Wake Up Call: Kirkland Tab at Millions for Intelsat Bankruptcy

In today’s column, many Big Law firms are planning “aggressive”rate hikes in 2022; skewered by a Wall Street Journal report, a prominent Texas federal judge says he should have recused himself from 138 cases; legal operations and spend management startup Brightflag bought Orrick’s legaltech spinoff Joinder.

• Leading off, Kirkland & Ellis, which reportedly has 118 staff members working on Intelsat SA’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction, has gotten about $46 million in fees approved for its work so far on the case and recently asked for around another $13.5 million. The firm’s latest bill is for 13,746 hours from June 1 to August 31 at rates ranging $625 to $1895 per hour, says this report, which cites a Nov. 1 bankruptcy court filing. (Advanced Television)
• With corporate demand stretching their talent, many Big Law firms are looking to raise rates 5 to 10% in 2022 across most major markets, and some may hike rates more than that, observers said. (American Lawyer) It’s a case of “supply and demand,” tweeted law firm consultant Kent Zimmermann of Zeughauser Group. (Twitter) Awash in lucrative corporate work, Kirkland has hired 613 associates this year but lost 323. (Business Insider)
• Stoel Rives raised associate pay for a third time this year, this time by $10,000, but its still short of the Davis Polk standard, a report says. (Above The Law) Wilson Sonsini gave its Brussels associates and counsel a $50,000 pay raise, essentially matching the Davis Polk scale raises its U.S. lawyers got. (Law.com) With U.S. associate bonuses likely to reach $100,000 this season, U.S. firms’ junior lawyers in London are also expecting big payouts. (Financial News)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Texas chief U.S. district judge Rodney Gilstrap said he may have broke the law by failing to recuse himself in 138 cases that involved companies in which he or his wife had a financial stake. (WSJ) Embattled attorney Richard Liebowitz, accused of being a “copyright troll,” was suspended by a New York state appeals court. (Reuters)
• O’Melveny star litigator Daniel Petrocelli, who among other things successfully defended the AT&T/Time Warner merger, is leading Penguin Random House’s legal team in a Justice Department lawsuit against publishers. Lawyers from Arnold & Porter and Shearman & Sterling are also defending the proposed tie-up of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. (National Law Journal)
• White-shoe law firm Aidala Bertuna & Kamins, which counts Rudy Giuliani, Alan Dershowitz, Harvey Weinstein, and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson among its clients, has a “Sinatra room” at its Manhattan headquarters where clients and lawyers can unwind. (New York Post) Actuate Law, a tech-focused boutique based in Chicago, is relocating a handful of lawyers and its AI legal compliance unit to a new building in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. (Daily Business Review)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Covington & Burling said it hired Sandra Douglass Morgan, who was the first African-American and second woman to serve as chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, to its gaming industry practice. According to her LinkedIn profile, her former roles include litigation attorney at MGM Resorts International and AT&T external affairs director; Cooley recruited former McDermott Will & Emory business litigator Shamis Beckley as a partner in Boston. (Cooley)
• DLA Piper brought in veteran Big Law civil litigator Lisa Glasband as a partner in Short Hills, N.J.; DLA Piper Chile hired tax lawyer Amory Heine as a partner in Santiago; Foley & Lardner grabbed Cozen O’Connor bankruptcy member Mark Radtke as a partner in Chicago; Troutman Pepper promoted its director of human resources and organization development, Shana Beldick, to chief human resources officer. (Troutman.com)
• Lattice Semiconductor Corporation hired Tracy Feanny, a former senior counsel at Amazon Web Services and Dell, to be its corporate vice president, general counsel, and secretary. She arrives recently from National Instruments, where she was vice president, deputy general counsel & assistant secretary. (Businesswire)

Technology

• Big Law firms are boosting their securities practices’ crypto services to respond to an increase in legitimacy and regulation. (American Lawyer) Legal budget management startup Brightflag bought Orrick’s legaltech spinoff Joinder. (Brightflag)