Paul Clement takes on another gun law, Kobre & Kim to represent Russia's Abramovich, and Crypto.com adds former K&L Gates partner
Reuters Legal
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???Good morning. Paul Clement joins challenge to New York law allowing gun lawsuits, law firm Kobre & Kim to represent Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, Crypto.com hired ex-K&L Gates partner to legal team, Emails show Biden planned to nominate anti-abortion judge day before SCOTUS ruling. Here is today's Legal File ??
Paul Clement and Erin Murphy, who left Kirkland & Ellis over its decision to no longer handle Second Amendment litigation, already have a gun case at their new firm.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation has hired Clement and Murphy to appeal a judge's rejection of its challenge to a New York law that allows the state and people affected by gun violence to sue gun manufacturers.
NSSF, a firearms industry trade group, and gun manufacturers including Smith & Wesson Brands and Sturm, Ruger & Co are asking the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate their lawsuit challenging the law.
The pair left Kirkland on June 23, hours after Clement notched a major win on gun rights at the U.S. Supreme Court, which sided with Clement and Murphy’s client in a ruling striking down New York state's limits on carrying concealed handguns in public.
New York-based Kobre & Kim has registered to represent Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in the United States, a firm spokesperson said.
This marks the first foreign-agent registration by U.S. lawyers to work for a Russian client since Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. Many major American law firms have sought to drop Russian state-linked clients in court cases and other legal matters since the invasion.
Kobre & Kim co-founder Michael Kim said in a statement that the firm "is pleased to offer its assistance in matters of legal importance to ensure the law is fairly applied," and cited Abramovich's involvement in peace talks early on in the war and his humanitarian work.
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Crypto.com has expanded its legal department, adding former U.S. law firm partner Stephen Humenik of K&L Gates to serve as head of the cryptocurrency exchange's global derivatives unit, a company spokesperson confirmed.
Humenik had been an investment management partner in Washington, D.C., and Chicago at K&L Gates since 2019. The hiring of Humenik for a newly created position followed other senior-level attorney additions in recent months at Crypto.com, the sixth-largest crypto exchange by daily volume, according to researcher CryptoCompare.
Humenik, whose career earlier included policy and enforcement roles at derivatives regulator U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is joining the company amid a broad downturn in the crypto market, hit by investor volatility.
In other news...
Newly released emails show that President Joe Biden planned to nominate a Republican opposed to abortion to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge in Kentucky a day before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear's office released emails from a White House official advising that Biden intended to nominate Chad Meredith, a former state solicitor general, on June 24 to serve as a district court judge.
A Democrat, Biden has been sharply criticized by progressives in his own party and abortion rights organizations like Planned Parenthood since reports emerged last week that the White House was considering Meredith, a conservative who has defended abortion restrictions in Kentucky.
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