Wake Up Call: Legal Services Sector Job Growth Slows in November

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

• The legal services sector added about 800 jobs in November after adding about 3,600 jobs the month before, according to preliminary, seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The slower job growth pace comes as law firms confront bloated headcounts amidst a slowdown in demand, especially for corporate lawyers. (BLS.gov)
• Corporate in-house attorneys and Big Law lawyers expect a slowdown in deals in 2023, but they say the downturn could spawn opportunities for smaller firms. (American Lawyer)
• Hogan Lovells, Ropes & Gray, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and O’Melveny & Myers are among the latest Big Firms to announce year-end associate bonuses that go as high as $115,000, depending on class year. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is the first Magic Circle firm to match the scale, first set by Baker & McKenzie, then mostly matched by Cravath Swaine & Moore, and Davis Polk & Wardwell. There are some variations among the firms’ scales. (Above The Law)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• The wealthiest US law and accounting firms took in $1.4 billion in forgiven loans from a program that was supposed to help protect jobs during the pandemic, according to a report. (Open the Books)
• South Florida’s big transportation infrastructure projects are stoking a “feeding frenzy” among law firms in the region. (Daily Business Review)
• Virginia’s Republican attorney general, Jason Miyares, who in January touted himself as the state’s “new sheriff,” spent his first year erasing his Democratic predecessor’s legacy. (WaPo)
• UK law firms that use so-called SLAPP tactics to squelch journalists and campaigners on behalf of clients are getting scrutinized by the country’s legal profession regulator. (Financial Times)
• Philadelphia’s elected district attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, asked a state court to block a Republican-led effort to remove him from office. (NBC Philadelphia)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• UK-headquartered Holman Fenwick Willan grabbed corporate and regulatory insurance specialist Bob Haken as a partner in London. He arrives after 22 years at Norton Rose Fulbright, where he’s been a partner for over a decade. (HFW.com)
• Foley & Lardner said former US ambassador to Bolivia Manuel Rocha rejoined the firm’s Miami office as a senior international business adviser in its government solutions practice group. He was previously at the firm from 2009 to 2012. Recently, Rocha was senior vice president for global corporate affairs for Xcoal Energy & Resources, a global supplier of US-origin metallurgical coals, and before that, he was senior vice president at Barrick Gold Corporation, a mining company. (Foley.com)
• Alternative dispute resolution services provider JAMS hired retired Cook County, Illinois, judge Elizabeth Loredo Rivera as an arbitrator and mediator in its family law practice on its Chicago panel. (JAMSadr.com)
• Online vehicle auctions company Copart, Inc. hired industry in-house leader Paul Kirkpatrick as its new chief legal officer and corporate secretary to replace Gregory DePasquale, who is retiring. A former Haynes and Boone senior attorney, Kirkpatrick was CLO at BayoTech Hydrogen, and before that was at fleet management software company Omnitracs. He was vice president-general counsel and secretary at Commercial Metals Company. (PR Newswire)

Technology

• The Securities and Exchange Commission and crypto firm Ripple Labs Inc. both filed redacted responses to each other’s opposition to motions for summary judgment in their fight over the company’s XRP crypto token. (CoinTelegraph)