Wake Up Call: Debevoise Latest NYC Firm to Mandate Vaccine

In today’s column, with delta-variant Covid-19 cases soaring U.S.-wide, the Georgia Supreme Court is bringing back remote oral arguments for August; Kirkland and Mayer Brown are piloting Boeing’s partnership deal with a Florida private equity firm; O’Melveny is number one on American Lawyer’s latest “A-List” top 20, which ranks firms on financial and cultural criteria.

• Leading off, Debevoise & Plimpton, following Paul, Weiss and Cravath this week, is the latest New York-based firm that says it will require people to be vaccinated to enter their offices. Debevoise said that starting Sept. 30 its personnel will need to have gotten the shots to get in. The firm also announced it will require lawyers and “some professional staff” to be in-office at least one to two days beginning Oct. 11 and at least two-thirds of the time beginning Nov. 8. (American Lawyer)
• With cases of delta-variant surging, law firms that stay silent on vaccines could damage their reputations, says this report citing “communications experts.” (American Lawyer) Law firms in Florida and Georgia are staying flexible on their return-to-office plans. (Daily Report) Driven by the pandemic, several pharmaceutical companies have expanded their legal departments in the past month. (Corporate Counsel)
• The Georgia Supreme Court, a couple of months after bringing back in-person oral arguments, said it’s going back to virtual arguments for the ones scheduled for August. In-person oral arguments scheduled for mid-September haven’t been changed. (Daily Report Online)
• Troutman Pepper announced bonuses for counsel and senior associates. Not everyone’s happy; a Denver boutique is offering salary hikes for associates, below the Davis Polk scale. (Above The Law)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• O’Melveny & Myers is tops on American Lawyer’s latest “A-List” of top 20 law firms, assessed on revenue per lawyer as well as cultural criteria including associate satisfaction, pro bono commitment, and gender and racial diversity. Ropes & Gray, Paul, Weiss, Debevoise, and Orrick make up the rest of the top 5. (American Lawyer)
• Kirkland & Ellis advised Boca Raton, Fla.-based private equity firm AE Industrial Partners on its partnership with Chicago-based The Boeing Company to manage and invest in HorizonX Ventures. That’s Boeing’s venture capital fund to invest in companies that are early-stage or have transformative aerospace technologies. Mayer Brown advised Boeing. (PR Newswire) Paul Hastings is advising Seoul-based mobile-only bank and fintech platform Kakaobank Corp., part of internet conglomerate Kakao Group, on its $2.2 billion initial public offering on the Korea Exchange. (PaulHastings.com)
• Three lawyers who co-founded Atlanta-based Carter + Woodard say it is Georgia’s first majority Black-owned, entertainment and corporate law firm, and the second such firm in the U.S. The founders include former Greenberg Traurig lawyer Donald Woodard, who was most recently in-house at USA Track & Field as business affairs chief and deputy general counsel. (Daily Report Online) Two Kentucky law firms merged. (RCN)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Latham & Watkins poached Weil structured finance partner Alex Martin in London; Perkins Coie hired Brian Turoff as partner in New York in its labor & employment practice group. He arrives from Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, where he led the New York employment and labor practice; Norton Rose Fulbright grabbed Jones Day global disputes of counsel Chris Pelham in Los Angeles as a partner on its global investigations team. He’s a former California federal prosecutor; New York City-based Warshaw Burstein hired trust, estates, and tax lawyer Steve Graber as a partner. He joins after 22-plus years at Robinson Brog. (WBNY.com)
• Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila added intellectual property attorney and commercial litigator Keyonn Pope as a partner in Chicago. He arrives with litigator Monique Howery from Reed Smith, where Pope was Chicago office hiring partner. RSHC also added former Illinois federal prosecutor Georgia Alexakis as a partner in its government enforcement, investigations & white collar criminal defense and appellate practices; Troutman Pepper got real estate lawyer Christina Braisted Rogers as a partner in Atlanta. She arrives from Greenberg Traurig, where she was a shareholder and chair of its Atlanta real estate group. (Troutman.com)

Legal Education

• A Fort Lauderdale law school student who filed a federal Americans with Disabilities Act suit against his school is facing sanctions in the case. (Daily Business Review)