Wake Up Call: Gowlings and Wragge Lawrence Graham Form New Global Law Firm

• Gowlings, Canada’s second-largest independent law firm, has officially merged with UK-based Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co to form a new global law firm, Gowling WLG, with offices in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. (New York Times)

• Former Dickstein Shapiro Chairman James Kelly presided over the last year of a period which the firm died by a thousand cuts,but he insists many recent departures resulted from a planned and orderly transition, not the raucous rush for the doors that he said the media presented. (Big Law Business)

• Once rare in the Silicon Valley, tech companies are increasingly looking for general counsel who have government experience , to help them confront complicated regulatory challenges and and enforcement action. (The Recorder)

• What happens when you’re done serving six years in prison for Enron crimes? Andrew Fastow, former chief financial officer of Enron Corporation, who was convicted of money laundering, fraud and conspiracy, now speaks at business schools and conferences about thegray area between ethics and law. (Big Law Business)

Legal Market

• The UK legal branch of PwC, the world’s largest accounting firm, could have over 100 million pounds ($141 million) in UK revenues by 2018, putting it on track to be among the kingdom’s, and the world’s, biggest law firms by 2019. (The Lawyer)

• Several large UK law firms reduced or reorganized their space last year due to the soaring cost of real estate in London. (The Telegraph)

• Revenue at Jenner & Block surged for the second year running in 2015, gaining 14 percent to $465 million, according to early data. (American Lawyer)

• Kevlar, a liquid polymer fiber five times stronger than steel, is used, among other things in tires, body armor and space shields, and it has also inspired a long secrets case that has transformed U.S prosecution of intellectual property theft. (American Lawyer)

• Recent survey suggest most law firms are not very good at cross-selling legal services , which is not about selling as being client-centered and doing what is best for the client. (Forbes)

• Class-action lawyers assess the potential impact of the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who during his time on the court wrote three majority opinions that shaped his reputation as an architect of jurisprudence on class actions. (The Recorder)

• The problem of office-based sexism , including at law firms, is helping win women over for Hilary Clinton on her campaign for president. (New York Times)

• Editorial: The partisan, potentially paralyzing, debate over appointing a replacement for Justice Scalia lends weight to the argument that U.S. Supreme Court justices should be appointed for finite terms that better reflect today’s longer life spans. (Washington Post)

• Apple Inc. has hired a team from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, including former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson,to help contest a court order that aims to compel the company to help authorities get into a passcode-protected iPhone that belonged to one of the terrorists in the attack last year in San Bernardino. (The Recorder)

• Justice Antonin Scalia’s flag-draped casket was placed on view in the U.S. Supreme Court’s ceremonial hallway before a crowd of mourners that included colleagues, family members and former law clerks. Photo gallery .(Big Law Business/Bloomberg Business)

Laterals and Moves

• Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan announced hiring litigation specialist Paul Friedman as a partner for the firm’s London office; Berwin Leighton Paisner picks up partner Anthea Bamford for its real estate practice group, from Clifford Chance, and other, UK, Europe and U.S. moves. (The Lawyer)

Technology

• The lesson that the UK High Court’s order last week approving use of predictive coding had for U.S. litigators is less about proliferation of predictive coding than the value of strategic cooperation in discovery, writes a consultant. (Big Law Business)

• Knowledge management boosts lawyer productivity and can help in-house counsel avoid paying law firms to do the same work more than once. So, given given corporate pressure on legal budgets, and general counsel pressure on law firms, it’s not surprising that interest in KM has grown. (Big Law Business)

• Founded by an educator, the American Law Foundation makes online tools aimed at helping law students with everything from evaluating law schools to beginning their careers in the profession. (LegalTech news)

• The departments of Homeland Security and Justice released new interim guidelines for the recently passed Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), with a focus on addressing public concerns on privacy and civil liberties. (LegalTech news)

• Apple Inc.’s newly hired outside lawyer, former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said the U.S. court order requiring the company to help unlock the iPhone of a dead terrorist could “open a Pandora’s Box” of privacy issues for millions of people around the world. (Bloomberg News)

Legal Education

• In the past decade, PhD candidates have started to dominate law school hiring, especially at elite schools, signaling an academic focus that clashes with a growing preference among bar associations for more law school credit hours devoted to practical training. (Big Law Business)

• Although graduates of Harvard Law School and Yale Law School have dominated the Supreme Court for decades, and all the sitting justices attended one of those schools, about half of the people currently getting attention as potential nominees to replace Antonin Scalia would break that trend . (National Law Journal)

• Law schools are considering dropping the Law School Admission Test requirement, in an effort to boost shrinking admissions. (Wall Street Journal)