Judicial Notice (10.06.24): Changing Of The Guard

Fresh leadership for the Fifth Circuit, Kirkland’s latest coup, a noteworthy departure from the SEC, and a new boutique in a booming field.

Kirkland & Ellis (photo by Getty Images)

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Shana tova to everyone who celebrated Rosh Hashanah. Our family spent the holiday with Zach’s parents, who live not far from us in New Jersey. We enjoyed his mother’s matzoh ball soup—one of Harlan’s top-ten favorite foods.

Then on Friday, we drove up to New Haven, arriving just in time for Harlan to rehearse his role as ring bearer in my cousin’s wedding. After he discharged his duties with aplomb at Saturday afternoon’s ceremony, we attended the evening wedding reception—which I unfortunately had to leave early so I could drive home to New Jersey, arriving shortly before midnight. Then at 6 a.m. on Sunday, I made my way to Newark Airport for a flight to Nashville—my current location, site of the 2024 annual meeting of the Association of Corporate Counsel, where I spoke earlier today.

After all this activity, which explains why this edition of Judicial Notice is arriving later than usual, I’m exhausted and short on sleep—but I’m hoping to catch up tonight, in a hotel room away from my two wonderful but exhausting boys. Thanks to Zach for manning the home front and making this possible.

Now, on to the news.

Lawyer of the Week: Gurbir Grewal.

Congratulations to Gurbir Grewal, outgoing director of the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on a successful three-year tenure. Under his leadership, the Commission handled more than 2,400 enforcement matters, resulting in orders for more than $20 billion in disgorgement, interest, and penalties; more than 340 industry bars against individuals; and the return of billions of dollars to wronged investors. A former state and federal prosecutor (in my home state of New Jersey), Grewal is taking his talents to Milbank, where he’ll join the litigation and arbitration group in the New York office. But I have a feeling that Grewal, a star of the white-collar bar, will return to government service in the future.

Other lawyers in the news:

• Kudos to Professor Dorothy Roberts of Penn Law, recipient of a 2024 MacArthur Fellowship aka “genius grant.” Roberts will receive an $800,000 stipend, paid out over five years, in recognition of her decades of scholarship focused on racial inequities in social services.

• Mark Martin, former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and current dean of High Point University School of Law, played an important behind-the-scenes role in Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a lengthy profile by Shawn Musgrave for The Intercept.

• Adhering to the adage that the best defense is a good offense, Quinn Emanuel partner Alex Spiro moved to dismiss the bribery charge against his client, New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Spiro also moved for sanctions against the prosecution, accusing them of leaking details about the case to the media in violation of grand-jury secrecy rules. And he’s getting reinforcements, with three more top trial lawyers joining his team: Quinn co-managing partner Bill Burck, securities litigation co-chair Avi Perry, and former U.S. attorney John Bash III (W.D. Tex.). Mayor Adams can use all the help he can get: prosecutors informed Judge Dale Ho (S.D.N.Y.) that they’re likely to bring additional charges.

In memoriam:

• Former Brooklyn district attorney Eugene Gold—most well-known for successfully prosecuting David Berkowitz, the notorious serial killer known as “Son of Sam”—passed away at 100.

• Former Mayer Brown chair Bob Helman, passed away at 90, after a long illness.