Wake Up Call: Dechert Profits Down 14% After Big 2021

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

• After Dechert’s stellar profits in 2021, the firm came back to earth in 2022 as its private equity and capital markets work slowed. The firm’s gross revenues fell 3.9% to $1.29 billion and its average profits per equity partner plunged 14.3% to $3.63 million as it added equity partners and continued hiring. (Legal Intelligencer)
• Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse just made the job of its general counsel, Michael Zuckert, much harder. (Corporate Counsel)
• Norton Rose Fulbright advised Miami, Florida-based private equity firm 777 Partners on its 100 million euro ($106.7 million) deal to acquire a majority stake in German football club Hertha BSC, according to a report. Norton Rose’s team advising 777 Partners was led by partners Nicholas Berry and Sven Schweneke. (Juve.de) (Associated Press) (HerthaBSC.com)
• Nixon Peabody’s 5-6% rate increase and sustained demand for M&A and real estate transactions helped expand its gross revenues to a record $548.1 million in 2022. Rising business expenses, in particular compensation costs and lateral hiring, sapped its average PEP, which by shrank 6%, although its equity partnership contracted 7.9% to 115. (American Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Nelson Mullins LLP’s gross revenues grew 6.9% to a record $727.9 million in 2022, as it raised rates more than 3% and opened five new offices in “underserved” markets. Its average PEP dropped 9.7% to $1.54 million, on rising attorney headcount, equity partnership, costs, and investments. (Daily Report Online)
• Big Law firms Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, and Sidley Austin are among companies making psychologists and counselors available online and on-site, as an employee benefit in post-pandemic times. (Financial Times)
• After a post-pandemic rebound, US law firm leasing dropped again in 2022’s fourth quarter, according to a report. (Reuters)
• Houston-based law firm McClenny Moseley & Associates filed more than 2,000 hurricane-damage lawsuits in Louisiana. It apparently has no attorneys left in the state to pursue them, according to a report. (Claims Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett named longtime partner Gregory Grogan head of its executive compensation and employee benefits practice. (SimpsonThacher.com)
• Cozen O’Connor recruited former Virginia deputy attorney general Stephen Cobb as a member based in Washington in its state attorneys general group. He arrives recently from Holland & Knight, where he was a partner. (Cozen.com)
• McGuireWoods’ consulting arm made two hires for its government affairs team in Raleigh, North Carolina. Former North Carolina Medicaid director Dave Richard joined as senior vice president and lobbyist Amanda Falkenbury joined as vice president. (McGuireWoods.com)

Legal Education

• Stanford Law School apologized to a Trump-appointed federal appeals court judge after he was shouted down at an event where he’d been invited to deliver remarks in front of students. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Among the reasons Georgetown Law quit US News’ law school rankings: its algorithm wasn’t designed by anyone who is familiar with law schools, the school’s dean says in an op-ed. (WSJ)