Wake Up Call: Baker McKenzie AI Tool to ‘Predict’ Client Needs

In today’s column, Greenberg Traurig said it’s offering employee buyouts, instead of layoffs, to reduce staff to adapt to shifting workplace needs; Dorsey & Whitney is the latest Big Law firm to drop Covid pay cuts it made early in the Covid-19 pandemic; Goodwin, which opted to not offer special “Covid appreciation” bonuses to associates, says it plans to give secretaries an extra $1,000 to recognize their hard work during the Covid crisis; Baker McKenzie named a new North American chair and new executive committee members; a Keker, Van Nest & Peters associate is a two-day winner, so far, on game show Jeopardy!”

Leading off, Baker McKenzie said today that its new innovation arm, Reinvent, is hooking up with artificial intelligence developer SparkBeyond to use AI to try to predict what kind of legal services clients will need from their law firms in the future. (BakerMcKenzie.com) The firm said it’s investing over $2 million in the new branch. (The Lawyer)

The tool, which will rely on data gathered from the firm’s previous and current work, as well as from third-party sources, may not be completely accurate, but it could still get keen interest from law firms. For example, Baker McKenzie director of global service design Ana-Maria Norbury said it could be used to validate lawyers’ hunches and turn up unexpected client needs. (Legaltech News) (Artificial Lawyer)

Dorsey & Whitney turns out to be among the Big Law firms having an unexpectedly solid year, business-wise. Dorsey joined the ranks of firms reversing pay cuts and other austerity measures made earlier in the year to fend off potential financial impacts of the Covid crisis. However, it’s not clear the firm will be offering bonuses this year, a report says. (Above the Law)

Greenberg Traurig says it’s also having a solid year. Now, the Florida-founded firm, which apparently hasn’t made Covid-motivated paycuts or layoffs, is offering seniority-based buyouts to reduce its staff, in a program available in most of the firm’s offices. Staff who take the deal by the Nov. 15 deadline will get 50% more severance than they would normally get, among other incentives. (American Lawyer) The firm said that, as Covid-motivated remote work arrangements have shifted roles and responsibilities, it created the program to anticipate changes in its client and attorney needs. (Above the Law)

Goodwin Procter, which rejected the idea of giving special Covid appreciation bonuses for associates this fall, said it plans to give “all secretaries” an additional payment of $1,000 in “recognition of your hard work during these challenging times.” That payment, to be made in January, doesn’t apply to associates, but the firm has said their efforts will be taken into account when merit bonuses are calculated in January. (Above the Law)

More than 40% of law school graduates who took the recent online bar exam in New York said they encountered tech problems during the test, according to a new survey. (BLAW)

Corporate legal departments were already getting squeezed before the pandemic. Now, they’re under even more budgetary pressure, on top of challenges of remote work and more responsibilities, a report says. (Law.com)

A federal judge refused to monitor the rollout of Covid-19 safety measures at Newark’s immigration court, where one lawyer practicing died and another got infected. (New Jersey Law Journal)

Lawyers, Law Firms

Goodwin’s Blake Liggio recently became the first transgender equity partner at Goodwin and one of relatively few transgender lawyers known to have climbed the ladder in Big Law. (BLAW)

Baker McKenzie said it appointed three partners to new leadership roles. It named Dallas-based tax partner Melinda Phelan and Hong Kong-based cross-border enforcement and litigation partner Shih Yann Loo to the global executive committee, the firm’s governing body. It named a current committee member, cross-border transactions partner Michael Santa Maria in Dallas, as the firm’s North American chair. (BakerMckenzie.com)

A planned Department of Justice event on gender diversity with former D.C. U.S. attorney Jesse Liu was canceled because of President Trump’s recent executive order barring diversity training at federal agencies, a gender equality advocacy group said. (Law.com)

A growing number of law firms are using data to better target their diversity and inclusion efforts. (American Lawyer)

Keker, Van Nest & Peters associate Kristin Hucek, a former DOJ trial attorney, appeared on game show “Jeopardy!”, beating a five-time winner to take the first game and then winning again in her second appearance. (Chicago Tribune)

Pro Bono

A trial judge in Washington challenged Arnold & Porters’ request for $212,140 in legal fees and costs for its pro bono work in a case challenging a federal policy blocking New York residents from using “trusted traveler” programs aimed at helping Americans get expedited screenings at international airports and borders. The government admitted lying in the litigation. (National Law Journal)

Laterals, Moves

DLA Piper trial partner Dan Rosenfeld joined Sullivan & Worcester as a partner in Boston in its litigation group. (SullivanLaw.com)

Reed Smith poached Freshfield’s France real estate chief Carole Steimle as a partner based in Paris. She has also previously worked for Gide Loyrette Nouel and Allen & Overy in Morocco. (ReedSmith.com)

In-House

SpotOn Transact LLC, a software startup building a payments system for the restaurant industry, has brought on employment litigator Michelle Howland Zmugg to serve as its first-ever general counsel, based in San Francisco. She was most recently a partner at Lewis Brisbois. Plus other recent in-house hires. (BLAW)

Arcimoto Inc., an automotive company that’s developed a three-wheeled electric vehicle, has hired veteran transportation industry lawyer John Dorbin Jr. as general counsel and corporate secretary. Dorbin has spent the past two years as an independent business consultant, according to Arcimoto. Before that he served for over six years as general counsel for Goshen, Ind.-based truck and bus maker Supreme Industries Inc. (BLAW)

Austin, Texas-based high-tech security firm Ontic hired its first-ever chief legal officer, Scott Shepherd, who most recently was the first in-house lawyer for cloud accounting firm ScaleFactor Inc. Ontic also added former Walmart Inc. general counsel Tom Mars to the company’s advisory board. (Corporate Counsel)

Technology

Lawmatics, a San Diego startup founded by a former lawyer behind practice management startup MyCase, said it has raised $2.5 million in seed funding for its project of developing marketing and customer relationship management software for lawyers, according to a report. (TechCrunch)