Wake Up Call: Akin Gump Hired by Troubled Crypto Lender Celsius

In today’s column, some Philadelphia trial lawyers say they’re eager to get back to pre-Covid working conditions; LGBTQ advocacy nonprofit Lambda Legal named an acting chief legal officer to serve as it looks to replace its retiring CLO; law schools at historically Black colleges and universities say they are also historically underfunded.

• Leading off, crypto lending platform Celsius Network LLC has hired restructuring attorneys from Akin Gump for advice on its steadily worsening financial situation, the Journal reported. (WSJ) Celsius’ move to bring in lawyers, after freezing withdrawals in what observers said looks like a bank-run-like event, comes as the crypto sector faces a deepening “winter.” The biggest US crypto platform, Coinbase Global Inc., yesterday announced it’s cutting its workforce by 18%, and other other platforms have also announced layoffs. (BLAW)
• Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal called the company’s layoffs a “tough but prudent decision to ensure that Coinbase will emerge from this down cycle as a stronger company.” (Corporate Counsel) Tech companies are laying off workers, but apparently the cuts aren’t hitting lawyers. (Corporate Counsel)
• Some Philadelphia trial lawyers say they’re fed up with Zoom meetings, mask mandates, and other work practices made standard during the pandemic. (Legal Intelligencer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Financial industry groups warned in comments to the Securities and Exchange Commission that an SEC proposal to tighten controls on special purpose acquisition companies could snuff out the industry. (Reuters)
• Withers said its private client business in California is powering its growth in the US market, which it entered in 2002. (Recorder)
• Two professional liability insurers submitted amicus briefs supporting Dentons’ latest appeal of a $32 million malpractice verdict in Ohio. (American Lawyer)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• White & Case announced lateral hires on both sides of the country. It said Kirkland & Ellis debt finance partner Brett Pallin joined as a partner in New York. M&A and tech transactions attorney Linda Sim joined as a partner in Los Angeles from Loeb & Loeb, where she was senior counsel; Reed Smith picked up DLA Piper real estate lawyer Tony Alfonso as a partner in its Miami office; in Milan Italy, Dentons hired real estate lawyer Sara Poetto as a partner; Allen & Overy international arbitration partner Suzanne Spears, the firm’s co-head of global business and human rights, announced she has left the firm to launch a London-based boutique business and human rights firm; Cozen O’Connor hired veteran litigator Steven Weisz, a Canadian restructuring and insolvency attorney, as a shareholder in Toronto in its North American bankruptcy, insolvency & restructuring group. (Cozen.com)
• Lathrop GPM hired Armstrong Teasdale tax and real estate attorney Rachel Orr as a partner in Kansas City, Missouri in its real estate and tax credit practice group; Lathrop GPM also expanded its franchise & distribution practice group to two new cities, getting partner Carlos White in Dallas and an associate in Chicago. It also added two associates in Minneapolis; Nicolaides Fink Thorpe Michaelides Sullivan opened an office in Denver, Colorado, staffed by partners Matthew Fink and Ian Cooper, who are also listed as working out of the firm’s Chicago headquarters; Blank Rome recruited Deutsche Bank executive and compliance officer Kathleen Udo as a real estate attorney in New York. (BlankRome.com)
• LGBTQ advocacy group Lambda Legal said its senior counsel and director of strategic initiatives, Jennifer Pizer, will take over as acting chief legal officer upon the retirement Wednesday of Sharon McGowan. It said it plans to conduct a search for a permanent CLO; Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. said its executive vice president and CLO Damon Hart, who started the job in January, will add “secretary” to his roles starting January 2023. (LibertyMutualGroup.com)

Legal Education

• The Saint Paul, Minnesota-based Mitchell Hamline School of Law said Minnesota inmate Maureen Onyelobi, serving a life without parole sentence, will attend online classes this fall. (Twin Cities) The six law schools at historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S. are struggling with underfunding. (Law.com)