Wake Up Call: More Firms Require Vaccination to Enter Office

In today’s column, New York’s soon-to-be new governor is already facing conflict-of-interest questions linked to her husband’s general counsel job at a gambling giant; several Big Law firms that are usually rivals are working together on a new startup data standard.

• Leading off, with Delta-variant Covid-19 cases mounting fast, several more firms Wednesday delayed their office-reopening dates. Some announced their lawyers and staff will have to be fully vaccinated against Covid to enter their offices.
• Perkins Coie told personnel it’s maintaining its Oct. 4 office-return date, but will continue to “monitor developments.” The Seattle-based firm is requiring all lawyers and staff to be vaccinated to enter its offices, and it’s reinstating a mask mandate, citing recently updated federal guidance. “With the spread of the Delta variant, it’s evident that the pandemic is entering a new phase and we are adjusting our policies and plans accordingly,” the firm said in an email.
• Akin Gump postponed to Oct. 11 the office reopening it earlier set for Sept. 13. It also clarified that all personnel must be vaccinated to enter its U.S. offices, before and after the reopening date. “We thank you for sharing your vaccination status with us and if you are not two weeks post fully vaccinated, do not come to the office,” the firm said, in a staff memo seen by Bloomberg Law. Akin Gump also said visitors to its offices must be vaccinated, “where such limitations are permitted” and all people entering its U.S. offices must wear masks in common areas and elevators.
• DLA Piper, according to a firm statement provided to Bloomberg Law, has opted to extend its voluntary telework period for U.S. offices to Oct. 18 “out of an abundance of caution and to protect the health, safety, and well-being of our people, which remains our top priority.”
• Clifford Chance, which in July said it expected its U.S. personnel to be vaccinated by its Sept. 13 reopening date, in a redacted Aug. 11 memo viewed by Bloomberg Law said it is delaying that Americas region reopening to the week of Oct. 25; Skadden, Arps and Carlton Fields also announced they will require employees to be vaccinated to return to their office. (Above The Law)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• London-based Linklaters posted fiscal 2020 revenue up 2.1% to 1.67 billion pounds ($2.31 billion), which puts it in third place, for growth rate, among the four global Magic Circle firms. Linklaters’ profits per equity partner surged 9.9% to reach 1.8 million pounds ($2.49 million), a report says. (Global Legal Post)
• William J. Hochul Jr., a former federal prosecutor, is keeping his job as senior vice president and general counsel for Buffalo-based concessions and gambling giant Delaware North. That’s raising conflict-of-interest questions for his wife, New York Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, who’s set to take over as governor of the state. (The Buffalo News) (Daily Beast)
• South Dakota-based legal recruiter Sweetbridge filed a breach-of-contract suit against law firm Robinson & Cole, accusing it of sharing its data on merger targets with a competing recruiter, Major, Lindsey & Africa. (Reuters)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Katten Muchin recruited two white collar and internal investigations partners from Faegre Drinker in Chicago. They include former Illinois federal prosecutor Daniel Collins, who co-led his former firm’s 250-plus-lawyer litigation practice. Collins is joined by partner Levi Giovanetto; Florida firm Gunster poached white collar litigator Latour “LT” Lafferty from Holland & Knight as of counsel in Tampa. (Gunster.com)
• Winston & Strawn hired Greenberg Traurig real estate shareholder Matthew Friedrich as a partner in Los Angeles; Nixon Peabody grabbed longtime Seyfarth real estate partner Gregg Dorman as a partner in Chicago; Sheppard Mullin brought in Stoel Rives renewable energy lawyer Anthony Girolami as a partner in San Diego in its real estate, land-use and environmental practice group; Stoel Rives got project finance lawyer Matthew Gurch as a partner in its corporate practice group and a member of its energy & natural resources industry group in Washington. He arrives from Norton Rose Fulbright, where he was senior counsel. (StoelRives.com)
• The Biden administration nominated Kramer Levin litigation chairman John P. “Sean” Coffey to be the Navy’s general counsel. (National Law Journal) Facebook cybersecurity law director Gavin Corn, a former Justice Department senior counsel, said he is joining Netflix and will have a similar role to the one he had at the social media company; management-side worklaw firm Fisher Phillips rehired litigator Collin Warren, who was a partner at the firm before taking a job three and half years ago as chief compliance officer and general counsel at APM, an affiliate of the General Electric Company. (FisherPhillips.com)

Technology

• A group of Big Law firms, which compete to advise tech and startup companies, are collaborating to create a new industry standard for startup capitalization data. (The Recorder)