Wake Up Call: San Diego Firm Procopio Latest to Make Layoffs

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

• San Diego-based Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch is the latest law firm to downsize as legal sector demand shrinks, especially for deal work. The firm, which has about 170 lawyers, is reportedly shedding 3% of its attorneys and staff. (Above The Law) (American Lawyer) The sector’s layoffs come on the heels of a war for legal talent fueled by a post-pandemic deal boom that has since petered out. Other firms that have made recent job cuts include Cooley LLP, Goodwin Procter, Shearman & Sterling, Gunderson Dettmer Stough, Kirkland & Ellis, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, and Davis Wright Tremaine. (WSJ)
• As some companies shrink their legal operations teams to save costs, sector observers warn the approach could backfire. (Legaltech News)
• Boies Schiller Flexner and Moskowitz, LLP have made a bid for control of potentially lucrative class action litigation filed by customers of fallen crypto exchange FTX.com alleging they were defrauded. (Reuters)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• New York Stock Exchange-listed Ouster Inc. announced a “merger of equals” with rival self-driving vehicle tech company Velodyne Lidar, and it promoted deputy general counsel Megan Chung to general counsel. Chung replaces Adam Dolinko who joined the company in late 2021. (Businesswire)
• High levels of work stress, lonliness and being male are among factors associated with increased risks of suicidal thoughts among lawyers, according to a new study in the international journal Healthcare. (MDPI.com)
• A Massachusetts attorney who among other things left her client’s confidential divorce documents in a hotel lobby got a public reprimand from the state Board Bar of Overseers. (Law.com)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Willkie Farr & Gallagher hired two former legal leaders of the House January 6 committee as partners in Washington in its compliance, investigations and enforcement practice in its litigation department. The House committee’s former chief investigative counsel, Tim Heaphy, is joining as co-chair of the practice. A Democrat, Heaphy was fired from his job as University of Virginia counsel by the state’s incoming Republican attorney general in January 2022. He’s joined at Willkie by former January 6 committee senior investigative counsel Soumya Dayananda. (Willkie.com)
• Simpson Thacher picked up secondaries transactions specialists Edward Ford and Sacha Gofton-Salmond as partners in London in its private funds and funds transactions practices. They arrive from Travers Smith. (STBLaw.com)
• Paul Hastings snagged Shearman & Sterling financial restructuring lawyer Helena Potts as a partner in London. (PaulHastings.com)
• Fox Rothschild promoted Princeton, New Jersey-based deputy GC Rachelle M. Bin to general counsel, effective April 1. She takes over from retiring Thomas Paradise, who became the firm’s GC in 2005. (FoxRothschild.com)
• Insurance defense firm Clausen Miller opened an office in Dallas, Texas, adding litigator Ron Burnovski as a partner. (Clausen.com)
• Minnesota-based Ceres Global Ag Corp. hired Jennifer Henderson, a 21-year in-house veteran at agri-food giant Cargill, as vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary. Arriving from food tech start-up Believer Meats, where she was chief administrative officer, GC and corporate secretary, Henderson takes over at Ceres from Glen Goldman, who stepped down late in 2022. (Cision via Yahoo! Finance)
• New Jersey-headquartered Biotech firm Catalent, Inc. recruited veteran in-house leader Joseph Ferraro as senior vice president, GC, chief compliance officer, and secretary. A former Big Law corporate and securities attorney, he arrives after five years as chief legal officer at Innovate Corp., an investment company in infrastructure, life sciences and broadcasting assets. (Catalent.com)
• Las Vegas-based gaming equipment and services company PlayAGS, Inc. added gaming company top lawyer Robert Ziems as CLO. He arrives after 12 years at Aruze Gaming America, Inc., where he was president, global CLO, and corporate secretary. (PR Newswire)

Promotions

• Jackson Walker LLP said it promoted 16 attorneys to partner effective Feb. 10. (Jw.com)