A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw |
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Google trial ends with $425 million verdict after Cooley inherits privacy case |
In this week's Billable Hours, we take a look at how Cooley ended up in the driver's seat defending Google in a sprawling consumer class action that culminated in a $425 million verdict on Wednesday. Here are the highlights: |
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A Willkie Farr team led by Benedict Hur and Simona Agnolucci had defended Google for five years against claims it collected user data despite privacy settings — facing off against David Boies and others for a class of nearly 100 million users.
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In June, just weeks before trial, Hur and Agnolucci jumped ship to Cooley, taking the case with them. Read about the case. Cooley, already representing Google in other matters, quickly expanded the team. Read here about the move.
- The departures from Willkie – at least seven partners, followed by additional associates from the firm's San Francisco office – came after Willkie decided in April to strike a deal with the White House to avert being caught up in President Trump's crackdown on law firms. Read about Willkie’s deal with Trump.
- Before they left the firm, the Willkie lawyers previously represented Google in the $1.375 billion Texas settlement in May and are defending it in a suit over alleged tracking of health data. Read about the settlement.
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After starting trial on Aug. 19, the case over Google's privacy settings was finally in the hands of a San Francisco federal jury on Tuesday. After two days of deliberations, the jurors determined Google invaded the privacy of millions of users who had disabled the data setting, but awarded a fraction of the $31 billion in damages sought by the plaintiffs. More on that here.
- Read this week’s Billable Hours.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes. |
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Under a proposal developed at the direction of the Arizona Supreme Court, people who complete two semesters of criminal law-focused classes, practice for nine months under the supervision of an experienced criminal attorney and pass a specialized exam would be licensed to take on criminal cases — although not capital ones. More on that here.
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Moves: Blake Roberts, Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Commerce Department, joined Eversheds Sutherland as partner and co-lead of its congressional investigations practice … Former Assistant Solicitor General Masha Hansford returned to Paul, Weiss as a litigation partner … Honigman added corporate partner Tricia Collins from Kirkland & Ellis … Nelson Mullins added IP partner Edward Sandor from Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner … Fried Frank added asset management partner Allison Yacker from Katten Muchin.
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D.C. sued the Trump administration over the Republican president’s deployment of National Guard troops in the capital city, a move likely to heighten tensions between Trump and the city's Democratic leaders. Read the complaint. Also, the 9th Circuit paused a lower court ruling that restricted Trump's use of troops to support federal law enforcement and immigration raids in LA. Read more here.
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U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington blocked the Trump administration from unilaterally cutting billions of dollars of foreign aid authorized by Congress that is set to expire at the end of September.
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