• Companies face increasing difficulty collecting court-awarded assets, as “rogue players” put funds in uncooperative jurisdictions and refuse to pay, according to experts. (Bloomberg News)
• Allen & Overy finance partner Stephen Kensell, who fell short in a bid to become the firm’s managing partner in elections earlier this year, has left for Latham & Watkins. (The Lawyer)
• Since the financial crisis, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program has charged 102 bankers, including 22 chief executives and presidents and recovered over $10 billion. Critics note the cases primarily target small-time bankers. (New York Times DealBook)
• Bloomberg TV anchor David Westin, who practiced law at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and was GC at Capital Cities/ABC, recounts his strategy for getting a “gentleman’s C“ on the bar exam: study as little as possible and leave the exam early. (Big Law Business)
• After a recent 12-hour, two-day marathon exam session in Manhattan test takers expressed frustration, relief, and plans to go to the kind of bar that serves drinks. (Big Law Business)
Legal Market
• A nonequity partner at Sedgwick has filed a class action accusing the firm of systemic discrimination against women. (American Lawyer)
• U.S. authorities investigating the alleged theft of billions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB investment fund think the fund’s former general counsel could hold clues, according to a complaint filed last week. (Big Law Business/Bloomberg News)
• Securities class actions in the first half of 2016 are up 27 percent compared with the first-half average for the last 18 years, according to data in a new report from Cornerstone Research. (WSJ Law Blog)
• A side note to the 1MDB case illustrates how, as prices for art skyrocketed, Sotheby’s and other “boutique lenders” have become shadow banks, making millions of dollars of legal loans outside the regulated financial system. (Bloomberg)
• Pfizer Inc. has moved to settle a securities class-action lawsuit accusing it of keeping investors in the dark about the cardiovascular risks of the arthritis drugs Celebrex and Bextra, in an effort to avoid what could have been a drawn-out trial in the 12-year-old case. (Bloomberg News)
• In the aftermath of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, one big advantage for the country is that the lion’s share of international financial contracts are still written based on English law. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to propose changes to significantly strengthen U.S. regulation of debt collection in an effort to rein in collectors who pursue consumers for debts, sometimes inappropriately. (New York Times DealBook)
• An employee complaint alleges a climate of fear, intimidation and sexual harassment at the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. (New York Times DealBook)
Laterals and Moves
• Months after the Dutch telecommunications company Vimpelcom agreed to pay $795 million to settle violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the company has appointed a new chief compliance officer. (Big Law Business)
• U.K. firm Pinsent Masons is opening an office in South Africa after hiring two founding partner from a local firm. (Pinsent Masons)
Courts
• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has asked the California Supreme Court to decide the question raised by the Heller Ehrman bankruptcy dispute of who should get profits when partners depart dissolving law firms and take work to new firms. (Law.com)
Technology
• In the largest deal this year in the e-Discovery service space, Epiq Systems said Wednesday it has agreed to sell itself in a stock purchase buyout valued at $1 billion to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System’s (OMERS) private equity arm and Harvest Partners. The deal calls for Epiq to be merged with DTI. (Big Law Business)
• A new website allows visitors to search emails from Democratic Senator Tim Kaine’s years as Virginia governor to demonstrate the capabilities of a technology-assisted review known as continuous active learning. (Big Law Business)
• Three major law firms are advising on Norwood, Massachusetts-based Analog Devices Inc.’s acquisition of Linear Technology Corp. for $14.8 billion in cash-and-stock. (American Lawyer)
• The Chinese government’s crackdown on online dissent has forced social-media company Weibo to shift its content from news and discussion to entertainment and other “light” subjects. (Wall Street Journal)
• A Houston law firm is suing a 20-year old waitress for libel over her Yelp and Facebook reviews panning their services. (Houston Press)
• A Los Angeles man is building a flying car to escape the city’s traffic jams. But he says his car won’t be for everybody. (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s invitation to Russian spies to hack the emails of his Democratic rival, Hilary Clinton, is a depressing new low. (BloombergView)
• China looks set to legalize car-hailing services, dispelling any regulatory uncertainty surrounding Uber Technologies Inc. and Didi Chuxing as they vie for supremacy in the world’s largest ride-hailing market. (Bloomberg Technology)
• Banks are increasingly assisting U.S. government law enforcement by reporting suspicious activity, even as the technology industry continues to fight federal authorities’ demands for data and other help . (Wall Street Journal)
Miscellaneous
• The American Bar Association recently announced the organization’s first ever “International Human Rights Award” is going to Chinese lawyer Wang Yu, currently facing trial on charges of “anti-state activity.” (Big Law Business)
• The percentage of global law firms doing pro bono work in the areas of refugee, immigration and asylum matters increased in 2016, compared with the previous year, according to a new survey. (National Law Journal)
• A federal judge ruled Wednesday that John W. Hinckley Jr., the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and left a White House press secretary disabled, will be allowed to leave the psychiatric hospital that has held him for decades. (New York Times)
• An appeal has been filed over whether Led Zeppelin stole the opening notes of its 1971 rock song “Stairway to Heaven.” (Reuters)
Compiled by Rick Mitchell and edited by Gabe Friedman.