Wake Up Call: Covid Helps ‘Winning’ U.K. Firms Distance the Rest

In today’s column, the legal arm of accounting giant Deloitte raided ALSP Elevate to hire a new legal management consulting chief, and two others, in London; as firms struggle with the pandemic’s impact on their results, they’re putting less attention on associate development and well-being; an ousted AIG in-house attorney is suing the insurer for whistle-blower retaliation; the pandemic has put thousands of recent law and medical graduates in limbo; a for-profit law school facing money woes decided it can no longer afford its naming rights to a minor league baseball stadium in Michigan.

• Leading off, the performance gap between top U.K-based law firms and mid-tier firms is growing as the Covid-19 pandemic highlights strengths of firms that have expertise in areas such as restructuring, bankruptcy, employment, and distressed M&A, as well as wiggle room on costs, according to this article citing legal recruiters and law firm executives. (Financial Times)

• The U.S. economy added about 1.4 million jobs in August but legal sector employment stayed flat as recent job gains were erased by layoff announcements by Big Law firms. (BLAW)

• Hogan Lovells last week said it will reverse salary cuts it made June 1 for its U.S. associates and that it will resume salary reviews elsewhere. The firm’s cuts were part of the wave of austerity cuts that firms made early in the pandemic to protect their cash. (BLAW)

• Troutman Pepper said it’s ending pay cuts and that it plans to restore pay it withheld earlier this year. (American Lawyer) (AbovetheLaw.com)

• As Big Law firms contemplate an increasingly bleak horizon, some have been laying off workers even as they restore pay for employees and lawyers they keep. (Business Insider)

• One casualty of the pandemic is firms’ efforts on associate development and well-being. (Law.com)

• Recent graduates of law and medical schools are finding themselves in limbo as the pandemic causes confusion and delays of their professions’ professional licensing exams. (NYT)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Rocket Lawyer is the first big-name legal services provider to say it will participate in Utah’s regulatory “sandbox” program aimed at increasing access to justice. (BLAW)

• Recruiters say they’re seeing signs of increased interest in the lateral market for black partners since the police killing of George Floyd in May sparked protests across the country. (American Lawyer)

• Akin Gump, Crowell & Moring, and Stroock are the latest of several firms that announced paid time off for Election Day Nov. 3. But it’s not clear if firms will keep the measures beyond 2020. (American Lawyer)

• Husband and wife lawyers suing Jones Day for alleged parental leave bias against new fathers and for other alleged sex bias and job retaliation can continue to pursue most of their claims, a federal judge ruled. (BLAW)

• A federal lawsuit filed by a former top in-house attorney at American International Group accuses the insurance giant, and its current and former general counsel, of illegally firing him in retaliation over his whistle-blowing against the company. The plaintiff, Aaron Katzel, now chief operating officer of legal and compliance for Softbank, is seeking millions of dollars in damages. (New York Law Journal)

• In a Colorado trademark infringement case, Gilbert Law sued Gilbert Law and the judge ruled for Gilbert Law. (The Gazette)

• An assistant district attorney in a New York county prosecutor’s office was struck and killed by a bus while riding her bike in Brooklyn Monday. (New York Post)

• Proskauer Rose and U.K. firm Osborne Clarke advised Spanish plasma-focussed drugmaker Grifols on its $146 million deal to acquire remaining stock of Alkahest, Inc. The transaction gives Grifols 100% of the shares of the California-based startup that targets blood proteins. Cooley advised Alkahest. (PipelineReview.com)

Laterals, Moves

• Deloitte Legal grabbed three senior managers in the U.K. from alternative legal services company Elevate, led by Jack Diggle as lead partner. Diggle, who was Elevate’s global head of consulting, will manage development of Deloitte’s legal capabilities across its technology, change and operations teams, and new technology-based ones. (Artificial Lawyer) (Global Legal Post)

• Squire Patton Boggs in the U.K. added two corporate partners. Equity capital markets and M&A lawyer Jayson Marks joined in London from Holman Fenwick Willan. Private equity lawyer David Milne joined in Leeds from Eversheds Sutherland. (SquirePB.com)

• Fox Rothschild said it added tax lawyers Michelle DeLappe and Norman J. Bruns in Seattle as partners in its taxation & wealth planning department. They were previously principals at Foster Garvey PC in Seattle. (FoxRothschild.com)

• Japanese law firm Nishimura & Asahi said it recruited Norton Rose Fulbright banking and finance lawyer Adrian Joyce as a partner in its Tokyo headquarters as foreign law head of project finance & asset finance. According to his LinkedIn, Joyce spent about three years in-house at Japanese bank Mizuho Bank before joining Norton Rose in late 2009. (Jurists.co.jp)

• Sherman & Sterling got leveraged finance partner Gary Hamp, who arrives in London after over a decade in Hong Kong office. In Hong Kong, he spent five years at Latham & Watkins and six at Hogan Lovells, where he was head of banking. Greenberg Traurig’s London office got finance and restructuring partner Helena Nathanson from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. (Global Legal Post)

In-house

• The American Automobile Association got former-Marriott in-house leader Douglas Kelly as the AAA’s next general counsel. Kelly succeeds Jim Brehm, who is retiring after more than 30 years. (Corporate Counsel)

Technology

• The Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that a non-English speaking driver on trial for drug trafficking consented, through Google Translate, to a vehicle search by a state trooper. (Legal Intelligencer)

Legal Education

• For-profit Cooley Law School, facing tough economic times, is giving up its naming rights to a minor league baseball stadium in Lansing, Michigan. (Law.com)

• The Illinois Supreme Court rejected without comment a petition by recent law graduates seeking stress tests to make sure the state’s upcoming October online bar exam won’t be overwhelmed by a large number of test takers. (Law.com) (AbovetheLaw.com)