Wake Up Call: Ex-FTC Lawyers Form New Antitrust Enforcement Firm

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel. Programming Note: Wake Up Call will not run tomorrow in observance of Juneteenth.

• Three former Federal Trade Commission lawyers and a US attorney opened a new plaintiffs law firm focused on unfair competition, price discrimination, and other antitrust law violations. Catherine Simonsen, Shaoul Sussman, Kate Brubacher, and Nicolas Stebinger are launching Simonsen Sussman as private antitrust litigation has surged in recent years and the FTC has shed staff. (Reuters)
  
• The American Bar Association and Goldberg Kohn are each putting about 75,000 square feet of downtown Chicago office space up for sublease. The ABA is cutting back at 321 North Clark Street, while Goldberg Kohn is trying to offload its entire lease at 55 East Monroe. (The Real Deal)
  
• Galperin & Associates, a Denver personal injury law firm, filed a libel lawsuit against Google after the platform refused to remove a scathing one-star review posted by a former employee. In the review, the employee accused the firm of discrimination, underpayment, and unpaid wages, calling it a “scum joke of a law firm.” (BusinessDen)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Joshua La Vigne and Jessica Pan joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld as partners in Chicago. They join from Mayer Brown.
• Helen Croke joined White & Case as a partner in its global mergers and acquisitions practice and global private equity industry group in London. She joins from Ropes & Gray.
• Nicholas Boyle joined White & Case as a partner in its global intellectual property practice in Sydney. He joins from Bird & Bird.
• Isabelle De Smedt joined K&L Gates as a partner in its white collar defense and investigations practice in Brussels. She joins from Alston & Bird.
• Alexander Leonard joined Vedder Price as a partner in its labor and employment practice in New York. He joins from Golenbock Eiseman Assor Bell & Peskoe.
• Drew Rolle joined Alston & Bird as a partner in its white collar, government, and internal investigations group in New York. He joins from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
• Sarah Luetto joined Blank Rome as a partner in its matrimonial and family law group in Los Angeles. She joins from Hersh Mannis.
• Mark Stember joined Nixon Peabody as a partner in its employee benefits and executive compensation practice in Washington.
• Sharmistha Das joined Crowell & Moring as a partner in its government contracts group in Washington. She joins from the Department of Homeland Security.
• Michele Levinson joined Frost Brown Todd as a partner in its product, tort, and insurance litigation practice group in Los Angeles.
• Andrew Glass and Gregory Blase joined Nixon Peabody as partners in its complex disputes practice in Boston.
• David Kaleda joined Eversheds Sutherland as a partner in its employee benefits team in Washington.
• Bruce Toppin joined Husch Blackwell as a partner in its financial services and capital markets industry group and banking and finance practice. He joins from Holland & Knight.