Wake Up Call: Fried Frank Extends Longterm Lease on DC Offices

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

• Fried Frank announced that it will remain the anchor tenant of Lafayette Tower in downtown Washington. The firm said it signed a 10-year lease extension through 2037 for a 103,000-square-foot space over four floors in the 11-story building, which is owned by an affiliate of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Advisor. (FriedFrank.com)
• Nine days after Neil Gorsuch was confirmed by the US Senate to the Supreme Court, he and two other individuals sold a Colorado property for $1.825 million. Gorsuch reported the sale but did not identify the buyer, the chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, a law firm that often has business before the court, a report says. (Politico)
• Davis Wright Tremaine’s partners elected employment litigator and Los Angeles partner-in-charge Camilo Echavarria to take over as chair of firm’s executive committee starting April 20. A former NBC litigation counsel, Echavarria is the first Latino to chair the DWT committee. (DWT.com)
• The percentage of last year’s law school graduates who found jobs that require bar passage within 10 months of leaving campus was up about 1.6 percentage points compared with 2021’s class, according to new data from the American Bar Association. (AmericanBar.org)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer named its London disputes practice head Mark Sansom to succeed corporate partner Claire Wills as London managing partner starting May 1. Sansom is co-chair of the firm’s global antitrust litigation practice. (Freshfields.com)
• Covington & Burling named insurance coverage trial lawyer Gretchen Hoff Varner managing partner of its San Francisco office. (The Recorder)
• The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is urging a new trial for Elizabeth Holmes, arguing that the prosecution violated procedural rules for expert testimony in cases that involve a lot of science. (National Law Joural)
• A federal appeals court upheld the money laundering conviction and nearly five-year prison sentence of Baltimore defense attorney Kenneth W. Ravenell. (The Daily Record)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Fox Rothschild added former Kirkland & Ellis intellectual property litigation partner James McConnell as counsel in New York; Fox Rothschild also added former Sidley Austin and Katten Muchin Rosenman real estate lawyer Rebecca Janovsky as counsel in Chicago. (Fox Rothschild)
• Thompson Coburn said a former employment litigation partner at the firm, Art Silbergeld, rejoined in Los Angeles. He returns from Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, where he was shareholder. (ThompsonCoburn.com)
• Clark Hill added two veteran corporate attorneys in Mexico City office. It got back member Ramiro Rangel, who has been a partner in the firm’s Dallas office and co-managed a joint venture for the firm in Mexico. He joins with senior counsel Miroslava De Olaguibel. They’re the firm’s first two attorneys working only in the Mexico office. (ClarkHill.com)
• Proskauer Rose snagged corporate attorney Mary Wilks as a partner in London, from Freshfields. (Proskauer.com)
• Wilson Elser hired transportation attorney Lara Lickhalter as partner in Chicago. She arrives from Cassiday Schade. (WilsonElser.com)
• Clyde & Co hired Reed Smith counsel Rob Lowe as a corporate partner in London. He’s a former general counsel at Tethys Petroleum, an oil and gas exploration and production company. (ClydeCo.com)
• Travel technology company Mondee Holdings Inc. hired former Apple Inc. senior legal counsel Meredith Waters as its first general counsel, based in its Austin, Texas, headquarters. She’s a former Kirkland & Ellis and Linklaters associate. (Globe Newswire)
• Hotel tech company Cendyn hired technology in-house veteran Alifya Curtin as chief legal officer. (Cendyn.com)

Promotions

• Allen & Overy promoted 36 attorneys to partner across 13 of its offices around the world, effective May 1. (AllenOvery.com)

Legal Education

• Law schools are lining up big names as 2023 graduation speakers. (Above The Law)