Wake Up Call: Exit Paths for Federal Lawyers Are Drying Up

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

• The traditional pipeline from federal government roles to lucrative private-sector legal jobs is faltering. Under Trump, efforts to purge large swaths of the federal workforce and downplay enforcement of corporate crimes and financial regulations have stalled the usual “revolving door.” Big Law firms, already well-staffed in these areas and seeing less demand for such work, are reluctant to hire former government attorneys, particularly those from civil rights or regulatory backgrounds. (Business Insider)
• The US Supreme Court continues to require litigants to submit 40 paper copies of many legal documents, despite widespread digital filing elsewhere in the federal judiciary and the court’s own pandemic-era shift to electronic submissions. Critics of the rule argue that the process is costly, environmentally harmful, and unnecessary, especially given that the court denies the vast majority of petitions at an early stage. (The New York Times)
• New York personal injury law firm William Schwitzer & Associates is at the center of a federal RICO lawsuit accusing the firm of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar insurance fraud scheme involving staged construction accidents and unnecessary medical treatments. The suit alleges that the firm, along with its principals William Schwitzer and Giovani Merlino, directed undocumented workers to fake injuries, then steered them to complicit medical providers to inflate workers’ compensation and liability claims. (Insurance Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Neel Chatterjee joined King & Spalding as a partner in its intellectual property team. He joins from Goodwin Procter.
• Henry Liu rejoined Covington & Burling as co-chair of its antitrust and competition law practice group. He joins from the Federal Trade Commission.
• Michael Dawson and Nicholas Podsiadly joined Jones Day as partners in its financial regulatory practice. Dawson joins from WilmerHale and Podsiadly joins from Fifth Third Bancorp.
• Peter Davis joined Jenner & Block as a partner in its appellate and Supreme Court practice in Washington. He joins from Latham & Watkins.
• Jillian Merns joined Davis Polk as a partner and co-head of its trusts and estates practice in New York. She joins from Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
• Regina Readling rejoined Sullivan & Cromwell as a partner in its executive compensation group in New York.
• Kevin Colan joined Lowenstein Sandler as a partner in its tax practice in New York. He joins from Clifford Chance.
• David Markman joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a partner in its technology and intellectual property transactions practice in Los Angeles. He joins from DLA Piper.
• Chimène Faurant joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe as a partner in its antitrust and competition practice in Paris. She joins from De Pardieu Brocas Maffei.
• Eugene Park joined Gibson Dunn as a partner in its business restructuring and reorganization and liability management and special situations practice groups in New York.
• Aaron Benjamin joined Winston & Strawn as a partner in its structured finance practice in Charlotte and New York.
• Eric Groen joined Genelux Corporation as general counsel, corporate secretary, chief compliance officer, and head of business development. He joins from Rani Therapeutics.
• Vivien Krieger joined Akerman as a partner in its real estate practice in New York.
• Thomas Wechsler joined Cozen O’Connor as a partner in its real estate practice in New York and Pittsburgh. He joins from Ropes & Gray.
• Kendall Woods joined Buchalter as a shareholder in its litigation practice group in Chicago.