Transition

* The Supreme Court takes on an issue of major importance to the patent bar (and the Eastern District of Texas): where can an infringement suit be filed? [How Appealing]

* And SCOTUS also grants cert to a case raising the scope of what prosecutors must disclose to the defense under Brady v. Maryland and a case about a criminal lawyer’s erroneous advice to his client about immigration consequences of a guilty plea. [New York Times via How Appealing]

* Sheriff of Wall Street Preet Bharara loses another deputy to private practice: Katherine Goldstein, head of the S.D.N.Y.’s securities-fraud unit, will join several of her former colleagues — Adam Fee, Antonia Apps and George Canellos — at Milbank Tweed. [WSJ Law Blog]

* President-elect Donald Trump won’t take office for a few weeks, but he’s already inspiring new law school courses. [National Law Journal]

* And Trump might also trigger new lawsuits from state attorneys general seeking to rein in his administration. [New York Times]

* As for existing litigation between Trump and celebrity chefs José Andrés and Geoffrey Zakarian, both the real estate tycoon and his adversaries are repped by big Biglaw names: Seyfarth Shaw and Steptoe & Johnson. [BuzzFeed]

* Speaking of Seyfarth, it’s the firm representing ExxonMobil in litigation alleging anti-gay discrimination in its hiring practices — litigation that continues even as CEO Rex Tillerson prepares to leave the company to head the Trump State Department. [Washington Blade]

* President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of labor, fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, is a critic of the Obama Administration’s regulation in this area (and he’s a former litigator, interestingly enough). [Washington Post]

* Judge Bill Pryor (11th Cir.), a top SCOTUS contender in a Trump Administration, is beloved by conservatives — but confirming him could be a battle. [Bloomberg BNA via How Appealing]

* The Arkansas Supreme Court rules that married lesbian couples can’t put the names of both spouses on their children’s birth certificates. [WSJ Law Blog]

* SEC enforcement chief Andrew Ceresney will leave the agency by the end of this year; where might he wind up? [Law.com]

* Governor Andrew Cuomo met with the feds in connection with the corruption case brought against some of his former aides. [New York Times]

* Michael Jordan’s latest court victory — in an IP case in China. [Bloomberg]

* Alabama prisoner Ronald Smith is executed after the Supreme Court denies a stay, leaving SCOTUS review of the state’s unique “judicial override” system for another day. [New York Times via How Appealing]