Desantis replaces Democratic prosecutor, Gibson Dunn's Miami rates gut legal-fee award, ABA group to bolster confidence in elections and more ??
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended Monique Worrell, a county prosecutor, after accusing her of being soft on crime
DeSantis issued an executive order suspending
"Worrell’s practices and policies have too often allowed violent criminals to escape the full consequences of their criminal conduct," DeSantis said in a statement.
Worrell is not the first Florida prosecutor whom DeSantis has dismissed. Last August, he suspended the Democratic state's attorney for Hillsborough County, Andrew Warren, who had pledged that he would not bring criminal cases against people seeking or providing abortions despite legal restrictions that Florida has placed on the procedure.
Worrell, elected in 2020, said her dismissal was an "attack on democracy" and her legal team was exploring options.
U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles slashed a legal-fee request from law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, after a court review said the hourly rates of lawyers defending an investment fund client were "unreasonable" in the Miami legal market.
Gayles awarded about $157,000 in fees and costs to Gibson Dunn, which represented lender Peak One Investments in defeating a startup's lawsuit that sought $15 million in damages.
Plaintiff Social Life Network, a software distribution provider,?accused?Peak One of securities violations and other matters, and said Peak's transactions involving the company harmed its financing efforts. Gayles dismissed the lawsuit in March.
The fee ruling from Gayles upheld?a report?from a federal magistrate who said the rates from Gibson Dunn were above the "prevailing" amount in South Florida and that $700 an hour was a reasonable fee for the case in the Miami market.
Peak One's lawyers?Peak One's lawyers included Gibson Dunn partners Helgi Walker in Washington, D.C., and Barry Goldsmith in New York.
Barry Goldsmith bills at $1,815 an hour, and Helgi Walker, co-chair of Gibson Dunn's litigation practice, charges $1,785, according to?records they filed?in the case.
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The American Bar Association has launched a task force aimed at bolstering public trust in elections
The?31-member?ABA Task Force for American Democracy will look at ways to depoliticize how elections are administered, educate the public on democracy, and try to foster election innovations that address the causes of politicization, the ABA said when it announced the new effort. The task force comes a week after former President Donald Trump was?indicted?on criminal charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election and as the 2024 presidential race is heating up.
ABA task forces are limited by their nature in how much actual change they can effect. But the group hopes to at least expand the conversation about election integrity by holding listening tours, public conversations, and one-on-one and small group discussions with a cross section of Americans to hear about their concerns and experiences, as well as their ideas for restoring democracy, the ABA said.
Johnson said in a statement his work on the task force “may be my greatest service,” adding that government depends on the viability of democracy.
A push to bring more U.S. lawyers back to the office at least four days a week is spreading, most recently to Houston-founded 700-lawyer firm Vinson & Elkins.
Vinson's lawyers and staffers will have to work in the office every weekday except either Monday or Friday starting Sept. 11, its leaders said in an internal memo viewed by Reuters.
The memo from Vinson chair Keith Fullenweider and vice chairs Hilary Preston, Michael Holmes, and James Fox said opportunities for the firm's personnel to connect can be "jeopardized when a substantial number of our people are away from the office on any given day."
Vinson lawyers who are already approved to work remotely full-time will be exempt from the new requirement, the memo said.
Many U.S. law firms that moved to largely remote work due to COVID-19?began ordering?lawyers back to the office at least part-time as the pandemic receded. Others continue to offer greater flexibility, with some?allowing?indefinite remote work.
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