Wake Up Call: Faegre Drinker Announced Operations Staff Layoffs

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

• Faegre Drinker has confirmed that it laid off a “small number” of operations support roles “representing less than 5% of our total operations and administrative headcount,” made effective Feb. 9 of this year. “This decision was not made lightly. These employees have contributed to our culture and played important roles in our firm,” said a firm email about the cuts that appears to be from Faegre’s Chief People Officer Lesley Ficarri and Chief Operating Officer Jane Koehl. (Above The Law)
• An eight-lawyer Sidley Austin team led by Boston-based M&A and private equity partner Daniel Rawner represented non-alcohol beer maker Athletic Brewing Company in its $50 million equity financing round led by global growth investor General Athletic. Paul, Weiss and its partners Matthew Abbott and Austin Pollet advised General Athletic. The brewer plans to use the new capital to spur long-term growth, including through expansion of its N/A beer with more global retailers. (Sidley Austin)
• Paris-based Mayer Brown paralegel Keenan Horne is competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics as a member of South Africa’s field hockey squad. “I love the challenge of playing International sport while managing my career off the field,” writes Horne. “My experiences have taught me to live a life of gratitude but to also never settle for less than you can achieve.” (LinkedIn)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Will Wilson has joined Morrison Foerster as a partner with its technology transactions group in New York.
• Kathleen Birrane has rejoined DLA Piper as a partner and leader of its US insurance regulatory practice in Baltimore.
• Dan Boyle has rejoined Boies Schiller Flexner as a white collar defense partner in its Los Angeles office after five years as an assistant US attorney in the Central District of California.
• Sasha Rao, Ashe Puri, and Brandon Stroy have joined Nixon Peabody as intellectual property partners.
• Robert Ward has joined Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder with the firm’s life sciences and medical technology practice in San Diego. He joins from Eversheds Sutherland.
• Douglas Yeager and Jeffrey Smith have joined Sheppard Mullin as partners in the firm’s real estate, energy, land use and environmental practice group in Houston. They join from Winston & Strawn.
• Chad Landmon has joined Polsinelli as a shareholder and chair of the firm’s Hatch-Waxman & Biologics practice in Washington.
• Jeanna Chandler has joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani as a civil litigation partner in Phoenix and Tuscon, Arizona.