• The U.S. Supreme Court’s docket for the coming term includes four intellectual property cases, with several more at the door, making 2016 a “blockbuster” year for trademark and copyright decisions. (Law.com)
• M&A law firms are getting a steady stream of work from some $100 billion in IT and software transactions this year, with more deals on the way. (American Lawyer)
• More than three-quarters of chief executive officers are considering moving either their headquarters or some operations outside of Britain because of the country’s vote to leave the European Union, according to a survey by KPMG. (Bloomberg)
• The legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s plan to rein in carbon pollution from power plants goes to court Tuesday, with a coalition of 27 states, electric utilities, labor unions, business groups, and coal miners set against it. A look at the arguments and what’s at stake. (Bloomberg/Big Law Business)
Legal Market
• Wells Fargo & Co. faces a lawsuit by employees allegedly fired or demoted for missing quotas in the bank’s sham-account scheme, while its board reportedly hired a law firm for advice on potential pay clawbacks linked to the scandal. (Bloomberg)
• It will take U.S. women some 136 years to achieve pay parity with men at the current rate of progress, according to a new report by the American Association of University Women. (Bloomberg)
• The 26 big law firms that applied for the lucrative contract to monitor Herbalife Inc.’s compliance with terms of a recent $200 million settlement came up empty, as the Federal Trade Commission and the company chose the consulting firm Affiliated Monitors Inc. (National Law Journal)
• Chinese law firms deemed to have “pressured” judicial authorities could be fined, lose their licenses or face other penalties under amended Ministry of Justice regulations that critics said continue a government clamp down on lawyers. (South China Morning Post)
• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie used the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey as a “goody bag” to dole out gifts and favors in exchange for political endorsements for his 2013 re-election, the star witness testified at the so-called Bridgegate trial. (Bloomberg)
• Not everyone is happy with the proposed $14.7 billion settlement among Volkswagen, a class of consumers and the federal government. (Bloomberg BNA/Big Law Business)
• Perspective: Sometimes the litigator who litigates best is the litigator who litigates least. (Big Law Business)
• Unemployed people in Scotland are “happier” than people who have jobs in Scotland’s legal sector, according to a recent survey. (Sunday Post)
SCOTUS and Other Court Rulings
• Law professors discuss the Brooklyn federal judge who took Facebook and its lawyers to task last week; and a Bloomberg BNA legal editor discusses the Arizona Supreme Court’s finding that a man didn’t lose his expectation of privacy just because he failed to protect his smartphone. (Bloomberg Radio)
• Practitioners criticized the Brooklyn judge’s comments, which clashed with a recent movement among U.S. judges to actively push younger lawyers into court. (Wall Street Journal)
• Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s latest list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees he would consider as president again favors state and federal judges over big law practitioners. (National Law Journal)
• Leader or dissenter? The outcome of the U.S. presidential election could free Chief Justice John G. Roberts to assertively lead a conservative court or force him to choose between becoming a marginal figure or moving to the left. (New York Times)
• U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy told an audience at the International Bar Association conference in Washington that the acrimonious U.S. political debate could have an impact on the rest of the world’s “verdict on freedom.” (National Law Journal)
• In a recent interview, Judge Robert Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit talked about the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, and his new book about its creation. (National Law Journal)
Laterals and Moves
• Proskauer Rose said last week it will extend benefits for lawyers returning to work after parental leave, in the latest salvo in big law firms’ competition over parental leave policies. (Am Law Daily)
• The lawyers who recently stepped into leadership roles at their big law firms, or who are about to, will face tough challenges in today’s rapidly evolving legal market. (Law.com)
• Former BG Group general counsel Graham Vinter has taken a job at Covington & Burling as head of project finance in London. (The Lawyer)
Technology
• Two Indian students scored a partial victory over Facebook Inc. in a closely watched battle over privacy, though they failed to get the internet giant to reverse policies they say threaten the rights of millions of users. (Bloomberg/Big Law Business)
• U.K.-based Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is the latest major firm to sign up for an artificial intelligence provider, after a year-long trial. (The Lawyer)
• Data from diversity metrics in billing software could help put pressure on law firms to improve their record on hiring women and minority lawyers, but making diversity a determinant of law firm compensation will have a bigger impact, a recent panel said. (Legaltech News)
• The amended rule 26(f)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires parties’ discovery plans to explicitly state proposals on preservation of electronically stored information, isn’t “flashy” but it makes duties clearer, according to recent a panel of eDiscovery experts and judges. (Corporate Counsel)
• Lawsuits accuse Yahoo! Inc. of failing to secure customer data, following the company’s announcement that the personal information of at least 500 million users was stolen in a 2014 hack. (Bloomberg)
• Snapchat said it will start sales this fall of a $129 pair of sunglasses with a built-in camera for shooting video this fall. (Bloomberg)
• WeWork Cos., the world’s largest co-working startup, will revise parts of its employee handbook and tell workers they have the right to form a union as part of a settlement in a National Labor Relations Board case. (Bloomberg)
Legal Education
• Professors teaching at U.S. law schools are addressing current events and social justice movements to illustrate how race and class intersect with law. (National Law Journal)
• A new paper looks at stock trading 131 recent securities fraud class-action settlements to conclude that general counsel were generally aware of fraud, and chose to profit from it. (Big Law Business)
• Kim Kardashian said she wants to go to law school, but she’ll need a college degree first. (The Daily Caller)
Miscellaneous
• New York defense attorney Peter T. Affatato, who practiced on Long Island more than five decades and came to be known as the “dean of trial lawyers,” is dead at at 92. (Newsday)
• A plan by Japan’s federation of bar associations to take its first stand against the country’s death penalty is facing resistance by some of its members. (Chicago Tribune)
• Perspective: What law firms can learn from Darth Vader…(Big Law Business)
Compiled by Rick Mitchell and edited by Gabe Friedman.