By Julius Melnitzer | October 19, 2023
DAVIS POLK RESCINDS JOB OFFERS TO PRO-HAMAS HARVARD STUDENTS
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, a top UK law firm that employs about 1,000 lawyers, has withdrawn job offers to three Harvard and Columbia students who signed statements blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks and expressing support for Palestinians. According to BBC News, the firm said the students’ views contravened the “firm’s value system”. Davis is, however, talking to two of the students to ensure that is has considered “any further color”.
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REBRANDED PORNHUB PARENT SUES KEBAB RESTAURANT
Pornhub’s parent, MindGeek, which is rebranding under the name ‘Aylo’, is suing Dôner Haus, a small Manhattan kebab restaurant whose logo bears a strong resemblance to Pornhub’s orange-and-black offering. The restaurant told DMARGE that it couldn’t understand “why they are coming for us” as Pornhub is in a completely different business and offers “nothing even close in nutritional value or taste to what we have”.
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SCOTTISH FIRST MINISTER’S COUNSEL SUSPENDED FOR NAMING SEXUAL COMPLAINANTS
BBC reports that the Faculty of Advocates has suspended Gordon Jackson, the lawyer who successfully defended former First Minister Alex Salmond on sexual assault charges, for 15 weeks after a video filmed on a train showed Jackson naming two of the complainants in defiance of a court-order. Although the Faculty concluded that Jackson was “genuinely remorseful”, he had nonetheless committed a “serious and reprehensible departure from professional standards”. The suspension culminated years of proceedings after Rape Crisis Scotland complained to the Faculty. The delay was occasioned largely by appeals from Jackson, who saw his original suspension of five months reduced by about six weeks.
Related Article: Ottawa lawyer James Bowie, accused of sexual misconduct, suspended by LSO in unrelated proceedings
IT APPRENTICE SUES MOTHER’S LAW FIRM FOR “COLD AND CALLOUS” CONDUCT
Oliver Clark, formerly an IT apprentice at Biscoes Solicitors in Portsmouth, UK, where his mother, Allison Lee, is a senior managing director, has sued for unfair dismissal, alleging daily “bullying and discriminatory behaviour.” Biscoes fired him just days before he completed his apprenticeship. The union organizer preparing Clark’s case told Practice Source that this “by far the worst” of the “cold and callous actions by employers” he had ever seen.
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UNQUALIFIED LAWYER WINS STRING OF CASES
Brian Mwenda allegedly won 26 cases in Kenya’s High Court despite not being qualified to appear. He was called to the bar in August but never received a practising certificate as he was employed by the attorney-general. Some are hailing him as a hero for the unrepresented and for exposing flaws in the justice system. But the Law Society of Kenya, according to the Gazette, has denounced him as a “masquerader” who misled clients for financial gain and fraudulently accessed the Society’s online system. Mwenda has, however, received the support of a former Nairobi governor. The police are looking for Mwenda.
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Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at [email protected] or https://legalwriter.net/contact.