Wake Up Call: Seyfarth Profits Down as Equity Partnership Grows

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

• Seyfarth Shaw increased its revenues 8.8% last year to $855.9 million helped by “adaptive” practices including real estate and labor and employment. Its average profits per equity partner shrank 1.1% to $1.47 million as it expanded its equity partnership by 6.7% to around 214, according to a report based on preliminary data. (American Lawyer)
• Steptoe & Johnson said its revenue growth slowed to 3% in 2022, but that was good enough to post a record $434.6 million. The firm’s chair Gwen Renigar credited the firm’s government relations work and advising on sanctions for part of that growth. Average profits per equity partner rose 6.9% to over $1.6 million, another record. (Reuters)
• Dozens of law firms added equity partners in 2022 despite shrinking demand and the expansion’s impact on their PEP. (American Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Commercial real estate executives are optimistic for 2023 despite concerns about rising interest rates, inflation, costs, and likelihood of a recession this year. That’s according to Seyfarth’s new survey which finds among other things that about one-third of the poll’s 145 responding executives said private equity would be their primary source of equity this year. (Seyfarth.com)
• US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar is getting praise for her arguments before the US Supreme Court in support of President Joe Biden’s $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan. (CNBC)
• Foley & Lardner named partner Kimberly Klinsport to succeed energy industry co-chair Jeffery Atkin as Los Angeles office managing partner, effective March 1. Klinsport is also Los Angeles and San Diego litigation chair; Brown Rudnick named litigation and arbitration partner and practice group leader Lauren Tabaksblat co-chair of its litigation & arbitration practice, which has over 100 attorneys. The other co-chair is partner Michael Bowe; San Francisco-based boutique trial firm Keker Van Nest & Peters named civil and white collar criminal litigation partner Laurie Mims to managing partner. She succeeds Steven Taylor. (Keker.com)
• Former federal prosecutors David Chaiken and Kamal Ghali, who worked together in the Northern District of Georgia’s US attorney’s office, have co-founded a white-collar trial and investigations boutique firm in Atlanta with plans to open other cities. (Daily Report)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Haynes and Boone picked up a five-lawyer finance team in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlie Harris, Ben Baucom, MacKenzie Henry, Isaac Neill, and Ben Owens join as partners from Moore & Van Allen. (HaynesBoone.com)
• Cleary Gottlieb brought in executive compensation attorney Alan Levine as partner in New York. He arrives from Morrison Cohen where he was co-chair of the executive compensation and employee benefits department. (ClearyGottlieb.com)
• Goodwin Procter poached private investment funds partner Matthew Nortcliff from CMS in Singapore where he led the Asia funds and indirect assets practice. (Asian Legal Business)
• K&L Gates added real estate attorney Jennifer McCosker as partner in Sydney, Australia. She’s been special counsel at big Asia-based firm King & Wood Mallesons, was at Skadden earlier in her career, and arrives recently from Arnold Bloch Leibler. (KLGates.com)
• In Germany, White & Case white collar, compliance, and investigations partner Karl-Jörg Xylander left the Big Law firm after 14 years to join Berlin boutique Spirit.law as a partner. (Juve.de)
• New Jersey-based McCarter & English hired veteran Big Law marketing professional Jill Himelfarb as its new chief marketing officer based in Washington. She arrives recently from ArentFox Schiff. (McCarter.com)

Legal Education

• Ninth Circuit Judge Dorothy Nelson (senior status) and former Santa Clara University law school dean Lisa Kloppenberg are scheduled participants March 2 on the Portia Project podcast, which focuses on mentoring and the connection between women judges and their clerks. (Portia Project)
• Widener University Delaware Law School said legal education veteran Todd Clark will be its new dean on July 1. (Delaware Law Weekly)