Altman Weil

* Novartis has settled a lawsuit which included allegations that the drugmaker gave money to doctors to induce them into prescribing certain medications. These claims would have spiced up the movie Love and Other Drugs… [NBC News]

* An Ohio attorney has been arrested on federal bribery and extortion charges. [Toledo Blade]

* Only seven law firm mergers and combinations have occurred during the second quarter of 2020 according to Altman Weil, likely due to the chilling effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. [The American Lawyer]

* The New York Attorney General has agreed to settle sexual misconduct lawsuits against Harvey Weinstein for $19 million. [Guardian]

* A lawyer has lost his bid to avoid the bankruptcy discharge of his $156,000 in legal fees for handling a client’s divorce. [Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly]

* A former judge and lawyer has been suspended from practice for participating in an inappropriate email chain nicknamed the “forum for hate.” Be sure to check out the messed up things that were said by the group which are included in the article. [ABA Journal]

* Two-time presidential candidate and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton will travel to Wales next weekend to receive an honorary doctorate degree from Swansea University, but that’s not the only honor she’ll receive while there. Swansea’s law school is being renamed, and will soon be known as the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law. Congratulations! [Wales Online]

* Special counsel Robert Mueller has added an appellate lawyer from the Justice Department’s criminal division to his team. Per a spokesperson, Scott Meisler, who had not been previously identified as being involved, joined the effort in mid-June. Meisler is a 2005 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center. [Reuters]

* Winston & Strawn may have more than 900 lawyers, but according to the firm’s managing partner, that’s still not good enough. You can soon expect the firm’s corporate transactions practice in New York to expand, its D.C. office to grow in size, and its West Coast presence to double or triple. [Big Law Business]

* According to Altman Weil’s MergerLine, law firm mergers are now on pace to break a 2015 record. Thus far in 2017, 76 tie-ups have been announced, which may lead the industry to surpass its previous high of 91 mergers. The number of law firm combinations could even exceed 100 this year. Exciting times… [Am Law Daily]

* Retired U.S. District Judge Royal Furgeson Jr. will be retiring as founding dean of the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law as of June 30, 2018. Why is Furgeson planning to retire with only five years as dean under his belt? He’s almost 76, and “plan[s] to do a lot of things when [he’s] 80 — but not this job.” [Law.com]

* What’s it like to be the “tweetingest judge in America”? Justice Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court tells us what it’s like to live a week in his life in this endearing column. From letting us know where he spends much of his time (the local Chick-fil-A) to revealing the reason he Tweets so much (to get reelected) to describing his love for his children, Justice Willett is a true gem of the judiciary. [Wall Street Journal]

* Judge Timothy Parker of the Carroll County District Court in Arkansas has resigned from his post and agreed to never serve as a judge again to avoid being charged with ethical misconduct. Judge Parker was accused of arranging for defendants’ pretrial releases in exchange for sexual favors, but says he never contested the allegations on the record because he has kids and “[didn’t] want them exposed to that kind of crap.” [AP]

* The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund has threatened to file suit against the National Park Service for “stonewalling and refusing to release permits that are vitally needed by organizers in order to plan and execute peaceful, lawful free-speech activities” — that is, protests and rallies — of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. Only three groups out of 26 have received permits, and the inauguration is in two weeks’ time. [Reuters]

* “While it is encouraging to see small gains in most areas this year, the incredibly slow pace of change continues to be discouraging.” The most recent National Association for Law Placement report has revealed that as usual, women and minorities are just barely making progress at the nation’s largest law firms when it comes to their representation as a whole and their presence in firm partnerships. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Per Altman Weil’s latest report on law firm mergers, there were six fewer mergers in 2016 than in 2015. Although just 85 deals were announced last year compared to 91 in 2015, they were “better” than those announced in years prior, and in fact, some of the biggest names in Biglaw agreed to combine, including the Eversheds and Sutherland Asbill merger and the Arnold & Porter and Kaye Scholer merger. [Big Law Business]

* “He has always said he’s given to politicians his entire career and he thinks the system is broken. A review of Donald Trump’s political donations show that the Republican presidential candidate has made campaign contributions to several to state attorneys general while they weighed decisions affecting his business, particularly in New York. What’s that about a “rigged” system? [Wall Street Journal]

* Carl Ferrer, the chief executive officer of Backpage.com, was arrested last night on in Houston, Texas, on a California warrant for criminal charges including pimping. If you recall, Backpage.com was recently in the news thanks to a Senate investigation into allegations that the site was helping to facilitate child sex trafficking. [Reuters]

* Per a report publish by Altman Weil, law firm merger and acquisition activity was way down in the third quarter of 2016. Last year at this time, the merger market was 40 percent more active. Why are so dormant? “[F]irms are waiting on the sidelines seeing if it will all work: 6,000-lawyer law firms and that type of thing.” [Big Law Business]

* “Congratulations to the ‘Nino’ Scalia Law School for memorializing, for celebrating this most remarkable judge and teacher.” Justices Kagan, Kennedy, Thomas, Breyer, Alito, and Sotomayor — attended the dedication for the school named after Scalia, while Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Ginsburg attended a dinner in his honor. [USA Today]

* “If students are graduating and they can’t pass the bar, that’s a big problem.” Law schools are coming around to the fact that it’s now a buyer’s market for students, and some will even allow 0Ls to “vet” their schools to evaluate the teaching methods being used. You can even check out professors’ résumés. [U.S. News & World Report]

* Donald Trump is expected to announce his choice for Vice President at the Republican National Convention in July, and he’s turned to former longtime O’Melveny chair A.B. Culvahouse Jr. to vet his potential running mates. The last VP Culvahouse vetted was Sarah Palin, and look how well that turned out. [Big Law Business]

* Uh-oh… Revenue may be up, but demand is way down, and there’s no longer enough work to go around. According to a recent report from Altman Weil, “[f]jrms are having trouble keeping their lawyers utilized.” Will layoffs follow thanks to Biglaw’s overcapacity problems? We’ll have more on this later today. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

* Back in March, 53% of Americans polled said the Senate should vote on whether to confirm SCOTUS nominee Chief Judge Merrick Garland now, instead of waiting for the next president. Last week, only 48% of Americans polled felt the same. Quick! Somebody get Taylor Swift to endorse this man to hold the public’s interest! [New York Times]

* In the meantime, Senate Democrats held a mock confirmation hearing for the would-be SCOTUS justice this week, but Judge Garland didn’t attend. It’s too bad, because at this point in the game, thanks to the political wrangling that’s been going on, it may have been his only chance to attend a hearing held in his honor. [The Guardian]

* From the “abortion of taxpayer dollars” file: Oklahoma legislators passed a bill that would make abortion a felony punishable by up to three years in prison. Per the Center for Reproductive Rights, the proposed law is “harmful, discriminatory, clearly unconstitutional, and insulting to Oklahoma women and their families.” [Reuters]

* “In 2 to 4 years, a University administration will shut down a top law school and we may never see it coming.” Uh-oh! Is a top law school really going to close? This law professor seems to think so, and she’s pointing the finger at Minnesota Law, which has been experiencing a slew of financial troubles due to its enrollment issues. [Forbes]

* “The employment numbers were very high in a huge economic downturn and it just felt suspicious. I decided to stand up for myself and others.” Anna Alaburda, who sued Thomas Jefferson School of Law over its allegedly deceptive job statistics, took the stand this week, where she spoke about her failed legal career. [Courthouse News Service]

* “The record number of deals in 2015 is a reflection of the intense competition among law firms for new work, and we expect the market to remain hot in 2016.” Oh boy! If you think 2015 set a merger record, you ain’t seen nothing yet. We should apparently be expecting even more law firm merger mania this year. [Chicago Daily Law Bulletin]

* Why on earth would a partner leave a firm like Munger Tolles, with profits per partner of $1.9 million, to go to a firm like Dentons, with profits per partner of $680,000, a considerably lesser amount? What’s in that Biglaw behemoth’s special sauce that’s so amazing? It’s the “irresistible” opportunities. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* As many of our readers have had the displeasure of experiencing firsthand, law school tuition can be absurdly expensive. If you’re wondering which school took home the prize of being the most expensive for the 2015-2016 school year, it’s Columbia Law, with a shocking sticker price of $62,700. Ouch, that’s painful. [U.S. News & World Report]

* The statute of limitations giveth, and the statute of limitations taketh away. Los Angeles prosecutors have declined to charge Bill Cosby in a case where a woman claimed that the comedian raped her in 1965 when she was 17 years old. [L.A. Now / Los Angeles Times]

* Apparently sick and tired of people continuing to just waive in, the D.C. Court of Appeals is considering allowing third-year law students to take the D.C. bar up to 190 days before they even graduate, making it the most permissive early bar program in the country. [Blog of Legal Times]

* This is apparently the new way for law firms of all sizes to survive and thrive: Per Altman Weil, 2015 was yet another record year for law firm mergers and acquisitions, with 91 announced over the course of the year. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

* Congratulations to Elizabeth “Betty” Temple, the first woman to serve as chair and CEO of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice. She joins about two handfuls of other women who are leading some of the country’s largest law firms. You go, girl! [WSJ Law Blog]

* “The food-borne illness costs extra. Is that okay?” Thanks to numerous food scares and an outbreak of norovirus, Chipotle now finds itself at the center of a federal criminal investigation being conducted by the Central District of California and the FDA. [AP]