Law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) announced on Wednesday that it hired Jenny Durkan, the former mayor of Seattle and a former U.S. attorney. Durkan will lead BCLP’s U.S. white-collar practice from the firm’s Seattle and Washington, D.C., offices. BCLP opened its Seattle office last year, marking the firm’s first new U.S. office since…
This year’s law school admission cycle kicks off with a strong start, showing a 26% increase in applicants for spots next fall compared to last year. Schools also report a 37% rise in the number of applications submitted. Although the Law School Admission Council, which develops the LSAT, anticipates a slowdown in this early surge—most…
In December, Chase Strangio, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, will make history as the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court. Strangio opposes Tennessee’s Republican-backed law that bans gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Strangio, 41, represents a group of transgender individuals who filed a lawsuit challenging this law, which…
A lawyer who represented Rodney King after Los Angeles police officers beat him in 1991 has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges for failing to pay over $2.4 million in taxes. Milton Grimes will plead guilty to one count of tax evasion, resolving allegations that he did not pay taxes for nearly a…
A federal prosecutor in Boston, Stephen Frank, who oversaw the “Operation Varsity Blues” investigation into the U.S. college admissions scandal and secured the conviction of a Kremlin-linked businessman involved in last month’s prisoner swap between Russia and the West, has joined the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Frank, who previously served as chief…
On Wednesday, the U.S. law firm Paul Hastings announced the hiring of Benjamin Snyder, a government lawyer who argued a significant case on federal agency powers before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. Snyder will join the firm’s Washington, D.C., office as a partner and co-chair of its appellate practice. Snyder previously served as…
Indiana is moving toward allowing alternative approaches to delivering legal services, following the lead of other U.S. states. On Thursday, the Indiana Supreme Court directed its innovation committee to develop parameters for a “legal regulatory sandbox,” with the goal of creating more flexible legal service models. The committee must submit its proposals by March 1.…
A Florida federal judge issued a ruling this week that threatens to dismantle a key part of the federal False Claims Act, a Civil War-era law designed to combat fraud against the U.S. government and reward whistleblowers who expose it. The law’s whistleblower provisions, strengthened by Congress in 1986, have created a lucrative practice for…
Leading U.S. and international law firms are advising on fewer but larger corporate deals compared to last year, continuing the trend in worldwide mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity. Global M&A deal values during the first nine months of 2024 reached $2.3 trillion, marking a 16% rise from the same period last year. The London Stock…