Wake Up Call: Maynard and Nexsen to Combine Into 550-Lawyer Firm

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

• Alabama-based Maynard Cooper and Carolinas-based Nexsen Pruet have agreed to merge into a “client-centered” national firm operating under the name Maynard Nexsen effective April 1. The combined firm will have more than 550 lawyers in 23 offices across the US, including Washington, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, according to a statement. (MaynardCooper.com)
• Daniel Friedberg, the former chief regulatory officer at bankrupt crypto exchange FTX.com, cooperated with US prosecutors investigating the FTX collapse. That cooperation added to pressure on former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who was arrested on fraud charges last month. (Reuters)
• The cyberattack that hit Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft in November took out its email and knocked its internal document management system offline for weeks, according to a report citing an attorney with knowledge of the situation. (American Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Twitter Inc. has reportedly hired Perkins Coie, a Seattle-founded law firm that Elon Musk has attacked for its work for prominent Democrats, to defend it against a lawsuit filed by a far-right activist. (Yahoo! Finance)
• Denver-headquartered Holland & Hart announced the election and appointment of several partners to new leadership roles. (HollandHart.com)
• Alex Jones’ attorney Norm Pattis, accused of releasing unauthorized Sandy Hook files, vowed to appeal after a judge suspended his legal license for six months. (NBC Connecticut)
• Florida attorney Derek Acree was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his part in a scheme in which he and at least one co-conspirator filed fraudulent Covid loan applications for $1.6 million. Acree reportedly spent the money on private jet services and payments to a Trump golf club, among other things. (Daily Business Review)
• Legal search and recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa acquired Hire an Esquire, a Philadelphia-based legal staffing provider, with its nine employees across four offices. (Staffing Industry Analysts)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Withers Worldwide expanded its offering of tax, estate and trust planning services in Texas, acquiring Houston-area private client boutique Dossey & Jones, including partners Jim Dossey and Paige Jones and two associates. (WithersWorldwide.com)
• WilmerHale grabbed longtime Fenwick & West corporate transactions lawyer Stephen Gillespie as a partner in San Francisco. He focuses on intellectual property and technology licensing. (WilmerHale.com)
• Fox Rothschild added white collar litigator Jack Siegal as a partner in Boston. He was previously at McGlinchey Stafford. (FoxRothschild.com)
• Nixon Peabody recruited former California federal prosecutor Christopher Grigg as a partner in Los Angeles in its government investigations & white-collar defense practice. He was recently national security division chief in the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. (NixonPeabody.com)
• The Mosaic Company, producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients, promoted executive and deputy general counsel Phil Bauer to senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. A former Dorsey & Whitney partner, Bauer replaces Mark Isaacson, who is retiring. (Accesswire)
• Smart mobility technology provider Verra Mobility hired former Honeywell International vice president and division general counsel Jon Keyser as executive vice president and chief legal officer. (Legal Dive)
• GigaCloud Technology Inc., a global logistics platform for heavy and large merchandise, hired Hong Kong-based Latham & Watkins corporate associate Zoe Wong as general counsel. (Yahoo!)

Promotions Effective Jan. 1

• BakerHostetler elevated 23 attorneys to partner; Morrison & Foerster elected 18 lawyers to partner; WilmerHale promoted 16 attorneys to partner; Debevoise & Plimpton named three counsel and two international counsel; Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider promoted one lawyer to partner and two to counsel; and Miller & Chevalier elected one attorney to member. (MilleChevalier.com)

Legal Education

• The Florida Hispanic Bar Association and Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter National Bar Association are collaborating on a civil litigation bootcamp focused on minority attorneys. (The Florida Bar)