Wake Up Call: Health Care Fuels McDermott’s Big 2020 Profits

In today’s column, big private equity firms’ general counsel are responsible for the cost of outside counsel but they don’t have the means to control it, a U.K. report says; alternative legal services provider Elevate’s revenues dropped 3% in 2020, a report says; Michigan is set to get the first-ever Muslim U.S. attorney next month, a report says; midsize firms have made progress on diversity but still have work to do.

• Leading off, the pandemic kept McDermott Will & Emery worried through 2020 but the firm, powered by its health-care and related practices, still managed to post revenue up 17.9% to almost $1.4 billion and profits per equity partner up 25% to over $2.5 million, according to preliminary data. (American Lawyer)
• Goodwin Procter last week announced market-matching 2020 year-end bonuses, with a 1,950 billable hour requirement. Above the Law reported that under Goodwin’s rating system, 43% of its associates got more than market bonuses. (Above the Law)
• With lateral hiring gone virtual because of Covid-19, firms that have been able to adapt their unique cultures to a remote work setting have had a noticeable advantage in the lateral hiring market, recruiters said. (American Lawyer)
• New Law company Elevate recently reported 2020 results of $79 million, down 3% from 2019. The company’s founder, Liam Brown, also noted Big Four accounting firms’ arrival as significant competitors in the field of legal services. (Law.com)

Biden Transition, Election Litigation, Fallout From Capitol Riots

• Lawyers for some members of the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol are helping build a damning legal case against former President Donald Trump. (Business Insider)
• Dozens of past and present bar association leaders in New York have urged a state attorney grievance committee to discipline Rudy Giuliani for pushing false allegations of widespread election fraud. (New York Law Journal)
• A lawsuit challenging election results attempts to litigate with Hobbit Law. (Above the Law)
• Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen said he thinks Trump issued “secret pardons” for himself, family members, and Giuliani. (Newsweek)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Michigan federal prosecutor Saima Mohsin is set to become the first-ever Muslim U.S. attorney on Feb. 2 when she becomes acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. She’s set to take over after the departure of the district’s current U.S. attorney. (Detroit Free Press)
• Large private equity firms hold their senior in-house lawyers responsible for the cost of hiring outside law firms but don’t give them the tools to control it, according to a study by U.K.-based Apperio, a legal spending and matter-tracking platform. (Legalfutures.co.uk)
• Several midsize firms have made significant advances in increasing the diversity of their legal talent, but they still have work to do on retention. (Mid-Market Report via Law.com)
• Google’s former in-house diversity chief, entertainment lawyer Erika Munro Kennerly, talked recently about her reasons for leaving the search giant early last year and things she’s done and learned since then. For the last year she’s senior vice president and associate general counsel at Endeavor Content. (Corporate Counsel)
• The New York state court system declined to identify a court officer it disciplined last year after he made a Facebook post that implied George Floyd “deserved what he got.” (New York Law Journal)
• The Tennessee Supreme Court suspended the license of a Nashville lawyer who posted advice on Facebook about how to make murder look like self-defense. (Tennessean)

Laterals, Moves

• Hogan Lovells said patent litigation partner Andreas von Falck, a former intellectual property, media and technology practice group leader, is taking over as group leader of the firm’s health & lifestyle sector group. The group includes its life sciences & health-care practice, for which the firm recently announced new leadership. (HoganLovells.com)
• Word of Von Falck’s appointment follows news that Hogan Lovells partner Asher Rubin, who co-led the firm’s global life sciences industry practice, is leaving to join Sidley Austin, along with life sciences partner Adriana Tibbitts. (BLAW)
• In another Hogan Lovells departure, McDermott Will & Emery said it got former Financial Trade Commission trial attorney Andrew J. Lee as an antitrust partner in Washington. He regularly represents Korean and Japanese electronics, engineering and shipping clients facing high-profile antitrust activity enforcements. (MWE.com)
• Paul, Weiss is bringing on Sullivan & Cromwell’s deals lawyer Krishna Veeraraghavan as a partner in its corporate department in New York. (BLAW)
• Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe is expanding its life sciences group by adding David Schulman, who co-led the same practice area for Dechert. (BLAW)
• Winston & Strawn added Washington-based international tax lawyers James Mastracchio and Susan Seabrook as partners. They arrived from Eversheds Sutherland, where Mastracchio led the federal tax controversy and criminal tax practices. He will co-lead, with Seabrook, Winston & Strawn’s federal tax controversy and criminal tax matters practices in Washington. (BLAW)

In-House

• USA Gymnastics is in the market for some new legal help after its only in-house lawyer headed for the exit. (BLAW) (LinkedIn)
• United Insurance Holdings Corp.’s chief legal officer and general counsel Brad Kalter resigned, effective Friday. (BLAW) According to his LinkedIn profile, Kalter moved to PureCycle Technologies. (LinkedIn)

Leadership Appointments, Promotions

• Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr elected Minneapolis office managing partner Alfred Coleman and Baltimore office managing partner Michelle N. Lipkowitz to the firm’s nine-member executive committee, effective January 21, 2021. (Saul.com)
• Eversheds Sutherland appointed new partners in charge in Atlanta, Houston, New York, and Washington, as of Jan. 1, 2021. (Eversheds-Sutherland.com)
• Kobre & Kim said antitrust and government enforcement litigator Benjamin Sirota was appointed chair of the New York State Bar Association antitrust law section. He’s been acting chair since October 2020. (KobreKim.com)
• West Coast business and real estate firm Newmeyer Dillion promoted a Newport Beach, California-based attorney to partner. (NewmeyerDillion.com)