Wake Up Call: Baker McKenzie Profits Go From Fat to Flat

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

• Baker McKenzie reported that its net profit stayed level at about $1.24 billion for its latest fiscal year ending June 30, after its profits rose by a record 36.7% in the previous year. The Chicago-headquartered firm, the biggest US firm by lawyer head count, said its global revenues rose 5.5% to a record $3.3 billion, calling the performance strong “despite significant headwinds” in the post-pandemic era. It cited significant expenditures on talent and technology.
• The firm said it had several standout practice areas, including private equity, up 25.7%, M&A, up 9.2%, and antitrust & competition, up 10.2%, and “very active” real estate. (BakerMcKenzie.com)
• Baker McKenzie’s announcement comes as Big Law firms face sharply slower M&A deal and IPO work and significantly higher costs. One big cost are the Cravath-scale salaries that many firms handed out to associates early this year when business was booming. (Law.com) Management-side worklaw firm Littler reportedly announced raises for all US associates, ranging $10,000 to $65,000, depending on year of seniority. The raises apparently don’t match the Cravath scale. Littler’s professional staff also got pay hikes. (Above The Law)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• The Texas State Bar dismissed an effort by advocacy group The 65 Project to get Senator Ted Cruz stripped of his law license because of his efforts to shoot down the 2022 election results. The Bar said it has no jurisdiction in the case, because in the matters cited, Cruz was acting as a senator, not a lawyer. (Dallas News)
• Chicago-based law firm SmithAmundsen, with over 180 attorneys, and smaller Milwaukee-based firm Davis|Kuelthau s.c. said they’re merging Nov. 1 to form Amundsen Davis, LLC, with 230-plus attorneys in 12 offices across the Midwest. (SmithAmundesen.com)
• Chicago-based intellectual property firm Banner Witcoff and two UK and European IP firms have set up a transatlatlantic associate exchange program. (Reuters)
• Squire Patton Boggs’ European managing partner announced all UK staff will be required to come in to the office on Thursdays in a tightening of its flexible work policy. (Roll On Friday)
• Big Four accounting companies have quietly ended their legal partnerships in China in the wake of an intense regulatory scrutiny. (Law.com International)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Clark Hill brought in two cybersecurity and data privacy attorneys from technology law firm Octillo to “associate with” its West Coast offices. Former Justice Department trial attorney Myriah Jaworski joined as member and litigator Chirag Patel as senior counsel. (ClarkHill.com)
• Holland & Knight recruited the former chief legal officer of Bay Area Air Quality Management District Brian C. Bunger as a partner in San Francisco on its West Coast land use and environmental team. Holland & Knight also added longtime McGuireWoods finance attorney Wade Kennedy as a partner in Chicago and co-chair of the firm’s asset-based lending team with existing co-chair Christopher Dillon, who’s in Atlanta. (HKLaw.com)
• Kaufman Dolowich said worklaw attorney Sanjay Bansal, a former partner at the firm, returned as its new co-managing partner of its Los Angeles office. (KDVLaw.com)
• Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr named partner Jonathan Havens, who’s co-chair of its cannabis law and food, beverage and agriculture practices, to be managing partner of its Baltimore office. (Saul.com)
• Locke Lord elected six new partners in Austin, Houston, and Los Angeles. (LockeLord.com)

Legal Education

• Indiana University Maurer School of Law said it picked longtime faculty member Christiana Ochoa to be the 17th dean in its history. (Indianapolis Business Journal)