Wake Up Call: Seyfarth Toughens Vaccine Mandate

In today’s column, Cooley’s life sciences practice brought in $500 million last year; pushed by “cost-conscious” clients, some law firms are considering subscription model pricing; Simpson Thacher added seven lawyers to its restructuring practice.

• Leading off, Seyfarth Shaw said Friday that it is toughening its requirement, announced in August, that its employees must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to enter its U.S. offices. The firm said it’s dropping an exemption that would let unvaccinated employees enter offices if they furnish proof of a negative test for the disease. The Chicago-based firm also delayed its return to office to Oct. 18, from Sept. 27. (Reuters)
• The news followed President Joe Biden’s announcement last week of a sweeping new Covid vaccine and testing rules for government employees, health care workers, and employees of large companies. (BLAW) Big Law firms also have questions, in particular about potential costs of the rules, which would require employers with more than 100 workers to either mandate vaccinations or weekly tests. (American Lawyer)
• In the pandemic’s wake, employers are expecting massive changes in the next five years in the ways people work with remote work, availability of workers, and maintaining company culture topping their concerns, according to Seyfarth’s recent survey of hundreds of in-house legal and business leaders. (Seyfarth)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Cooley’s life sciences practice brought in $500 million, a third of its total annual revenue, according to a report. (The Recorder)
• The Times profiled former Texas state solicitor general Jonathan Mitchell, the conservative lawyer and former law professor behind Texas’ controversial abortion law. He’s a former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia. (NYT)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Greenberg Traurig hired technology transactions lawyer Will Turner as a shareholder in Chicago in its corporate department. He focuses his practice on advising clients in commercial blockchain transactions, venture capital investments, and mergers and acquisitions; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett hired seven lawyers to expand the restructuring practice it launched earlier this year. The lawyers were recruited from U.S. firms and elite U.K. firms, according to a report from London. (The Lawyer)
• Daniel Bromberg, a former deputy legal affairs secretary for California Governor Gavin Newsom, joined Pillsbury as a partner and head of its appellate practice, based in San Francisco. Bromberg previously spent close to 14 years at Quinn Emanuel, where he was a founding member of the appellate practice. He also advises on energy and environmental issues. Pillsbury said it also recently hired former federal prosecutor Kimberly Jaimez as an L.A.-based litigation partner, focused on white-collar matters; civil defense firm Tyson & Mendes added insurance litigator Kevin McNamara as a partner in Los Angeles; Duane Morris brought in trial partner John D. Huh in Philadelphia. He arrives after 14 years at DLA Piper; Fox Rothschild added entertainment lawyer Brad Small as a partner in Los Angeles. (FoxRothschild.com)
• Boutique firm Robert Wray PLLC hired veteran aircraft financing lawyer Louis E. Emery, a former assistant general counsel, transportation, at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, as senior counsel based in Washington. (RobertWrayPLLC.com)

Technology

• Some law firms are considering subscription model pricing as cost-conscious clients push for the option. (Legaltech News)
• Microsoft’s venture capital fund, M12, and CRE Venture Capital, co-led a 2.2 million pound (around $3 million) investment round for document drafting startup Definely. The startup, which recently changed its name from “Define,” was part of Allen & Overy’s tech incubator. (Artificial Lawyer)

Legal Education

• Former New York Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Stein got a new job at Albany Law School, where she’ll lead the government law center. (New York Law Journal)