Law Firm Mergers

  • Morning Docket: 04.02.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 04.02.18

    * Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is a little worried about President Trump’s flair for hyperbole, saying that Trump should never “walk into that room with” special counsel Robert Mueller, because when you make “false statements to federal agents, that’s a crime, that can send you to jail.” [The Hill]

    * This is not an April Fools’ joke. On April 1, Foley & Lardner finalized its Tex-Mex merger with Gardere Wynne Sewell. We repeat, this is not an April Fools’ joke. Foley will maintain its headquarters in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Best of luck to the combined firm! [Texas Lawyer]

    * Long Island Judge Robert Cicale was arrested after allegedly breaking into a former intern’s house to steal a pair of her panties. At his arraignment, he admitted that he’d done it before, and in his confession, he said “he has urges to steal women’s underwear.” We’ll have more on the alleged panty thief later. [NBC New York]

    * According to a new report by Fairfax Associates, law firm mergers are set to meet (or perhaps beat) 2017’s record. Twenty tie-ups have been completed in 2018 thus far, with another 13 announced mergers set to close later this year. [American Lawyer]

    * New York firm Morrison Cohen recently launched the “MoCo cryptocurrency litigation tracker,” a tool investors can use to monitor when doing due diligence on crypto assets. There are currently 63 cases in the U.S., and some of the industry’s biggest players have been named as defendants. [Brave New Coin]

  • Morning Docket: 02.12.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.12.18

    * “The chief justice, in particular, doesn’t like the court to be a disruptive force,” but that might change this spring as the Supreme Court considers reversing at least three of its longstanding precedents. Trashing precedents could potentially become much easier now that Justice Gorsuch is here. [USA Today]

    * Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bryan Cave partners are voting on their proposed transatlantic merger, and the results are expected by the end of the month. If the tie-up is approved, BCLP — the combined firm’s new name — will be a billion-dollar firm with 1,500 lawyers and 32 offices in 12 countries. [Law.com]

    * Charles Harder, the lawyer who brought down Gawker and now represents Donald Trump and members of his family, is experiencing some growing pains at his firm thanks to his presidential representation. Name partner Douglas Mirell just quit because of his “pledge to protect the First Amendment.” [The Recorder]

    * New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has filed a civil rights suit against the Weinstein Company and its founders, alleging that they “repeatedly and persistently treated female employees less well than male-employees through gender-based hostile workplace harassment, quid pro quo harassment, and discrimination.” [Variety]

    * In an effort to increase diversity, LSAC will be awarding a total of $1.5 million to five law schools so they can hold Prelaw Undergraduate Scholars programs on their campuses. Akron, Alabama, Duke, Houston, and St. John’s will each receive these grants to convince college students to enroll. [Black Enterprise]

    * Congratulations to Charleston Law’s National Tax Moot Court team, which just clinched its seventh championship title in a row. It’s nice to know that students were able to rise above the school’s designation as one of the “least selective law schools in the country” to create a tax law dynasty. [Post and Courier]

    * Remember the former Ulta employee who accused the beauty retailer of reselling used products as new? Now a concerned customer has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit over the store’s “widespread and surreptitious practice” of allegedly repackaging and selling returned products. [Chicago Tribune]

  • Morning Docket: 01.29.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.29.18

    * She’s going to be 85 in just a few months, and like a fine wine, she just keeps getting better with age. No one should count on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg retiring any time soon. [Associated Press]

    * Speaking of Justice Ginsburg, you’re going to have to change up your State of the Union drinking games this year, because she won’t be in attendance. She’ll be on a Northeast law school tour instead — and she’ll be wide awake. [The Hill]

    * The president wants “[his] guys” at the “Trump Justice Department” — but not Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, he wants Rosenstein out — to make public a classified memo on the Russia investigation, an act that the DOJ said would be “extraordinarily reckless.” [Washington Post]

    * Don McGahn may have threatened to quit his job as White House counsel last summer, but because he decided to stick around, he’s been instrumental to the Trump administration in reshaping a much more conservative judiciary. [CNN]

    * Just a few months ago, merger talks between Andrews Kurth and Hunton & Williams seemed pretty tepid, but now they’re heating up. We can tell because AK partners are being picked off by other firms like crazy. [American Lawyer]

    * Justice is blind — and cheap: Stephen McAllister was recently sworn in as U.S. attorney for the District of Kansas, and he’s taking a humongous pay cut. The former Kansas Law dean earned more than $1 million by working three jobs, and his new gig pays more than $800K less. [National Law Journal]

  • Sponsored

  • Morning Docket: 01.04.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 01.04.18

    * Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has apparently “lost his mind,” and now he’s found himself on the receiving end of a cease-and-desist letter from President Trump’s lawyers, with claims that he’d not only violated his employment agreement with the Trump Organization, but that he’d likely defamed Trump. [Washington Post]

    * According to Governor Andrew Cuomo, New York will be filing suit against the government over the new tax plan, contending that its limitation on SALT deductions constitutes unconstitutional “double taxation.” Will other states with high local taxes get on board? [Big Law Business]

    * In an effort to beat a deadline, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is using his executive authority to appoint almost 20 interim U.S. attorneys. The jurisdictions where these appointments were made include districts in California, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, the Virgin Islands, and Washington. [NBC News]

    * There were 102 law firm mergers in 2017, topping a record that was previously set in 2015. Now, just a few days into 2018, law firm mergers are still going strong and show no sign of stopping, and it may be because younger managing partners have replaced their baby boomer predecessors. [American Lawyer]

    * Earlier this week, Judge Adrienne Nelson was appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court by Governor Kate Brown. Nelson is the first African-American to ever serve on the state’s high court. Congratulations on making history, Your Honor! [Oregonian]

    * Yet another DOJ veteran is leaving for greener pastures in academia. This time, it’s Doug Letter, director of the Civil Division appellate staff, who will bring 40 years of government service experience to Georgetown Law, where he’ll join the school’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection. [National Law Journal]

  • Morning Docket: 11.01.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 11.01.17

    * “Nothing about recent events or any of these actions of the special counsel has altered the president’s determination to support the special counsel and fully cooperate and that is where we are,” said White House lawyer Ty Cobb, twirling his mustache as he presumably wondered how to extricate himself from this situation. [Big Law Business]

    * An Akin Gump partner who initially refused to testify before the grand jury in Paul Manafort’s case was ordered to do so under the “crime fraud” exception to attorney-client privilege. She’s (understandably) not responding to media requests for comment at this time. She’s already said her fair share. [National Law Journal]

    * The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary gave Eighth Circuit nominee Leonard Steven Grasz, who happens to be a Husch Blackwell partner, a “not qualified” rating because its members were concerned he wouldn’t be able to follow precedent due to his “passionately-held social agenda.” [ABA Journal]

    * Foley & Lardner is in merger talks with Gardere Wynne Sewell. Last we heard, the firm was in merger talks with New York boutique Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman. While the firm claims that a final decision on the merger hasn’t been made yet, they’ve already set up a new website. That’s probably just a coincidence. [Am Law Daily]

    * Speaking of mergers, the one between Womble Carlyle and Bond Dickinson is now official, and the combined firm, Womble Bond Dickinson, is now one of the world’s 100 largest. More than 1,000 lawyers work for the new firm across 24 offices in the U.S. and U.K. As with most mergers, some layoffs could be ahead. [Chronicle Live]

Sponsored

  • Morning Docket: 10.18.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.18.17

    * Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer spent Monday with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, chatting about all sorts of things related to the Russia probe. They presumably spoke about more than Trump’s choice of Russian dressing. [POLITICO]

    * During a meeting held at Debevoise & Plimpton’s New York office, the members of the Weinstein Company’s board ratified their decision to fire Harvey Weinstein from his own company. Every employment lawyer’s worst nightmare later resigned from the board. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * “Democratic attorneys general are getting national injunctions to stop the Trump administration. In just two short years, the national injunction went from rare to routine.” The Trump presidency has ushered in the era of nationwide injunctions, and not everyone seems to be a fan of this type of one-size-fits-all jurisprudence. [CNN]

    * In case you missed it, come 2019, there will be three legal genders in California: male, female, and non-binary. Under the Gender Recognition Act, citizens of the Golden State may select non-binary as an option on state-issued IDs, driver’s licenses, and birth certificates. Congratulations on this landmark legislation. [Esquire]

    * The number of this year’s law firm mergers is set to break records, but you better get ready for MOAR MERGERS. Per Janet Stanton of Adam Smith Esq., deals are happening behind the scenes, and partner defections may serve as an indication of merger talks. Can you think of a firm that’s been losing partners? [Am Law Daily]

  • Morning Docket: 10.13.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.13.17

    * Does Trump’s health care executive order violate ERISA? [CNBC]

    * Just when law firms needed another challenge, here comes PwC. [Law.com]

    * Pepper Hamilton partner brings clients to secluded private island. Enjoy Camp Crystal Lake everyone! [The Legal Intelligencer]

    * On Sunday, 60 Minutes will have a profile on the fascinating career of Shon Hopwood, the Georgetown Law professor who came to his career as a jailhouse lawyer while serving time for bank robbery. [National Law Journal]

    * Why aren’t there vegan wigs? It’s actually a pretty interesting question. [Legal Cheek]

    * Judge was “unaware” that he gave joint custody to an accused rapist. But before the judge gets pilloried for conducting a slapdash proceeding, consider that the prosecutors never bothered to mention this. [ABA Journal]

    * The gender bias suit against Proskauer reaches the Second Circuit on claims that Judge Cote erred in preventing the plaintiff from getting key discovery for her retaliation claim. [Law360]

    * A guide to interviewing for introverts. The first tip should be to open every interview with, “I’m interested in tax.” In my experience, firms expect to put the tax geniuses in a dungeon and let them work their sorcerer’s ways in peace, so they’ll forgive any awkwardness as a sign of genius. [The Recorder]

    * Law firm merger mania strikes Texas. [Houston Chronicle]

  • Morning Docket: 10.11.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.11.17

    * “[W]e will do whatever we have to do to properly protect his rights vis a vis the company.” Film producer and accused rapist Harvey Weinstein has hired Hollywood power lawyer Patricia Glaser to represent him in his fight against his own company. [Hollywood Reporter]

    * Hogan Lovells has been in the legal press a lot lately for its decision to shut things down, like careers. Now, the firm has decided to shut down an office in a far away land called Ulaanbaatar that you’ve likely never heard of before. [Legal Week]

    * What’s the easiest way to get a new practice group running? By acquiring a boutique firm that’s got an “innovative approach.” That’s what LeClairRyan did when it swallowed up Pizzo & Haman, a workers’ compensation firm which is unique in that… its attorneys charge more than others in the same practice area. [Am Law Daily]

    * Enrollment has gone up in a major way at the Appalachian School of Law. The school’s new 1L class is about 86 percent larger than last year’s entering class, and its overall enrollment has increased by almost 40 percent. Considering that the school has been struggling in recent years, this must be nice for everyone in Grundy. [WCYB]

    * “What Could Equifax CLO John Kelley Have Done Differently?” Literally, anything. [Corporate Counsel]

  • Morning Docket: 10.05.17
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.05.17

    * Corporate Counsel asks “how much money will Uber’s next general counsel make?” Duh, it depends on surge pricing. [Corporate Counsel]

    * Law firm merger rumors!!! [Law.com]

    * Supreme Court takes another opportunity to laugh in the face of people who care about government transparency. [National Law Journal]

    * A “so-called judge” strikes again! [The Guardian]

    * Would you share your cyberthreat assessments with the government? [Law360]

    * It’s time for some standards in the FCPA industry. [FCPA Professor]

    * People are not agricultural products. Somehow this is something we needed an opinion on. [Lowering the Bar]