Wake Up Call: Litigators, Latin America Dominate Florida Hires

In today’s column, midsize and regional firms could boost this year’s market for firm mergers and expansion; U.K. law firm leaders say corporate distress is “inevitable” in 2022; one Texas federal judge’s courtroom accounted for 25% of all U.S. patent infringement filings last year, a report says.

• Leading off, Greenberg Traurig and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough made the most lateral partner hires in Florida in 2021. Demand for laterals in the state was hottest for litigators and corporate attorneys, especially those with experience in white-collar crime and Latin American banking and cross-border investigations. (Daily Business Review)
• Law firm merger activity was slow last year, but several midsize and regional firms have expansion and merger plans for 2022. (American Lawyer) Corporate distress and an unsustainable talent war are among predictions that leaders of nine major U.K. law firms make for 2022. (Law.com International)
• U.S. District Judge Alan Albright’s Waco Western District of Texas courtroom accounted for a quarter of all U.S. patent infringement suits in 2021, a report says. (National Law Journal)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius matched the Cravath/Davis Polk scale for year-end and special bonuses and added an “extraordinary bonus” for high billers, a report says. (Above The Law)
• Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer is almost doubling its retainer fee as its renews its five-year-old lobbying contract with the Federated States of Micronesia. Parts of the Pacific island nation’s current Compact of Free Association agreement with the U.S. are close to expiration. (Politico)
• Denver International Airport’s general counsel resigned amid reports he slapped a subordinate at a holiday party. (CBS Denver) Fallen movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, in jail on a rape conviction, is suing his former lawyer in an insurance dispute. (Courthouse News Service)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Kirkland & Ellis said debt finance partner Fred Lim returned to the firm in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was recently a partner at Goodwin Procter; Willkie Farr & Gallagher brought in finance partner Sarah Gelb as a partner in New York. She joins after 32 years at Dechert, including 21 as a partner; Allen & Overy poached Sidley Austin’s Brussels-based global co-head of antitrust, Kristina Nordlander, as a partner in London. She’ll continue to spend time in Brussels; Proskauer Rose added finance partner Barry Newman in London. He arrives from Travers Smith; Katten Muchin got back white collar and internal investigations attorney Christopher Stetler, who’s returning toChicago after over a decade as a Illinois federal prosecutor; King & Spalding brought in professional liability attorneys Raphael Larson in Washington and Gary Adamson in New York as partners, both from McDermott Will & Emery; Baker McKenzie added data security partner Nicholas Merker in Chicago. He arrives from Ice Miller, where he founded the data security and privacy practice group. (BakerMcKenize.com)
• Biopharmceutical company Disc Medicine hired former Big Law life sciences and health-care attorney Rahul Khara as its general counsel. He was recently vice president, legal, and chief compliance officer at Acceleron Pharma; SmartRent, Inc., provider of smart-home automation, named former iGo, Inc. top lawyer Brian Roberts as chief legal officer. A former Snell & Wilmer business & finance attorney, Roberts was recently chief administrative officer, general counsel, and secretary at for-profit Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. (Businesswire)

Promotions

• Lathrop GPM named business litigator Brian Dillon its Minneapolis partner in charge; Schulte Roth & Zabel promoted six attorneys to partner and nine to special counsel across several practice areas, effective Jan. 4; effective Jan. 1, Pryor Cashman promoted six attorneys to partner and 11 to counsel; Cole Schotz promoted nine to member; real estate firm Miller Starr Regalia elevated attorney Travis Brooks to shareholder. (MSRLegal.com)

Technology

• A hemp grower’s lawsuit inspired the launch of a blockchain-powered GoFundMe-style platform its creators hope will catch on as a mode of litigation funding “for the masses.” (Business Insider) Hackers interrupted a lawyers briefing for relatives of people killed in an airliner shot down by Iran. (Reuters)