Wake Up Call: As Work Piles On, Big Firms Fear Losing Talent

In today’s column, Kirkland promoted a record 151 lawyers to partner; elite U.K. law firms are facing a talent shortage; a California federal chief judge issued a Covid vaccine mandate.

• Leading off, Big Law firms facing soaring demand for their services are failing to recruit enough talent to do the work. They’re also not promoting enough young people into leadership roles, a report says. (American Lawyer) Elite law firms are among U.K. professional services firm hit by a labor shortage. (Financial Times) Wilson Sonsini’s managing partner talked about the firm’s ideas for helping lawyers shoulder the heavy work load. (American Lawyer)
• Stroock said it created a virtual New York City to show off its real estate practice and combat the monotony of online work. (Legaltech News)
• Central District of California Chief Judge Philip Gutierrez said all judges and court staff in the district must prove they’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19 by Oct. 15. With delta-variant Covid spreading rapidly, judges in federal courts in New York, Maryland, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Florida have issued similar orders. (The Recorder)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Kirkland & Ellis promoted a record 151 lawyers to partner across its offices worldwide. Morgan Lewis & Bockius and Goodwin Procter both promoted 40 lawyers to partner across their offices. (Law.com International) DLA Piper will advise Jordan’s King Abdullah on media matters, according to a contract disclosed as required under federal law. (Reuters)
• Biden administration nominee to the Federal Trade Commission Alvaro Bedoya disclosed earning over $350,000 in 19 months as a professor at Georgetown University Law Center and head of the school’s Center on Privacy & Technology. (National Law Journal)
• EY Ireland’s new legal practice, led by former Eversheds Sutherland Ireland Managing Partner Alan Murphy, specializes in digital, tech and commercial, corporate M&A, employment and real estate law, a report says. (The Irish Times)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Goodwin hired finance lawyer James Crolle as a partner in Washington in its real estate industry practice. A former Eckert Seamans member and associate at two other Big Law firms, Crolle was recently at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, where he was deputy head of finance, structuring and execution, global hospitality; in Hong Kong, Goodwin added private investment funds lawyers Phil Culhane and Elyn Xing as partners. Culhane and Xing were earlier together at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where Culhane spent 24 years according to his LinkedIn profile. Xing arrives from Debevoise & Plimpton. (GoodwinLaw.com)
• Holman Fenwick Willan snagged two top white-collar criminal defense and investigations lawyers from Greenberg Traurig in London as partners: Barry Vitou was global co-chair of Greenberg’s white-collar defense and special investigations practice and headed its team in London. Anne-Marie Ottaway spent 13 years at the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office; the Hollywood Reporter says Paul Hastings entertainment lawyer Stephen Saltzman, chair of its Asia and Europe media & entertainment practice, is moving to Fieldfisher’s London office as a partner; Vinson & Elkins’ London office added two international construction disputes lawyers from Hogan Lovells, getting 29-year Hogan Lovells veteran Roberta Downey and Angus Rankin as partners. (VELaw.com)
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius brought in employment litigator Brian Berry as a partner in San Francisco. He was previously co-chair of Ogletree Deakins’ California class action practice; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher poached Proskauer Rose worklaw partner Harris Mufson as a partner in New York; Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck grabbed 11 insurance, labor & employment, and professional liability lawyers, including five partners, and four staff in Westchester county, N.Y., from a local firm; Hinshaw & Culbertson brought in litigation partner Lexi Holinga as a partner in Baton Rouge. (HinshawLaw.com)
• Alternative dispute resolution services provider JAMS said former New York State judge Sherry Klein Heitler, who was chief of policy and planning for the New York State Unified Court System, joined its New York panel; Carlton Fields hired business litigator James E. Mitchell as an associate in Atlanta; Blank Rome hired energy associate Charles J. Dickenson in Washington. (BlankRome.com)

Legal Education

• Columbia Law School’s first artist in residence, Bayeté Ross Smith, will use his “Art of Justice” project to get students to challenge their assumptions. (New York Law Journal)