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If I were an online scammer — I’m not, but if I were — I’m not sure I’d be targeting a major Biglaw firm. Sure, lawyers have a well-earned reputation as luddites — or at least behind the ball on tech issues, which certainly weighs in favor of them as targets. But on the other, perhaps more relevant hand, why poke a bear that has unlimited elite legal resources to throw at you?
Latham & Watkins is certainly one of those Biglaw firms with unlimited legal resources that doesn’t take too kindly to entities that try to scam its clients using the name of one of their partners. This week, the firm filed a lawsuit against domain names that are trying to impersonate Latham.
As per Law.com:
Per the complaint, the scheme began in April when the scammer registered a handful of domains that began with “LW,” a reference to Latham’s genuine domain of LW.com. Using 38 variants that included “LW-France.com” and “LW-Frn.com,” the unknown party attempted to impersonate Paris-based partner Alexandra Bigot.
“The scammer would then email third parties to ‘remind’ them of unpaid invoices,” the complaint stated. “The scammer even included vague threats to the third-party victims, suggesting that they ‘resolve it today to avoid other accusations.’”
Fortunately, as the complaint notes, Latham’s clients didn’t so much fall for the scam, as alert Bigot her name was being used in the scheme.
It seems unlikely that attempted scammers will come forward to defend the lawsuit, so a default judgment seems in the cards. Which… was always the most likely way this was going to end.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
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