Wake Up Call: Five Law Firms Help Goldman in 1MBD Settlements

In today’s column, DLA Piper said its non-U.S. lawyers and staff will be able to work remotely two days per week after the pandemic is over; lawyers returned to New York City courtrooms for the first in-person jury trials of the Covid era; a whistle-blower got $114 million from the SEC, more than double the agency’s previous record.

• Leading off, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s general counsel, Karen Seymour, got help help from a team of white-collar defense partners from Sullivan & Cromwell, Paul Hastings, and Kirkland & Ellis, Winston & Strawn and WilmerHale as the Wall Street investment giant dealt with global regulatory fallout from its involvement in the international bribery scandal linked to Malaysia’s 1MDB investment fund. (National Law Journal)
• Goldman this week agreed to pay billions of dollars in new penalties in the scandal, bringing its total settlement costs worldwide to over $5 billion, on top of a guilty plea to a criminal conspiracy charge by one of its subsidiaries in Malaysia. (Bloomberg News via BLAW)
• Reed Smith and Loeb & Loeb joined the lengthening roster of Big Law firms that have “fully restored” pay cuts they imposed on lawyers and staff during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of the firms have noted that their business is going better than they expected when many feared the pandemic would hit their finances. (BLAW)
• DLA Piper said it plans to let its non-U.S. partners and staff work remotely two days a week after the pandemic crisis is over. The firm said it has also resumed partner profit distributions that it suspended earlier in the year in a Covid move. (Law. International via Legaltech News)
• Lawyers who worked on New York City’s first jury trials of the Covid era, which started this week, found rearranged courtrooms, plexiglass dividers, and the jury located behind the lawyer, among other accommodations because of the pandemic. (New York Law Journal)
• Womble Bond Dickinson said demand and revenues have increased during the pandemic for its three-year-old GC Solutions unit, an alternative legal service provider whose corporate-focused contract attorneys all work remotely, offering affordable and flexible service options for routine matters such as contract review. (Daily Report)
• A Texas Supreme Court clerk posted guidelines to help appellate attorneys prepare for virtual oral arguments. (Texas Lawyer)
• The California Supreme Court approved a rule creating a temporary lawyer licensing program for 2020 law school graduates as an alternative to the bar exam during the pandemic. (BLAW)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• U.K. elite firm Allen & Overy partners approved changes to the firm’s lockstep compensation system, in a move aimed at making the firm more competitive on the lateral market. (Law.com International via American Lawyer)
• Some lawyers who worked on the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. in the 1990s say the DOJ will have a tough time proving its new case against Google. (CNBC)
• Reed Smith is facing fraud claims in a $200 million suit filed in New York by a hedge fund manager, stemming from a bankruptcy case. Reed Smith’s Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher lawyers filed to move the case to federal court. (American Lawyer)
• A whistleblower earned $114 million—more than double the former award record—for helping the Securities and Exchange Commission and another agency with their cases, the regulator said Thursday. (BLAW)
• The Leadership Council on Legal Diversity called on its 300-plus members, which include leaders of law firm and corporate legal departments, to publicly pledge to meet diversity and inclusion goals. (BLAW)
• An African American man denied admission to the Texas Bar in the 1880s was posthumously admitted by the Texas Supreme Court, thanks to seven years of research by two lawyer historians. (Texas Lawyer)
• U.K. elite firm Linklaters set out a plan aimed at boosting the number of Black lawyers at the firm, as well its racial diversity in general. (Global Legal Post)
• Three Black criminal defense attorneys in Pittsburgh offered advice about how men of color can survive traffic stops by police. (WPXI.com)

Pro Bono

• The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said it has put together a pro bono network of over 23,000 legal volunteers, including partners and associates at firms, lawyers at corporations, and individual lawyers, to protect voting rights during the 2020 election. (LawyersCommittee.org)
• Ahead of Pro Bono Week, which starts Monday, Jenner & Block, said it will provide $250 million toward pro bono efforts for the next five years. (American Lawyer)

Laterals, Moves

• Dechert got two privacy and security leaders from Goodwin Procter. Brenda Sharton, ex-chair of Goodwin’s privacy and data security practice, becomes co-chair of Dechert’s global privacy & cybersecurity practice. Karen Neuman, former chief privacy officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, becomes global head of Dechert’s privacy counseling. (BLAW)
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati hired a new Brussels-based director of strategy and business development for Europe: business law veteran Daniel Kahn, who, according to his LinkedIn, early in his career was a Cleary associate. (PRNewswire) (LeMondeduDroit.fr)
• Davis Wright Tremaine hired former Holland & Knight diversity chief Yusuf Zakir as its first chief diversity and inclusion officer. (BLAW)
• DLA Piper said Chilean regulatory lawyer Sofía O’Ryan joined the firm as counsel in Santiago. At the Fiscalía Nacional Económica (national economic prosecutor) ’s office in Santiago, O’Ryan worked in the mergers and antitrust divisions. (DLAPiper.com)
• Barnes & Thornburg grabbed three intellectual property lawyers from Reed Smith in Chicago, with John Cullis and Lee James joining as partners and Robert Browne as counsel. (BTLaw.com)

In-House

• Rockefeller Capital Management said former Morgan Stanley chief compliance officer William “Billy” Fenrich will join the company Nov. 2 as general counsel and executive committee member. Fenrich began his career at Davis Polk & Wardwell where he made partner in 2005. (BLAW)
• Artificial intelligence startup Paradox hired DLA Piper corporate and securities partner Stephanie King, who’d advised the company on its funding rounds, to be its first chief legal officer. (Corporate Counsel)
• Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said its interim acting GC since February, Johnna Spera, now has the job on a permanent basis. Her title is now senior vice president and general counsel. (Aviation Pros)

Legal Education

• Idaho’s October bar exam passage rate plunged to 29%, which does not bode well for the overall pass rate. (Above the Law)
• New York said it will offer its February bar exam online, following similar announcements by Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Connecticut. (Law.com)
• Cornell Law’s dean, Eduardo Peñalver, was named the next president of Seattle University, effective Jan. 1, 2021. (News.Cornell.edu)