Wake Up Call: Kirkland Offers Up to $250,000 Signing Bonuses

In today’s column, law firm leaders in Philadelphia say they’re reviewing their in-office policies in light of updated CDC covid guidelines on vaccination and mask wearing; Littler opened its third office in Belgium, its 100th office worldwide; MoFo asked for $7.4 million in fees after winning a lawsuit against an anti-abortion group.

• Leading off, as the market for M&A legal talent booms, Kirkland & Ellis has offered midlevel to senior corporate associate lawyers signing bonuses of up to $250,000 to switch firms, according to a report. Recruiting specialists said signing bonuses have never been as high as they are now. (Business Insider)
• Leaders of Philadelphia-area law firms said they’re reviewing their pandemic in-office health policies after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance last week. The CDC now says fully vaccinated individuals can go maskless indoors and outdoors; as law firms announce plans for bringing lawyers and employees back into the office, some early-career associates are looking forward to getting back, where they can get in-person coaching from partners. But some more senior associates worry they could lose some advantages they picked up working remotely during the pandemic. (American Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Management-side worklaw firm Littler said it opened an office in Ghent, Belgium, its third in the country, through its Belgian partner, Reliance|Littler. The office is Littler’s 100th location across 25 countries. (Littler.com)
• Pennsylvania is the latest state pursuing sanctions against Rudy Giuliani and other Trump lawyers who led post-election lawsuits trying to overturn the election results. (Forbes)
• Morrison & Foerster asked a California federal trial judge for $7.4 million in fees after its court win over an anti-abortion group in a suit over covertly videotaped conferences held by the National Abortion Federation. (The Recorder)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Sidley Austin brought in Cooley corporate and capital markets partner Carlton Fleming in San Francisco as a partner. He advises life sciences and technology companies; Foley & Lardner snagged the chair of Cooley’s trademark & advertising practice, Jeffrey Greene, who was a department and practice leader at Foley earlier in his career and returns as a partner in New York; Goodwin Procter got Wilson Sonsini of counsel Andrew Sparks, who advises venture capital and emerging companies, as a technology partner in San Francisco; Goodwin also hired Fenwick & West tax lawyer Ora Grinberg as a partner in its Silicon Valley office. She advises on transactions in technology, private equity, life sciences, and other areas; Katten Muchin said it hired Crowell & Moring fashion & retail M&A lawyer Ilana Lubin as a partner in its mergers & acquisitions and private equity practice in New York. (Katten.com)
• Akerman brought in legal marketing pro Iris Jones as its chief marketing & client development officer based in Austin; B2B payments company Melio announced that it hired former American Express executive Jonathan Polk in New York to be its general counsel and chief compliance officer; Nixon Peabody appointed San Francisco-based partner Anthony Barron, who focuses on construction and commercial litigation, to lead the firm’s litigation department. (NixonPeabody.com)
• Seyfarth Shaw added worklaw partner Annette Idalski, who was national chair of Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s labor & employment department. Idalski works out of Atlanta and Houston and arrives with two associates; Cozen O’Connor added Dorsey & Whitney health care and transactional attorney Jeff Saunders as a shareholder in its corporate practice in Minneapolis; Cozen also got Seyfarth health care transactions lawyer Aselle Kurmanova as a member in New York. (Cozen.com)

Technology

• Eversheds Sutherland said it launched a new tool that uses artificial intelligence, text analytics, and interactive data visualization to help clients assess their risks of getting hit by federal or state discovery sanctions for spoliation of evidence. (EvershedsSutherland.com)

Legal Education

• Litigation funder Validity Finance said it picked two Harvard Law students with diverse backgrounds for its 2021 “Equal Access” summer fellowship; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius announced 10 law student winners of its diversity scholarship awards for 2021. (MorganLewis.com)