Probe into US appeals court judge switches gears, Barber Ranen partners resign over racist emails, global law firms enter Houston, and more ??
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Judge Pauline Newman, a 95-year-old judge of the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals was initially?under investigation ?over whether she has an impairment that interferes with her ability to carry out her responsibilities.
But after she declined to undergo a neurological examination and turn over medical records, the investigative committee said it would not have enough information to determine if Newman had a disability, according to a court order.
The committee, which is comprised of three Federal Circuit judges, said it would continue investigating whether Newman committed misconduct by rebuffing its demands during the probe.
One of Newman's lawyers, Gregory Dolin, told the committee Newman would not submit to an examination until the court lifted its ban on Newman hearing new cases and transferred its investigation to another appeals court, the new documents show.
Dolin, in an interview with Reuters, disputed that she was uncooperative, saying the judge was willing to assist an investigation that was conducted by a "neutral refree."
The name partners of U.S. law firm Barber Ranen, John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen, have resigned after their former law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith found dozens of emails that showed the lawyers using racist, sexist, homophobic, and antisemitic language while they were there, according to Barber Ranen's chief executive officer.
The two men?co-founded Barber Ranen , which launched last month with more than 100 lawyers from Lewis Brisbois. Ranen was in the firm's Los Angeles office and Barber in Newport Beach, California.
Lewis Brisbois said in a statement it was not aware of the emails and that it launched an investigation after it received an anonymous complaint about the lawyers. Dozens of the lawyers' emails, some dating back to 2008, were first reported by the New York Post and later reviewed by Reuters.
Lewis Brisbois' management committee said that the law firm is conducting a full review of Barber and Ranen's correspondence and interviewing other employees.
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London-founded international law firm Clifford Chance is opening an office in Houston with a team of 10 partners to expand its global energy and infrastructure work, it said.
The firm hired seven partners from rival law firms, including Jonathan Castelan and Trevor Lavelle from Latham & Watkins.
Clifford Chance's move into Houston follows a string of other law firms that have opened up offices in the energy hub in recent years, including Sheppard Mullin; O’Melveny & Myers; Dykema Gossett, and Frost Brown Todd since 2020.
Clifford Chance has set its sights on growth in the United States, where it already has more than 300 lawyers and offices in Washington, D.C., and New York.
The move comes as another London-founded global firm, Allen & Overy, seeks to expand in the United States through a?planned merger ?with New York-founded firm Shearman & Sterling.
Texas won the latest round in its antitrust lawsuit accusing Alphabet's Google of violating the law by dominating the process that advertisers use to put ads online as a judicial panel ordered the case returned to federal court in Texas.
At Google's request, the lawsuit had been moved in August 2021 to a federal court in New York, where other advertising technology cases were being heard.
Texas had asked for the lawsuit to be moved back after the U.S. Congress passed the Venue Act in 2022 that grants state attorneys general the right to choose where an antitrust lawsuit will be litigated.
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