DOJ Aims to Boot WilmerHale as 23andMe Privacy Reviewer Counsel

WilmerHale shouldn’t be permitted to represent a law professor making privacy-related recommendations about the sale of 23andMe’s customers’ genetic data while also performing work for bidder Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. on unrelated matters, the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog said.

The risk that WilmerHale lawyers may pull punches, even unintentionally, in representing 23andMe’s consumer privacy ombudsman is enough to constitute a conflict of interest in light of the firm’s duty of loyalty to Regeneron, the US Trustee’s office said in a Friday filing.

Regeneron, however, on Friday lost out to a nonprofit controlled by 23andMe’s former CEO in an auction to acquire ...