Wake Up Call: McDermott Axes Professional Staff in Covid-19 Move

In today’s column, new data show the Covid-19 pandemic has created opportunity for federal lobbying firms; Big Law firms that planned major office moves in London now face extra expenses because of construction delays caused by the pandemic; the Texas State Bar’s health insurance exchange is getting a lot of use from recently laid off lawyers; two Greenspoon Marder lawyers helped rapper Pitbull trademark his signature “grito"; former VP and current Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden is scheduled to address Columbia Law grads via YouTube.

• Leading off, McDermott Will & Emery, whose gross revenue rose 11% to $1.17 billion in 2019, is laying off professional staff and furloughing others as it tries to shore up cash to prepare for the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Goodwin Procter made a similar move this week. Legal blog Above the Law said it received inside reports that “entire departments have been gutted,” as McDermott axed administrative assistants, paralegals, as well as associates and long-term contract attorneys. However, a source told American Lawyer that associates, equity partners, and income partners were not affected by the cuts. (Above the Law) (American Lawyer)

• Dentons UK and Middle East LLP cut partner profit draws 20% and asked employees to cut their work week to four days for six months. (The Lawyer)

• In the U.S., the International Legal Technology Association laid off eight of 41 workers and furloughed another five because of the pandemic, but it said it’s continuing to plan events. (BLAW)

• Unlike U.S. firms, Latin American law firms have so far been held back by labor laws from using furloughs and pay cuts to reduce their cash outlays. (Law.com International)

• Big Law firms with more diversified practices, usually the big, rich ones, may have a better chance of surviving the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic wreckage. (BLAW)

• Some Big Law firms that had planned major office moves in London are now facing construction delays because of Covid-19, and consequently they may have to shell out precious cash to extend their current leases, because they can’t move into their new premises. (Financial Times)

• As Covid-19 created opportunity for federal lobbying firms and practitioners in 2020’s first quarter, all but one of the top 10 lobbying firms had revenue gains. The top two, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld brought in $12.6 million, up 31% year-on-year, and Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber & Schreck, was up 25% to $11.5 million. (National Law Journal) (Politico)

• The State Bar of Texas’ individual health insurance exchange is seeing a big increase in enrollment by lawyers recently laid off. (Texas Lawyer)

• As courts across the country turn to teleconferencing platforms and other technology to keep their courts operating, lawyers are dealing with new routines and challenges. (BLAW)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Amazon.com Inc. is accused in proposed California class action of price gouging on goods including face masks, pain reliever and food during the Covid-19 pandemic. (BLAW)

• A New York federal judge and his wife are suing Allstate Insurance, arguing that they are being evicted from a temporary home amid the Covid-19 pandemic. (New York Law Journal)

• The parent company of Fox News and Fox Sports, said their big-earning in-house litigator Viet Dinh is among top executives at the company who agreed to go without pay through Sept. 30 because of the pandemic. Legal chiefs at McDonald’s and Kodak are also taking pandemic pay cuts, but not as steep as Dinh is taking. (BLAW)

• A female associate at Perkins Coie representing Google will make her first Federal Circuit argument after the firm and the company persuaded the court to reschedule a hearing canceled by the coronavirus. (BLAW)

• In a Covid-19 stay-at-home project, a California law professor and her husband, a Sidley Austin appellate partner, filed what may be the first husband-and-wife U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief, in a case on universal injunctions. (National Law Journal)

• Greenspoon Marder said two of its attorneys secured a trademark for Rapper Pitbull ‘s signature yell, or grito in Spanish, “EEEEEEEYOOOOOO,” which, the firm said is now on a list of fewer than 40 trademarked sounds and the first trademarked for music and sound recording purposes. The attorneys, with Pitbull, recently co-authored an article in the NYU Journal of Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law explaining how he developed the sound and why its unique. (Billboard)

• In a move to survive a collapse in travel demand, Sidley Austin client United Airlines Holdings, Inc. announced a $1 billion underwritten public offering of common stock. (Bloomberg News)

• Another company struggling in the crisis, home rental giant Airbnb, Inc., had advice from Simpson Thacher in transactions to get a $1 billion term loan from institutional Investors and $1 billion investment from Silver Lake and Sixth Street partners. (Bloomberg News)

Laterals, Moves

• Fox Rothschild hired former Philadelphia district attorney Kelley B. Hodge as a partner in that city in its labor and employment department. Hodge, who was the first African American female district attorney in the Philadelphia office’s 167-year history, arrives most recently from Elliot Greenleaf, where she was of counsel. (FoxRothschild.com)

• In hires anticipating Covid-19-related restructuring work, Mayer Brown grabbed Allen & Overy corporate lending & restructuring specialist Trevor Borthwick in London. Borthwick, who leaves A&O after 23 years, is a former global head of that firm’s corporate lending practice. (MayerBrown.com)

• And Arent Fox hired corporate & securities lawyer Tal Unrad as a partner in Boston. Unrad, who among areas advises on distressed transactions, was previously a partner at Burns & Levinson in its corporate & bankruptcy law groups. He is also joining Arent Fox’s new task force aimed at helping small and medium-size organizations figure out their eligibility for loans under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. (ArentFox.com)

• O’Melveny & Meyers got back project development and real estate lawyers Michael Hamilton and Timothy Evans from DLA Piper in Los Angeles, where they were partners and where Hamilton co-led the California real estate practice. They return as partners to O’Melveny, where both started out as associates in the late 1990s. (OMM.com)

Technology

• Texas-based global law firm network Lex Mundi, with Microsoft Europe, Morrison & Foerster, and others, released a new checklistaimed at helping general counsel spot key issues when integrating artificial intelligence into their corporate legal functions. (Artificial Lawyer)

• Legal tech company Bodhala, whose platform aims to help companies optimize their spending on outside counsel, said it raised $10 million in Series A funding, with Edison Partners leading the funding round. (Legaltech News)

• In a working from home snafu, the young daughter of a U.K. law firm employee “hijacked” her dad’s work phone and recorded herself dancing on the law firm’s Instagram account. (RollonFriday.com)

Legal Education

• Former vice president and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is scheduled to give a May 20 virtual address to Columbia Law School graduates via the school’s YouTube channel. (New York Law Journal)