Wake Up Call: Quinn Opens Dallas Office With Three Partners

In today’s column, former President Trump hired a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Atlanta; a Sidley partner, a Biden nominee for an international bank role, disclosed earning $3.4 million from the firm; and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is suing New York for his legal bills in a sexual harassment suit.

• Leading off, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan officially launched its new Dallas office, after recently signing a lease for office space at the Citymark Building at 3100 McKinnon Street. Los Angeles-based Quinn said the new office, for which plans were earlier reported in September 2021, will be anchored by partners Karl Stern, Elinor Sutton, and Will Thompson, moving from other offices. They’ll be joined by four associates, and the firm anticipates making new hires soon. Quinn is among several firms to recently set up in Dallas, drawn by the state’s booming energy, tech, and other markets. (QuinnEmanuel.com)
• Quinn rejected as “frivolous” a $250 million lawsuit filed by an energy company alleging that the law firm’s mishandling of a federal lawsuit two years ago caused it to lose $136 million. (Reuters)
• Kirkland & Ellis private equity partner Jeremy Liss, who’s moving from Chicago to run Kirkland’s new Miami office, said he’s been getting calls from lawyers eager to join him in what is becoming “Wall Street south.” (Financial Times)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Sidley Austin partner Richard Weiner, the Biden administration nominee for for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, disclosed that he made nearly $3.4 million in partner compensation at Sidley. (National Law Journal)
• Benesch, with 167 attorneys in Cleveland, passed BakerHostetler, with 166, as the second-biggest law firm by headcount in Northeast Ohio. Jones Day is No. 1, with 171, according to this report. (Crain’s Cleveland Business)
• With increased demand, 40% of law firms say they’ve raised rates for their trademark adviser teams in the last year and close to 40% expect to increase the teams’ headcounts, according to a survey report. (World Trademark Review)
• Former President Donald hired a prominent Atlanta criminal defense lawyer in a sign he’s concerned about federal and state investigations into interference in the 2020 presidential election. The lawyer, Drew Findling, known by the hashtag #BillionDollarLawyer, is known for representing rap stars. (New York Times) Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is suing Attorney General Letitia James in a bid to force the state to pay for his legal defense against a former state trooper’s sexual harassment suit. (Politico)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Four intellectual property attorneys left Proskauer & Rose to join Boston-based IP firm Cesari and McKenna, led by partner Joe Capraro. Patrick Niedermeier and Xin Hu Rasmussen also joined as partners, and Gerald Worth joined as senior counsel; Fox Rothschild hired commercial litigator Ryan T. Moore as a partner in Los Angeles; Blank Rome added Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna insurance recovery attorney Amber Morris as an associate in Philadelphia. (BlankRome.com)
• The University of Iowa hired Husch Blackwell higher education compliance senior counsel James Jorgensen as vice president for legal affairs and general counsel to start Sept. 30. He earlier served as deputy GC at the school; Candisse Williamson, former general counsel at Skybound Entertainment and a vice president at the Madison Square Garden Company, took a job at comedian Kevin Hart’s new comedy content venture Hartbeat as executive vice president, general counsel. (Hollywood Reporter) Manatt said health care information technology specialist Cynthia Bero joined its Boston office as health senior adviser. She was previously at health care system Mass General Brigham as vice president, information systems; Debevoise & Plimpton dispute resolution group senior adviser Deborah Enix-Ross became president of the American Bar Association. (Debevoise.com)

Legal Education

• A Michigan county judge resigned after getting hit by a sexual harassment complaint filed by a Michigan State University Law student who’d been assigned to him as an intern during her third year. The judge also lost his job as an adjunct professor at the school. (Deadline Detroit)