Wake Up Call: New A&O Shearman Would Pay Partners With Lockstep

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

• The merger pact between London-based Allen & Overy and New York-based Shearman & Sterling has both firms agreeing to compensate partners on a modified lockstep basis. That would be a change for partners at both firms, according to a report. (Law.com International)
• Shearman needs to get 75% of its partners to approve the deal for the merger to succeed. (American Lawyer)
• A five-partner Shearman & Sterling energy and infrastructure projects team jumped to big London-headquartered firm Ashurst across cities in the UK and Asia. The team includes London-based project finance expert Sanja Udovicic, Seoul-based Anna Chung and Singapore-based Jean-Louis Neves Mandelli and Scott Baggett. They’re joined by London-based energy M&A and project development lawyer Julia Derrick, who was earlier at Ashurst for 17 years. (Ashurst.com)
• Allen & Overy’s chief financial officer, Donald Joyce, is leaving after five months on the job. (The Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Greenberg Traurig is in advanced discussions with real estate developer Sterling Bay to lease around 90,000 square feet in a 500,000 square-foot building under construction in Chicago’s Fulton Market, a former meatpacking district. Norton Rose Fulbright leased a smaller space in the district last year to open an office with 11 lawyers. (TheRealDeal)
• Venable LLP said it moved its Northern Virginia office to a “more efficient” 24,000 square foot space on the fourth floor of 1850 Towers Crescent Plaza in the city of Tysons. The office has 40 legal staff members and 19 business professionals. (Venable.com)
• The share prices of large office landlords have sunk to near historic lows as companies’ office return rates stagnate. (WSJ)
• Companies are paying their chief compliance officers more as companies expand their responsibilities in response to a complex litigation and regulatory environment. (Corporate Counsel)
• India’s biggest litigation funder LegalPay launched a $3 million fund aimed at sports law disputes in the country. (Litigation Finance Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Squire Patton Boggs grabbed Jones Day financial services, debt finance attorney Nima Fath as partner in Dubai. (SquirePattonBoggs.com)
• Wiley Rein hired public policy attorney Crystal Tully as special counsel in its telecom, media, and technology practice. She’s a former deputy staff director for the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation and was recently general counsel for investigations and nominations for the Senate Armed Services Committee. (Wiley.law)
• Hanson Bridgett added employment litigator Sonia Salinas as a partner in Los Angeles. She arrives from Atkinson Andelson Loya Ruud & Romo and was earlier at Foley & Lardner. (HansonBridgett.com)
• Blank Rome brought in matrimonial and family attorney Bret Hunter as of counsel in Los Angeles. (BlankRome.com)
• Greensfelder Hemker & Gale recruited former Missouri court probate commissioner Patrick Connaghan as of counsel in St. Louis in its trusts & estates group. (Greensfelder.com)
• Energy company Oneok, which recently announced its $19 billion acquisition of Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. to create one of the US’s largest oil and natural gas pipeline operators, said its senior vice president, general counsel and assistant secretary, Stephen Allen, will retire in mid-August after more than 17 years with the company. He’s leaving to join Dallas-based GuideStone, a faith-based financial services organization. (PR Newswire)

Technology

• The Center for Legal and Court Technology at the William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia, is experimenting with testimony by hologram witnesses in mock trials. (Reuters)