Insights

Washington – February 21, 2020: Law360 has recognized Crowell & Moring’s Government Contracts Group as a “Practice Group of the Year” for 2019. This is the tenth consecutive year that the group has received the honor.

Washington, D.C. — February 20, 2020: Crowell & Moring is bolstering its anti-money laundering, economic sanctions, and CFIUS practices with the addition of Caroline Brown, former attorney in the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division. Brown joins the firm as a partner in the International Trade and White Collar & Enforcement groups and will be based in Washington, D.C.

Washington – February 20, 2020: Crowell & Moring attorneys Lauren Aronson and Roma Sharma have been announced as members of The Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s 2020 class of Fellows and the 2020 class of Pathfinders, respectively, two of the most comprehensive legal talent development programs in the nation.

Washington – February 5, 2020: Crowell & Moring’s Antitrust Group was recognized as “Highly Recommended” in Global Competition Review’s “GCR 100” – the leading ranking of the world’s competition policy law and economics practices. This year marks the 20th edition of the awards and the fifth consecutive year that the firm was ranked as “Highly Recommended” in New York. The firm was also ranked as “Recommended” in Washington, D.C. and California. GCR is the leading international journal of competition policy and regulation.

Washington – January 30, 2020: The American Bar Association’s National Conference of Bar Presidents namedCrowell & Moring’s public service partner and D.C. Bar president Susan M. Hoffman as the first recipient of the Presidents Pages Award. The award is in recognition of her column in the January/February 2020 edition of Washington Lawyer and will be presented at the 2020 NCBP Midyear Meeting in February.

Salt Lake City – January 29, 2020: The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah Foundation, Inc., Covington & Burling, LLP, and Crowell & Moring LLP filed a lawsuit today against agents and officials from the Utah Division of Adult Probation & Parole and the executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections over actions taken during a violent raid against a Salt Lake City family in August 2018.

Washington – January 28, 2019: Housing Counseling Services, a non-profit organization that provides comprehensive housing counseling to low-income individuals, and Robert Evans, a D.C. resident, have brought suit to challenge the illegal practice of charging higher rents to persons who use a publicly funded rental subsidy. The defendants in the case, filed in D.C. Superior Court, are Bozzuto & Associates, Inc., Chapman Development, LLC and 2288 MLK, LLC.

Washington, D.C. – January 27, 2020: Lawyers of Color named three Crowell & Moring partners to its Power List: Ellen Moran Dwyer, Chahira Solh, and John S. Gibson. The list recognizes the most influential minority attorneys and allies in the nation. Gibson and Solh were recognized in the “Law Firm Partners” category, and Dwyer was recognized in the “Allies” category.

Washington – January 24, 2020: Crowell & Moring’s Ruben F. Reyna was elected president of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia (HBA-DC) for the coming year. Reyna has been an active member within the organization for many years, holding multiple leadership positions.

Washington – January 23, 2020: The Human Rights Campaign Foundation awarded Crowell & Moring a score of 100 percent on their 2020 Corporate Equality Index, the nation’s premier benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality.

Washington – January 22, 2020: Crowell & Moring LLP filed an amicus brief on behalf of the American Bar Association in the U.S. Supreme Court in Louis Taylor v. County of Pima; City of Tucson (No. 19-756), supporting a petition for certiorari in a case concerning whether a wrongfully incarcerated person can be barred from seeking civil damages when his original convictions have been vacated, yet he has been released from prison on the condition that he plead no contest to time served. The ABA urges the high court to clarify the scope of Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), which held that, to recover damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for an allegedly unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment, a plaintiff must show that the conviction or sentence has been reversed, expunged, or declared invalid in some way.

Washington — January 22, 2020: Crowell & Moring has released Litigation Forecast 2020: What Corporate Counsel Need to Know for the Coming Year. The eighth-annual Forecast provides forward-looking insights from leading Crowell & Moring lawyers to help legal departments anticipate and respond to challenges that might arise in the year ahead. For 2020, the Forecast focuses on how the digital revolution is giving rise to new litigation risks, and it explores trends in employment non-competes, the future of stare decisis, the role of smartphones in investigations and litigation, and more.

London – January 21, 2020: Crowell & Moring LLP, counsel to Marsha Lazareva, announced today that a Kuwait Court has sentenced Lazareva to 7 years’ hard labor based on false charges that her company, KGL Investment (KGLI), had billed the Kuwait Port Authority (KPA) for work never performed. Neither Lazareva nor her defense team were told of the hearing, effectively trying her in absentia. The verdict comes less than three months after Lazareva was sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in a separate case involving other false charges. In total, she now faces 22 years’ hard labor in Kuwait.

Los Angeles – January 13, 2020: Nicole Simonian, co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade practice and Head of International Employment/Global Mobility was elected to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. 

London – January 8, 2020: Nicola Phillips joins Crowell & Moring’s London office as a partner in its International Dispute Resolution Group, bolstering the firm’s ability to advise clients on commercial and civil litigation matters and large compliance investigations. Phillips has extensive experience in High Court litigation as well as alternative dispute resolution. She oversees complex banking and investment disputes and claims on guarantees, indemnities, and warranties. She has experience acting for both regulators and large financial institutions facing governmental enforcement enquiries. She has handled numerous cross-border investigations for clients in Europe and the Middle East. In addition, Phillips has significant experience handling complex civil frauds and regularly obtains injunctive relief to assist with asset preservation and recovery.

Washington – January 2, 2020: Crowell & Moring elected eight lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 1, 2020. The firm also promoted seven attorneys to the position of senior counsel, and 26 associates to the position of counsel. The new partners have been promoted from within the ranks of the firm’s Washington, Los Angeles, and San Francisco offices. The new partners have been promoted from across offices and practice groups, including White Collar & Regulatory Enforcement, Health Care, International Trade, Intellectual Property, Privacy & Cybersecurity, Government Contracts, Litigation, and Antitrust.

Washington, January 2, 2020: Crowell & Moring represented Flux7 Labs in its sale to NTT Data, a U.S. subsidiary of Japan-based Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, a global technology services leader.  Founded in 2013 and based in Austin, TX, Flux7 has garnered a sterling reputation as an Amazon Web Services Premier Consulting Partner. Flux7 provides cloud implementation and migration, automation, and DevOps consulting services for cutting edge and large companies, primarily in the software, communications, financial services, pharmaceuticals and retail sectors. 

Los Angeles – December 30, 2019: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a jury verdict in a civil case brought by the mother of a mentally ill black man who was killed by a police officer in Bakersfield, allowing a new trial to move forward that would admit lay testimony from the victim’s mother to prove that the officer should have recognized that the man was exhibiting signs of mental illness and followed specialized protocols for encountering mentally ill individuals.

New York –December 23, 2019 – Diversity in Blockchain, Inc., issued a new report today on the state of diversity and inclusion in the blockchain industry, finding that the sector needs to improve its diversity and inclusion across verticals, academia, conferences and the federal government. The 23-page report, the first of its kind, examines diversity and inclusion trends and provides industry-wide recommendations for balancing the playing field.

Washington – December 16, 2019: Crowell & Moring advised Humana Inc. on its proposed acquisition of Enclara Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest hospice pharmacy and benefit management providers, from Consonance Capital Partners. The Enclara acquisition provides Humana with the opportunity to extend its comprehensive care continuum strategy to cover the pharmacy-related needs associated with hospice care, simplify the mail order pharmacy experience, and advance its technology stack for in-home pharmacy through areas such as enhanced mobile medication management and improved electronic medical record (EMR) connectivity.