Ed Sheeran

* Leonard Leo had Kellyanne Conway funnel tens of thousands of dollars from a non-profit to Ginni Thomas without a paper trail and with the explicit direction “No mention of Ginni, of course.” Totally normal and above-board thing to do! [Washington Post]

* Ed Sheeran prevailed in his copyright case as sharing chord progressions don’t make songs similar. [Law360]

* If a whistle blows in the woods and the bank can retaliate without repercussion, does it make a sound? The Supreme Court seems hopeful that the answer is no. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Ivanka Trump targeted by NYAG over discovery obligations with investigators leery of “why her volume of emails dropped from 1,200 per month in 2014 to 37 in 2016.” Yes, what could have happened in 2016 that inspired some urgency to curtail the digital paper trail? [Huffington Post]

* Google and Sonos head to trial in patent dispute over smart devices. Hey, Alexa? Why are you laughing? [Reuters]

* Biglaw financials are strong… so of course everyone’s talking about layoffs because America is going to gaslight itself into a recession one way or another. [American Lawyer]

* Court issues more sanctions over false voter fraud claims, tagging Arizona gubernatorial loser Kari Lake. Which probably makes her the front-runner for Trump’s running mate. [The Hill]

* Judge Luttig joined the chorus calling for stricter Supreme Court ethics — a chorus that features pretty much everyone not on the Supreme Court. [Reuters]

* Trump loses effort to block Pence testimony. Again. [Politico]

* Biglaw firms game their partnership size to look more profitable, but there’s a stat to look for to check if a firm is truly healthy. [Bloomberg Law News]

* Biglaw capital market groups living in suspended animation as the whole economy continues to pretend there’s a recession until the Federal Reserve gives up trying to create one. [American Lawyer]

* Fox handing Smartmatic the Murdoch depositions because how much more damage can be done? Reputationally, we mean. Financially, it’s about $2 billion more. [Law360]

* Copyright claim against Ed Sheeran lodged by Marvin Gaye’s co-writer. Look, I get that Blurred Lines was — in addition to a bizarrely rapey song for the 21st century — pretty much Got to Give It Up, but you don’t get to own every chord progression in the universe. [ABA Journal]

* Ivanka hires Jeffrey Epstein lawyer after separating counsel from her brothers. [Daily Beast]