The Supreme Court will hear a slate of highly charged disputes when the justices return to the bench in the new year and resume one of the most politically volatile terms in recent memory, reports The Hill.

The court already has heard high-profile fights over LGBT rights in the workplace, the scope of the Second Amendment and the deportation status of nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants. But the remaining cases on the court’s docket are no less explosive, write The Hill‘s John Kruzel and Harper Neidig.

The top seven cases to be heard this session involve a separation of powers fight over President Trump’s financial records, Louisiana’s abortion law, religious school scholarships, religious exemptions from discrimination suits, the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a fight over how copyright law treats software interfaces, and Bridgegate and public corruption.

Read the Hill article.

The former general counsel of Faraday & Future Inc. sued the company for $106 million Jan. 3, according to a Bloomberg Law article.

Hong Liu, a China expert, claimed in Manhattan federal court that the electric car startup lured him away from a Mayer Brown LLP partnership by fraudulently overstating its prospects.

He alleges top executives made false claims about a pending $2 billion investment to persuade him to abandon his lucrative practice and move his family from New York to California. The investment didn’t materialize, and Liu alleges he was fired after less than a year without receiving the compensation he’d been promised: $6 million in cash and 20 million shares—valued at $100 million—in Faraday affiliate Smart King Ltd.

Read the Bloomberg article.

Bloomberg Law reports that Apple Inc. general counsel Katherine Adams earned more than $25.2 million in total compensation during 2019, down slightly from a year earlier, according to a preliminary proxy statement filed Jan. 3.

Adams receives $1 million in annual cash compensation, with the balance coming in the form of restricted stock awards in the company.

“Adams replaced the retiring Bruce Sewell as the company’s general counsel, having previously spent 14 years in-house at Honeywell International Inc., the last eight of which she served as its in-house legal chief,” writes Bloomberg’s Brian Baxter. “Before that Adams spent a decade at Sidley Austin, where she was an associate and partner.”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Two Gray Reed lawyers give their take on a recent Texas appellate court’s ruling in Mesa v. Deep Energy, an opinion that will have profound impacts on mineral liens and contractual provisions purporting to waive mineral liens.

Writing on the firm’s website, Ethan Wood and Joe Virene describe the case in which Mesa sued Deep Operating for failing to pay fully for work Mesa performed on three wells. Deep Operating’s parent company claimed that Mesa contractually waived its right to assert liens against Deep Operating’s wells and waived its right to seek payment on the contract from any entity other than Deep Operating, which at that point was in bankruptcy.

“Relying on a 2012 case out of the Dallas Court of Appeals and a 2015 decision from the Texas Supreme Court, the Houston Court concluded that when a party to a contract agrees to seek payment or damages only from one source to the exclusion of all others, that party has effectively waived its rights to such payment or damages from other parties,” the authors write.

Read the article.

Faegre Baker Daniels is being sued for legal malpractice by a company that says the firm provided “erroneous” legal services relating to the launch and operation of a fund set up to acquire and manage crypto assets, according to a Bloomberg Law report.

Digital Capital Management’s complaint alleges that the law firm provided “inaccurate analysis and advice” to Digital Capital’s predecessor, Crypto Asset Management, LP, regarding how to register under the Investment Advisers Acts of 1940.

Crypto Asset Management alleges the firm advised the plaintiffs that “Crypto Assets are not securities” and to thus structure the fund’s business “accordingly.” The advice was “erroneous,” the complaint says, resulting in a censure and penalty from the SEC.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

A financial tug-of-war is emerging over the $13.5 billion that the nation’s largest utility has agreed to pay to victims of recent California wildfires, as government agencies jockey for more than half the money to cover the costs of their response to the catastrophes, reports Insurance Journal.

Pacific Gas & Electric had acknowledged that  its power lines ignited some of the 2017-2018 fires that caused billions in damages. The company declared bankruptcy nearly a year ago as it faced about $36 billion in claims.

“Those claims were settled as part of the $13.5 billion deal that PG&E reached last month with lawyers representing uninsured and underinsured victims,” explains the Journal‘s Daisy Nguyen.

But the settlement leaves open just how much would be used to compensate victims, their lawyers and federal and state agencies for the money they spent on rescue and recovery operations.

Read the Insurance Journal report.

The Louisville Courier Journal is reporting that Kentucky’s attorney general is asking the FBI to investigate former Gov. Matt Bevin’s pardons.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, cited concern for public safety in a letter he wrote to state legislators who had asked him to launch a state investigation into the pardons. The 650 pardons and commutations included cases involving a convicted child rapist and a man convicted of reckless homicide and robbery.

Cameron told the legislators he and his office will assist federal, state and local investigators as needed.

Read the  Courier Journal article.

“Sneaky data can be the most lethal to any corporate entity – the data that hides in the dark corners of most companies and goes largely unnoticed – until is it found by a bad actor.” warn Gina Ginn Greenwood and Brad Moody of Baker Donelson’s Publications.

Many copiers today are equipped with smart technology, allowing confidential data to be stored when scanning, printing, faxing, etc. In light of this, organizations must treat copiers as other smart technology. The authors provide a list of best practices for managing smart copiers/equipment.

Read the article.

Careful drafting of employment arbitration agreements due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision affecting an employer’s ability to enforce such agreements is critical, warn Art Silbergel and Kacey Riccomini in a post on Thompson Coburn’s website.

The publication states “In the interim, employers and their counsel need to carefully consider options in drafting arbitration agreements that address the new law that may help in compelling a court complainant to arbitrate the claims. Anyone creating, revising or reviewing agreements to arbitrate employment disputes should consider” their 23 tips.

Read the article.

“An indemnification remedy against sellers (subject to a cap) continues to find its way into many private company acquisition agreements,” explains Glenn D. West in  Global Private Equity Watch’s Glenn West Musings.

He writes “absent an exclusive remedy provision, a non-breaching party is entitled to damages under the common law for a breaching party’s failure to abide by the terms of the contract irrespective of whether that contract contains an indemnification clause.” Further “the historical fact that indemnification was not normally associated with direct (or first party) claims continues to cause courts some confusion and requires care by deal lawyers to avoid misunderstandings and unintended results.”

Read the article.

When it comes to physician employment agreements, non-compete provisions can be controversial and tricky, warns A. Kevin Troutman in Fisher Phillips’ Non-Compete and Trade Secrets Blog.

Such provisions can “restrict a doctor from practicing in a specified geographic area for a stipulated period of time after termination of their employment,” he writes. “The key question is when do such provisions become unreasonable? The analysis becomes even more complicated when factoring in the unique bond between patients and their doctors. After all, most patients’ sense of loyalty lies with their physician, not with a particular hospital, clinic or medical group.”

Read the article.

Andrea Kotrosits has joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Washington, D.C., office as an associate in the Litigation Practice Group and as a member of the Policyholder Insurance Coverage team.

In a release, the firm said Kotrosits focuses her practice on policyholder insurance coverage matters. Prior to joining Bradley, she practiced at Weisbrod Matteis & Copley PLLC. During law school, she worked with in-house counsel at a financial services company and later as a law clerk at a firm handling mostly employment discrimination and False Claims Act matters.

Kotrosits received her J.D. (cum laude) from George Mason University School of Law. She also holds a Master of Public Policy from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) from Lafayette College.

Mark R. Ustin of Farrell Fritz has been elected president of St. Catherine’s Center for Children’s board of directors.

St. Catherine’s offers services and programs to about 1,000 children and 500 families in the Capital Region annually. Their programs address issues of homelessness, child abuse and neglect, family instability, and special education.

Ustin, an Albany, NY, resident, is a partner and head of the firm’s New York State Regulatory & Government Relations practice group. He earned his J.D. at St. John’s University School of Law and his B.A. at Fordham University.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP announced that 17 attorneys have joined the firm as associates across the firm’s offices in Birmingham; Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; Huntsville, Ala; and Nashville, Tenn.

The firm’s new associates in each Bradley office are as follows:

Birmingham

Cortlin Bond is a member of the Litigation Practice Group. She received her J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Alabama School of Law, where she served as production editor of the Alabama Law Review. She received her Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from the University of Alabama.

Mary Nobles Hancock is a member of the Corporate and Securities Practice Group. She received her J.D. (magna cum laude) from Washington and Lee University School of Law, where she served as executive editor of the Washington and Lee Law Review. During law school, she served as a judicial extern for Judge Elizabeth K. Dillon of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. She received her Bachelor of Science from Vanderbilt University.

Kelsie M. Overton is a member of the Litigation Practice Group. She received her J.D. (magna cum laude) from Washington University School of Law, where she served as a senior editor of the Washington University Law Review. She was a Dean’s Fellow and graduated with a certificate in Public Interest Law. While in law school, she was a member of the women’s law caucus and served on the public service advisory board. She received her Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from Birmingham-Southern College.

Corbin C. Potter is a member of the Construction and Litigation practice groups. He received his J.D. (magna cum laude) from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, where he served as student materials editor and junior editor for the Cumberland Law Review. He was a Judge Abraham Caruthers Fellow at law school. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (magna cum laude) from Auburn University.

Connor J. Rose is a member of the Construction Practice Group. He received his J.D. (cum laude) from the University of Georgia School of Law, where he served as articles editor for the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law. During law school, he mediated more than 50 cases to agreement as a registered mediator with the state of Georgia. He served as a judicial intern for Judge Karon O. Bowdre of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. He received his Bachelor of Science from Gettysburg College.

Daniel C. Tankersley is a member of the Real Estate Practice Group. He received his J.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he served as staff editor for the Federal Courts Law Review and associate cases editor for the Mississippi Law Journal. He received his Bachelor of Music (summa cum laude) from Samford University.

Charlotte, N.C.

Samuel M. Dearstyne is a member of the Litigation Practice Group. He received his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he was a Dean’s Fellow and Honors Writing Scholar and served as managing editor of the North Carolina Law Review. He interned for Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. He received his Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude) from North Carolina State University.

Anna-Bryce Flowe is a member of the Construction Practice Group. She received her J.D. (cum laude) from Wake Forest University School of Law, where she was senior notes and comments editor for the Wake Forest Journal of Business and Intellectual Property. She served as a law clerk for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina. During law school, she interned for Judge J. Michelle Childs of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina and Judge Mark Davis of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. She received her Bachelor of Science from New York University.

Rachel M. LaBruyere is a member of the Litigation Practice Group. She received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law. During law school, she worked for the ACLU of North Carolina, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s trial and appellate practices. Prior to law school, she did digital strategy work for organizations and campaigns in Washington, D.C. She received her Master of Arts from American University and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dallas

David C. Miller is a member of the Litigation Practice Group. He received his J.D. from the University of Iowa College of Law, where he served as the senior articles editor for the Iowa Law Review and worked in the law school’s clinical law program. He clerked for Judge Ed Kinkeade of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. He attended the Baylor Law School Academy of the Advocate in St. Andrews, Scotland, and received his Bachelor of Arts from Baylor University.

Huntsville, Ala.

Collin Keller is a member of the Corporate and Securities Practice Group. He received his J.D. (magna cum laude) from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he served as managing editor of the Alabama Law Review and as a senator for the Student Bar Association. He received his Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude) from Auburn University.

Hunter Pearce is a member of the Litigation Practice Group. He received his J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Alabama Law Review. He clerked with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, serving Chief Judge W. Keith Watkins and Senior Judges Myron H. Thompson and W. Harold Albritton III. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Auburn University. As an undergraduate, he served as a legislative intern for former U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions.

Nashville, Tenn.

Bethany Breeze Davenport is a member of the Tax and Bankruptcy practice groups. She received her J.D. from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Kentucky Law Journal. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Transylvania University.

Madison Crooks Haynes is a member of the Economic Development Practice Group. She received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she was senior publication editor for the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration (magna cum laude) from Belmont University.

Daniel L. Lawrence is a member of the Litigation Practice Group. He received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he served was a member of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. He received his Bachelor of Science (magna cum laude) from Tulane University.

Sarah Staples is a member of the Healthcare Practice Group. She received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School. During law school, she served as president of the Black Law Students Association and as a member of the Council for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Prior to law school, she worked in consulting, specializing in community relations. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University.

Richard W.F. Swor is a member of the Litigation Practice Group. He received his J.D. (summa cum laude) from Belmont University College of Law, where he served as the executive events editor of the Belmont Law Review. While in law school, he interned for Judge Joseph A. Woodruff in Tennessee’s 21st Judicial District. He also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Science, both from Belmont University.

Eversheds Sutherland announced the election of six new U.S. partners effective January 1, 2020.

The following attorneys have been elected partner:

From the Corporate and Financial Services Practice Group: Kristin Burns, New York; Rob Ellis, Atlanta; Matthew Hazlett, Washington DC.

From the Litigation Practice Group: Frank Nolan, New York; Matthew Rawlinson, Houston.

From the Tax Practice Group: Caroline Setliffe, Washington DC.

The ABA Journal reports that a lawsuit claims that Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and its lawyers took advantage of a corporate CEO who was suffering from substance abuse and mental health problems.

The Journal‘s Debra Cassens Weiss explains:

“The suit, filed in state court in New York, says Akin Gump took over finances and bookkeeping for Future Media Architects, a family-owned company that acquires and sells internet domain names. Akin Gump also directed and negotiated the sale of the domain names, often without input from its then-CEO and half owner, Thunayan Al-Ghanim, the suit says.”

…

“But eventually,” the suit alleges, “Akin Gump—aware that Thunayan was in no condition to monitor either FMA’s or Akin Gump’s activities—took advantage of the opportunity to loot FMA’s assets for personal profit.”

Read the  ABA Journal article.

A former Skadden attorney is suing Sullivan & Cromwell for legal malpractice, claiming that the firm represented a client in a matter for which one of its partners had once been an arbitrator, in violation of ethics rules, reports Bloomberg Law.

The plaintiff, Andrew Delaney, claims that Sullivan & Cromwell acted “unlawfully” and “unethically” in the international arbitration matter, according to Bloomberg’s Melissa Heelan Stanzione.

“The Harvard Law School graduate’s complaint alleges that Sullivan & Cromwell partner James H. Carter chaired an arbitration panel that found in favor of Delaney’s clients, and the firm subsequently “proceeded to represent the losing party” to oppose enforcement of the award,” Stanzione writes.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law tells the story of a nonprofit consumer advocacy and education group, Law School Transparency, that has become a key part of a shift in how consumers weigh the benefits versus the substantial costs of law school.

One of the early findings of the 10-year-old nonprofit was that high starting salary salaries often listed for law school graduates were based on a low number of alumni responses.

A  more-effort led to a revision of accreditation standards to require 75 percent of each school’s graduates to pass the bar exam within two years of graduation, in order to ensure schools only admit students equipped for practicing law.

Read the Bloomberg article.

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics will present its Internal Investigations Workshop, January 22-24, 2020, in San Francisco.

The workshop provides two days of focused training on conducting compliance-related internal investigations. The domestic workshops also offer an optional third day post conference. Experienced compliance professionals who have in-depth experience in the challenges and opportunities in conducting internal investigations will lead the training.

Topics include:

• Understanding and assessing the initial allegation of wrongdoing
• Creating an investigation plan
• Gathering evidence
• Conducting interviews, including the subject of the investigation
• Conclusions and root-cause analysis
• Writing your report
• Avoiding pitfalls and legal risks

Register for the event or get details.

A Texas court concluded that “personal effects,” in a last will and testament did not include mineral royalties, report Charles Sartain and Rusty Tucker in Gray Reed’s Energy & the Law blog.

The case involves a woman’s will that listed her checking account and miscellaneous property. The will also directed her independent executor to receive “all my personal effects to clear my estate after my death.”

The will did not mention mineral royalties that the executor started transferring to his personal account. Her heirs contested the executor’s use of those royalties.

Read the article.