Wake Up Call: London Lawyers Are ‘Working Themselves to Death’

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

• London’s Big Law attorneys are “working themselves to death” in this account of burnout, “intense” 24/7 workloads, “unhealthy coping mechanisms” like drugs and alcohol, and in the worst cases, suicide. “It’s the sleepless nights—going to bed and then lying awake thinking about work,” said one. (The Telegraph)
• Fifa, football’s (or soccer’s) international association, is embarking on a recruiting drive for its in-house legal team following a staff “exodus.” Over the last few months, a “large number” of senior legal counsel left the group, the story found. (SportBusiness)
• BBC Film has hired Anwen Griffiths to be its new head of legal and business affairs from her partnership at Lee & Thompson, a London firm with a large film and television legal practice. In addition to managing BBC Film’s legal team, Griffiths will develop partnerships with distributors and financiers. (Screen Daily)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Sanders Roberts LLP has merged with the Oakland, Calif.-based firm, Lafayette & Kumagai LLP.
• Scott Hyman and Genevieve Walser-Jolly have joined Womble Bond Dickinson as partners with the business litigation group in Irvine, Calif.
• Dan Simon has joined Nelson Mullins as a partner in Charlotte, N.C., and Washington, D.C. He served as a trial attorney in FERC’s Office of Administrative Litigation.
• Robert Lepore has joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher as a partner with the antitrust and competition practice group in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. He served as a section chief in the antitrust division of the US Justice Department.
• Mike Plotnick has joined King & Spalding as a partner in the special matters and government investigations practice group in the Washington, D.C., office. He served as chief trial counsel in the division of enforcement and investigations at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
• Abram Moore has joined Venable LLP as a partner in the commercial litigation practice in Chicago.
• Christopher Mulligan has joined Weil Gotshal & Manges as a partner with the private funds practice in Washington, D.C. He served as the investment adviser and private funds senior adviser and co-coordinator of the private funds specialized working group at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Harris Freier has joined Ogletree Deakins as a shareholder in its Morristown, N.J. He served as a partner and chair of the privacy and cybersecurity practice as well as co-chair of the trade secrets and non-competes practice at Genova Burns.
• J. Dean Hinderliter has joined Bracewell LLP as a tax partner in the Dallas office. He served as a tax partner at Winston & Strawn.
• Joshua A. Kaufman has joined DLA Piper as co-chair of the capital markets and public company advisory practice in New York and Miami.
• Tim Moran and Phil Corsello have joined Steptoe LLP as partners with senior counsel Joe Tato and counsels Charlie Carroll and Brad McCormick in New York and Washington, D.C. The team joins from Holland & Knight and Covington & Burling.
• Karl Hopkins has joined Steptoe LLP as a partner with the international trade and regulatory compliance practice.
• Doug Mannal has joined Morrison Foerster as a partner in the business restructuring and insolvency group in the transactions department in the New York office.
• James Brownstein has joined O’Melveny & Myers as a partner with the private equity group in Century City, Calif. He practiced as a parnter in the M&A and private equity practice at Kirkland & Ellis.
• Julie Marion has joined Sheppard Mullin as a partner on the energy, infrastructure, and project finance team and the tax, employee benefits, and trusts and estates practice group in Chicago.
• The executive committee of Hughes Hubbard & Reed has elected Neil Oxford to chair and Robb Patryk to managing partner.