Wake Up Call: Firms Ride Cost Cuts to Profits in Covid Year

In today’s column, several more law firms recently started ESG practices or expanded existing ones; professional service payment group AffiniPay bought ClientPay to consolidate the law firm payments market; during a virtual court hearing, a lawyer accidentally had a cat filter up on Zoom where his own face should be.

• Leading off, expense cutting was a key tool for Big Law firms to manage double digit growth in profits last year despite the pandemic, according to an analysis by the head of advisory services at Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group. She says the industry is in good shape to start 2021. (American Lawyer)
• Greenberg Traurig reported its seventh consecutive year of financial growth in 2020, with revenues up 5.48% to $1.73 billion and average profit-per-partner growth topping 6%. (BLAW)
• Columbia, South Carolina-based Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough had steady demand for its core transactional and litigation practices in 2020, pushing revenues up 3.4% to $577.08 million, while average PEP surged 15.6% to $1.324 million. (Daily Report)
• Employers are encouraging their employees to get Covid vaccinations, but most are unlikely to mandate them, according to Littler Mendelson’s new survey of over 1,800 employers. Employers cited legal liability worries and skepticism about effectiveness of mandates for their reluctance, the report says. (Littler.com)
• Several more Big Law firms have started, or expanded, environmental, social and governance practices, to advise clients, as ESG matters become increasingly important for corporations and investors around the world. Some recent examples: Ballard Spahr in January, Gibson Dunn last week, and Hunton Andrews Kurth this week launched ESG practices, while Seyfarth said it launched an ESG, corporate citizenship & human rights group. Meanwhile, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe hired a partner in Seattle from Fenwick & West to expand its ESG capabilities. (BLAW)
• During a virtual hearing in a Texas court Tuesday, a judge had to help an attorney fix his Zoom settings after the lawyer accidentally used a cat filter instead of his own face. (Texas Lawyer)

Biden Administration, Election Litigation, Fallout From Capitol Riots

• Republican senators gave thumbs-down reviews to former President Donald Trump’s lawyers in their initial statements for Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial. (Bloomberg News)
• The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for Merrick Garland’s attorney general nomination on Feb. 22 and Feb. 23. (The Hill)
• Washington DC’s trial court is handling a flood of Capitol riot cases. (National Law Journal)
• Dominion Voting Systems said it had to hire private investigators to track down Trump lawyer Sidney Powell to serve a process on her in its $1.3 billion defamation suit. (Politico)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Duane Morris opened a new office in Dallas, it’s third in Texas, with a team of four trial partners poached from Barnes & Thornburg. (DuaneMorris.com)
• Cozen O’Connor is moving all its New York City operations into new premises on the 55th and 56th floors of 3 World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, consolidating its former New York City offices at 45 Broadway and 277 Park Avenue. (Cozen.com)
• Stoel Rives named appellate attorney Christopher Pooser its office managing partner in Boise, Idaho, effective Feb. 1. He took over from trial attorney Nicole Hancock, who was appointed to the firm’s executive committee. (StoelRives.com)
• Coca-Cola Co.’s new guidelines setting diversity requirements for its outside counsel are getting interest from in-house legal departments at other companies. (Corporate Counsel)
• New York federal authorities arrested a California lawyer, accusing him of a $4.5 million wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. (Justice.gov)

Laterals, Moves

• Carlton Fields hired former Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory lawyer William Kotapish in Washington as of counsel in its financial services regulatory practice. At the SEC, Kotapish was assistant director in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, overseeing the insurance products office. (CarltonFields.com)
• Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan said it poached litigator Paul Baker, the U.K. head of dispute resolution at Simmons & Simmons. He joins Quinn as a partner in London. (LinkedIn.com)
• Goodwin got Morrison & Foerster private investment funds partner Zeeshan Ahmedani as a partner in Los Angeles. He was earlier a White & Case partner in London and Doha for the EMEA region. (GoodwinLaw.com)
• Holland & Knight grabbed DLA Piper corporate and financial services partner Kevin Gooch in Atlanta as a partner. (HKLaw.com)
• Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath said it has added six partners this year, most recently recruiting corporate lawyer Kathleen Emberger as a partner in New York from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. (FaegreDrinker.com)
• Shearman & Sterling hired investment funds lawyer Michael Saarinen as a partner in New York. He arrives from Alston & Bird. (BLAW)
• Mayer Brown appointed a specialist in tech, client service, and change management, Amol Bargaje, as its first global chief innovation officer. (MayerBrown.com)

In-House

• ESCO Technologies Inc., a provider of engineered products and solutions for industry, said its senior vice president, secretary and general counsel, Alyson Barclay, is leaving the company after 32 years, in 2021’s third quarter. She will be replaced by David Schatz, currently VP, IP counsel, and assistant secretary. (St. Louis Business Journal)
• Paris-based automaker Groupe Renault hired a veteran chemical industry in-house leader as its new group general counsel and senior vice president. Quitterie de Pelleport replaces Renault’s former legal chief Jean-Benoit Devauges. (BLAW)
• Entain, a European sports betting and gambling company, hired its first general counsel. He’s Simon Zinger, writer of “The General Counsel Oath” in the wake of killing of George Floyd last summer, later endorsed by the Association of Corporate Counsel and other groups. Zinger is currently top lawyer at London-based Dentsu Aegis Network, a London-based media and digital marketing communications company. Zinger said he’ll start the new job at the end of February and be based in Gibraltar. (Corporate Counsel)

Technology

• Professional service payment group AffiniPay, which already owns LawPay, said it acquired ClientPay as part of its effort to speed large law firms’ adoption of online payment tools. (AffiniPay.com)
• UnitedLex hired five former executives of accounting giants PwC and Deloitte as the technology and services provider steps up its efforts to digitize corporate legal departments. (BLAW)
• Worklaw firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart launched IntelliCase, a tool that allows clients to monitor and chart employment matters and trends. (Legaltech News)
• Legal tech company Veristar said it acquired Planet Data Solutions, Inc. to expand its e-discovery and tech solutions. (Globenewswire.com)

Legal Education

• The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System named former Loyola University Chicago Law Dean David Yellen to be its next CEO. (Law.com)
• The University of California, Berkeley School of Law got a $10 million donation for its institute focused on Israel studies and Jewish law, and the institute is getting a new name. (The Recorder)