• Debevoise & Plimpton has launched an office in Tokyo with three lawyers who are relocating from New York, to be run as a local joint venture that will allow it to hire Japanese lawyers and offer Japanese law advice. (The Lawyer)
• A California federal judge has issued a preliminary ruling disqualifying the year-old litigation boutique Hueston Hennigan from a much-reported multimillion dollar healthcare fraud case, citing a conflict “so egregious that it is unwaivable.” (Big Law Business)
• Fantasy-sports operators FanDuel Inc. and DraftKings Inc. agreed to halt operations in New York, their biggest market, as part of a settlement announced Monday with the state attorney general’s office. (Wall Street Journal)
• An increasing number of employees would be willing to sell their work computer passwords to third parties for the right price, according to a new survey that finds deteriorating cyber security practices among workers across Australia, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States. (Legaltech news)
Legal Market
• Associates gave positive reactions to this year’s bonus schedule at McDermott Will & Emery LLP. (Above The Law)
• As President Barack Obama makes his historic trip to Cuba this week, U.S. companies and lawyers expressed guarded optimism that there could be new business opportunities if the U.S. drops its trade embargo on the Communist-led island. (American Lawyer)
• The United Kingdom’s legal services sector employs 370,000 people and directly contributes some £25.7 billion ($36.7 billion) to the economy, according to a new study by the Law Society. (Financial Times)
• UK-based Eversheds announced that it has reached a three-year deal to be the “sole legal provider” for global power management company Eaton Inc, for the EMEA region. (Eversheds)
• Greenberg Traurig decided last week to terminate its merger talks with London-based Berwin Leighton Paisner in large part because the UK firm’s management lacked “credibility,” according to sources at the U.S. firm. (American Lawyer)
• After an excellent 2014, Winston & Strawn had a “solid but not extraordinary” 2015, with revenue per lawyer topping $1 million for the first time, fueled among other things by a successful Washington-based e-Discovery practice, the firm said. (American Lawyer)
• While general counsel or head of legal departments still make final decisions on legal spending at most companies, at close to half of organizations procurement departments are involved in decisions to make outlays on “high-end” legal advice, according to a new legal procurement survey. (Big Law Business)
• A California federal judge has issued a preliminary ruling disqualifying the year-old litigation boutique Hueston Hennigan from a much-reported multimillion dollar healthcare fraud case, citing a conflict “so egregious that it is unwaivable.” (Big Law Business)
• A recent panel in San Francisco considered major trends in the legal media, and how law firm public relations people should respond to them. (Big Law Business)
• Jones Day is serving as Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s principal campaign counsel, led by a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission Donald F. McGahn. (Above The Law)
SCOTUS
• The Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear Samsung Electronics Co.’s appeal of penalties it was assessed in its smartphone patent war with Apple iPhone. (New York Times)
• A seven-member U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether Puerto Rico can ease its fiscal crisis with a law that would let the island’s public utilities restructure more than $20 billion in debt, in situation caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February and a financial conflict that may force Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself. (Big Law Business/Bloomberg Business)
• President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Merrick Garland, has removed himself from several court cases in recent days, effectively suspending his work as chief judge on the Circuit Court until at least mid-April. (Politico)
• When President Bill Clinton nominated Garland to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit 19 years ago, several Republicans praised his qualifications but opposed his nomination, much as Republicans are now opposing his nomination to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by Scalia. (National Law Journal)
• The Supreme Court Monday declined to hear a case that aimed to strike down Colorado’s legalization of marijuana. (Wall Street Journal)
Laterals and Moves
• McGuireWoods is set to pick up a “small” group of an disclosed number of lawyers from Reed Smith’s Pittsburgh office led by partner Mary Hackett, who previously headed Reed Smith’s financial services litigation group. (Legal Intelligencer)
Technology
• The U.S. Justice Department said Monday that a third party might be able to help the FBI crack encryption of an iPhone used by a California terrorist last year, so the government might not need to force Apple Inc. to do that task after all. (New York Times)
• An increasing number of law firms are buying cyber insurance to protect themselves against the risk of data breaches, practitioners at insurance brokers, companies and law firms said. (American Lawyer)
Legal Education
• Leaders at American University Washington College of Law said former Suffolk University Law School Dean Camille Nelson will be the Washington school’s next dean, to replace Claudio Grossman, who is returning to the faculty after 11 years leading the school. (National Law Journal)
Miscellaneous
• Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is fighting to avoid a summer trial in a federal class-action lawsuit that targets his Trump University real-estate program, with plaintiffs’ lawyers aiming to begin it in June or July, around the time of the Republican National Convention. (Politico)
• Paul McCartney has filed a notice with the U.S. Copyright Office based on a U.S. copyright law provision that allows songwriters to reclaim publishing rights to their songs after 56 years, in an attempt to get back Beatles songs rights he lost to Michael Jackson decades ago. (Billboard)