Wake Up Call: Fried Frank Inks Lease for NYC Conference Center

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 is moving and expanding its midtown Manhattan conference center in 2024, leaving its current space in the Seagram Building at 375 Park Ave. for new space in Park Tower Group’s 535 Madison Ave. Fried Frank recently signed a 15-year lease for 14,375 square feet over the entire 10th floor in the building, according to a report. The firm’s headquarters remains at One New York Plaza downtown. (New York Post)
• Mayer Brown signed an 11-year lease for 55,000 square feet of space across two full floors in the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Los Angeles. Other tenants in the “campus” include Gibson Dunn, private equity firm Oaktree Capital Management, and investment management firm DoubleLine Capital. (Commercial Observer)
• Big UK firm Osborne Clarke said its two-term UK managing partner, Ray Berg, plans to take a senior business role at the firm’s San Francisco office after he steps down from his leadership role in early 2023. The firm, which operates as a Swiss verein, says it has more than 1,500 lawyers across 26 locations worldwide and has had a US presence since 2000. It says it is moving to bigger New York premises in 2023 to accommodate more than doubling its US team in the last 18 months. (OsborneClarke.com)
• Weil Gotshal raised pay for its junior lawyers in the UK, according to a report. (The Lawyer) In the UK, Bryan Cave is canceling pay hikes for business services staff, according to a report. (Roll On Friday)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• UK elite firm Linklaters announced an apprenticeship program aimed at offering an alternative way to become an attorney for talented law students from deprived socio-economic backgrounds. The program will provide six law grads with six years of on-the-job training at the end of which they can earn 107,500 pounds ($131,426) a year as associates. Linklaters follows ‘Magic Circle’ rival firm Allen & Overy, which launched a similar program in June. (City A.M.)
• Akin Gump, Proskauer Rose, White & Case, McKool Smith, and boutique Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna, announced year-end associate bonuses that match the Baker McKenzie/Cravath scale. At Akin Gump “exceptional” performers can get extra money, while at McKool Smith big billers can get more cash. (Above The Law)
• Bryan Cave and King & Spalding won a jury verdict in Colorado for Leprino Foods Inc., a giant producer of mozzarella for pizza restaurant chains, and its billionaire CEO James Leprino in a $900 million dispute with two of his nieces. (Denver Post)
• Walmart notched a legal win in Arkansas as it fights to reverse the $115 million verdict it lost to Ecoark Holdings Inc. and a subsidiary, Zest Labs Inc. in 2021. Zest accused Walmart of stealing its trade secrets for technologies used to manage supply chain for fresh produce and meats. (Arkansas Business)
• New York firm Seward & Kissel held its first-ever miniature golf competition, covering the six floors of its New York office and open to the entire firm. The firm said over 100 golfers and 60 volunteers participated. (SewKis.com)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• McDermott Will & Emory grabbed a four-lawyer private equity team from Dentons in Paris, led by partner Guillaume Panuel arriving with three associates. (MWE.com)
• Kramer Levin elected New York-based trial lawyer Natan Hamerman to partner in its bankruptcy and restructuring department. (KramerLevin.com) Litigation boutique Selendy Gay Elsberg promoted associate Lauren Zimmerman to partner, effective Jan. 1, 2023. (SelendyGay.com)

Legal Technology

• E-discovery giant Relativity announced last week that it was laying off around 150 workers, or about 10% of the company’s entire workforce. (Legaltech News)