Wake Up Call: Critics Hit Jones Day’s Lucrative ‘Texas Two-Step’

In today’s column, the U.S. legal profession added 1,800 jobs in January; U.K. general counsel say they don’t want to finance law firms’ big salary hikes for junior lawyers; PwC Legal opened an office in Doha, and HFW opened in the British Virgin Islands.

• Leading off, Jones Day has taken in almost $60 million in court-approved bankruptcy fees and “probably hundreds of millions of dollars overall” advising Johnson & Johnson and other companies on a so-called Texas two-step strategy to avoid asbestos-related liabilities cases. That revenue may be in jeopardy amidst criticism that the complex maneuver undermines the U.S. bankruptcy system, this report says. (Financial Times)
• The U.S. legal profession added 1,800 new jobs in January to a seasonally adjusted 1,176,600. That’s up about 3.5% from January 2021, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (BLS.gov)
• With associate compensation soaring, several U.K. in-house leaders say they don’t want their companies to end up footing the bill. (Law.com International)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Big London-headquartered firm HFW announced it has launched in the British Virgin Islands by acquiring the office of local firm Lennox Paton. HFW said the move gives it a leading disputes practice in the offshore jurisdiction; PwC Legal, the legal services branch of the Big Four accounting firm, opened an office in Doha, its first office in Qatar and third in the Middle East region. (Consultancy-me.com); Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer said it launched a menopause policy for its U.K. employees, including a paid menopause plan and time off for medical appointments. (Freshfields.com)
• D.C. Circuit Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, reported to be a possible Biden nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court, traces her interest in the law to when she was in preschool and her father was in law school. (Associated Press)
• A report says the National Football League’s general counsel issued an order to expunge 2015 air pressure data that undermined the NFL’s “DeflateGate” accusations against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. (Sports Illustrated)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Miami-headquartered Greenberg Traurig grabbed five lawyers in Washington from several rivals. (National Law Journal) Holland & Hart added corporate and M&A lawyer Todd Reece in Salt Lake City as a partner. He was previously a Ballard Spahr partner and leader in that firm’s emerging companies and venture capital practice group; former Kirkland & Ellis venture capital partner Gregory Grove joined Neal Gerber Eisenberg’s corporate & securities practice as a partner in Chicago; K&L Gates hired labor and employment litigator Brian Spang as a partner in Chicago. He arrives from Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
• BakerHostetler recruited class action defense and complex litigation partner Brian Troyer in Cleveland, Ohio. He’s a former longtime Thompson Hine partner and was recently executive vice president, general counsel and secretary at auto parts company First Brands Group; former New York federal prosecutor Howard Master joined global investigations firm Nardello & Co as managing director and counsel to the CEO, based in New York. Former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Chris Urben joined Nardello as managing director in Washington; Epstein Becker Green promoted 11 attorneys to member; Moses & Singer added tax and finance partner Steve Lueker in New York. (MosesSinger.com)
• Satellite phone operator Iridium promoted a longtime in-house lawyer at the company, Kathy Morgan, to take over as chief legal officer from departing Tom Hickey. (Iridium) Kaia Health hired health in-house veteran Beth Jacobson as general counsel. She’s a former Skadden Arps corporate attorney and was recently assistant general counsel at Grand Rounds Health. (Corporate Counsel)

Technology

• With the market for legal tech talent tight, more law firms should train paralegals to help with electronic discovery. (American Lawyer)