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WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

 

ON THE DOCKET - A federal appeals panel in St. Louis today will hear a closely watched case confronting the scope of sexual orientation protection under federal anti-discrimination laws. Major U.S. companies filed a brief backing Mark Horton, a health care specialist who sued Midwest Geriatric Management after the company allegedly rescinded a job offer upon learning he was gay. Neal Perryman of the St. Louis firm Lewis & Rice will argue for the company, and Gregory Nevins, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, will advocate for Horton. The Eighth Circuit panel granted EEOC lawyer Gail Coleman argument time. Several cases are pending review at the U.S. Supreme Court that examine the scope of Title VII. The justices have not acted on those petitions.

ENOUGH ALREADY - After spending three hours calling each other liars and thieves during opening statements, Apple and Qualcomm on Tuesday struck a licensing deal for wireless chip technology that ends all litigation between them, including Qualcomm’s actions against Apple pending in international courts. But as Scott Graham reports, the settlement reached in San Diego federal court does not resolve the FTC’s antitrust suit against Qualcomm, which was tried in January before U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh and remains pending.

VIETNAM BOUND - Boies Schiller is teaming up with litigation funder IMF Bentham to direct $30 million in funding capital toward cross-border disputes with a Vietnam connection. Dan Packel reports that California-based Boies Schiller partners Luan Tran and Quyen Ta will work with the funder to identify business coming from the booming Vietnam economy, which grew more than 7 percent last year. In July 2018, Bentham unveiled a similar $30 million arrangement with Kobre & Kim focused on cross-border disputes rooted in Israel.

ERRATUM - In an item yesterday, the last name of the Baker McKenzie global chairman who recently died was incorrect on first reference. He was Paul Rawlinson. We regret the error.

EDITOR’S PICKS

 

Defamation Lawsuit Pits Alan Dershowitz Against Epstein Sex Trafficking Accuser

NYC Faces Lawsuit From Families Over Measles Health Emergency Declaration

Data Breaches Will Be The Next Trend In Class Action Litigation

Twitter to Up Content Moderation as Calls for Regulation Grow

Hogan Lovells Nabs Longtime Weil Litigator in Silicon Valley

Privacy Professionals on California Consumer Privacy Act Readiness: 5 Takeaways

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

 

TREND-BUCKER - Eversheds Sutherland has hired away a lawyer from the Hong Kong affiliate of PricewaterhouseCoopers to lead the firm’s technology, media and telecommunications practice. John Kang reports that Rhys McWhirter, who will serve as a consultant, joins Eversheds from Tiang & Partners, where he was a senior associate. His departure comes as the PwC affiliate has been aggressively expanding, hiring 18 lawyers, including six partners, since name partner David Tiang launched it in January 2017.

WHAT YOU SAID

“Part of it—for us—is that there is a lot we don’t know. We don’t know what people did to prepare for the exam. We don’t know about their curriculum choices.”

— JUDITH GUNDERSEN, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BAR EXAMINERS, ON WHY REPEAT TEST TAKERS OF THE FEBRUARY MULTISTATE BAR EXAM SAW A LARGER INCREASE IN THEIR AVERAGE SCORE THAN DID FIRST-TIME TAKERS.