Wake Up Call: DLA Piper, Hogan Lovells Announce Russia Exits

In today’s column, Paul Weiss hit $6 million in average profits per equity partner in 2021; McGuireWoods hired a former top CFPB enforcement attorney; Russian prosecutors warned Western companies their leaders could face arrest.

• Leading off, giant transatlantic law firms DLA Piper and Hogan Lovells announced plans to end their operations in Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. DLA Piper, which had said earlier it was doing a strategic review on its large presence in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Monday said it plans to transfer its Russian business to its local team. One report, citing a “person familiar with the matter,” said Skadden Arps, which has advised sanctioned billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich, also plans to wind down its Russia office. The latest news of exits followed announcements by several firms last week as pressure grows on companies to get out of the country. Meanwhile, the world’s biggest law firm by headcount, Dentons, has said it plans to stay in Russia. (Financial Times) (The Lawyer)
• Baker McKenzie said Friday it is constantly reviewing it’s Russia presence but not ending it. (BakerMcKenzie.com)
• Russian prosecutors warned Western companies that corporate leaders who criticize the government could face arrest and companies could lose their assets. Companies that received the warning included Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. ⁦(WSJ) The Russian government is considering suspending intellectual property rights of foreign companies. (World Trademark Review)
• Some Big Law firms have announced donations to help Ukraine. (Above The Law)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• New York-based Paul Weiss had record demand in 2021 as litigation and transactions powered its gross revenue up 19.9% to $1.85 billion. Its profits per equity partner rose 14.9% to $6.162 million, the first time past $6 million. (American Lawyer)
• For Willkie Farr & Gallagher, another New York firm, the booming M&A market in 2021 stoked its transactions business. Its gross revenues soared 24% to $1.22 billion, its first time over the $1 billion mark. Willkie’s PEP gained 11% to $3.9 million. (American Lawyer)
• Indianapolis-based Barnes & Thornburg, which has opened eight offices in the last five years, had gross revenues up 13.7% in 2021 to about $575.5 million. PEP rose 14.1% to $1.22 million. (American Lawyer)
• Akin Gump and Hogan Lovells matched the Cravath scale for associate pay, which rises to $415,000 a year depending on seniority. Intellectual property litigation boutique Desmarais announced Cravath-level pay hikes, plus spring bonuses that go from $7,500 to $20,000, based on seniority. (Above The Law)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• McGuireWoods recruited former federal trial attorney Jeff Ehrlich, who was most recently Consumer Financial Protection Bureau deputy enforcement director, as a litigation partner in Washington; Cleary Gottlieb announced two senior hires in Europe and the U.S. from U.K. elite firm Linklaters to enhance its corporate transactions services. In Brussels, Belgium, it added veteran competition/antitrust lawyer Isabel Rooms as a partner. Cleary added tax lawyer Matthew Brigham as counsel in New York; Proskauer Rose grabbed health care industry-focused litigator Vinay Kohli from King & Spalding as a partner in Los Angeles; Womble Bond Dickinson hired former Wells Fargo senior counsel and vice president Rhonda Payne Harmon as of counsel in its business litigation practice in Wilmington, Del.; FisherBroyles got corporate attorney Diego Matamoros in Philadelphia as a partner in its private funds and M&A practices. He arrives from Kleinbard and was at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett earlier; Quarles & Brady added longtime Wisconsin real estate attorney Dan Kaminsky in Milwaukee as a partner. He arrives from Davis|Kuelthau. (Quarles.com)
• Big insurance broker Marsh McLennan said it is promoting executive and deputy general counsel Katherine Brennan to senior vice president and general counsel. She takes the spot vacated by the company’s longtime top lawyer, Peter Beshar, who was confirmed by the Senate Thursday as Air Force general counsel. (Businesswire)

Technology

• U.S. Congress approved new rules that require such companies as water utilities, casinos, and shopping malls to report when they’re hacked or they pay ransomware. (BLAW) Eversheds Sutherland released a corporate digital responsibility report based on a survey of 700 executives worldwide. (Eversheds-Sutherland.com)