Wake Up Call: Several Firms Match Cravath on Associate Pay

In today’s column, Ukraine hired Covington for its lawsuit against Russia at the International Court of Justice; Lowenstein said attorneys can work remote all of August; Arent Fox and Schiff Hardin completed their merger.

• Leading off, Quinn Emanuel, McDermott Will & Emery, and Paul Weiss matched Cravath Swaine & Moore’s new pay scale for associates, which adds more money for midlevel and senior associates than did the Davis Polk and Milbank scales announced earlier. Debevoise & Plimpton and Latham & Watkins matched Cravath’s scale, which goes up to $415,000 for the class of 2014 and beyond, and they added a $425,000 tier for ninth year associates and beyond. (Above The Law) (Reuters)
• The Ukraine government hired Covington & Burling to represent the country in its lawsuit against Russia at the Hague-based International Court of Justice over its invasion of its neighbor. (National Law Journal) Among U.K. law firms in the spotlight for having Russian clients, elite firm Linklaters is drawing attention for reportedly not condemning the invasion. (Financial News)
• As law firms start bringing employees back into the office after two years of virtual work because of Covid-19, Lowenstein Sandler said in an emailed statement that it will allow most attorneys and staff to continue working remotely two days per week. They’ll also be able to work remotely for all of August, Thanksgiving week, and the last two weeks of December, the firm said; New York midsize firm Otterbourg is reported to be offering $25,000 bonuses to associates who return to in-person work. (New York Law Journal)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Arent Fox and Schiff Hardin announced the completion of their merger to form ArentFox Schiff, with more than 600 lawyers and policy professionals. The firms first announced the tie-up in December. (Businesswire)
• Perkins Coie said it moved its Austin team into a new office in the city’s downtown district as it continues to grow in Texas. The Seattle-headquartered firm entered the Austin market in 2020 and now has 19 lawyers and 20 business professionals there; lawyers for victims of the Nov. 5, 2021, Astroworld Festival disaster, promoter LiveNation, and others gathered in a Texas county civil courtroom yesterday in a conference aimed at organizing over 300 lawsuits stemming from the disaster. (Houston Chronicle)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Sidley Austin grabbed private equity, life sciences and health-care attorney Robert Darwin from Dechert as a corporate partner in London; Dentons got DLA Piper transactional attorney Travis Leach as a partner in its venture tech and emerging growth companies practice in Phoenix; Hogan Lovells nabbed Foley Hoag M&A practice co-chair Adrienne Ellman as a partner in its mergers & acquisitions and private equity practices in New York; Stradley Ronon brought in private funds lawyer Nicholas Federici as a partner in New York and co-chair of its investment funds practice. (Stradley.com)
• Dechert said commercial real estate finance attorney Kathleen Mylod, an associate at the firm earlier in her career, rejoined as a partner in New York. She arrives from Shipman & Goodman; Cozen O’Connor got Stroock commercial real estate attorney Nicholas Richard in New York as a member; Baker Botts announced Washington-based corporate investigations and competition partner Heather Souder Choi as the firm’s first chief diversity and inclusion officer. She will also chair the firm’s DEI committee. (BakerBotts.com)
• New York litigation boutique Levine Lee recruited former Connecticut federal prosecutor Paul Murphy, who was also New Jersey federal prosecutor and economic crimes unit chief, as a partner; former Michigan federal prosecutor Mark Chutkow joined Dykema as leader of its government investigations and corporate compliance team, based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; Gordon & Rees hired trial lawyer Michelle Molinaro Burke as a New Jersey partner in its environmental & toxic tort, commercial litigation and product & general liability practice groups; marketing tech company Stagwell named its interim general counsel Peter McElligott, a former Citrix senior counsel, to permanent GC. (Martech Series)

Promotions

• K&L Gates said it promoted 36 lawyers to partner, one to of counsel, and one to government affairs adviser. (KLGates.com)