Wake Up Call: MoFo Names San Francisco M&A Partner as New Chair

In today’s column, an all-woman team of Boies litigators won a temporary restraining order holding off Louisiana’s abortion ban triggering laws; a case management software company launched a plaintiffs boutique; SCOTUS’ decision ending Roe v. Wade could affect law school applications.

• Leading off, Morrison Foerster said San Francisco-based M&A partner Eric McCrath will take over as firm chair Oct. 3. Current chair Larren Nashelsky is stepping down after about a decade and will remain a New York-based restructuring partner. McCrath, co-chair of the firm’s global corporate department of over 400 lawyers, joined the firm in 2007 and has practiced in California, Tokyo, and New York. He’s played a key a role in expanding the firm’s reach and its corporate and emerging companies and venture capital capabilities in California. Of Asian heritage, he’ll be the first ethnically diverse chair in MoFo’s history. (MoFo)
• In the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, an all-woman team of litigators from Boies Schiller Flexner won a temporary restraining order Monday in Louisiana court blocking laws that would have immediately triggered an abortion ban in the state. (American Lawyer)
• Mofo is among the half dozen or so law firms so far that have said they will cover costs for employees seeking abortions. (Above The Law)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Legal tech company Mighty Law Inc., which provides case management software for law firms and other practices, says it’s launching its own law firm. With offices in Connecticut, Georgia, and Texas, the new Mighty Law firm says it offers a fee-structure option to traditional plaintiffs firms. (Reuters)
• The joint Brussels office of the UK’s three law societies said it’s closing because its workload has shrunk because of Brexit. (Global Legal Post)
• A former Florida attorney who ripped off a 108-year-old woman for millions of dollars is headed to jail, a report says. (Yahoo! News)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Debevoise & Plimpton poached the US co-chair of Linklaters’ cybersecurity practice, Erez Liebermann, as a partner in New York. He was earlier chief counsel of cybersecurity & privacy at Prudential Financial, Inc. and spent nine years as federal prosecutor; Latham & Watkins grabbed Clifford Chance insurance transactional attorney Kirsten Gaeta as a partner in New York; DLA Piper recruited Securities and Exchange Commission senior trial attorney Eric Forni as a partner in Boston in its litigation practice; Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner continued its expansion in Europe, grabbing a multidisciplinary team of four partners from DLA Piper in Frankfurt, Germany. The partners, Torsten Pokropp, Frank Schwem, Christian Lonquich, and Mike Danielewsky are experienced in real estate finance, real estate, and insolvency and restructuring; Goodwin hired Kirkland & Ellis private equity attorney Daniel Dusek in Hong Kong. (Goodwin)
• Troutman Pepper hired health care regulatory and transactional attorney Asher Funk in Chicago as a partner. He arrives from Polsinelli, where he was a shareholder; Arnold & Porter picked up King & Spalding drug pricing and government contracting attorney Liz Lindquist as a partner in Denver; McGuireWoods hired veteran restructuring attorney Charles “Trey” Rayburn in Charlotte, North Carolina; Bracewell snagged Troutman pipeline and LNG safety attorneys Catherine D. Little and Annie Cook, who are moving up to Washington from Atlanta to join Bracewell as partners in its energy regulatory practice; Polsinelli brought in commercial real estate and finance attorney J. David Wicker as a shareholder in Nashville. (Polsinelli)
• Womble Bond Dickinson (US) appointed Atlanta partner Laura Kees as its new trademarks, copyrights and transactions practice group leader; Quarles & Brady said its Florida commercial litigation chair Benjamin Brown is its new office managing partner in Naples; labor and employment firm Constangy hired worklaw litigator Salvador P. Simao to open and manage a new office in northern New Jersey and to lead the firm’s expansion in the Northeast. He arrives from FordHarrison, where he was Northeast regional managing partner; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed three insurance defense lawyers as workers’ compensation judges. (Insurance Journal)

Legal Education

• On Reddit, many self-identified prospective law students said they’ll avoid applying to law schools in states where abortion is illegal. (Law.com)