Wake Up Call: Johnny Depp Lawyers Announce Heard Settlement

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

• Johnny Depp’s Brown Rudnick lawyers announced that the actor’s ex-wife Amber Heard agreed to pay $1 million to settle her defamation dispute with him. Depp pledged to donate the amount to charities, they said. (BrownRudnick.com) Heard said in a statement posted on Instagram that, “after a great deal of deliberation I have made a very difficult decision to settle the defamation case brought against me by my ex-husband in Virginia.” (Instagram)
• Litigation boutique Kellogg Hansen announced year-end associate bonuses that range from $57,500 to $450,000, depending on class year and performance, dwarfing the $15,000 to $115,000 market standard notched by Baker McKenzie and Cravath Swaine & Moore. (Above The Law)
• Litigation boutique Kaplan Hecker & Fink announced year-end bonuses that match the market standard. Los Angeles-based boutique Massumi Consoli, specializing in private equity and M&A deals, announced bonuses. (Above the Law)
• Law firms are recalibrating their systems for reviewing partner compensation to emphasize collaboration and more subjective criteria. They’re even taking office attendance into account. (American Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• McGuireWoods is moving to new offices in Dallas, Texas. The Virginia-founded firm signed a lease for 33,300 square feet on the 21st and 22nd floors at the Link at Uptown, 2601 Olive Street, near downtown. (TheRealDeal)
• Polsinelli announced several leadership changes. It named St. Louis office managing partner Jane Arnold as co-chair of its national business department, with co-chair Kolin Holladay, a corporate and transactional shareholder in Nashville. Polsinelli said St. Louis shareholder Margaret Hillman is taking over from Arnold as chair of its national health-care alignment and organization practice. St. Louis shareholder Andrew J. Voss is taking over in another former Arnold role, as co-chair of the firm’s national health-care mergers and acquisitions practice. The other co-chair is Dallas-based Jon Henderson, who also chairs the firm’s corporate and transactions practice group. (Polsinelli.com)
• New York state authorities charged a 68-year-old disbarred attorney with embezzling over $450,000 from incapacitated and vulnerable clients. (Mid Hudson News)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Baker McKenzie’s Toronto, Canada, office brought in two transactional practice leaders from WLG Gowling as partners. Fintech attorney Usman Sheikh joins as chair of Baker’s blockchain and fintech practice. Financial regulatory attorney Michael Garellek joins as head of Baker’s financial services regulatory practice in Canada. (BakerMckenzie.com)
• Greenberg Traurig hired Eversheds Sutherland state and local tax lawyer Nikki Dobay as a shareholder in Sacramento, California, and Portland, Oregon. (GTLaw.com)
• Eckert Seamans recruited Pennsylvania deputy attorney general Matthew Gill as an associate in Pittsburgh in the firm’s commercial litigation practice group. He was earlier at O’Melveny & Myers. (EckertSeamans.com)
• Yum Brands subsidiary KFC US is promoting legal director Kate Ward to chief legal officer effective Jan. 1, 2023. She’s replacing Melanie Bootes, who’s been CLO since 2015. (Restaurant Dive)
• Oceaneering International, Inc., a Houston, Texas-based subsea engineering and applied technology company, hired Jennifer Simons, executive and top lawyer at oil and gas drilling and production services provider Parker Wellbore, as senior vice president, chief legal officer and secretary. She’s succeeding David Lawrence, who’s retiring. (Businesswire)
• An executive search firm recruited tech industry in-house veteran Ronald Chillemi as general counsel for financial advisory services provider Aven. He’s a former federal health-care fraud prosecutor and partner at Robins Kaplan. (Hunt Scanlon Media)

Promotions

• Effective Jan. 1. 2023: K&L Gates promoted 40 attorneys to partner across 22 of its offices worldwide; Baker McKenzie elected 31 partners and one counsel in its North America offices; Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp promoted five to partner; Clark Hill promoted 17 attorneys to member; and Bracewell LLP promoted seven lawyers to partner and one to senior principal. (Bracewell.com)