Biglaw, Mergers and Acquisitions
Stats Of The Week: New Global M&A Law Firm Leaders
Despite a geopolitically tumultuous 2016, the U.S. M&A market had a robust year.
* Former Berkeley Law dean Sujit Choudhry is suing the school, claiming that Berkeley discriminated against him by punishing him more harshly for alleged sexual harassment compared to white professors. [Law.com]
* The family of Sandra Bland settles its lawsuit over her death for $1.9 million. [New York Times]
* The Sixth Circuit, sitting en banc (and rather splintered), rules that the mental-health ban on gun ownership could violate the Second Amendment. [How Appealing]
* Congratulations to Miami corporate partner Ira Coleman, who will replace Peter John Sacripanti and Jeffrey E. Stone as chair of McDermott Will & Emery in January. [Big Law Business]
* Ashurst remains in a tailspin, with five partners (including two office heads) leaving in the span of 24 hours. [Ashurst]
* In other U.K. law firm news, Freshfields is replacing “Dear Sirs” with gender-neutral salutations in all communications and legal documents. [The Lawyer via Big Law Business]
* More exciting news for Bancroft: recognition for its pro bono work, which partners pledge will continue after they move over to Kirkland. [Law360]
* Paging parents who left Davis Polk to raise their kids: here’s a program to bring you back into Biglaw. [Law.com via ABA Journal]
* “Your complaint claims that it must speak for us because we are too afraid to speak for ourselves. That is not how we see ourselves and certainly not how any of us believes our clients and colleagues perceive us.” Some female partners at Chadbourne & Parke are speaking out against the $100 million class-action sex discrimination lawsuit that’s been filed on their behalf. We’ll have more on this news update later today. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Davis Polk is so desperate to improve gender diversity at the firm that it has launched an alumni rehiring program to give women who have opted to leave the firm to raise children a pathway back to an associate-level position. Participants in the program will earn $190K for one year, and may be offered a permanent job. [Am Law Daily]
* Say hello to Michael Gerstenzang, who was elected as Cleary Gottlieb’s new managing partner. He’s been with the firm for his entire career as an attorney since the 1990s, and he’ll continue to maintain his private equity and funds practice during his time serving as the firm’s leader, or rather, its “listener in chief.” Congratulations! [Legal Week]
* The House of Representatives approved the Financial Choice Act, a bill meant to roll back portions of the Dodd-Frank Act, including the Volcker Rule and the Durbin Amendment. Critics had this to say: “This bill is so bad that it simply cannot be fixed. It’s clear that this is a rushed, partisan messaging tool.” [DealBook / New York Times]
* Sixteen years after the alleged fraud took place, ex-AIG chairman Hank Greenberg is standing trial. Although he’s accused of orchestrating multimillion-dollar transactions, David Boies of Boies Schiller says “[t]his case is devoid of any admissible evidence that ties Mr. Greenberg to anything improper in either of these transactions.” [Reuters]
* Deborah Broyles, global diversity director at Reed Smith, RIP. [Big Law Business]
Neil Barr, Chair and Managing Partner
Georgetown University, JD
