Wake Up Call: Goodwin Said to Make Layoffs as Demand Wilts

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

• Goodwin & Procter has made an unspecified number of layoffs to respond to a downturn in demand, legal blog Above The Law reported, citing tips from multiple offices at the Big Law firm. One tipster told the blog that “It sounds like a broad reduction in force based on anticipated need in the future.” The apparent layoffs at Goodwin follow recent job cuts at Cooley LLP, Gunderson Dettmer Stough, and Kirkland & Ellis after a plunge in deal-making in the tech sector. (Above The Law)
• K&L Gates said it opened an office in Dublin, Ireland, its 48th office worldwide and ninth in Europe. It’s the latest Big Law firm to open in the city in the wake of Brexit. K&L Gates said it hired asset management and investment funds lawyers Gayle Bowen from Pinsent Masons, Shane Geraghty from Dillon Eustace, and Michelle Lloyd from Maples Group as the office’s founding partners. More lawyers and practice capabilities are planned for later. (KLGates.com)
• Leaders of four Big Law firms said they’re expecting flat demand and fierce competition in 2023. (Financial News)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Arent Fox Schiff, which opened an office in the metaverse last year, said it launched an intellectual property enforcement task force to tackle challenges associated with the metaverse and blockchain applications. The task force is co-led by partners Dan Jasnow and Michelle Cooke. (AFSLaw.com)
• Employer-side worklaw firm Fisher Phillips said it has moved its Washington DC-area office from Bethesda, Maryland into offices in central Washington with twice the square footage of its previous office. (FisherPhillips.com)
• Fried Frank said via email that it advised Fox Corp. and News Corp. on their lease extension until 2042 of their premises at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. The combined space is over 1.1 million square feet and was the largest lease in Manhattan in 2022. (PR Newswire)
• 2022 had the most billion-dollar class action settlements in the history of the American court system with most of them coming in opioid litigation, Duane Morris’ new class action review finds. (Duane Morris)
• Asian attorneys, the biggest minority in US law firms, try to break through stereotypes and misconceptions to show what they can offer. (Korea Times)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Greenberg Traurig snagged Kasowitz Benson Torres life sciences patent litigation partner Jay Deshmukh as a shareholder in New York. He was earlier a senior vice president of global IP at Ranbaxy Laboratories, an international pharmaceutical company. (GTLaw.com)
• McKool Smith got back patent litigator Kevin Burgess as principal in its Marshall, Texas, office. (McKoolSmith.com)
• Management-side worklaw firm Littler Mendelson brought in litigator and counselor Kim Carter as a shareholder in San Diego. (Littler.com)
• Steptoe & Johnson (DC) picked up Venable commercial litigators Steve Freeland, Dan Blynn, and Eric Berman, as partners in Washington. (Steptoe.com)
• Fox Rothschild added family law attorney Afi S. Johnson-Parris as a partner in Greensboro, North Carolina. (FoxRothschild.com)
• Lynchburg, Virginia-based federal contractor BWX Technologies Inc. promoted in-house attorney Ronald “Chip” Whitford to senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer, and corporate secretary. (Businesswire) Restaurant chain Marco’s Pizza hired transactional franchise attorney Kristin Corcoran as vice president of corporate counsel. Former in-house lawyer at Subway, she was recently of counsel at DLA Piper. (Restaurant News)

Promotions Effective Jan. 1

• Hogan Lovells promoted 38 attorneys to partner and 77 to counsel across its offices worldwide; Littler promoted 28 attorneys to shareholder; Fish & Richardson promoted 15 to principal; Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders lifted 26 attorneys to partner across 12 US markets in its largest partner class ever. It also promoted six to counsel; Saul Ewing elected six attorneys to partner and six to counsel; Seattle-based plaintiffs firm Hagens Berman promoted six attorneys, including five women, to partner. (Businesswire)