K&L Gates

The cuts, which hit multiple departments and offices, are just the latest manifestation of upheaval at the firm.

Is expressing your opinion on current events bad for Biglaw business?

This Biglaw firm doesn't think there's a stigma to being associated with President-elect Trump.

It pays to be ready.

Many expected these two prominent partners to wind up in leadership roles.

* Alecia Schmuhl, the lawyer accused of teaming up with her husband and plotting to kill the managing partner of the law firm she was fired from, has taken a deal in her case and could serve anywhere from 10 to 45 years in prison under the terms of her plea agreement. She’ll be sentenced by the middle of January 2017. [Washington Post]

* Two heads are better than one, especially when it comes to taking over a Biglaw titan’s position as chairman at K&L Gates. Longtime chairman Peter Kalis will step down at the end of February, and come March, James Segerdahl will serve as the firm’s global managing partner, while Michael Caccese will serve as chairman of the firm’s management committee. We’ll have more on this later today. [Big Law Business]

* A big old welcome back to Biglaw: Brackett Denniston III, who has served as general counsel at GE for more than two decades, is throwing in the in-house towel to get back to the daily grind of law firm life. He recently rejoined Goodwin Procter — a firm where he previously worked for about 15 years — as senior counsel, and while there, he hopes to work on “hard cases” and mentor some of the firm’s younger lawyers. [WSJ Law Blog]

* What do the Redskins and the Slants have in common, aside from names that some may consider offensive? As it turns out, the football team and the rock band are fighting the same fight before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. They both claim the First Amendment bars the USPTO from refusing to register their “disparaging” marks, and the Supreme Court may soon grant cert on either one of their cases. [Associated Press]

* If you’re planning to apply to law school during this admissions cycle despite the state of the job market for entry-level attorneys, then you may want to follow this 10-week timeline for submitting your applications. Don’t forget that the goal here is to get ahead of the game, take advantage of rolling admissions, and submit all of your materials before those pesky December LSAT test-takers. [U.S. News & World Report]

Brian Stolarz saved a man's life while you were billing some corporate client.

Finding someone to fill Peter Kalis's shoes will not be easy.

* Bill Cosby will face trial in June for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania woman, and now his lawyers claim her attorney, Gloria Allred, trampled upon his civil rights in a “campaign … buil[t] on racial bias and prejudice that can pollute the court of public opinion.” [NBC News]

* As we mentioned yesterday, Peter Kalis — the man who’s served as chair of K&L Gates for about two decades — will not seek re-election to his post, and everyone is wondering who will succeed him. According to a recently departed partner, “[t]hey don’t have enough groomed for top-level management.” Uh oh! We’ll have more on this. [Law.com]

* Yet another Biglaw firm is losing a longtime managing partner. Mark Silow of Fox Rothschild will step down from his position in April 2017, after 13 years in leadership. He’ll be replaced by Mark Morris as managing partner, but will transition to becoming the firm’s chair, retaining a seat on its executive committee. [Big Law Business]

* Sullivan & Cromwell is stepping up its digital security practice with a major hire. Earlier this week, the firm announced that Nicole Friedlander, who previously worked as co-chief of the complex frauds and online crime unit for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, would join the firm as special counsel. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Not only is New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman breathing antitrust accusations down EpiPen-maker Mylan Pharmaceutical’s neck, but now a proposed class-action lawsuit has been filed against the company with allegations that its “unconscionable … price gouging” violated Ohio’s consumer protection laws. [Reuters]

What will Peter Kalis's legacy at the firm look like?

Don't do these things.

Congratulations to all the firms on the list!

First-year associates get $180K, but only in certain offices; pay for more-senior associates remains TBD; and the raise doesn't happen until September.

We desperately need to solve this "law firm math problem."

* Tiger-blooded warlock Charlie Sheen sued by American Express over $287,879 in debt. #Winning. [Courthouse News Service]

* It’s really happening, folks! Get ready for ASSLaw. [Washington Post]

* Morgan Lewis knows how to play both sides — the firm is handling Donald Trump’s tax returns and accompanying controversy while simultaneously vetting Hillary Clinton’s possible running mates. [Law.com]

* Law school announces a technological innovation concentration… because programming the next LawyerBot is probably the only hope these students have for jobs in 10 years. [Northwestern Pritzker School of Law]

* Cuneo Gilbert attorneys said that they felt threatened when former colleague Preetpal Grewal emailed another former colleague stating she wanted “to kill” them in connection with her national origin discrimination suit. Someone’s overreacting here. [Law360]

* The SEC targets a patent troll and a former Fulbright & Jaworski and Bracewell associate in an unrelated securities fraud case. [The Am Law Daily]

* Neil Sedaka may have thought “Breakin’ Up Is Hard To Do” but for law firms, mergers are the tough part. [National Law Journal]

* The justice gap for poor civil litigants keeps on growing. [The Nation]

There's a new champion law firm when it comes to headcount.

The firm will be getting a nine-figure payout in a contingency-fee case later this year.