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Once More, With Feeling: White House plans another COVID superspreader event.
Amy Coney Barrett Isn’t The Only One Who Doesn’t Know What The First Amendment Says: Jared and Ivanka get blasted by Lincoln Project lawyers.
What?: Speaking of the First Amendment, what’s this guy’s deal?
Ed. Note: Welcome to our daily feature Trivia Question of the Day!
According to Vault’s 2021 practice area rankings, which Biglaw firm tops the project finance list?
Hint: This Wall Street firm was founded more than 150 years ago.
See the answer on the next page.
Waiting is the hardest part.
The more days that tick by, the less likely that any more Biglaw firms will offer their associates fall special bo?. nuses, in recognition of their hard work during the pandemic. It’s nearly November, after all, and lots of firms would rather continue with their normal bonus schedule, even if they intend to eventually give special bonuses. In that way Cravath’s wait-and-see approach has become a model for large swaths of Biglaw.
That certainly seems to be the case at Gibson Dunn. The super successful firm — ranked 11 on the latest Am Law ranking with $2,008,334,000 in gross revenue — will hold off until year end, “after completion of our normal associate/of counsel review process,” according to tipsters. The good news is that the firm seems to be signaling there will, in fact, be special COVID appreciation bonuses (an insider says the firm has referenced “both standard and special” bonuses) and “the firm is and remains fully committed to providing competitive compensation.” And those year-end bonuses will be paid no later than December 22nd, just in time to do a little last minute holiday shopping.
So, Gibson attorneys, how do you feel about the bonuses? Feel free to sound off by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). A fun or insightful response — we’ll keep you anonymous — could find its way into an update to this story.
Please help us help you when it comes to bonus news at other firms. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”) or text us (646-820-8477). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
(Video screenshot via CBS New York)
The persons who did this are criminals who should be brought to justice. And if they thought they were going to intimidate me, they picked the wrong guy.
— Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Randy Mastro, offering a statement after his townhome was vandalized following his representation of the West Side Community Organization in its bid to remove homeless people from a hotel on the Upper West Side. Some of the things spray-painted on the walls of Mastro’s building and sidewalk include “SHAME” and “F*CK YOU RANDY.” Mastro’s family wasn’t home when the vandalism occurred.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
The President was very up in his feelings this morning. He tweeted ten times before noon, mostly broadsides against the media for illegally covering the COVID epidemic.
How can it be “an election law violation” to report on the surging number of coronavirus infections? Who is the “Fake News” coordinating with? And, uh, what “great early election numbers” would the President be referring to?
Trump accused the media, which is a “Cartel” now, of conspiring to hide his opponent’s dementia.
Which is something coming from a guy who consistently refers to “hydrosonic missiles” and “invisible” F-35 airplanes.
We’re currently losing eight hundred American lives every day from coronavirus, and he’s still accusing the media of engaging in a conspiracy for writing about the fact that we’ve crossed the threshold of 80,000 positive tests a day.
“Cases up because we TEST, TEST, TEST. A Fake News Media Conspiracy. Many young people who heal very fast. 99.9%. Corrupt Media conspiracy at all time high. On November 4th., topic will totally change. VOTE!” he scream-tweeted at 8:46. Followed by “The Fake News Media is riding COVID, COVID, COVID, all the way to the Election. Losers!” at 8:58.
Someone needs more fiber in his diet. AHEM.
Here he is last week accusing a reporter of being “a criminal” for “not reporting” the unsubstantiated allegations about Hunter Biden being flogged by his pro bono lawyer and recently indicted former campaign manager.
And in the 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl that he stomped out of and released on Facebook for spite, the President excoriated Lesley Stahl for failing to print his fact-free assertion that Barack Obama “tapped his wires.”
TRUMP: They spied on my campaign and they got caught.
STAHL: Can I just say something? You know, this is 60 Minutes and we can’t put on things we can’t verify.
TRUMP: But you won’t put it on because it’s bad for Biden. Look, let me tell you.
STAHL: We can’t put it on things we can’t verify…
TRUMP: Lesley, they spied on my campaign.
STAHL: We can’t verify that.
TRUMP: It’s been totally verified.
STAHL: No.
TRUMP: It’s been. Just go down and get the papers. They spied on my campaign. They got caught.
STAHL: No.
TRUMP: And then they went much further than that. Then they got caught. And you will see that, Lesley. And you know that. But you just don’t want to put it on the air.
Just go down (where?) and get the papers (what papers?).
We are starting to get the impression that the President doesn’t entirely understand the First Amendment. Which is not exactly news four years into this waking nightmare, but doesn’t bode well if Trump gets another term.
He’s already threatening to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and even Attorney General Bill Barr for failing to perp walk his political enemies in front of the cameras, or even gin up a nice Comey-style October surprise. Given four more years, it’s pretty likely that he’ll find someone like Josh Hawley or Ted Cruz to do his dirty work.
Yes, the constant ranting about doing LOCK HER UPS to his political opponents is kind of funny — like your drunk uncle uniting the family in eye rolls by regaling the family with stuff he saw on Infowars. But in some ways, it’s really, really not.
Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale.
These are words that tech entrepreneur Mark Towfiq and his wife are tired of hearing, because they allege their neighbor, PIMCO founder Bill Gross, has been blasting that on a loop for the length of a three-hour tour or more to torment them for complaining about Gross’s lawn.
Specifically, Gross installed a Dale Chihuly glass structure in the lawn of his Laguna Beach home. After it received damage — from either a rock or an errant palm frond — he put up netting that obscured Towfiq’s view. On the one hand, you feel for Gross for wanting to protect his expensive art installation. On the other hand, this is why you don’t put fragile glass art projects outside, dumbass.
Towfiq and his wife, Carol Nakahara, in their lawsuit say the netting was at first removed intermittently but later remained up, with Gross and Schwartz avoiding attempts to resolve the problem. That prompted Towfiq to call the city, which inspected the property and sent Gross a letter July 28 informing him that the netting, lighting and sculpture lacked the proper permits.
The quarrel has escalated since then.
Of course it has.
The neighbor’s lawsuit accuses the billionaire and his partner of playing blaring music at all hours, including the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song, rap and pop, in an effort to force him to drop the complaint. The couple say they have had to take refuge twice with either relatives or in a hotel room. In an application for a temporary restraining order filed Oct. 15, which was granted, Towfiq cites a text message allegedly sent to him by Gross after he asked the music to be turned down: “Peace on all fronts or well [sic] just have nightly concerts big boy.”
Gilligan is a clutch choice for musical torture. It’s not immediately grating, but it’s just enough to get truly annoying after several hours as anyone who’s read the entirety of The Rime of The Ancient Mariner in one sitting can tell you. And, yes, it’s the same meter and now you’ll never hear either the same way again.
Meanwhile, Gross and his partner actually filed their lawsuit first, accusing Towfiq and his wife of spying on them. Towfiq says he was just getting recordings of the blaring music.
As Americans increasingly find access to the justice system beyond their reach while facing harassment, mistreatment, and financial ruin, these people are busy clogging up the courts with this. We are a fundamentally broken society. This is why we should’ve just left the Howells on the island.
Investor Bill Gross accused of blaring ‘Gilligan’s Island’ song on loop to torment neighbor [LA Times]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Say what you will about the never-Trumpers turned into a political action committee marketing machine, The Lincoln Project, but they sure have made this election cycle interesting. Even those outside of the confines of Manhattan heard about their latest endeavor, a pair of Times Square billboards taking aim at Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and the Trump administration’s COVID-19 response.
And Kushner and Trump? Well, they’ve gotten a little lesson in the Streisand effect.
You see, when The Lincoln Project put up the billboards featured below, Kushner and Trump decided to call in the lawyers.
The pair are represented by the Biglaw firm of Kasowitz Benson Torres. And none other than name partner Marc Kasowitz penned a cease and desist letter calling the billboards defamatory and threatening to sue: “Of course, Mr. Kushner never made any such statement, Ms. Trump never made any such gesture, and the Lincoln Project’s representations that they did are an outrageous and shameful libel. If these billboard ads are not immediately removed, we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages.”
And though that legal move got even more people talking about the billboards, it wasn’t enough to stop The Lincoln Project. Their own lawyer, Matthew Sanderson of Caplin & Drysdale, went to town tearing the proposition that the billboards in question would lead to any liability for the PAC. Saying, “Please peddle your scare tactics elsewhere. The Lincoln Project will not be intimidated by such empty bluster.”
The first, and most obvious, line of attack is that the First Amendment has repeatedly been held to project criticism of public figures. And the letter notes, “Your clients are no longer mere Upper East Side socialites, able to sue at the slightest offense to their personal sensibilities.”
“Public officials have periodically tried, as Kr. Kushner and Ms. Trump do here, to evade accountability and muzzle dissent by threatening or filing defamation lawsuits against critics. Fortunately, substantial constitutional protections are afforded to those who speak out about public officials.”
And besides, that “actual malice” standard is a pretty high bar.
But though sufficient, that is far from the only defense Sanderson has. “The Lincoln Project billboards are, in any event, are entirely accurate.” And then refers to a Vanity Fair article for the Kushner quote used in the billboard, and Trump’s Instagram account to refute the bizarre claim that she never made “any such gesture.”
The letter also drops a footnote arguing that Kushner and Trump are libel-proof, which is a delightfully subtle way of dealing with the issue. But the closing, well, it seems that the PAC is more than willing to go to court over this issue:
“The Lincoln Project would welcome the opportunity to further establish the truthfulness of its Times Square billboards through litigation and discovery, so sue if you must. In the meantime, may I suggest that if Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump are genuinely concerned about salvaging their reputation, they would do well to stop suppressing truthful criticism and instead turn their attention to the COVID-19 crisis that is still unfolding under their inept watch. These billboards are not causing Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump’s standing with the public to plummet. Their incompetence is.
This isn’t over. Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump will hear more from The Lincoln Project soon.”
A simple “come at me, bro” would have done the same job in fewer words.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
If you like an unauthorized bank account or some insurance on a pet you don’t have alongside your retirement investments, you may be out of luck.
Wells Fargo & Co is exploring a sale of its asset management business, in what would be the U.S. bank’s biggest shake-up since former Bank of New York Mellon chief executive Charles Scharf joined as CEO last year…. Wells Fargo’s asset management arm, which managed $578 billion on behalf of customers as of the end of June, could fetch more than $3 billion in a sale, two of the sources said.
Of course, Reginald Robinson could have told you that the bank was moving away from managing money—at least, that’s what it told him, and it definitely couldn’t have anything to do with anything else.
Robinson, who is African-American, ran mutual fund operations within the bank’s wealth- and investment-management arm in St. Louis. He told Wells Fargo in May that he had been diagnosed with cancer, according to the claim, and took medical leave from June until September. Wells Fargo notified him that he was being let go while he was away, according to the complaint. The bank told him he was eligible to be cut based on “job criticality….”
“There’s an inherent incongruity between asserting that the bank ostensibly intends on doubling its Black leadership over the next five years and then, within just a few months thereafter, dismissing without cause Mr. Robinson, an African-American senior executive at the bank and the only African American at his level or higher in all of operations in the bank’s St. Louis office,” said John Singer, an attorney at Singer Deutsch LLP who is representing Robinson.
Wells Fargo explores sale of asset management business – sources [Reuters]
Former Wells Fargo manager alleges age, race, disability bias [Financial Planning]
(Image via Getty)
There comes a time in every lawyer’s life when they wish they could leave their firm because it feels like they’ve been there forever. Mordecai “Mordie” Rochlin, a tax and estates lawyer at Paul Weiss who retired about 37 years ago, but still worked at the firm as of counsel, was at his firm forever, and he credited the firm with enriching his very long life.
Rochlin, 107, recently passed away due to coronavirus complications (specifically respiratory failure, with viral pneumonia caused by COVID-19). According to research done by the firm, Rochlin was 20th oldest man in the country. He was just six weeks shy of his 108th birthday. Firm chairman Brad Karp referred to Rochlin as a “real treasure,” calling him the “embodiment of the history of Paul Weiss.”
Born in 1912, Rochlin was one of the oldest lawyers in New York, and until his death on October 23, he was the only person to have known and worked with all five of the name partners at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
Rochlin would spend a few days a week at the firm in his office on the 32nd floor signing checks, reading memos, and making phone calls, but would stay there for an hour and a half at most — after all, at his age, doing that kind of work was tiring. He remembered Paul Weiss history with “uncanny detail” and one of his stories appears in the New York Law Journal:
During his 107th birthday celebration last year, Rochlin also recalled the fortuitous meeting of firm partners right after the death of Louis Weiss, who worked as Marshall Field’s attorney and was the firm’s most prominent rainmaker. Rochlin, who had just been named a partner, sat on the floor of a room with the other partners at the Gramercy Park Hotel to discuss the firm’s future.
“The first question to be decided was are we going to remain as a firm despite the enormous loss of Louis Weiss,” Rochlin said. He said Simon H. Rifkind, a former federal judge who’d joined the firm earlier that year, was critical in making the case the firm could carry forward.
“It was a tremendous event in my life and the life of the firm,” Rochlin said.
At his last birthday celebration, Rochlin said, “Without the firm, I would have probably shriveled up somewhere in a nursing home and have long been put away.”
We here at Above the Law would like to extend our condolences to Mordie Rochlins’s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.
Mordie Rochlin, Who Embodied Paul Weiss’ History, Dies at 107 [New York Law Journal]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Once more unto the breach, dear friends!
A month ago, the White House held a massive outdoor gathering to celebrate nominating a Supreme Court justice in direct contravention of the rule they made up four years ago. It was primo grade trolling, unveiling a judicially batty nominee, before the prior justice was even buried, while flouting public safety protocols in the midst of a pandemic. It was an unnecessary spectacle foisted upon the country to performatively own the libs by showing that no amount of decorum, professionalism, or common sense is too little for this administration.
And then everyone got COVID.
After throwing a superspreader event that put the President of the United States on experimental drug cocktails for a week and forever marked the nominee as Amy Covid Barrett, they’re going to do it all over again!
Frankly, it’s crazy to have assumed that this wouldn’t happen. Anything else would imply that the White House made a mistake the first time and nearly killing Chris Christie is not something they’re prepared to consider an error. Besides, everyone’s immune now… maybe….
So bring everyone back over and throw another rally on the lawn!
What could possibly go wrong?
The White House Is Planning Another Outdoor Event for ACB Tonight and People Are Going Nuts [Washingtonian]
Earlier: ‘Amy Covid Barrett’ Discovers How Nicknames Actually Work
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.