Illinois firm founder suspended, Latino leaders 'bewildered' by U-turn, renewed push for judge security bill, and Freshfields grows in Silicon Valley

???Good morning from the Legal File! On the docket today:

An Illinois law firm founder was suspended for five months after admitting to deceiving his partners. U.S. District Judge David Hurd’s decision to rescind his plan to take senior status the day after Jorge Alberto Rodriguez was nominated has caused "deep concern" among Latino leaders. The federal judiciary is renewing calls for Congress to pass a bill aimed at bolstering judges' security. And finally, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer hired Brandon Gantus from Wilson Sonsini in Silicon Valley.

?? Illinois law firm founder faces suspension for faking capital contribution

Illinois officials this week recommended a five-month suspension for an attorney who admitted he lied and fabricated documents to convince his partners he had invested tens of thousands of dollars into launching their firm.

Chicago lawyer James Rollins fooled his colleagues into thinking he had paid more than $81,000 toward his promised $100,000 capital contribution to Sinars Rollins LLC when he really only paid $18,000, an Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission hearing board said Thursday.

Rollins admitted to the deception when his fellow partners confronted him in 2017, the hearing board said. His admissions, as well as his willingness to take responsibility, merited a shorter suspension than what an ARDC prosecutor had recommended, it said.

Rollins, represented by Samuel Manella, a business law professor at DePaul University Driehaus College of Business, told the board that when the misconduct occurred he had not been paid for eight or nine months and was "barely getting by, trying to save his house and marriage and support his then-infant children."

?? ?? 'Bewilderment' from Latino leaders after federal judge rescinds senior status

"Deep concern and bewilderment.”

That’s how a group of prominent Latino legal and civil rights leaders in an open letter on Monday described their reaction to U.S. District Judge David Hurd’s decision to rescind his plan to take senior status the day after Jorge Alberto Rodriguez was nominated to fill his seat in the Northern District of New York, writes columnist Jenna Greene.

Latinos for a Fair Judiciary wrote in a letter saying:

“We urge you to reconsider your decision to effectively block the appointment of Mr. Rodriguez — a highly qualified judicial candidate who would also make history as the first Latino judge to sit on an N.D.N.Y. court.”

While Hurd did not publicly condition his move to senior status on selecting his successor, a smattering of judges in recent years apparently have tried to hand-pick their replacements – a gambit that some legal ethics experts see as problematic.

?? Threats to Trump search-warrant judge prompt renewed push for security bill

The federal judiciary is renewing calls for Congress to pass a stalled bill aimed at bolstering judges' security after the magistrate judge who signed off on a warrant authorizing an FBI search of Donald Trump's Florida home became the subject of online threats.

The chair of a key judiciary security committee and the president of the Federal Judges Association in separate remarks on Thursday pushed for the bill after U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart became the target of a wave of violent, anti-Semitic threats.

Reinhart came under fire by supporters of the former president for signing the search warrant the FBI executed on Monday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

His personal information including home address have been shared on Twitter and far-right forums, according to research by the nonprofit public interest investigative group Advance Democracy.

?? Freshfields hires another Wilson Sonsini partner as firm grows in Silicon Valley

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer on Monday said it has hired Brandon Gantus, continuing its expansion in Silicon Valley two years after the London-founded law firm's arrival there.

Gantus, who advises technology companies on the employee benefits and compensation pieces of transactions, joins 2,800-lawyer Freshfields as a partner after 14 years at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a Palo Alto-founded firm with a large stable of tech industry clients.

Freshfields launched in Silicon Valley in July 2020 with seven partners, mainly recruited from U.S. law firms. By June the firm said it had nearly 40 lawyers there and had moved into a new office with a 10-year lease in Redwood City.

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