Wake Up Call: Morgan Lewis Probe Sinks Ex-Trump Vaccine Chief

In today’s column, trial postponements because of Covid-19 pulled down Winston & Strawn’s revenues in 2020 but the firm’s profits per equity partner rose, helped by cost cuts; seven of Philadelphia’s biggest law firms have made a collective 42 lateral hires so far this year; after helping Brooks Brothers file for Chapter 11, the company’s former general counsel jumped to become top lawyer at a New York investors exchange.

• Leading off, a Morgan, Lewis & Bockius probe into sexual harassment and misconduct allegations against vaccine-development specialist Moncef Slaoui led pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to oust Slaoui as the board chairman of Galvani Bioelectronics, a medical company of which GSK is a major shareholder. Slaoui, who was a longtime GSK employee, was recently the chief scientist of the U.S. government’s Covid vaccine development effort Operation Warp Speed during the Trump administration. (CNBC) (WaPo)
• Winston & Strawn’s gross revenues declined around 3% in 2020, compared with 2019, to $981.2 million, pulled down by trial delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The firm’s profits per equity partner rose 4.6%, to $2.42 million, helped by expense cuts that included staff reductions, according to a report based on preliminary data. (American Lawyer)
• Like many Big Law firms, New York-based Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel had a tough first half last year because of the pandemic, especially the second quarter. Its gross revenues shrank 2% to $390 million for the year, but turned up in the second half, with strong showings from private equity and M&A, litigation and white collar, bankruptcy and finance practices. The firm’s PEP jumped 6.4%, thanks to cost cuts that included reduced rent, but not compensation cuts or austerity measures, the firm said. (New York Law Journal)
• After the pandemic paused most Big Law lateral hiring last year, seven of the Philadelphia area’s biggest law firms—Ballard Spahr, Blank Rome, Cozen O’Connor, Dechert, Duane Morris, Fox Rothschild and Morgan Lewis—have made a combined 42 lateral hires so far this year, according to a report. (Philadelphia Business Journal)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Top U.K. law firms including Linklaters, Eversheds Sutherland, Withers, Pinsent Masons and Gowling WLG, are among major businesses that have signed on to a campaign aimed at protecting rights of individuals to wear Afro-hairstyles in the workplace. (Law.com International) A Miami law firm that is mostly white started a scholarship and clerkship aimed at attracting Black and other law students of color to the firm. (Daily Business Review)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Goodwin Procter poached M&A and private equity lawyer Pavel Shaitanoff from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as a partner in New York; (Goodwin) Duane Morris got corporate partner Hernan Gonzalez Moneta from Reed Smith in New York. (Duane Morris)
• Brown Rudnick said intellectual property and technology partners Ian DiBernardo and Jason Sobel joined the firm from Stroock & Stroock in New York. DiBernardo, who was co-chair of Stroock’s IP & technology and FinTech practice groups, is now chair of Brown Rudnick’s IP litigation practice group and leader of its U.S. technology practice group; Steptoe & Johnson LLP got patent litigator Mike Eisenberg in New York. According to his LinkedIn profile, Eisenberg was recently a partner at Holland & Knight and was earlier a partner at Latham & Watkins and Kasowitz; Fox Rothschild brought on IP partner Adam Wolek from Taft Law in Chicago; Akerman added intellectual partners Jeffrey Armstrong and Benjamin Urban in Chicago from McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff. (Akerman)
• Brooks Brothers former general counsel Rachel Barnett left the apparel company this month to become chief legal officer at New York-based IEX, which runs the Investors Exchange, a national U.S. stock exchange that launched in 2016. (Corporate Counsel) Xometry, the largest U.S. marketplace for on-demand manufacturing, hired tech in-house veteran Kristie Scott as general counsel. She arrives most recently from Cision, a public relations and earned media software company and services provider, where she was general counsel. (PR Newswire)

Technology

• Medieval lawyers apparently wrote documents on sheepskin parchment as a fraud prevention measure, according to some U.K. researchers. (SciTechDaily)
• The Financial Times announced a new innovative lawyers award to “celebrate innovation.” (Financial Times)