• Despite prosecutors’ efforts to “streamline” the retrial of two Dewey & LeBoeuf executives, the new trial is shaping up to be a lengthy episode. It could drag as long or even longer than the first, which went over three months, the judge in the case said. (New York Law Journal)
• Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is taking steps to address its role in spreading fake news articles, which were alleged to have helped Donald Trump get elected president. (Bloomberg)
• An interview with the law professor who started a letter now signed by more than 10,000 lawyers opposing Trump’s appointment of Stephen Bannon as chief strategist for the White House. (BLB)
• A case study illustrates how a Texas man’s recent tweet spread incorrect information about anti-Trump protests and fueled a nationwide conspiracy theory that also reeled in the president-elect. (New York Times)
• President-elect Donald Trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle claims that his defunct Trump University ripped off more than 6,000 students with false promises of teaching them his real estate secrets. Settling after years of fighting the allegations lets Trump avoid a potentially distracting trial as he works on his transition and gets ready for his inauguration. (Bloomberg via BLB)
• Trump on Friday picked three hardliners for his cabinet, naming as his attorney general Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, one of his earliest congressional backers and one of the most conservative U.S. lawmakers. Trump also named retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as his national security adviser and Kansas Republican Representative Mike Pompeo to run the Central Intelligence Agency. (Bloomberg via BLB)
Sessions Appointment
• Washington law firms — especially those that have conservative leaning white-collar lawyers and lobbyists — could cash in on ties to the Alabama Republican Sessions. (Am Law Daily)
• The case of Griffin B. Bell, Jimmy Carter’s attorney general, suggests that Sessions should be judged by what he does next, not by racially insensitive comments he is alleged to have made. (Bloomberg View)
• Sessions will help Trump follow through on his “law and order” campaign promises, people familiar with his record said. (National Law Journal)
• Although he’s pro-business, Sessions won’t go easy on corporate crime. (Reuters)
• Many but not all New York City lawyers surveyed after Sessions’ nomination reacted negatively. (New York Law Journal)
• How Sessions treats the case of “Dreamers, ” undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, will tell us a lot about what kind of man was just elected U.S. president. (Bloomberg View)
Legal Market
• In the run-up to its merger with Nabarro and Olswang next year, London-based law firm CMS Cameron McKenna has pushed several CMS partners down the equity ladder and “managed out” fee-earners as part of a drive to boost profits. (The Lawyer)
• A key U.S. competition agency’s rejection of a Chinese investment fund’s planned takeover of a German technology company days after Trump’s election casts a U.S. shadow over future global deals. (Bloomberg)
• Ropes & Gray and Mayer Brown this week awarded scholarships to nine law students from diverse backgrounds, as part of an effort to improve the firms’ diversity. (BLB)
• An incubator launched by Ballard Spahr partner Gregory L. Seltzer in Philadelphia is one of a handful by law firms to help legal incubators for student start-up founders. (Forbes)
More on the Transition to a Trump presidency
• Trump’s real estate investments in Turkey illustrate the unprecedented potential conflict-of-interest risks raised by his global business holdings, which could make him open to foreign influence as he makes decisions as U.S. president. (Washington Post)
• Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he has the votes to stop President-elect Donald Trump from repealing the Dodd-Frank Act and “the rules we put in place to limit Wall Street.” (Bloomberg)
• The U.S. has neither the enforcement nor the judicial infrastructure necessary to carry out Trump’s promises to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, and if he tries anyway will overwhelm already clogged courts. (Bloomberg View)
Happening in SCOTUS and Other Courts
• At the recent Federalist Society convention, conservative lawmakers discussed the unexpected opportunity Trump’s victory gives them to restore the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority. (BuzzFeed)
• Twenty-six states states led by Texas were joined by the Obama administration and immigrant-rights groups in seeking to freeze a challenge to the outgoing president’s immigration reforms until President-elect Donald Trump takes office. (Bloomberg)
• The judge in the child molestation trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky withdrew from further proceedings and accused Sandusky’s lawyers of ethical lapses and launching unfounded attacks against him. (Philly.com)
• In a suit challenging the U.S. Labor Department’s fiduciary rule, a Texas federal judge either gave the department a “very hard time” about the rule or she was “very balanced.” It all depends who you talk to. Lawyers who attended the hearing last week gave contrasting views on what happened. (National Law Journal)
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asked a federal appeals court in Washington to rehear a dispute over the constitutionality of the agency’s power structure. (National Law Journal)
• Residents of Pawnee, Oklahoma, filed a class complaint alleging that fracking activity by oil and gas companies caused earthquakes that damaged their homes and personal property. (Bloomberg BNA via BLB)
• Health plan participants have filed six lawsuits in as many weeks accusing health insurers Cigna Corp., UnitedHealth Group and Humana of secret schemes to overcharge for prescription drugs. (Bloomberg BNA via BLB)
Brexit
• Investment start-up founder Gina Miller, whose lawsuit could derail U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to unilaterally trigger Brexit, said Parliament is wasting time by not debating a proposal to exit the European Union because her victory at a lower court is “unappealable.” (Bloomberg via BLB)
• Finance executives planning to shift operations out of the U.K. because of Brexit have been told by European Central Bank officials not to rush. That’s because there will be no first-mover advantage when it comes to gaining regulatory approvals, according to people briefed on the discussions. (Bloomberg)
Laterals and Moves
• King & Wood Mallesons Dubai partner Hamish Walton has joined Dechert, leaving five partners in KWM’s local office. (The Lawyer)
• Former Republican governor of Massachusetts William Weld is glad to be back as a partner in Boston at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, after five months campaigning as the vice-presidential candidate on the 2016 ticket for Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson. (Am Law Daily)
Technology
• Opinion: The EU executive’s antitrust objections to Google are a “contrivance” based on an outdated understanding of marketplace dynamics. (Wired)
• Symantec Corp., one of the world’s largest cybersecurity companies, agreed to buy LifeLock Inc. for about $2.3 billion including debt to expand in services for identity protection. (Bloomberg)
• Cyber attacks are up almost 50 percent at Irish law firms, according to a new survey. (Irish Examiner)
• How is Canadian eDiscovery different from U.S. practices? A survey is looking at that question, but Canada’s eDiscovery giant already has some observations on the subject. (LegalTech News)
Legal Education
• Law school programs aimed at improving diversity in their enrollment are based on the premise that more than money is needed to solve the diversity gap in law. (Financial Times)
Miscellaneous
• William Lee, the former co-managing partner of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr and a prominent IP litigator, said a man at a gas station in a wealthy Boston suburb recently told him to “go back to your own country.” Lee recounted the incident while speaking about what he called a need for lawyers to stand up to protect the rule of law during a Trump presidency. (Am Law Daily)
• A disbarred lawyer who confessed to hypnotizing his female clients so he could sexually abuse them was sentenced on Nov. 14 to 12 years in prison. (Bloomberg BNA via BLB)
• Santa Rosa, California, police said a man broke into the Sonoma County Counsel’s office, and wearing some dress suits he found there tried to pass himself off as an attorney. But his bare feet gave him away. (The Press Democrat)
• A Texas lawmaker has filed legislation that would require public school employees to out LGBT students to their parents. (NCRM)
Compiled by Rick Mitchell and edited by Casey Sullivan.