Law degree program axed at California's Golden Gate University, ex-McDermott partner says firm reneged on US pay increase, and more ??

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

???? Law degree program axed at California's Golden Gate University amid accreditation woes

Golden Gate University said that it will discontinue the law school’s Juris Doctor program in May. Officials at the San Francisco school said the Golden Gate University School of Law will not close altogether and will continue to offer non-J.D. graduate and undergraduate degrees.

The move was not unexpected. University officials in May said the law school was in “financial exigency” and that its future was uncertain. The law school in October filed a plan with the American Bar Association laying out how it would handle remaining law students in the event of a closure.

The message cited enrollment declines, a difficult employment market, and low bar exam pass rates as reasons for the closure. For several years Golden Gate has failed to meet the ABA’s accreditation requirement that at least 75% of law schools graduates pass the bar exam within two years.

The school’s two-year pass rate was 63% for the class of 2020 and 67% for the class of 2019, according to ABA data. Golden Gate dramatically reduced the size of its first-year class in 2022 and provided full scholarships to all new full-time J.D. students in a bid to improve sagging bar pass rates and remain accredited, but those measures were not enough to save the J.D. program.

?? Ex-McDermott partner says law firm reneged on US pay increase

David Huberman, a former lawyer at U.S. law firm McDermott Will & Emery said in a new lawsuit that the firm excluded him from a major salary increase for U.S. partners at the firm despite his designation in tax and hiring documents as a Chicago-based attorney.

Huberman, now a corporate shareholder at Greenberg Traurig based in Chicago and Tel Aviv, Israel, said in the complaint in Illinois' Cook County Circuit Court that he was excluded from the 2022 pay increase to $425,000 for income partners because he was living in Israel.

Huberman, who advises Israeli companies on U.S. initial public offerings and other matters, said in the lawsuit that even though he was based in Israel, McDermott required him to be licensed to practice in Illinois as a condition of his hire in April 2021. He said his W2 U.S. tax form listed McDermott's Chicago office as his employer's address.

When McDermott announced Huberman's hire in September 2021, it said he was based out of the firm's home office of Chicago. The firm has about two dozen offices in the United States, Europe and Asia but none in the Middle East.

The lawsuit claims McDermott violated the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act by refusing to pay him the difference between his initial base salary of $300,000 and $425,000 over the course of 10 months, which adds up to over $100,000.

?? Lawyer in hundreds of food labeling lawsuits hit with contempt order

A New York federal judge found that an attorney who has filed hundreds of class actions accusing companies of misleading labeling on foods and other products in civil contempt of court, saying he filed a lawsuit against Starbucks in bad faith.

Senior U.S. District Judge Frederick Scullin Jr issued the order against attorney Spencer Sheehan after dismissing a proposed class action Sheehan filed against Starbucks over the labeling on its French Roast Ground 100% Arabica coffee, saying the lawsuit was unsupported by studies, case law or “reasonable interpretations” of the labeling.

Sheehan, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of plaintiff Kristie Brownell in November 2022, alleged that Starbucks was misrepresenting that the coffee contains no additives.

Scullin noted that Sheehan had filed 18 lawsuits in his district since 2021 – with none making it past the motion to dismiss stage. Scullin said he would decide on Sheehan’s specific sanctions later.

Sheehan, who has garnered headlines for his lawsuits over product labeling, has said that he filed more than 500 lawsuits between January 2020 and April 2023. He has filed lawsuits claiming Kellogg's Strawberry Pop Tarts don’t contain enough strawberries and Walmart’s fudge mint cookies don’t contain any actual fudge or mint . Kellogg and Walmart beat the claims, court records show.

?? Lawyer's oversight shouldn't doom exotic dancer's race-bias case, court rules

A U.S. appeals court ruled that a lawyer's failure to show up for court appearances in her exotic dancer client's race-bias lawsuit against a strip club did not warrant dismissal of the case.

A unanimous three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Kira Fonteneau of Barrett & Farahany in Birmingham, Alabama, may deserve sanctions, but not the "draconian" penalty handed down by the judge who tossed out the lawsuit.

"The oversights, although imperfect, fall short of supporting a clear pattern of delay and willful misconduct," the panel said in an unsigned decision.

The plaintiff, Briona Hubbard, who is Black, claims the "house mom" who managed the Birmingham strip club The Furnace twice refused to hire her because the club already had "too many Black girls."

Hubbard sued in Birmingham federal court in 2022, accusing Best in Town of race discrimination in violation of federal laws.

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

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