Law360's Pro Say - News & Analysis on Law and the Legal Industry · Law360 - Legal News & Analysis

Meet The Lawyers Who Took On White Supremacy

·48 min·3 clips

The $1.78 billion verdict could become more than $5 billion under treble damages.

1. Law360's Pro Say episode centers on a Taco Tuesday trademark update, a Missouri real-estate antitrust verdict, Strick & Strick’s dissolution, and HBO’s No Accident on Charlottesville. 2. Amber McKinney hosts with Alex Lawson and Haley Knapp, while Michael Block and Benjamin White join as attorneys on the Charlottesville legal team. 3. The episode asks how a trademark fight, a $1.78 billion jury award, a 147-year-old firm’s collapse, and a civil-rights case all reveal pressure on law and business. 4. Taco Bell’s campaign pushed Gregory’s Restaurant and Bar to cancel its Taco Tuesday trademark registration after Taco John’s in Wyoming gave up its claim. 5. A federal jury in Missouri found the National Association of Realtors, Home Services of America, and Keller Williams liable in a class action over realtor commissions. 6. The hosts say the challenged model typically requires home sellers to pay their own agent’s commission, often 5% to 6% of the sale price, with part of that amount shared with the buyer’s agent. 7. They note that Remax and Anywhere Realty settled for about $140 million and agreed to stop minimum commission requirements. 8. Those settling companies also agreed to remove software that filtered listings by broker compensation and to state that commissions are negotiable. 9. The episode says the Missouri verdict could be tripled under federal antitrust law, and an Illinois case involving about 20 urban and industrial markets could bring much larger damages. 10. The discussion also covers a DOJ dispute over a 2020 civil settlement, a judge’s block on the government’s attempt to unwind it, and the government’s appeal. 11. Strick & Strick’s end follows a year of departures, failed merger talks, and a shrinking attorney roster that fell from 283 lawyers in 2021 to 210 at the end of last year. 12. The firm had only 130 lawyers listed before the dissolution vote, and many partners are expected to move to Hogan Lovells. 13. The hosts cite industry observers who said leadership may have delayed changes, underinvested in succession planning, and moved too slowly on mergers. 14. The Strick segment frames diversification as a lesson because the firm relied heavily on restructuring and real estate. 15. The episode says one practice group’s exit left Strick exposed when the real-estate market weakened. 16. Another lesson is that a stream of departures can become a tipping point that makes mergers harder and damages client and revenue relationships. 17. Michael Block says he left the Bronx public defender’s office after seven years to expand into civil-rights litigation, and Benjamin White says he left corporate litigation and clerking to join Robbie Kaplan’s firm. 18. The interview is detailed and procedural, with the attorneys describing pleading fights, discovery battles, and preparation for cross-examination. 19. Lawyers interested in civil-rights litigation and antitrust strategy would likely want this episode. 20. Listeners looking for light banter or short, self-contained business headlines may skip it.

As heard by us

A close, human look at the lawyers behind a civil rights case.

Law360's Pro Se treats the Charlottesville litigation as a case study in how much the lawyers' own paths shape the work. One guest spent seven years as a Bronx public defender before civil litigation; another came from corporate litigation at Sullivan and Cromwell and later…

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Hear how two very different lawyers ended up on the Charlottesville litigation.

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