Wake Up Call: Harvard Law Student Sues School Over Tuition During Covid

In today’s column, Baker McKenzie was the biggest U.S. firm by headcount lat year, and Kirkland & Ellis grew its U.S. headcount the most, a new annual survey shows; since Monday, law firms have a green light to reopen in New York City, but some are holding back; Reed Smith is opening cautiously in London and DLA plans to do so in early July; Morgan Lewis poached a nine-person intellectual property team from Cooley in London; Jenner & Block says the Chicago landlord suing it for millions in back rent, actually owes it a hefty credit.

• Leading off, Harvard Law is the latest school to get sued after going to remote learning because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The student suing, Abraham Barkhordar, complains that Harvard Law’s tuition and fees have stayed the same despite the lower overhead of remote instruction. He says he’s falling behind studying from his California home, where he has no access to Harvard Law’s library and study groups, and he has to get up at 5am for class. And the school suggested students rent office space on their own money, he said. (ABCNews.com)

• Denver-based Holland & Hart is the latest law firm to cut partner profit draws and attorney and staff salaries, as the legal sector seeks to protect its cash flow from Covid-19’s economic fallout. (BLAW)

• Covid-19 is putting law firms’ traditional cash-focused model in an unflattering light, but some firms are already trying different approaches, a report says. (American Lawyer)

• The pandemic has walloped Big Law hard, but a new Wells Fargo Private Bank survey suggests that firms haven’t been hit as hard as other industries. (BLAW)

• Since Monday, law firms have a green light to reopen their New York City offices for in-person business. But some Big Law firms, including Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Pryor Cashman, and Sidley Austin, are holding back at least until next week. (New York Law Journal)

• Meanwhile, legal tech companies say it’s safer to keep working from home. (Legaltech News)

• The pandemic is forcing bar exam preparation companies to adapt their courses to the new conditions. (BLAW) One positive note is that federal judges’ remote interviews via Zoom of candidates for clerkships appear to be going well. (Law.com)

• Reed Smith’s reopening plan in London is similar to what several elite U.K. firms are doing. People can return on a voluntary basis, but have to get permission from the office’s manager. (The Lawyer) DLA Piper is planning to reopen in London, Dubai, and the Middle East in early July. (The Lawyer)

• Jenner & Block rejected its Chicago landlord’s contention that it owes $3.8 million in overdue rent. Instead, the firm says it is owed a $840,000 credit. (American Lawyer)

• Akin Gump filed a suit against manufacturers of an allegedly counterfeit respiratory mask on behalf of a Chinese manufacturer that has a billion dollar contract to make masks for the state of California. (The Recorder)

• Fifteen minor league baseball teams, represented by McKool Smith and Mitchell Sandler, are suing their insurers in Pennsylvania federal court to recover their financial losses from Covid-19. (ESPN)

• A New York State Bar Association task force on attorney well-being plans to address new challenges stemming from Covid-19. (BLAW)

The Legal Profession Reacts to George Floyd Protests, Systemic Racism

• Two black law firm leaders talked about George Floyd, their own experiences with racism, and how they hope progress can be made. (National Law Journal)

• A lawyer for one of the two New York lawyers accused of firebombing a New York police vehicle during George Floyd protests objected when a federal appeals court judge compared them to Weather Underground militants of the 1960s. (New York Post)

• Donald Trump is on track to be the first president since Richard Nixon to go a full first term without nominating an African American to a federal appeals court. (BLAW)

• Facing criticism, the American Bar Association withdrew its invitation to South Africa’s last white president, FW de Klerk, to speak at its annual conference. (Bloomberg News)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• A report accuses a former Australian high court justice of sexually harassing six junior court staff during his time on the bench. (The Guardian)

• Baker McKenize was the biggest U.S. centric firm by headcount in 2019, with 4,809 lawyers, while Kirkland & Ellis grew the most (+291 lawyers) and Norton Rose Fulbright shrank the most (-105 lawyers), according to new annual report 2020 NLJ 500. (National Law Journal)

• McDermott Will & Emory is dropping its alliance with a China-based firm, and Winston & Strawn is taking its place. (Law.com International)

• Legalist, the San Francisco-based litigation funder, has passed the mark of 100 cases under investment. (American Lawyer)

• New York civil rights lawyer Shirley Siegel died at 101. A Yale Law grad, Siegel got rejected by 40 law firms before finding a job. She later became New York State’s first female solicitor general and argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. (New York Times)

• Cooley signed a lease for new modern office space for its over 200 employees in San Diego, with a planned move in 2022’s second quarter. (Cooley.com)

• Bressler, Amery & Ross said it opened an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, a financial center where many of its largest clients have operations. (Bressler.com)

Laterals, Moves

• Morgan Lewis confirmed via email that it has poached a nine-person intellectual property team from Cooley in London. It said Cooley partner Nick Bolter, who focuses on trademarks and design, and his team of four associates, a paralegal, and three trademark professional staff who will join Morgan Lewis in London on July 1. (The Lawyer)

• Jones Day added former Federal Trade Commission attorney Lin Kahn as an antitrust partner in San Francisco and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Huie as of counsel, investigations and white collar defense, in San Diego. (JonesDay.com)

• Michael Best added privacy and cybersecurity lawyer Guy Sereff in its Broomfield, Colorado, office as senior counsel. Sereff was most recently an associate at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, and before that data protection officer and associate general counsel at CenturyLink, and vice president and associate counsel at Urban Lending Solutions. (MichaelBest.com)

Technology

• After getting 11 submissions, Microsoft Corp. recently picked two finalist teams for its challenge aimed at spurring innovation and partnership between legal services providers and Microsoft’s corporate legal organization. The finalists include K&L Gates’ team for a solution aimed at helping Microsoft achieve its goal of negative carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and a joint submission by Perkins Coie, Greenberg Traurig, and Davis Wright Tremaine for its virtual law firm model that stood out for “inclusiveness.” The two teams next move to a design accelerator phase working with business design company Bold Duck Studio and Microsoft. (PrismLegal.com)