Wake Up Call: Gensler Offered to Advise Binance, Lawyers Contend

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

• Long before he became chief of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler offered to advise Binance, the crypto exchange his agency is now suing along with its founder, the company’s lawyers Gibson Dunn and Latham & Watkins reportedly contend. (CNBC) The Wall Street Journal has reported that Binance actually approached Gensler about an advisory role and that he declined. (WSJ) (CoinTelegraph)
• Binance and Coinbase could end up spending more than $100 million to defend themselves against the SEC’s litigation, according to a former senior trial counsel at the agency, now a partner at Moses & Singer. (The Block)
• GameStop Corporation, an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, said in a statement that it fired its president and CEO, Matthew Furlong. It appointed billionaire investor Ryan Cohen as the company’s executive chairman. General counsel Mark Robinson will become general manager and principal executive officer. (Gamestop.com)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Cleary Gottlieb said its corporate team including partners Craig Brod and Jeff Karpf, among others, is representing underwriters in a $1.1 billion secondary public offering by Corebridge Financial Inc., the life and retirement subsidiary of American International Group Inc. The offering is expected to close June 12. (Businesswire)
• Kirkland & Ellis, which recently moved to new premises in Salt Lake City, is now the third-largest law firm in the city based on attorney headcount, according to a report. (American Lawyer)
• Mayer Brown’s “technology general counsel in residence program” provides a way for its lawyers to get feedback from experienced technology company in-house counsel. (Legal Dive)
• Miami business and intellectual property boutique Shraybman Law said it acquired another female-founded firm, Boston-based Chubb IP. Shraybman said its clients include artists and other creative entrepreneurs, tech companies, and small businesses. (ShraybmanLaw.com)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Latham & Watkins in London said it’s getting Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer corporate attorney Mark Austin as partner in its capital markets and public company representation practice. He’d been at Freshfields nearly 22 years, including 12 as partner. His experience includes advising clients on public and private securities offerings of all types, as well as mergers and acquisitions and general corporate work across a number of sectors. (LW.com)
• Freshfields continued its recent flurry of finance hires. It grabbed Shearman & Sterling’s derivatives and structured products lawyer James Duncan as partner in its global transactions team in London. In New York, Freshfields hired financial institution and fintech regulatory and enforcement lawyer David Sewell as partner. He arrives from Perkins Coie. (Freshfields.com)
• Womble Bond Dickinson hired former insurance company claims litigator Keith O. Hinder Jr. in Baltimore as of counsel in its real estate practice. He arrives from Niles Barton & Wilmer. (WombleBondDickinson.com)
• Buchalter Nemer named litigation shareholder David Elkanich to take over as office managing shareholder of its Portland, Oregon, office. He’s also chair of the firm’s professional responsibility group. (Buchalter.com)
• XPEL, a San Antonio, Texas-based provider of protective films and coatings, hired former longtime Caterpillar Inc. corporate counsel Babatunde Awodiran as its new senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. He was recently group counsel, corporate & securities and assistant corporate secretary, at specialty materials company Ashland Global Holdings, Inc. Executive search boutique BarkerGilmore said it handled the hire. (BarkerGilmore)

Technology

• A report citing a recent study by the International Legal Technology Association and Conversant Group says law firms are having a hard time implementing cybersecurity best practices. (Betanews)