Wake Up Call: Plea Deal for Ex-Willkie Leader Caplan Calls for Time Behind Bars

• Ex-Willkie Farr & Gallagher co-chairman Gordon Caplan would face eight to 14 months in prison under a proposed deal with prosecutors in which he would plead guilty to charges in the U.S. college admissions scandal. The deal also calls for one year of supervised release for Caplan, and a $40,000 fine. Caplan and actor Felicity Huffman are among more than a dozen people who plan to plead guilty in the scandal, according to reports. (BN) (American Lawyer)

• Kirkland & Ellis advised on the most, and highest value, mergers and acquisitions in 2019’s first quarter, guiding companies through 142 global deals valued at $176.8 billion overall, including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s pending $88 billion purchase of Celgene Corp., the quarter’s most expensive transaction. In an increasingly competitive market for deal advice, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was No. 2 for deal volume, at $168.3 billion, while Jones Day was second for number of deals, with 99. (BLAW)

• Poor market conditions are expected to slow U.S. M&A deal flow this year, while Brexit and political uncertainty apply the brakes in Europe, according to a new Proskauer survey report on private credit market trends. (Proskauer.com)

• The Department of Homeland Security’s acting chief since the sudden exit of Kirstjen Nielsen is Kevin McAleenan, a University of Chicago Law School grad who spent time as an associate in L.A. at Sheppard Mullin and Silicon Valley firm Gunderson Dettmer. (National Law Journal)

• As Uber Technologies Inc. gets ready for its mega IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, it still has a long list of unresolved legal and regulatory problems. (FT.com)

• Microsoft deputy general counsel and corporate legal department leader, Carolyn Frantz, left for Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, joining its Supreme Court and appellate practice group as senior counsel in Seattle. (The Recorder)

• Facing a possible ethics probe, a Labor Department official who continued working on a private lawsuit against an Ironworkers’ union after joining the agency has stepped down from his post. (BLAW)

• A senior associate counsel to President Donald Trump since December 2017, Samuel Ramer, left the White House for Norton Rose Fulbright in Washington. (National Law Journal)

Lawyers, Law Firms, Deals

• Nelson Mullins named M&A partner Doug Starcher the new managing partner for its Orlando office, which has over 110 lawyers and staff. (NelsonMullins.com)

• Offshore firm Appleby said that, this year, it has advised longtime client Tritax Big Box REIT plc on a 370 million pounds ($483.6 million) acquisition of an 87 percent stake in db symmetry, one of the U.K.'s biggest privately owned warehouse developers, and on a transaction that raised 400 million pounds ($523 million) via a U.S. private placement. (ApplebyGlobal.com)

Laterals, Moves

• Willkie Farr & Gallagher grabbed Dechert tax lawyer Jane Scobie as a partner in London. Scobie previously spent nine years as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis. (PrivateEquityWire.co.uk)

• Willkie also hired Alison Nemeth Steger, a former legal adviser to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, as an associate in Washington, where she’ll be a member of the communications & media group. (Willkie.com)

• Loeb & Loeb hired corporate transaction attorney Eric C. Lee as a partner in L.A. He arrives from Skadden, where he’d been for over 13 years. (Loeb.com)

• Crowell & Moring hired data privacy and cyber security lawyer Jarno J. Vanto as a partner based in New York. He arrives from Polsinelli. (Crowell.com)

• Mintz said former SEC enforcement attorney Sean T. Prosser joined the firm’s litigation department as a member from Perkins Coie, where he led the white collar, government investigations, and securities litigation practices in Southern California. He works out of its San Francisco, San Diego, and L.A. offices. Mintz also got two high tech attorneys as members in Boston: Ed Pease from Wilmer Hale, and Laurence Naughton from Choate Hall & Stewart. (Mintz.com)

• Dentons got nine lawyers in Phoenix who were formerly at Steptoe & Johnson LLP, which is pulling out of that city. (American Lawyer)

• Cozen O’Connor said aviation industry attorney Rachel Welford returned to the firm in Washington in its transportation & trade group, arriving from American Airlines, which she joined in November 2016 and where she was director of security and government affairs. (Cozen.com)

• McDermott Will & Emery hired Venable wealth planning attorney Elizabeth Glasgow as a partner in its Los Angeles office. (MWE.com)

• Holland & Knight said bankruptcy attorney Phillip Nelson joined as a senior counsel in the firm’s Chicago office, arriving from Locke Lord. (HKLaw.com)

• Barnes & Thornburg said real estate lawyer William Lewis joined the firm’s Chicago office from Reed Smith. He’s the 10th new partner to join the Chicago office this year. (BTLaw.com)

• Worklaw firm Jackson Lewis hired litigator Danielle Alexis Matthews as a principal in Dallas. She arrives after 19 years at Norton Rose Fulbright, most recently as senior associate. (JacksonLewis.com)

In-House

• Colorado-based cannabis consulting company STWC Holdings Inc. named experienced attorney Jean Smith Gonnell its general counsel. She replaces Jay Kotzker, who resigned in March. (Corporate Counsel)

• Global manufacturing company Ingersoll-Rand plc promoted longtime in-house lawyer Evan Turtz to be its new top lawyer. He succeeds Maria Green, who plans to retire in June. (Corporate Counsel)

• The South Florida Water Management District named environmental lawyer Paula Leveritt Cobb as its new GC effective April 15. She was energy affairs and stakeholder engagement director at Duke Energy Florida and former deputy secretary for regulatory programs at the state Department of Environmental Protection. (TCPalm)