Wake Up Call: Kirkland Is First to Top $6 Billion Revenue Mark

In today’s column, DLA Piper had a record $3.47 billion revenues in 2021; the Trump administration’s top DOJ antitrust official joined Latham & Watkins as a partner; McKool Smith matched the Cravath standard for associate pay.

• Leading off, Kirkland & Ellis, which became the first Big Law firm to ever top $6 billion in gross revenues in 2021, looks on track to continue as the world’s biggest law firm by revenue for the fifth-straight year. Record demand for deals work helped the Chicago-founded firm gross about $1.2 billion, or 25%, more than it made in 2020. Kirkland’s average profits per equity partner jumped 19.3% to about $7.4 million, according to this report based on early data. (American Lawyer)
• DLA Piper’s life sciences and technology work helped the transatlantic firm grow its gross revenues by 10.8% to a record $3.47 billion in 2021 and make it a likely repeat No. 3 for Am Law 100 revenues, behind Kirkland and Latham & Watkins. DLA’s average PEP expanded 17.6% to about $2.5 million. (American Lawyer)
• McKool Smith is the latest firm to match the Cravath scale for associate pay. (Above The Law)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Schulte Roth & Zabel’s gross revenues rose 6% to about $471.4 million in 2021, as its focus on private capital and investment funds work helped it rebound from an off-year in 2020. Its average PEP surged 12.6% to about $3.6 million. (American Lawyer)
• Securities and Exchange Commission employees improperly accessed legal records for cases being litigated in the agency’s administrative court system, the agency said in a notice. (WSJ)
• Jonathon Moseley, an attorney who has represented several defendants in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, has appealed his disbarment by a Virginia state court. (Politico) A New York City Law Department attorney who was fired after publicly questioning the city’s mayor about its mask mandate for small children said she’s hiring legal counsel. (Reuters)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• The Senate approved Winston & Strawn Silicon Valley patent litigator Kathi Vidal as director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office; former Justice Department antitrust division head Makan Delrahim joined Latham & Watkins as a partner based in Washington and he plans to expand his practice to Southern California; Orrick grabbed two energy finance partners from Baker Botts. The former chair of Baker Botts’ project finance practice, Jeff Kayes, joined Orrick as a partner in San Francisco and partner Adam Griffin joined in New York; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher hired former Federal Trade Commission chief of staff Svetlana S. Gans as a partner in Washington in its consumer protection, privacy, and antitrust practices. She was recently vice president and associate general counsel at NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, a trade lobby. (GibsonDunn.com)
• ArentFox Schiff snagged Sullivan & Worcester’s bankruptcy & financial restructuring practice leader, Jeffrey Gleit, as a partner in New York; Arnold & Porter re-hired patent litigator Abigail Struthers, who recently was senior intellectual property litigation counsel at pharmaceutical company Sandoz. She was at Arnold & Porter for over 16 years before joining Sandoz and returns as a partner in New York; Lowenstein Sandler picked up DLA Piper emerging growth and venture capital attorney Matthew VanderGoot as a partner in its tech group in Washington. (Lowenstein.com)
• Tampa-based door manufacturer Masonite International Corp. hired in-house veteran James Pelletier as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. He’s a former in-house attorney at GE Aviation and United Technologies and recently top lawyer at industrial and aerospace manufacturer and service provider Barnes Group Inc. (Business Observer) Miami-based mobile tech company Tekmovil hired former Greenberg Traurig lawyer Matías Hercovich as its global general counsel. He was recently GC at biotech company Crystal Lagoons, previously GC for Latin America at telecom-infrastructure company Phoenix Tower International, a Boca Raton-based Blackstone portfolio company. (PR Newswire)

Technology

• Inadequate technology for remote working has forced some in-house lawyers back into the office full time, a study says. (Corporate Counsel)