Wake Up Call: Freshfields Bucks NY’s Falling Headcount Trend

In today’s column, Davis Polk announced its office return plan; two of the three latest firms announcing associate pay hikes matched the market standard; Facebook said it hired an ACLU attorney to lead its civil rights law team.

• Leading off, Dentons, Hogan Lovells, and Winston & Strawn were among eight Big Law firms that saw their New York headcounts shrink by double digits in 2020, as the pandemic slammed the state’s legal business, according to a report. Paul, Weiss’ headcount fell 1.8% but remained the state’s biggest, at 817 lawyers, while U.K. elite firm Freshfields was the state’s biggest gainer in terms of percentage growth, up 24% to 167 lawyers. (New York Law Journal)
• Davis Polk & Wardwell plans to require lawyers to return to the office at least seven out of every 10 business days starting Sept. 13, as part of a trial period that will also let attorneys pick one week to work remote. Business staff will also be required in office at least three days per week, a report says. (American Lawyer)
• Florida firm Holland & Knight, headed for a merger with Texas-based Thompson & Knight, announced associate pay hikes to match the David Polk market standard, running from $205,000 to $365,000, depending on class year; Kasowitz Benson Torres is matching the pay hike standard and moving to a nationwide pay scale for associates. It’s also matching the Davis Polk scale for bonuses, but only for New York attorneys; another Florida-founded firm, Greenberg Traurig, reportedly raised salaries for first-year associates only in New York, while other class years may get individualized raises comparable to the Davis Polk scale, also only in New York. (Above the Law) With talent wars raging, South Florida law firms are finding M&A, real estate, and litigation associates in unusual places. (Daily Business Review)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Two Biden administration picks for assistant attorney general: Harvard University deputy general counsel Javier Guzman, nominated for the Justice Department’s civil division, and Duke law professor Christopher Schroeder, nominated for the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, disclosed their pay at their current jobs. (National Law Journal)
• South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg is arguing that the man he ran over and killed with his car in September 2020 wanted to commit suicide, a report says. (The South Dakota Standard) Texas attorney general Ken Paxton agreed to stop blocking people from accessing his personal Twitter account. (Texas Tribune)
• Justin Riemer, the Republican National Committee’s chief counsel, warned in November against continuing to push false claims that the presidential election was stolen. (WaPo) On the witness stand, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the law firm partner questioning him, “you were mentored by criminals.” (Bloomberg News via BLAW)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• A five partner intellectual property-litigation team jumped from Dentons to Venable in Washington: Timothy Carroll, Steven Lubezny and associate Vivian Sandoval in Chicago; Manny Caixeiro and Laura Wytsma in Los Angeles; and Elizabeth Manno in Washington; Loeb & Loeb recruited IP veteran Brent Babcock as a partner in its patent litigation and counseling department and chair of its Patent Trial and Appeal Board trials practice group. He arrives from Womble Bond Dickinson, where he was a partner and chair of its PTAB trials practice group; Greenspoon Marder added eight entertainment, media and technology lawyers, including several partners, across New York and Atlanta. (GMLaw.com)
• Holland & Knight added former Cadwalader corporate litigation chair Martin Seidel as a partner in New York. He arrives most recently from Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he was a partner; Wilson Sonsini grabbed Shearman & Sterling corporate partner Brian Dillavou as a partner in its emerging companies practice in Austin, Texas. BakerHostetler added veteran tax lawyer Alexander Reid as a partner in Washington. He arrives after close to a decade as a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. (BakerLaw.com)
• Facebook Inc. said it hired ACLU attorney Manar Waheed as associate general counsel for civil rights, leading its civil rights law team. According to her LinkedIn profile, Waheed was a senior legislative and advocacy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. She was earlier a deputy policy director of immigration on the Obama White House domestic policy council; Seattle-based Glowforge hired former acting head of legal at digital freight network Convoy Inc., Megan Lutes, as general counsel. (Businesswire)

Technology

• Innovative law firms are starting to tap into young lawyers’ ideas to get an advantage on the competition. (American Lawyer)