Wake Up Call: Cooley Partner Profits Sink by 20% Amid Layoffs

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

• Cooley LLP saw profits per equity partner plunge 19.5% to $3.27 million last year, while revenue ticked up 1%. The San Francisco-headquartered firm, which laid off 150 associates and staffers in November, grew its partnership by 3.5% and total headcount by 11.5% over the year. (American Lawyer)
• Washington-based Crowell & Moring’s revenue jumped 14% to $590.1 million, powered by litigation and regulation work. Its profits per equity partner swelled 8.7% to $1.33 million. (National Law Journal)
• Chinese authorities raided the Beijing office of US corporate due diligence firm the Mintz Group and detained all five of its Chinese employees, according to reports. The raid comes days ahead of an international economic forum due to start in the city. (Reuters) (NYT) (WSJ)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Environmental, social and governance matters have become a major concern for companies and their law firms in Latin America. (Law.com International)
• Morris Manning & Martin launched an alternative dispute resolution practice. (MMMLaw.com) Barnes & Thornburg moved to new, 7,200-square-foot premises on the 49th floor of Three Logan Square at 1717 Arch Street in Philadelphia. (BTLaw.com) Spencer Fane said it opened a new office in Greenville, South Carolina, for which litigation partner Kurt Rozelsky will be office managing partner. (SpencerFane.com)
• Duane Morris is reportedly billing a Pennsylvania school district $300,000 to $500,000 a month for at least three months to defend against allegations of discrimination toward LGBTQ students. (WHYY.org)
• An 86-year-old Missouri lawyer who was caught on video groping clients was suspended indefinitely, despite a disciplinary panel’s recommendation for disbarment. (JD Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Cyprus-based casino and sportsbook platform provider Soft2Bet recruited DraftKings Inc. senior director, legal, David Yatom, as its new general counsel. Yatom was earlier GC at a subsidiary of SBTech, which later combined with DraftKings via a three-way merger with Diamond Eagle Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company. (Soft2Bet.com)
• Weil Gotshal grabbed London private equity infrastructure attorney Brendan Moylan from Latham & Watkins. He earlier spent 20 years at Clifford Chance. Moylan is the second London private equity infrastructure partner to leave Latham’s London office this week. (Weil.com)
• Carlton Fields picked up litigator Blair Hedges as a shareholder in Orlando, Florida, in its real property litigation practice. He arrives from Fidelity National Financial, Inc., a provider of title insurance and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage industries, where he was vice president, senior litigation counsel. He earlier worked at Big Law firms. (CarltonFields.com)
• Mayer Brown Frankfurt-based corporate partner Julian Lemor is joining German firm Noerr as a partner in its private equity practice, effective May 1. (Noerr.com)
• Dentons’ Korea branch hired Seoul-based attorneys John JungKyum Kim and Christina Jiwon Park to lead its new insurance & reinsurance team. Kim is a former New York-based in-house attorney for American International Group and other insurers. Park was senior legal counsel at Korean Reinsurance Company. (DentonsLee)
• Houston, Texas-based petrochemical company TPC Group promoted deputy general counsel Patrick Hurt to vice president and general counsel, replacing Marilyn Moore Basso, who’s leaving the company. Hurt’s a former senior counsel at chemical maker Celanese Corporation and was a Vinson & Elkins corporate associate. (TPC Group)

Legal Education

• Columbia Law School tops law schools sending 2022 grads to associate jobs at the largest 100 firms. Cornell Law School and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law make up the rest of the top three. (Law.com)