Andrews Kurth LLP

If you're interested in the world of Biglaw, this is the podcast for you.

After months of speculation, two firms with complementary energy practices merge.

* Waymo and Uber head to court in self-driving car battle. Uber’s characterizing Waymo’s allegations of industrial espionage as a conspiracy theory and hopes no one reads too much into the fact that Uber ran an industrial espionage group for years. [NPR]

* On February 2, Ropes & Gray was engaged by USA Gymnastics to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by Larry Nassar. Hey gang, we all loved the movie, but Groundhog Day doesn’t mean you actually get a do-over on all the stuff you screwed up before. [American Lawyer]

* John Dowd and Jay Sekulow don’t want Mueller to interview Trump. Ty Cobb thinks transparency and cooperation are the best policy. The existence of this story suggests Dowd and Sekulow are winning the internal struggle. [Business Insider]

* The Supreme Court isn’t going to intervene to protect Pennsylvania’s gerrymandered districts… [Courthouse News Service]

* … So, Pennsylvania Republicans are looking into impeaching the state supreme court justices who ruled against them. [Daily Intelligencer]

* Is this the least qualified lawyer to helm a Gitmo case? He certainly thinks so. [NY Times]

* Speaking of Gitmo, there’s a fight brewing over the Defense Department’s recent decision to strip prisoners of their rights to own their own art. [Hyperallergic]

* When the Brits refuse to extradite to the U.S., maybe it’s time to reconsider prison conditions. [The Intercept]

* Katten Munchin opens up in Dallas. [Law360]

Neither firm has commented on their reported trip down the aisle.

* She’s going to be 85 in just a few months, and like a fine wine, she just keeps getting better with age. No one should count on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg retiring any time soon. [Associated Press]

* Speaking of Justice Ginsburg, you’re going to have to change up your State of the Union drinking games this year, because she won’t be in attendance. She’ll be on a Northeast law school tour instead — and she’ll be wide awake. [The Hill]

* The president wants “[his] guys” at the “Trump Justice Department” — but not Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, he wants Rosenstein out — to make public a classified memo on the Russia investigation, an act that the DOJ said would be “extraordinarily reckless.” [Washington Post]

* Don McGahn may have threatened to quit his job as White House counsel last summer, but because he decided to stick around, he’s been instrumental to the Trump administration in reshaping a much more conservative judiciary. [CNN]

* Just a few months ago, merger talks between Andrews Kurth and Hunton & Williams seemed pretty tepid, but now they’re heating up. We can tell because AK partners are being picked off by other firms like crazy. [American Lawyer]

* Justice is blind — and cheap: Stephen McAllister was recently sworn in as U.S. attorney for the District of Kansas, and he’s taking a humongous pay cut. The former Kansas Law dean earned more than $1 million by working three jobs, and his new gig pays more than $800K less. [National Law Journal]

Neither firm has commented on their reported trip down the aisle.

* Corporate Counsel asks “how much money will Uber’s next general counsel make?” Duh, it depends on surge pricing. [Corporate Counsel]

* Law firm merger rumors!!! [Law.com]

* Supreme Court takes another opportunity to laugh in the face of people who care about government transparency. [National Law Journal]

* A “so-called judge” strikes again! [The Guardian]

* Would you share your cyberthreat assessments with the government? [Law360]

* It’s time for some standards in the FCPA industry. [FCPA Professor]

* People are not agricultural products. Somehow this is something we needed an opinion on. [Lowering the Bar]

This deal saved many jobs, but not all of them.

* Quinn Emanuel sanctioned by the U.S. International Trade Commission over the Apple-Samsung case. [Law.com]

* No rest for the dissolving: Kenyon & Kenyon hit with malpractice suit. [Law360]

* Indiana’s Go Ahead And Hate Gays Religious Freedom Act invoked in child abuse defense. It’s truly a testament to how kerfunkered this whole election is that this episode isn’t going to be a devastating scandal for the Trump-Pence ticket. [Chicago Tribune]

* Former tech GC takes on housekeeping gig. [Corporate Counsel]

* Katten Muchin Rosenman; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; and Eisner Jaffe all land stadium renaming deals, proving that there’s money to be made everywhere. Enjoy AshleyMadison.com Park! [The Am Law Daily]

* Score one for the anti-trolls: A federal judge orders a lawyer to pay $22K in legal fees after he filed multiple lawsuits over the use of his pictures. [ABA Journal]

* Palestinian Authority terrorism verdict given the heave ho by Second Circuit. [NY Times]

Best of luck as these firms try to hammer out a final deal.

Will this law firm survive 2016?

These are not your typical books by lawyers.

A Lone Star leader steps up to the plate.

* We know our readers: here’s the only news that you care about this morning. This is the roster of salary movement news from Friday and Saturday: Desmarais, Brown Rudnick, Susman Godfrey, White & Case, Shearman & Sterling, and Baker Botts. If you’re ever worried that you’ve missed any of our coverage, check out our omnibus 2016 salary page where we collect all of these stories. [2016 Salary Increase / Above the Law]

* You may be wondering why some law firms in your city haven’t hopped on board the Cravath-inspired MoneyLaw train yet. It’s apparently all about competing market forces. John Beulick, Armstrong Teasdale’s new managing partner, says he’s considering bumping up associate pay because “[w]e want to and need to be competitive in our markets to have the talent that clients want us to have.” [Big Law Business]

* Speaking of raises for associates in flyover country, four Texas-based firms and seven national firms with offices in the Lone Star state have already announced matches to the new Cravath scale. Three more Texas firms — Akin Gump, Haynes and Boone, and Andrews Kurth — are expected to follow suit in the coming days. Please be sure to send us your firm’s memos ASAP after raises are announced! [Dallas Morning News]

* WHATCHA GONNA DO, BROTHER, WHEN LITIGATION FINANCE RUNS WILD ON YOU?!? Thanks to billionaire Peter Thiel’s financial assistance, Hulk Hogan bodyslammed Gawker into submission with a multimillion-dollar jury verdict. After declaring bankruptcy and entering into an asset purchase agreement, the media company is investigating possible legal claims against the venture capitalist. [Forbes]

* “I don’t really think [this lawsuit] has legs.” Doctors in California are filing suit to block The End of Life Option Act, a new state law that legalizes physician-assisted suicide. They claim that the law violates the state’s constitution with regard to citizens’ equal protection and due process rights because it fails to make “rational distinctions” between those who qualify under the law and those who are not covered under it. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Bill Cosby files suit against 7 women who accused him of sexual assault, because accusers say the darnedest things. [BBC News]

* NY to 193!!! If you’re a state judge. Maybe. [NY Daily News]

* Bowe Bergdahl faces court-martial for desertion. It’s like Saving Private Ryan meets Earnest Goes To Fort Leavenworth. [NY Times]

* Jury convicts the Bryan Cave attorney accused of fraud in an effort to take over Maxim magazine. [NY Post]

* A Missouri lawmaker proposes a bill to strip athletes of scholarships if they refuse to play because one possible scrap of power for black people hasn’t been regulated yet. [Huffington Post]

* Rather than accept the $200 million judgment against Andrews Kurth, a Texas judge orders the parties back to mediation. [Law360]

* Putin signs law allowing Russia to overturn international human rights decisions in a move that, frankly, I’m surprised wasn’t taken years ago. [Reuters]

Everything's bigger in Texas -- including the malpractice verdicts.

* Is Andrews Kurth facing a possible mega-malpractice judgment? If you know more, please drop us a line. [MahanyLaw]

* Elsewhere in Texas, a UT law student stands accused of leading an intimidation campaign against a professor of Israel studies. [Legal Insurrection]

* Advice from our columnist Keith Lee on how to write an excellent legal memo. [Associate’s Mind]

* Did Michigan prosecutors pressure the state’s crime lab to falsely classify the origins of THC the lab was testing? [The Intercept]

* An interview about interviews: Richard Hsu interviews Bryan A. Garner about Professor Garner’s famous series of interviews with Supreme Court justices. [Hsu Untied]

* Does your employer offer assistance with student loan repayment as an employee benefit — and should it? [Tuition.io]

Which Texas firm is the most Texas?

Opportunities abound in Texas.

Reports link a lawyer to the FSU school shooting this morning.