Blum drops case over Winston's diversity fellowship, J&J wants plaintiff firm off talc cases, Spencer Fane expands to Salt Lake City, and more ??

?? Affirmative action opponent drops case over Winston & Strawn's diversity fellowship

A group founded by a prominent anti-affirmative action activist on Dec. 6 dropped its latest lawsuit challenging a major U.S. law firm's fellowship program designed to foster diversity after the firm altered its application criteria.

Edward Blum's American Alliance for Equal Rights agreed to dismiss its lawsuit in federal court in Houston, Texas, against Winston & Strawn after the firm eliminated a requirement that applicants to the program belong to "a disadvantaged and/or historically underrepresented group in the legal profession."

The announcement marked the end of the last of three lawsuits that Blum's group has filed so far against law firms alleging their diversity fellowship programs unlawfully exclude certain people, including white students, based on their race.

Blum dropped his two other cases after the firms at issue, Morrison & Foerster and Perkins Coie, similarly altered their application criteria. Several other firms also changed their programs after receiving letters from Blum's group.

Blum's group began suing over the programs after a different organization he founded in June won a landmark ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court on affirmative action.

Read more about the lawsuit.

?? J&J wants top plaintiff firm off talc cases over work with its former lawyer

Johnson & Johnson has asked a federal judge to kick a leading plaintiffs' firm off the mass tort litigation over its talc products, saying that one of its partners teamed up with a former J&J lawyer to thwart the company's strategy to resolve the lawsuits through bankruptcy.

In a motion filed in Trenton, New Jersey, federal court Tuesday, J&J asked U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp to either disqualify Andrew Birchfield and his firm, Beasley Allen, from representing plaintiffs in the case entirely, or to remove them from the plaintiffs' steering committee, where they play a major role in coordinating plaintiffs' attorneys' work and shaping strategy.

Shipp is overseeing a consolidated mass tort litigation encompassing more than 50,000 lawsuits alleging that the company's now-discontinued talc products cause cancer, most by women with ovarian cancer. The company has said its talc products are safe and do not contain asbestos.

The motion says that former Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath partner James Conlan, who worked on the talc litigation for J&J for nearly two years before leaving legal practice in 2022, has formed an "alliance" with Birchfield aimed at defeating J&J's efforts to settle the talc cases in bankruptcy.

According to Tuesday's motion Conlan earlier this year made an offer for Legacy to acquire J&J's talc liabilities and settle them. He said Birchfield was on board with the settlement, which would require at least $19 billion from J&J — more than twice what the company had offered in a bankruptcy package rejected by a court in July.

J&J said the proposed deal, which it rejected recently, would also allow Beasley Allen to be paid $1.5 billion or more in fees, much more than they would get in a bankruptcy settlement.

Read more about J&J's request.

?? Latest US law firm merger boosts Spencer Fane past 500 lawyers

Kansas City, Missouri-founded law firm Spencer Fane said on Dec. 6 it is merging with a small Utah law firm and expanding into Salt Lake City, part of a broader trend of consolidation across the U.S. legal industry.

Spencer Fane said its March 1 merger with Snow Christensen & Martineau will push its attorney headcount to more than 500 lawyers across 25 U.S. offices. Snow Christensen has nearly 50 lawyers and can trace its roots back to 1886, 10 years before Utah became a state.

The merger gives Spencer Fane a foothold in Salt Lake City, which has become a go-to destination for U.S. law firms due to its growing tech sector and fast-growing population.

It comes two months after Spencer Fane completed another merger -- with 15-lawyer Pahl & McCay -- to enter the California legal market.

There have been several large-scale U.S. law firm mergers in 2023, building on a trend of industry consolidation that was briefly disrupted during the pandemic. Notable announced or completed combinations this year include tie-ups between Maynard Cooper & Gale and Nexsen Pruet and Holland & Knight and Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis.

More deals are already in store for next year, including Shearman & Sterling's planned merger with Allen & Overy. On Dec. 5, Midwest law firms Ulmer & Berne and Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale said they will merge to create a "super-regional" firm with 275 lawyers on Feb. 1.

High costs and slow growth will continue to drive mergers among small and regional law firms, according to a report released on Wednesday by Citigroup's Citi Global Wealth at Work Law Firm Group and Hildebrandt Consulting.

Read more about the latest merger.

?? Will law firm Holland & Knight face blame for misdirecting $3 mln to Hong Kong hackers?

Can a national law firm that represented a Delaware corporation in an M&A deal elude Delaware jurisdiction for a malpractice claim arising from the transaction? How about if the merger agreement specifies Delaware Chancery Court as the exclusive forum for deal disputes?

Alison Frankel has a doozy of a tale – featuring phishing emails from hackers who managed to divert millions of dollars from Utah nonprofits to a fake Hong Kong furniture store -- that provides answers to those questions.

Read the column for more.

?? That's all for today, thank you for reading?The Legal File, and have a great day!

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