Wake Up Call: Private Equity Money Flows Into UK’s Law Firms

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

• Private equity firms are increasingly investing in regional UK law firms, seeking to consolidate fragmented markets in areas like divorce, personal injury, and conveyancing. While investors aim to scale up small practices using technology and automation, the surge in private capital has sparked dissatisfaction among some law firm employees, who argue that the focus on productivity and growth has led to higher workloads and diminished client service quality. (Financial Times)
• Meta Deputy General Counsel Roy Austin, who also serves as the company’s vice president of civil rights, will leave the company in March. Austin announced his departure hours after Meta said in an internal company memo that it was scrapping its DEI efforts and three days after it announced it was discontinuing its social media fact-checking program. (Law.com)
• Zuckerman Spaeder was accused in a lawsuit of misusing confidential information it obtained in antitrust litigation against Blue Cross Blue Shield to woo new health-care provider clients to sue the company. The accusations were made by a group of lawyers representing hospitals and other providers in a proposed $2.8 billion settlement with Blue Cross. (Reuters)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Rodney Hill joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner in its tax practice group in Washington. He joins from Fried Frank.
• Jake Shields joined Gibson Dunn as a partner and member of its False Claims Act, litigation, and white collar defense and investigations practice groups in Washington. He joins from the Justice Department.
• Michael Coravos joined Jones Day as of counsel in its tax practice in Boston. He joins from the Internal Revenue Service.
• Nema Milaninia joined King & Spalding as a partner in its government investigations practice group. He joins from the State Department.
• Meagan Bellshaw joined Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a partner in its antitrust practice in Washington. She joins from the Justice Department.
• Chris Kavanaugh joined Cleary Gottlieb as a partner in its litigation group. He most recently was the US attorney for the Western District of Virginia.
• Cécile Mariotti joined Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe as a tax partner in Paris. She joins from Latham & Watkins.
• Sozi Pedro Tulante rejoined Dechert as a partner in its litigation group and co-managing partner in Philadelphia.
• Victoria Jew and Charlotte Higham joined Squire Patton Boggs as partners. Jew joins from Pinsent Masons and Higham from Addleshaw Goddard.
• Jon Niermann joined Vinson & Elkins partner in its environmental practice in Austin. He joins from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
• Tara Pehush joined Venable as a partner in its product liability and mass torts group in New York.
• Jeffrey Lilly rejoined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani as a partner in Austin.
• Joanna Ludlam joined Jenner & Block as a partner and co-chair of its investigations department in London.
• Emanuel Tsourounis II joined Eversheds Sutherland as a partner in its real estate practice group in New York.
• Fran Skoller joined Thompson Coburn as a partner in its banking and commercial finance practice group in New York.