The late Chief Justice Warren Burger once fretted about attending an American Bar Association convention in Las Vegas because the city was “unsavory and unsuitable.” (He went anyway, after Nevada officials demanded an apology.) But current justices are showing no such reluctance. Justice Anthony Kennedy participated in Law Day events there May 1, and last week Justice Antonin Scalia made several appearances. MoveOn.org noted unhappily that Scalia would be attending a reception at a casino owned by Republican funder Sheldon Adelson. Scalia also promoted his latest book co-authored with Bryan Garner, but he showed his usual pique at photographers who lingered to take pictures as he spoke to law students at William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “That’s enough. Enough cameras. Thank you,” he said, according to a local news account. “Last one. Bye bye.” Tony Mauro
FDA LAWYERS SHUFFLE IN D.C.
In the week after Labor Day, lateral movement tends to spike among firms, and this year was no exception. Amid all the shuffling of attorneys, U.S. Food and Drug Administration attorneys were some of the most active. A group of five attorneys decamped from K&L Gates to Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Gary Yingling, Robert Hibbert, Ann Begley, Anthony Pavel and Rebecca Dandeker join Morgan Lewis as partners in the firm’s FDA and health care practice. In an interview, Hibbert said his team made the move to Morgan Lewis to add to the firm’s deep FDA bench with the hopes of growing business. He said the areas of health care and drug devices were two areas with plenty of new issues to keep clients and attorneys busy. “It’s premature to talk about our clients, but we have, between the five of us, a pretty diverse practice,” Hibbert said. “What we’re looking to do is integrate and grow.” Meanwhile, Wiley Rein picked up Sonali Gunawardhana, former regulatory counsel for the FDA. She joins as of counsel. At the FDA, Gunawardhana most recently worked in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Matthew Huisman
