Judge Pauline Newman suspended, Hunter Biden will plead not guilty to gun charges, Giuliani sued over unpaid legal fees and more ??

?? Good morning from The Legal File! Here are today's top legal stories:

???? US appeals judge, 96, suspended in rare clash over fitness

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday suspended Judge Pauline Newman from hearing new cases amid a deepening clash over the 96-year-old jurist's mental competence to serve on the bench.

A council of judges on the D.C. court unanimously said Newman had failed to cooperate with an investigation into her fitness and barred her from hearing new cases for at least one year or until she sits for court-ordered medical examinations.

"We are acutely aware that this is not a fitting capstone to Judge Newman's exemplary and storied career," the council said, but added it had no choice when "a judge of this Court is no longer capable of performing the duties of her judicial office."

Read more about this highly unusual, public, and contentious internal dispute over competency in the federal judiciary: https://reut.rs/3sYO1Ki

??♂? Hunter Biden will plead not guilty to gun charges

Last week, Hunter Biden became the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be?criminally indicted when prosecutors charged him with three criminal counts related to the fact that he was lying about using illegal drugs when he bought a firearm. He plans to plead not guilty. Hunter Biden and prosecutors earlier had reached a plea deal over tax and gun charges, but it collapsed.

Hunter Biden, 53, is at the center of a political maelstrom, as House Republicans mount an?impeachment inquiry?against his father focused on alleged ties between his business practices and his father's policies during his father's tenure as vice president from 2009 to 2017.

Read more: https://reut.rs/3sZSvjN

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made his first appearance on Capitol Hill since the DOJ’s criminal charges against Donald Trump and Hunter Biden.

Garland told a Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives committee on Wednesday that he runs a nonpolitical department that does not do the bidding of the president or lawmakers.

"Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate," Garland told the House Judiciary Committee, adding that, "I am not the president’s lawyer. I will add I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people."

Watch the hearing: https://reut.rs/3t6G5Xi

?? Giuliani sued over $1.4 million in unpaid legal fees

Rudy Giuliani is facing a lawsuit that claims the former New York mayor owes a law firm nearly $1.4 million in unpaid legal fees connected to his work as?Donald Trump's personal lawyer.

New York law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron said Giuliani has paid only $214,000 of nearly $1.6 million in legal expenses and fees he racked up between November 2019 and July 2023, according to a complaint filed on Monday in New York state court.

Robert Costello, a partner at the firm, represented Giuliani in probes by federal and state prosecutors into Trump’s attempts to overturn the?2020 presidential election, an investigation into Giuliani’s business and political?activities in Ukraine, and a U.S. House panel’s inquiry into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to the complaint.

The firm also helped coordinate Giuliani’s defense in various civil lawsuits and attorney disciplinary proceedings, according to the lawsuit.

Read more: https://reut.rs/46eS8QP

?? Arnold & Porter joins influx of law firms to Boston

U.S. law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer on Wednesday said it has opened an office in Boston and hired a co-leader of hometown firm Foley Hoag's life sciences industry group.

Hemmie Chang will leave Foley to lead Arnold & Porter's new Boston office, which the Washington, D.C.-founded firm said will focus on life sciences and healthcare transactions, litigation, regulatory counseling, and government investigations.

Read more about the new Boston office: https://reut.rs/45WHfDy

Meanwhile in Dallas, Chicago-founded Seyfarth Shaw joined a wave of out-of-state law firms expanding or setting up shop in Texas, launching an office in the city with a newly hired team from rival firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.

Read more: https://reut.rs/463FYe0

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

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