Wake Up Call: Associate Hires Plunge, Partner Hires Rise in 2022

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

• The lateral hiring market shrank 11.5% in 2022 after soaring 111% the previous year, according to new data from the National Association for Law Placement. Associate hires plunged nearly 20% but hires of partners rose 5.5% and “other lawyers” by 9.5%. Hiring data varied across firm sizes, regions, and cities, NALP said. For example, in firms with 250 or fewer lawyers, lateral hiring was up 24% overall powered by a 56.0% increase in partner laterals. (NALP)
• White & Case is suing a special purpose acquisition company for nearly $8.3 million in allegedly unpaid legal fees. (New York Law Journal)
• Mayer Brown’s strong performances from its real estate, finance, and litigation practices helped lift revenue 1% to $1.86 billion in 2022, but its average profits per equity partner dropped 5.1% to $2.34 million, according to a report based on early data. (American Lawyer)
• Houston, Texas-based Vinson & Elkins’ revenue grew 2.5% to $934.7 million in 2022, pushed by a combination of higher billing rates and higher demand in areas including infrastructure, energy transition, and litigation. (Texas Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• India’s local law firms are worried that foreign firms that open Indian offices under coming new rules will poach their star lawyers and cause fees to rise. (Reuters)
• A downturn in deal markets and Russia’s Ukraine invasion hit Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s revenues in 2022, pulling them down 3.8% to $845.2 million, according to early data. (American Lawyer)
• Gibson Dunn appointed new office partners-in-charge for its Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York offices. (GibsonDunn.com)
• Former Nebraska attorney Craig Hoffman has been sentenced to prison for a second time. A federal judge Monday sentenced him to two years in federal prison for willful failure to pay employment taxes and ordered him to pay $325,198 in restitution. Hoffman was previously disbarred after his conviction and prison sentence for stealing settlement money from clients, this report says. (8 ABC Nebraska)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Clothing company Levi Strauss & Co. said its executive vice president and chief legal officer Seth Jaffe is retiring June 2. Deputy general counsel David Jedrzejek will move up to general counsel. Jedrzejek, who’s been at Levis Strauss about seven years, has been in-house at clothing retailer Gap Inc. and has been a Big Law corporate and litigation attorney. (LeviStrauss.com)
• Moving and self-storage giant U-Haul International said its longtime general counsel Larry DeRespino is retiring effective May 12 and assistant GC Kristine Campbell, a former Greenberg Traurig class action and commercial litigation attorney, is taking his place. (PR Newswire)
• Elite UK firm Linklaters LLP brought back a former managing associate at the firm, Latham & Watkins private equity and infrastructure partner John Guccione. He returns to Linklaters as a partner in its corporate division in London. He spent close to 11 years at investment firm OMERS Infrastructure Management Inc. (Linklaters.com)
• Quinn Emanuel lost Brussels-based EU and UK competition law partner Mark English to big Spanish firm Garrigues. (Garrigues.com)
• Gordon & Rees hired Hinshaw & Culbertson health-care defense attorneys Jason Winslow and Blair Keltner as partners in St. Louis, Missouri. (GRSM.com)