Wake Up Call: Hunter Biden Hires Abbe Lowell as GOP Probes Loom

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

• Hunter Biden has reportedly hired prominent white collar defense and trial lawyer Abbe David Lowell ahead of GOP probes the son of President Joe Biden is expected to face after Republicans take over the House in January. Lowell, a Winston & Strawn partner, has represented Bill Clinton, Jared Kusher, and the recently acquitted Tom Barrack, among other big names. (ABC News)
• Transatlantic giant Hogan Lovells and New York-based Shearman & Sterling Wednesday issued statements following a German press report that they are discussing a possible merger, but the firms neither confirmed nor denied the rumors. American Lawyer reported that such a tie-up would create the world’s third-biggest law firm, with thousands of lawyers and billions of global revenues. (American Lawyer) Take Big Law merger rumors with large does of salt, advises a legal blogger. (Above The Law)
• Some associates at Kirkland & Ellis are ”not pleased” that the world’s richest law firm by revenue is apparently paying US year-end bonuses that are a mere 10 to 15% over market. (Above The Law)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Law firms in the so-called second 50 of the Am Law 100 have seen an overall demand increase this year that beats all other segments. That’s despite their arguable disadvantages compared with bigger and smaller firms, this report says. (American Lawyer)
• Seton Hall University said a small number of “trusted, long-time employees” had cheated Seton Hall Law School out of close to $1 million over several years. (NJ.com)
• Disbarred attorney Evan Greebel, who represented Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli before they were both convicted of fraud, asked the US Supreme Court to hear his appeal to block the government from garnishing the retirement accounts he built up working at Fried Frank and Katten Muchin Rosenman. (New York Law Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Houston-based Tailored Brands, Inc., hired veteran consumer industry in-house leader Yen D. Chu as executive vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary. She’s a former Simpson Thacher corporate associate, was in-house at Ralph Lauren Corporation, and recently at luxury fitness company Equinox Group LLC. (Businesswire)
• Hogan Lovells named veteran Washington-based intellectual property litigation partner Anna Kurian Shaw its global managing partner for diversity, equity and inclusion. She replaces Susan Bright, who’s retiring. (HoganLovells.com)
• Barnes & Thornburg hired veteran IP attorney Brad Pedersen as a partner in Minneapolis. After early stints at Big Law firms, he spent 22 years at Patterson Thuente Pedersen, where he led the patent practice. (BTLaw.com)
• Crowell & Moring brought back a former energy and government affairs counsel at the firm, Tyler O’Connor, who rejoins as partner after 18 months as energy counsel to the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce. (Crowell.com)
• Quarles & Brady hired real estate attorney Erica Williams as of counsel in Indianapolis. She arrives from Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath. (Quarles.com)
• Jones Day named Spain-based antitrust partner and practice leader Marta Delgado Echevarría the Madrid office partner in charge. (JonesDay.com)
• Longtime McGuireWoods IP and employment law partner Rodney Satterwhite took a job as the first-ever general counsel at The Hilb Group, a Richmond, Virginia-based property and casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and advisory firm. (PR Newswire)
• Los Angeles-based Shamrock Capital, a Disney-family founded private equity firm, promoted its senior vice president, legal & compliance, Rosemary Bradley, to general counsel. She’s a former Sullivan & Cromwell corporate attorney. (ShamrockCap.com) San Antonio, Texas-based cloud-computing company Rackspace Technology Inc., recently hit by a ransomware attack, is losing its EVP, chief legal and chief people officer, and corporate secretary, Holly Windham. (San Antonio Express-News)

Promotions

• Seyfarth Shaw promoted 22 lawyers to partner across six practices and eight of its offices in the US and Australia. (Seyfarth.com)