• Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey may have engaged in a “bad faith” pursuit of Exxon Mobil Corp.’s climate science files by presupposing what her investigation would uncover, a federal judge in Texas said. (Bloomberg)
• Littler Mendelson is expanding its European presence by acquiring 170 lawyers through a merger with French employment boutique Fromont Briens. (The Lawyer)
• Big New York City law firms have made only incremental progress on including women and minorities in their ranks, according to a new survey by the New York City Bar Association. (New York Times)
• As the Obama presidency nears its end, law firms are vying for the “shiniest penny” among administration lawyers passing through the “revolving door” headed for private practice. Meanwhile, many of the lawyers who staffed agencies in Washington, D.C. will be returning home. (Law.com/The Recorder)
• As Evan Spiegel, Snapchat’s 26-year-old CEO and co-founder, considers which law firms to consult for advice on his company’s reportedly planned IPO he could ask his dad, John W. Spiegel, a Los Angeles partner at Munger Tolles & Olson. (Big Law Business)
Legal Market
• People close to the CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang merger suggest that the new firm might already reached an agreement to merge with a U.S. firm. (The Lawyer)
• New Jersey has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that struck down the state’s 2012 law that legalized sports gambling, and it is represented by former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. (WSJ Law Blog)
• During the Obama years, four practice areas have flourished: for legal issues related to cybersecurity, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, corporate monitorships and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (National Law Journal)
• “Cozy relationships“: In August, a Deutsche Bank risk officer rejected his share of a $16.5 million SEC whistleblower reward, protesting that no corporate executives were prosecuted. His criticism highlighted concerns about SEC chair Mary Jo White’s past corporate links through her time at Debevoise & Plimpton, and her husband’s partnership at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. (Corporate Counsel)
• A California lobbyist’s campaign against Chinese investment in the U.S. film industry has attracted attention from the Government Accountability Office, which could create more scrutiny of such investments. (Bloomberg)
• Singapore law firm RHTLaw Taylor Wessing has been boosting its lawyer headcount to “branch out” in preparation to compete with PwC, and the possible arrival of other Big Four accounting firms. (Straits Times)
• A secret club of top in-house lawyers for powerful banks met in Versailles to discuss how to respond to class-action lawyers seeking big settlements from banks. (Bloomberg/Big Law Business)
• The once high-flying blood-testing startup Theranos Inc. is under legal siege. (Bloomberg News/Big Law Business)
• Viacom Inc. board members studying a potential merger with CBS Corp. have hired Debevoise & Plimpton LLP to advise them, as well as financial advisers Morgan Stanley, Allen & Co. and LionTree Advisors LLC. (Bloomberg)
Trump v. Clinton
• Donald Trump may be the first presidential candidate to question the integrity of America’s voting before Election Day. His running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, however, vowed that he and Trump will “absolutely accept” the result of the election. (Bloomberg)
• Leaked emails suggest that Qatar representatives sought “five minutes” with former President Bill Clinton to present him with a $1 million check for his foundation. Pence said that report and others show the media is ignoring “real, hard evidence of corruption” by the Clintons. (New York Times/Daily Beast)
• Attorney Lisa Bloom said her client Lisa Harth accused Trump of sexual harassment three months ago, after filing a suit in 1997, and feels “vindicated” now that other women are coming out with similar allegations. Video. (Bloomberg)
• Recent polls indicate that Trump is losing support among women. (Bloomberg)
• Then again, polling has never been an exact science, and recently it has gotten worse, as demonstrated by incorrect forecasts on the U.K.’s Brexit vote and the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. (Bloomberg)
• Paula Jones has complained of being used by conservatives vis-a-vis her allegations that Bill Clinton sexually harassed her years ago, but still attended the recent presidential debate to support Donald Trump. (The Daily Beast)
SCOTUS and Other Courts
• Backtracking from her own comments for the second time in three months, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she was wrong to criticize San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick for not standing during the national anthem. (Bloomberg)
• San Diego Superior Court Judge Gary Kreep, who publicly questioned whether President Obama was born in the U.S., could be removed from office for unrelated allegations that he misbehaved in and out of the courtroom, including making inappropriate comments about female lawyers. (The Recorder)
• Microsoft Corp. should be forced to turn over customer e-mails stored on servers in Ireland, the U.S. said in asking a full federal appeals court to overturn an “unprecedented” decision by a panel of its judges. (Bloomberg BNA)
• The recent federal appeals court ruling that among other things rejected the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was “wrongly decided” and is unlikely to stand, the agency said in a separate enforcement case. (Bloomberg BNA)
Laterals and Moves
• South Korea has allowed Latham & Watkins to open a branch in Seoul to provide international law-related consultancy services and other services with local law firms, the country’s Ministry of Justice said. (Yonhap News)
• A prominent Clifford Chance corporate partner and banking co-head Patrick Sarch is said to be leaving the elite U.K. firm for White & Case’s London office. (The Lawyer)
• Reed Smith’s new global chair of diversity and inclusion, John Iino, said he has “huge shoes to fill” in succeeding his predecessor Deborah Broyles, who died last month. (Big Law Business)
Technology
• The view of lawyers as Luddites is no longer completely accurate, as a handful of firms have recently announced partnerships to implement machine learning and other artificial intelligence tools. (Legaltech News)
• U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden suggested the Obama administration could retaliate against Russia for interference with the U.S. presidential election. (Financial Times)
• E-Discovery company kCura’s new mission statement signals that it plans to expand to point its technology at other industries. (Above The Law)
• French internet service provider Orange this morning has been mistakenly blocking subscribers from accessing Google, Wikipedia and other sites, and routing some of these users to warnings posted on the Interior Ministry web page for a program aimed at fighting terrorists’ use of the internet. (ZDNet, in French)
Legal Education
• A Duke research institute recently appointed professor Laura F. Edwards, who is writing a book on the legal history of U.S. slaves and married women in the 19th century, to head its research on legal diversity. (Big Law Business)
Miscellaneous
• A prominent Canadian lawyer, P. James Prentice, who in 2014 became Alberta’s premier, died at age 60 with three other people in an Oct. 13 plane crash. (Am Law Daily)
• The U.K. dropped out of businesses’ top five locations for investments for the first time in seven years as fears about the country’s plans to exit the E.U. added complexity to international deals, consultants Ernst & Young LLP said in a survey of executives. (Bloomberg)
Compiled by Rick Mitchell and edited by Gabe Friedman.