• The median spend on legal services showed a modest increase in 2016, as 47 percent of companies reported increased legal budgets, slightly more than the 43 percent that reported decreases and the 10 percent where the budget remained flat, according to a survey by the consultancy CEB Global. (Corporate Counsel)
• Bankruptcy lawyer Chuck Tatelbaum says a lot of lawyers are clowns, but he has a degree to be one. Once a year the Fort Lauderdale-based attorney performs as a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. (Daily Business Review)
• Airbnb Inc. dropped its bid to block New York state from enforcing a new law restricting short-term sublets, as the company continues talks with New York City over the issue.(Bloomberg via BLB)
• When comedian Dave Chappelle recently signed an estimated $60 million deal with Netflix to produce three standup specials, it was the latest fruit of an 11-year relationship with his lawyer, Cleveland-based Squire Patton Boggs partner Frederick Nance, who’s in line to become the firm’s managing partner in January. (Am Law Daily)
• BLB talks to Chicago Cubs General Counsel Lydia Wahlke, who entered the legal profession after spending four years at Miramax Films as a video editor and field producer. (BLB)
Legal Market
• A look at big law attorneys working in offices in remote locations, ranging from Mongolia, Myanmar, Falkland Islands to St. Thomas in the Caribbean. (American Lawyer)
• King & Wood Mallesons faces a cloudy future after its European and Middle East partners failed to raise enough capital to plug up holes in its balance sheet caused by the exits of several key partners. (BLB)
• Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and its New York-based partner James Bernard are heading into this holiday week after a big payday. On Nov. 11, the firm received a wire transfer of about $40 million stemming from a federal judgement that linked Iran to international acts of terrorism. (BLB)
• Billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch’s company fought for years to hold on to millions of dollars in profit from Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. That battle just paid off, and victims won’t like it. (Bloomberg via BLB)
• A Schiff Hardin partner got $20 million from an Illinois hospital that agreed to pay that much to settle the attorney’s malpractice suit. (Am Law Daily)
• Monsanto Co. was sued on behalf of shareholders over claims its chief executive stands to collect $18 million in cash and benefits from a planned acquisition by Bayer AG, and that board members stand to also improperly profit. (Bloomberg)
• Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. is accusing Gary Tanner and Andrew Davenport of trying to defraud the company in a case involving a mail-order pharmacy. But lawyers for the two men say they were just doing their jobs in full view of sharp-minded senior Valeant managers. (Bloomberg)
• A California company is suing L’Oreal for patent infringement and false advertising over an award-winning hair product popular with celebrities, a year after the French cosmetics giant tried and failed to acquire the start-up. (Financial Times)
Thanksgiving
• Lawyers against hunger and other Oklahoma groups are distributing food aid and other help for Thanksgiving. (Tulsa Business Legal News)
More on the Transition to a Trump presidency
• In what would be a real long-shot effort, a group of election lawyers and prominent computer scientists are said to have found irregularities in the presidential election vote count and asking Hillary Clinton’s team to consider a recount in three key swing states. (Jezebel)
• The simultaneous rise of Donald Trump and interest rates may not be great news for troubled companies, but it’s likely to be a boon for advisers who specialize in fixing them. (Bloomberg)
• In a meeting with reporters Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump said he does not intend to carry out his threat to push for further investigations into Hillary Clinton’s email scandal. (New York Times)
• Trump has derided clean energy and vowed to gut environmental regulations that hinder jobs, while pledging to revive the mining industry. But renewable energy executives and investors say economics, not environmental rules and government subsidies. are now the key drivers for clean power. (Bloomberg)
• With Trump due to take office in less than two months, immigration lawyers are advising their jittery clients to to “stay in the shadows.” (Mother Jones)
• As Canada and the U.S. try to work out what their trade relationship will be under Trump, a new spat has broke between them, this time over drywall imports. (Bloomberg)
• Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama say he has “no worries” about Trump’s election, as once the businessman has the responsibilities of office he will align his policies with global realities. (Bloomberg)
Happening in SCOTUS and Other Courts
• A Texas federal judge on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Obama administration’s proposals for changes to regulations that would have doubled the salary threshold for overtime pay for most employees. (National Law Journal)
• The U.S. Supreme Court sent a clear signal that it intends to fight bait-and-switch tactics by petitioners, in a recent antitrust case involving billions of dollars and household names like Visa, MasterCard, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. (Bloomberg BNA via BLB)
• A San Francisco federal appeals court Tuesday affirmed a decision rejecting a computer programmer’s bid to recoup millions in royalties from Electronic Arts Inc. on sales of the company’s popular John Madden Football video game series. (The Recorder)
• Robert Orr, a former associate judge on the North Carolina Supreme Court, discusses allegations that the Republican-controlled state legislature is trying to pack the court with Republicans after voters decided on a Democratic court. (Bloomberg)
• In a case that could eventually affect the balance of legislatures across the country, a federal court in Wisconsin has for the first time struck down what it ruled to be a partisan gerrymander. (Bloomberg View)
• U.S. House Republicans on Monday asked a federal appeals court to postpone a case over funding for Obamacare, contending that the Trump administration should get dibs on settling or dismissing the case. (National Law Journal)
Laterals
• The New York Times said Monday it is promoting its deputy general counsel Diane Brayton to general counsel, starting Jan. 1. She takes over from Kenneth Richieri, who is retiring after holding the job since 2006. (BLB)
Technology
• Fewer H-1B visas for engineers, surveillance, M&A’s and taxes: How will Trump’s election affect the technology industry? (TechCrunch)
• The U.S. Department of Justice declined to step in to address potential First Amendement issues raised by a nationwide class-action targeting Trump’s campaign organization over unsolicited text messages. (National Law Journal)
• AppNexus Inc., operator of one of the biggest digital advertising services, has barred Breitbart News from using its ad-serving tools because the conservative online publisher violated its hate speech rules. The move highlights technology companies’ quandary in trying to police editorial content without limiting free speech. (Bloomberg)
• How Apple lost market share in China to two unknown local smartphone makers. (Bloomberg)
Legal Education
• The American Bar Association is cracking down on law schools whose graduates tend to fare poorly on state bar exams. (Wall Street Journal)
• The University of Virginia Law School career services office recently had some “testy words” for students said to have complained about the office’s long and complicated emails. (Above The Law)
Miscellaneous
• Perspective: Fictional female lawyers on TV behaving in stereotypical ways or doing unrealistic things can have “sticky” and even mildly dangerous impacts on the public’s perceptions of these professionals in the real world. (BLB)
• George Bramblett, a well-known Dallas civil trial lawyer and founding partner of one of the city’s largest law firms, Haynes and Boone, died Monday at age 76. (Texas Lawyer)
Compiled by Rick Mitchell and edited by Gabe Friedman.