A weekly newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Caitlin Tremblay

What's going on this week?

In a quick 180, the Trump administration decided to relaunch its defense of EOs targeting law firms ... A Greenberg Traurig lawyer was tapped to be the CFTC's top cop ... An elite law school will start offering its own student loans ... And the DOJ is aiming to limit ethics probes into its own lawyers.

Plus, all the latest lawyer moves in this week's Career Tracker.

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

In this week's Billable Hours we have a look at Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader's financials ahead of their planned merger. Hogan grew its top line by double digits, surpassing $3.2 billion while Cadwalader reported a 3.3% revenue decrease. Read more here.

Plus, nine states and D.C. are poised ⁠to receive attorney fees and costs for their role in blocking the now-abandoned merger between grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons, following a federal judge's ruling last week.

And finally, the 3rd Circuit refused this week to review a ruling from last month holding that immigrant detainees ⁠who successfully challenged their detention can recover legal fees and costs from the federal government under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

Read this week's Billable Hours.

In New York:

Securities litigation partner Elizabeth Hanft left Paul Weiss to rejoin Cleary Gottlieb … Financial restructuring partner Shai Schmidt joined Cadwalader from Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes … DLA Piper added Ranesh Ramanathan and Alex Cushman to its global capital solutions team from Akin Gump. Ramanathan will lead the team. The firm also added M&A partner Michael Patrone from Goodwin … Banking payments and fintech partner Jess Cheng joined Sidley from Wilson Sonsini … Business litigation partner J. Emmett Murphy returned to King & Spalding from the SEC where he was a senior trial attorney … Proskauer hired private investment funds partner Vlad Bulkin from Katten … IP litigator Merri Moken moved to Davis Wright from Brown Rudnick … Winston & Strawn hired structured finance partner Shan Haider from Katten … Tarter Krinsky & Drogin added labor and employment partner Keith Frank from Forchelli Deegan Terrana … Cross-border M&A partner Nathan Pusey moved to Fried Frank from Morgan Lewis … Christopher Belisle joined Seward & Kissel’s maritime and transportation group from Watson Farley & Williams … Moses Singer added litigation partner Jessica Caterina from Schlam Stone & Dolan.

In D.C.:

Matthew Huppert, former trial attorney counsel to the assistant AG in the DOJ’s antitrust division, moved to Winston & Strawn … O’Melveny added antitrust trial partner Lauren Weinstein from MoloLamken … Eversheds Sutherland added securities enforcement partner Ellen Connell from Wilmer Hale.

In Los Angeles: 

Capital markets and sustainability partner Abbey Raish moved to BCLP from Kirkland … Greenspoon Mareder added corporate partner Leib Orlanski from K&L Gates.

In San Francisco:

O’Melveny added antitrust trial partner Diana Aguilar from the DOJ’s antitrust division … Real estate partner Tara Castro Narayanan joined Hanson Bridgett from Procopio. 

In Dallas:

King & Spalding added litigation partners LeElle Slifer, John Sullivan and Katrina Eash from Winston & Strawn. 

In Houston:

Paul Weiss hired M&A partner Jennifer Gasser from Kirkland … Capital markets partner James Brown moved to O’Melveny from Holland & Knight … Nelson Mullins added employment partner Josh Redelman from Clark Hill.

In Charlotte:

Akerman added M&A partner Amanda Pooler from Young Conaway, regulatory partner Samuel Mann from Nelson Mullins and real estate partner Greg Faltin from Moore & Van Allen.

In London:

Acquisition finance partner Jenny Choi joined Sullivan & Cromwell from Weil … Kirkland added private equity partner Sebastian Heim from Milbank … Financial restructuring partner Jakeob Brown