Wake Up Call: Dechert Posts 50% Profit Gain on Record Revenues

In today’s column, Cozen O’Connor took a virtual step into Boston with a partner hire; U.K. law firms say their pay war with U.S. firms is “unsustainable; most “young” lawyers in a recent survey said they’re likely to change jobs in the next five years.

• Leading off, Dechert came back from an off-2020 to post revenue up 25.2% to a record $1.341 billion in 2021, while profits per equity partner soared 49.3% to $4.231 million, according to a report based on preliminary data. The Philadelphia-headquartered firm, which closed three small U.S. offices and shrank its equity partnership by 8% last year, cited surging demand and capital-related work and product liability litigation among contributors to its results. (American Lawyer)
• U.K. law firms are worried about the “stupid money” they’re forced to pay London associates in their talent war with U.S. firms. (Financial News) Elias Law Group, a Washington-headquartered boutique firm launched last year by former Perkins Coie partner Marc Elias, matched the Milbank pay scale for associates. (Above The Law)
• Most young lawyers are likely to change jobs in the next five years with money, barriers to career progress, and lack of work-life balance key motivating factors, a new report says. The International Bar Association said its survey of 3,000 lawyers around the world aged 40 and younger found 54% at least somewhat likely to move to a similar job elsewhere, 33% likely to move to a different legal profession area, with 20% thinking about leaving the profession altogether. (INBNET.org)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Georgetown Law’s dean put the incoming executive director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, constitutional law expert Ilya Shapiro, on administrative leave. The move, the day before Shapiro was supposed to start, came amidst controversy over his tweets criticizing President Biden’s vow to nominate a Black woman to replace Justice Breyer on the Supreme Court. (New York Times)
• The Manhattan federal district court said Judge Martin Glenn will start a five-year term in March as new chief bankruptcy judge for the Southern District of New York. (BLAW)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Hughes Hubbard & Reed got back a former associate at the firm, white collar litigator and national security lawyer Kevin Carroll, who returns as a partner in Washington and New York. Carroll’s a former Homeland Security Department senior counselor and Central Intelligence Agency case officer and arrives recently from Wiggins and Dana; Newark-based McCarter & English recruited retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Jaynee LaVecchia as a business litigation partner. (New Jersey Globe); Saul Ewing appointed Philadelphia-based partner and executive committee member Cathleen M. Devlin its litigation department chair, the first woman to have that role; DLA Piper brought in former Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitney Cloud as a litigation partner in Philadelphia. (DLAPiper.com)
• Latham & Watkins grabbed longtime Vinson & Elkins corporate partner Caroline Blitzer Phillips as a partner in New York in its mergers & acquisitions and private equity practices; Cozen O’Connor hired construction lawyer and arbitrator Wendy K. Venoit as a shareholder in Boston. She arrives from Hinckley Allen and will work remotely until Cozen gets office space in the city; Ropes & Gray grabbed former Kirkland & Ellis labor and employment group leader Richard Kidd as a partner in its employee, executive compensation and benefits practice in New York; Epstein Becker Green hired employment litigator Emily Patajo as a member in its employment, labor & workforce management practice in Los Angeles. She joins from Littler Mendelson, where she was co-chair of its alternative dispute resolution practice group. (EBGLaw.com)
• Husch Blackwell hired Florida-based Andre Khan as its new director of diversity, equity & inclusion, via the firm’s virtual office, The Link. He was previously vice president for diversity & inclusion strategy at Toronto-Dominion Bank; Bradley Arant Boult Cummings hired former BBVA USA CEO and general counsel Shane Clanton as a banking and financial services counsel in Birmingham, Alabama. BBVA USA, a Birmingham-headquartered bank subsidiary of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, was acquired by PNC Financial Services in 2021. (Bradley.com)

Promotions

• Duane Morris promoted 10 attorneys to partner; Brown Rudnick promoted six to partner; and Greenspoon Marder promoted four to partner. (GMLaw.com)