Wake Up Call: JPMorgan, Citi Scrap Over Wealthy New York Lawyers

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

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. has boosted efforts to poach leading New York lawyers to its private bank, in another chapter in its fight with archrival Citigroup Inc. Citi’s private bank “dominates” the market for wealthy NY attorneys, having gained access to partners with Skadden, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Kirkland & Ellis. (Financial Times)
• More than twice as many general counsel, 71%, were externally recruited for their new roles compared with 29% that were promoted from within, a new survey found. The study, which surveyed about 600 general counsel and GC aspirants in the US, showed that women were more likely than men to learn of their successor status one year or less before their promotion. (BarkerGilmore)
• The Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality is moving from Seattle University School of Law to the University of California, Irvine School of Law. The center and its director, Robert Chang, have litigated on behalf of high school students who challenged Arizona’s ethnic studies ban, and a Black Lives Matter group challenging the City of Seattle’s use of force against protestors. (UCI Law)
• Most aspiring attorneys aim to attend law school with classmates who hold similar beliefs, a new survey of 390 pre-law students found. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said it was important to go to a school where students generally held the same political and social views as they do—an increase from 2020, when 46% of students reported similar beliefs. (Reuters)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Timothy Swickard has rejoined Lewis Brisbois as a partner and vice-chair of its toxic tort and environmental litigation practice in its Sacramento, Calif., office.
• Tara M. Darling has joined Polsinelli as a shareholder in the real estate finance practice group in Dallas.
• Debbie Y. Chin has joined Fox Rothschild as a partner in the taxation and wealth planning department in San Francisco. She previously served as partner at Donahue Fitzgerald.
• Daniel A. Cohen has joined Barnes & Thornburg as a partner in the litigation department in the Atlanta office.
• Kevin Gustafson has joined K&L Gates as a partner in the asset management and investment funds practice area in the Chicago office.