The Legal File

Good morning! Here's a look at the latest in the legal industry from Reuters Legal??

• Judge who dealt Palin loss in New York Times case known as a maverick

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan who made the unusual move of saying he would dismiss Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against the New York Times while jurors were still deliberating, is considered a maverick known for tussling with Wall Street regulators and criticizing the U.S. sentencing regimes.

Lawyers who know Rakoff, though, say his decision carried little risk -- Palin could still win a jury verdict that could be restored on appeal, negating the need for a potential retrial -- and was on-brand for a judge known for making his views plain. Carrie Cohen, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan, noted:

"If the facts that were presented at trial demonstrate that they didn’t meet the legal standard, he would not be shy, nor should he be, in dismissing the case.”

Others, including New York University School of Law professor and a friend of Rakoff's, Stephen Gillers, called him an "intellectually independent" judge who trusts his instincts.

We analyze how he gained the 'maverick' tag, diving into his most high-profile cases including the time he declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 2002.

• Making lactating mothers pump in bathroom stalls is not OK, ABA says

The American Bar Association's policy making body overwhelmingly approved a?resolution?urging bar examiners, law schools, bar associations and legal employers to adopt “reasonable and accessible” accommodations for lactating individuals.

Testimony from women in the profession including Kentucky lawyer and founder of the non-profit advocacy group Mothers Esquire, Michelle Browning Coughlin, pointed to inadequate or non-existent accommodation for lactating lawyers across law schools, office spaces and court buildings.

Alabama attorney Daiquiri Steele told the House of Delegates that women are frequently forced to pump in bathrooms or places without adequate seating, noting that:

“Quite simply, a lack of accommodations for nursing individuals creates a barrier to the practice of law.”

The ABA's resolution includes measures including one “off the clock” 30-minute break every three hours; a private or semiprivate place to pump that is not a bathroom; and clear signage directing people to the accommodation area.

• Apple fights $27.5 mln legal fee request in California class action

Apple's lawyers at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison asked a judge to reject a request for $27.5 million in legal fees from plaintiffs' firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, who represented plaintiffs in a $95 million settlement of a consumer class action lawsuit alleging deceptive AppleCare warranty practices.

Paul Weiss partners William Isaacson and Karen Dunn told the court that the litigation was not particularly "risky" and the outcome did not justify an award of 29% of the settlement fund:

"While the settlement represents a fair result for the class, it was by no means exceptional."

Apple is asking to limit the fee to 25% which is the benchmark for courts in California and other states that are part of the 9th Circuit.

• Sanction threat looms for Facebook and Gibson Dunn in privacy class action

At a hearing last week in a class action accusing Facebook of selling user data to Cambridge Analytica and other business partners, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria said he was strongly inclined to make the company — and its lawyers at Gibson Dunn — pay for “stonewalling” plaintiffs on hotly contested discovery. Alison Frankel got hold of a transcript of the hearing. Her take: Facebook and its lawyers are learning that fierce litigation tactics can provoke equally fierce blowback.

The judge came in blazing hot, announcing at the very beginning of the hearing that he had developed “quite a strong preliminary view” that the company’s conduct was sanctionable – and that the Gibson Dunn lawyers who signed Facebook’s briefs are just as much to blame as their client.

Chhabria seemed impatient that the issue has provoked extensive litigation when,

“it seems obvious to me that [the data] was discoverable.”

Frankel submits that she hasn't heard Facebook’s side of the story. But based on Thursday’s hearing, it’s not going to be easy to convince Chhabria to back down.

• Boies Schiller practice leader joins other defectors at rival N.Y. law firm

Boies Schiller Flexner is losing the leader of its sports and gaming practice Helen Maher to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, a rival New York firm that is home to other high-ranking former Boies Schiller partners.

More than 70 Boies Schiller attorneys have left the firm since 2020, including several high-ranking partners and rainmakers. Nearly its entire London office?left?last month alongside Natasha Harrison, a former deputy chair of Boies Schiller and its former leader in London.

Departing lawyers have cited concerns over transparency, culture and the health of the firm, among other factors, as reasons for leaving.

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