to start a Turning Point chapter. (Inside Higher Ed)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Phillip Aurentz joined Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder in its litigation and intellectual property and technology practices in Dallas. He joins from Sidley Austin.