Wake Up Call: Goodwin Unloads Associates Via ‘Stealth Layoffs': Report

In today’s column, Private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners hired a Kirkland & Ellis partner as its new top lawyer; a federal judge rejected pharma bro Martin Shkreli’s request to get out of jail early to help find a coronavirus cure; Skadden Arps is opening some of its EU offices, but not yet London, as Big Law firms take a cautious approach to returning to in-person operation after the pandemic shutdown; summer associates in programs at some wealthy firms look set to make good money even though the programs have been curtailed; the U.S. Justice Department is planning to hit Google with an antitrust lawsuit.

• As of last Friday, some 69 law firms had announced pay cuts for associates and other non-equity partner lawyers, in moves aimed at protecting their cash flow from Covid-19’s financial bite. But so far, firms have not announced mass layoffs, even as it’s starting to look like certain practice areas may have too many lawyers. (American Lawyer)

• Legal blog Above the Law said a “specialty” of Big Law firms is to react to crises with so-called stealth layoffs, in which they cut lawyer headcount without confirming that they are making economic-based layoffs, and they sometimes justify the move with performance reviews. Now the blog says it has received reports from “multiple insiders” that billion-dollar firm Goodwin Procter is making stealth layoffs, with one source saying the let-go associates had to sign confidentiality agreements. Goodwin told ATL it couldn’t comment on the firm’s “performance management process.” (Above the Law)

• Meanwhile, 2L summer associates at some wealthy firms are set to get paid $3,600 a week for 10 weeks to do essentially “nothing,” after the firms slashed and/or virtualized their summer associate programs because of Covid-19, a report says. (Business Insider)

• Kirkland & Ellis restructuring partner Jeffrey Gettleman, a longtime clarinetist and concert producer, recently came out of retirement to help the firm handle a deluge of bankruptcy work flowing from the coronavirus crisis. (BLAW)

• Big Law firms are taking a cautious approach as they work out plans for a slow return to offices. (American Lawyer)

• In Europe, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom opened its Munich, Frankfurt, and Paris offices, with certain conditions, but it doesn’t plan to open its London base in the short term. (Law.com International)

• Proskauer Rose’s updated survey on the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on private credit markets finds an uptick in optimism, with increasing interest in health care and software/tech deals, among other observations. (Proskauer.com)

• A federal judge rejected pharma bro Martin Shkreli’s request to get an early release from prison. The judge didn’t buy Shkreli’s premise that he could use his pharmaceutical expertise to help find a Covid-19 cure. (Bloomberg News via BLAW)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Litigation finance giant Burford Capital Ltd. ended its efforts to investigate a crash in its share price after a London judge found its stock wasn’t the target of any “unlawful market manipulation.” (Bloomberg News via BLAW)

• During a recent Zoom conference, Asian American general counsel at major companies said they are concerned about a climate of racism fueled by the pandemic. (American Lawyer.com)

• The U.S. Justice Department is drafting a lawsuit against Google, accusing the internet giant of violating antitrust laws. (Bloomberg News BLAW)

• Thanks to recent legislation, the number of cannabis-related companies going public is growing, and plaintiffs lawyers are watching as shareholder lawsuits are expected to follow. (New York Lawyer)

• Plaintiffs firm Hagens Berman Sobol and Shapiro saw its $47.9 million fee award in a consumer price fixing class action axed by a federal court appeals court applying a new review rule. (BLAW)

• The Independent Women’s Law Center, with Hogan Lovells, filed an amicus brief in support of a woman Uber driver challenging a California law that forces companies to reclassify many independent contractors as employees. (IWF.org)

Pro Bono

• Dechert joined the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit challenging Tennessee rules that would limit voters’ ability to absentee vote during the Covid-19 pandemic. (ACLU.org)

• Snell & Wilmer, with the nonprofit Community Legal Services, launched a legal aid clinic to help individuals in Arizona with questions on unemployment insurance and other issues related to the pandemic. (SWLaw.com)

Laterals, Moves

• Baker McKenzie’s Hong Kong office hired Shearman & Sterling finance counsel Kenneth Ching. According to his LinkedIn, Ching has previously been at Skadden Arps in Hong Kong and at Allen & Overy in London. (Law.com)

• Former Arent Fox litigation partner Martin F. Cunniff joined The Fields PLLC as a partner in Washington. According to his LinkedIn, Cunniff, who was most recently a partner at RuyakCherian LLP, spent 22 years at now-defunct Big Law firm Howrey LLP, including as partner and chair of its litigation practice group. (PRNewswire.com)

• Fox Rothschild added real estate partners Scott Kipnis and Nicholas B. Malito in New York. They were previously at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. (FoxRothschild.com)

• Fox Rothschild also added employment law attorney Jeffrey S. Horton Thomas as a partner in Los Angeles. He arrives most recently from Akerman. (FoxRothschild.com)

• Perkins Coie got Kirkland & Ellis tech and intellectual property transactions attorney Sam Hong as a partner in Chicago. Earlier in his career Hong was in-house at Samsung Electronics in Seoul, Korea. (Perkins Coie)

• DLA Piper added Latham & Watkins finance counsel Yoni Tuchman as a partner in Los Angeles. (DLAPiper.com)

In-house

• Private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners LLC hired Kirkland & Ellis partner Renata Lombardi Malavazzi as its new top lawyer in New York. Kirkland’s Chicago-based commercial litigator Eric Yeager left to become a managing director at litigation financier Kerberos Capital Management LLC. (BLAW)

Technology

• Thomson Reuters’ lawsuit accusing legal research startup ROSS of ripping off Westlaw’s copyrighted material sheds light on risks of so-called data scraping. (Legal Intelligencer)

• Big Four accounting giant PwC’s legal tech incubator program is getting a second cohort but it will operate remotely using the video conferencing service, Zoom. (Artificial Lawyer)