Wake Up Call: Ex-Big Law Attorney Arrested in Bank Robberies

In today’s column, Quinn Emanuel poached a three-lawyer team from Weil in Paris, including the office’s managing partner; the Obama-appointed federal judge in the DOJ’s antitrust suit against Google is a Big Law vet; corporate legal departments face challenges in implementing e-billing; Harvard Law said it’s sticking with all virtual classes next spring.

Leading off, the FBI arrested a former Greenberg Traurig attorney and accused him of being a serial bank robber. (Miami Herald)

White & Case is the latest firm to join the Cravath/Kirkland side in opting to not offer special fall Covid-appreciation bonuses to associates. “This is a gut punch for people in practice groups that are drowning in work right now,” one anonymous lawyer from the firm told legal blog Above the Law. As some other firms have done, White & Case said it will take the fall bonuses into account when it’s calculating year-end bonuses. (Above the Law)

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, on the other hand, became the latest firm to say it will dole out the Covid bonuses, based on the $7,500 to $40,000 seniority-based scale set by Davis Polk in September. (BLAW)

U.K. elite firm Clifford Chance introduced a new formula to manage its profit distributions post-Covid. (The Lawyer)

As Covid-19 hit Latin American and Caribbean economies, mergers and acquisitions in the region shrank 60% by deal value to $25.6 billion in the first nine months of 2020, according to a report. Debevoise & Plimpton jumped 67 places to No. 1 for deal value in the region for the period. (Law.com International)

The pandemic is pushing demand up for restructuring work in the health care sector in Florida, a report says. (Daily Business Review)

A federal judge in a defamation case against President Trump paused the case after the DOJ’s lawyer was barred from entering the courthouse because of New York’s Covid restrictions. (New York Law Journal)

Stresses stemming from the pandemic may be causing women to leave their jobs, including women at Big Law firms. (American Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

The U.S. district judge who will preside in the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Google is Indian-American Amit Mehta, a former Zuckerman Spaeder criminal defense and business disputes attorney who was appointed to the bench by President Obama in 2014. (Bloomberg News via BLAW) (Associated Press)

The Justice Department is lining up veteran corporate and tech law vets for its antitrust battle against Google. (BLAW)

Norton Rose Fulbright said it has entered into an informal working relationship with a Chinese boutique firm, Shanghai Pacific Legal, based on the “best friend” model the firm has used in other jurisdictions. (The Lawyer)

Reed Smith said it is encouraging all firm personnel to include their declared pronouns in their email signatures, intranet profiles, and biographies, in a step to show support for transgender and non-binary people. (ReedSmith.com)

British Australian firm Herbert Smith Freehills announced a new diversity plan for Asia. (Law.com International)

People of Praise, a Christian group that has Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett as a member, has hired Quinn Emanuel for its “independent investigation” into sexual abuse claims against members of the group, a report says. (The Guardian)

Trump plans to nominate former Winston & Strawn partner and current Indiana federal prosecutor Thomas L. Kirsch to the seat previously occupied by Barrett on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. (BLAW)

President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani denies he, Giuliani, did anything “inappropriate” in a scene said to be in an upcoming “Borat” moving from Sacha Baron Cohen.(Politico)

Power industry lawyers are in regulatory limbo because of several Trump administration policy shifts. (BLAW)

Laterals, Moves

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan said via email that top tax litigator Stéphane Chaouat is joining the firm as partner and head of its Paris tax disputes practice. Chaouat is one of a three-lawyer team that Quinn poached from Weil Gotshal and Manges. He was Weil’s Paris-office chief, Quinn said. ( Law.com International ) ( The Lawyer )

McGuireWoods recruited former head of market regulation enforcement at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Elizabeth Hogan as a partner and co-chair of its securities enforcement & litigation team. Hogan, a WilmerHale counsel earlier in her career, represents clients in complex securities investigations, regulatory enforcement proceedings and civil litigation, McGuireWoods said. (McGuireWoods.com)

Holland & Knight added transactional real estate lawyer Alexis Alonzo as a partner in its West Coast real estate practice group in Los Angeles. She was previously a partner at Pircher, Nichols & Meeks. (HKLaw.com)

Akerman got former health care general counsel Ricky Benjamin as a partner in Atlanta. He arrives from Hall Booth Smith, where he was partner and health care practice chair, advises on health care regulatory, transactional and risk management issues, including leading internal investigations stemming from government inquiries. (Akerman.com)

Levenfeld Pearlstein added two lawyers to its trusts & estates practice. Veteran wealth and tax-planning lawyer Suzanne Shier joins as of counsel in Chicago, arriving most recently from Northern Trust Corporation, where she was chief tax strategist. Tax lawyer Stephanie Ross joins as associate, also from Northern Trust where she was a vice president and wealth adviser. (LPLegal.com)

Norton Rose Fulbright said its associated firm in Istanbul, Turkey, added project finance lawyer Utku Unver as a partner in its Middle East projects team. He arrives from Allen & Overy. (NortonRose.com)

Clyde & Co poached a four-lawyer arbitration team from Foley Hoag in Paris, including two partners. (Global Legal Post)

Financial services firm Murphy & McGonigle announced a new Chicago office, for which it appointed former Greenberg Traurig shareholder Harris Kay as office managing partner. Kay joined the firm in August from Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale. (MMLawUs.com)

Washington-based intellectual property firm Finnegan said it appointed partners Danielle Duszczyszyn and Cecilia Sanabria as co-leads of Finnegan FORWARD, the firm’s women’s business initiative. (Finnegan.com)

In-House

Tyson Foods recruited legal technology veteran from Walmart Inc. (BLAW)

Chubb Ltd., a global insurer and re-insurer, promoted its North America litigation head, David Subramanian, to director of global litigation and investigations. (BLAW)

Technology

A recent panel considered challenges that corporate legal departments face from their outside law firms when they try to implement e-billing tools. (Legaltech News)

Legal Education

Harvard Law appears to be the first law school to commit to a fully remote spring semester, due to the pandemic. (Law.com)

The law school class of 2019 achieved the highest overall employment rate in a decade, but Black and Native American attorneys benefited the least with the lowest share of jobs, new data show. (BLAW)

Steptoe & Johnson launched a video series that it said illustrates the legal, business, and regulatory issues faced by financial services companies worldwide. (Steptoe.com)