Wake Up Call: Arbitrator Orders Husch to Pay $62 Million Award

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• An arbitration panel ordered Husch Blackwell to pay $62 million to an engineering firm that accused a partner at the firm of legal misconduct, blaming him for its loss of a bid to build Kansas City, Missouri’s soon-to-open billion-dollar airport, according to a report. (Kansas City Star)
• Goodwin Procter’s busy January has included layoffs, a big lateral group hire, and now market-matching year-end 2022 bonuses (Above The Law)
• Hogan Lovells wants to grow in the US through a merger or by other means. CEO Miguel Zaldivar told Law.com the transatlantic firm expects its 2022 profits and revenue to be below 2021’s though still its second best year ever. He said the firm aims to expand in New York, Texas, and California via organic promotions. (American Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• National Women’s Soccer League’s Portland Thorns and Major League Soccer’s Portland Timbers appointed general counsel and interim CEO Heather Davis as the teams’ permanent CEO. She took over as interim chief last fall after the company was named in a report citing abuse in the women’s pro soccer league. (OregonLive.com)
• Sullivan & Cromwell earned $8.6 million in fees advising now-fallen crypto exchange FTX.com. With the law firm apparently set to reap tens of millions of dollars working on the company’s bankruptcy, some are raising “uncomfortable questions” about conflicts. (Financial Times)
• O’Melveny & Myers said its lawyers in London and Silicon Valley advised San Francisco-based fitness tracker app company Strava on its acquisition of FATMAP, producer of 3D maps. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (Tech Crunch)
• With insurers’ claims litigation costs climbing steadily in Florida, attorneys say they expect to see more binding arbitration clauses in coverage contracts. (Insurance Journal)
• San Francisco-based investment management boutique law firm Cole-Frieman & Mallon said it’s launching a cybersecurity law practice to help clients with a wave of new Securities and Exchange Commission regulations imposing tighter cybersecurity requirements for hedge funds, investment managers, and asset managers. (ColeFrieman.com)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• DLA Piper brought in longtime environmental attorney Andrew Cooper as a partner in Washington. He arrives from Van Ness Feldman and his former roles included head of the environmental practice at now defunct firm Dickstein Shapiro. (DLP Piper)
• Davis Wright Tremaine added Perkins Coie real estate litigator Sarah Gillstrom as a partner in Anchorage. (DWT.com)
• Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney hired worklaw litigator Stephen Kelkenberg as counsel in Pittsburgh. He arrives after 20 years at Hodgson Russ. (BIPC.com)
• Eckert Seamans added cybersecurity, data protection, and privacy attorney Elizabeth Wilson as senior attorney in Philadelphia. She was recently vice president, general counsel, legal tech & data protection, Americas head at Credit Suisse Securities. (EckertSeamans.com)
• UK firm Shoosmiths said it hired veteran Big Law chief operating officer Rachel Reid to start as its COO in March. She arrives from DLA Piper and was earlier COO at Taylor Wessing and King & Wood Mallesons. (Shoosmiths)
• Finnish telecommunications company Nokia Corp. made interim chief legal officer Esa Niinimäki permanent CLO. He took over last fall when Nassib Abou-Khalil left the company to “seek new challenges.” (Nokia.com)

Technology

• Artificial intelligence startup DoNotPay, self-described first “robot lawyer” in the world, has dropped plans to help a defendant fight a traffic ticket in court after receiving threats of possible prosecution and jail time. (NPR)