Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Litigation, deals, lateral moves and industry news; we cover it all.

Welcome to Lookzy. In today's Lookzy:

• An AI lawyer, an earpiece and a secret defense

• M&A's global deal decline

• OpenAI being valued at $29 billion

• A law firm merger means a new AmLaw 200 firm is born

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AI LAWYER TO SECRETLY ADVISE DEFENDANT

Legal AI company DoNotPay will reportedly use AI and an earpiece to secretly advise a defendant during a speeding ticket hearing. The AI will coach the defendant on exactly what to say to get out of the associated fines and consequences of a speeding charge.

The in-person hearing is scheduled to take place in a non-California US courtroom in February 2023. DoNotPay is not providing further case or timing details because this experiment is likely unlawful and a violation of courtroom protocol.

To get around restrictions on phone usage, the defendant will be exploiting hearing accessibility provisions which will allow him to wear Apple AirPods, though no one will be made aware that the defendant is using those AirPods to communicate externally.

DoNotPay is reportedly also working with another speeding ticket defendant in a Zoom trial, but in that case may go so far as to use a synthetic voice to have the AI interact directly with the court, a strategy the DoNotPay CEO admits is "highly illegal".

DoNotPay will handle any fines resulting from these cases. DoNotPay has also allegedly trained its AI extensively to not lie or stray beyond provided facts, which DoNotPay hopes will eliminate the possibility of a courtroom perjury charge.

While DoNotPay originally started as a chatbot to help users navigate basic legal situations like contesting parking tickets, the company has leaned in heavily to recent AI advancements and has been very willing to experiment in this space.

ECON SNAPSHOT

The difference between special bonuses and layoffs

THE VERDICT

Arguing today's litigation news

Xerox MNPI. A NY state judge ruled that consolidated shareholder derivative litigation brought by Xerox investors can proceed against activist investor Carl Icahn for allegedly trading on nonpublic information regarding a potential merger between Xerox and HP Inc., citing disputed facts about an internal investigation into the matter.

FTC constitutionality. As part of their response against the FTC's challenge of Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, both companies are reportedly no longer claiming that the FTC itself is unconstitutional and instead are adjusting their strategy.

Ray-Ban cybertheft. A NY judge is forcing JP Morgan to face a suit by Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica SA related to a cybertheft where criminals stole $272 million from one of EssilorLuxottica's business unit's JPM accounts after JPM allegedly ignored "red flags" of suspicious activity.

Noncompetes. The FTC proposed a rule that would impose a blanket ban on existing and new employer-worker non-compete agreements by classifying them as “unfair methods of competition.” The FTC claimed that "the new proposed rule could increase wages by nearly $300 billion per year."

LastPass class. An anonymous LastPass user filed a proposed class action against the company in federal court, claiming LastPass' negligence caused it to fail to protect the personal information of millions of users in connection with an August 2022 data breach. The user claims he lost over $50,000 in Bitcoin because he stored his private keys using LastPass.

THE DEAL

Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news

Deal decline. The combined value of global announced M&A deals in 2022 ultimately totaled $3.6 trillion, 37% below 2021's record-breaking $5.9 trillion total, according to data released on January 4th by Refinitiv. This drop represents the largest year-over-year percentage decline since 2001.

Buying drugs. AstraZeneca agreed to acquire publicly-listed biopharmaceutical company CinCor Pharma for $1.8 billion in cash and contingent value rights.

In the pipeline. Phillips 66 agreed to double its ownership stake of pipeline operator DCP Midstream to 86.8% in a $3.8 billion all-cash deal. Bracewell and Morris Nichols represented Phillips 66 and Hunton Andrews Kurth and Richards, Layton & Finger represented DCP's special committee.

ChatGPT wrote this. OpenAI, the AI research lab which created the ChatGPT and DALL-E AI creation tools, is reportedly seeking to raise more than $300 million from Thrive and Founders Fund in a tender offer. This tender offer would value OpenAI around $29 billion, up from a $14 billion valuation in its 2021 tender offer.

Going concern. Bed Bath & Beyond issued a 'going concern' warning, highlighting risk of a potential bankruptcy in the face of cash flow issues, plummeting demand and over $1.2 billion in outstanding unsecured notes. The company confirmed it is also exploring other options such as restructuring, selling itself or selling its assets.

BUSINESS OF THE FIRM

Lateral Moves:

• Former federal Judge Gary Feinerman joined Latham as a partner.

• Morgan Lewis hired partner Frederick Block from the SEC, where he worked as a supervisory trial counsel.

• Greenberg Traurig hired partner Jayadeep "Jay" Deshmukh from Kasowitz.

• King & Spalding hired partner Michael Fishel from Sidley.

• US District Judge Richard G. Andrews announced he intends to take senior status at the end of 2023.

Industry News:

• Alabama-based Maynard Cooper & Gale and Carolinas-based Nexsen Pruet agreed to merge, closing on April 1, 2023. The 550-lawyer successor firm will be called Maynard Nexsen and will be a part of the AmLaw 200.

• Vedder Price opened its new Miami office.

• Gibson Dunn announced it is opening a new office in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

• Goodwin Procter ultimately laid off 5% of the firm's US associates (approximately 100 individuals), professional track attorneys, paralegals, science advisors and operations staff. The firm's attorney headcount had grown by 60% since October 2019. Our prior coverage can be found here.

• More than 50% of the Vault 100 has now announced bonuses, some better than others. Check out the Lookzy Reverse Bonus Tracker to see who's left.

BOILERPLATE

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