Wake Up Call: Firms Hungry for Talent Could Start Bonus War

In today’s column, an early-year merger helped Duane Morris get its 12th-straight year of revenue growth and record PEP last year; New York resumed in-person civil and criminal jury trials; Quinn Emmanuel is getting sued for racial discrimination by a former regional IT manager at the firm.

• Leading off, Fenwick & West is the first firm to match Davis Polk’s scale for special spring associate bonuses, which runs from $12,000 to $64,000, depending on year of seniority. Fenwick said its bonuses are for associates on track to bill at 1,950 hours. Davis & Polk’s Tuesday announcement, in which it said it will pay spring bonuses to both attorneys and staff, came after Willkie Farr & Gallagher kicked off the latest Big Law bonus competition with a scale that goes up to $40,000 for associates depending on seniority. The firms have said their bonuses will be paid out in two installments. (Above the Law) Legal industry pundits say that, considering the extremely high demand for associates right now, they expect many other firms to follow with spring bonus announcements, and, for some, that could get expensive. (American Lawyer)
• Philadelphia-based Duane Morris got its 12th straight year of revenue growth in 2020, helped by strong M&A activity and a merger with New York-based Satterlee Stephens right before the pandemic arrived. Duane Morris posted $526.2 million in gross revenues, up 3.1% from 2019, according to preliminary data. The firm, which said it took on the pandemic after many years of being conservative and debt-free, had profits per equity partner up 1.8% to a record $1.081 million, although the firm added seven equity partners. It also added 15 non-equity partners. The firm’s CEO said it didn’t lay off employees during the year. (Legal Intelligencer)
• New York this week resumed in-person civil and criminal jury trials, which had been on pause because of the pandemic; a lawsuit by a former IT manager at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan accuses the firm of racial discrimination, naming its national IT director and two partners; a lawsuit by a group of adult entertainment venues in New York City accuses Governor Andrew Cuomo and the State Liquor Authority of using Covid restrictions to keep them closed but letting other businesses reopen. (New York Law Journal)
• From getting sprayed with Lysol in a supermarket parking lot to getting dirty looks in public places, Asian American lawyers talked about racism they’ve faced because of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Connecticut Law Journal)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• New York lawmakers in a hearing yesterday questioned Davis Polk & Wardwell’s ability to be objective in its work investigating sexual harassment allegations against Governor Cuomo. (Long Island Press)
• South Dakota’s former attorney general, Republican Marty Jackley, campaigning to get his old job back, says almost all the state’s top county prosecutors have endorsed him for the job. That’s another blow for incumbent attorney general Jason Ravnsborg, also a Republican, who is facing misdemeanor criminal charges after killing a pedestrian with his car. (Argus Leader)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Prague-headquartered cybersecurity company Avast Software B.V. hired veteran tech in-house leader Trudy Cooke, the former top lawyer of British telecom satellite company Inmarsat, as general counsel and company secretary. Cooke spent 14 years as chief operating officer at Terra Firma Capital Partners, and four years as a private equity lawyer at Hogan Lovells; commercial real estate management and leasing company The Taubman Company LLC promoted former Reed Smith partner Michele Walton to senior vice president and general counsel. Walton has been at Bloomfield Hills, Mi.-based Taubman close to 10 years, most recently as vice president and assistant GC. She started her career as an associate at Skadden, Arps. (Businesswire.com)
• Sidley Austin recruited the chair of Winston & Strawn’s Chicago litigation practice, Daniel Rubinstein, as a partner in its Chicago office and global co-leader of Sidley’s white collar: government litigation and investigations practice; Haynes and Boone added former U.S. attorney Ryan Patrick as a white collar partner in Houston; K&L Gates named its longtime chairman and global managing partner Peter J. Kalis chairman emeritus of the firm. He retired from the firm last month. (KLGates.com)
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius added a four-lawyer philanthropic and not-for-profit organizations team partners Tomer Inbar and Megan Bell, of counsel Lauren Simpson, and associate Casey Oetgen, from Patterson Belknap in New York. (MorganLewis.com)

Technology

• Clearbrief, a Seattle-based startup that has developed AI-powered writing technology for the legal industry, raised $1.2 million. Investors included venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Madrona Venture Group and tech leaders including Avvo founder Mark Britton among others. (GeekWire)