Wake Up Call: Sidley Raids Kirkland for Antitrust Co-Chief

In today’s column, Alston & Bird rode strong demand to big revenue and profit gains in 2021; some companies are becoming more open to hiring top lawyers who work remotely; big U.S. firms are getting a lot of restructuring work from Latin American companies, such as airlines.

• Leading off, Sidley Austin poached Kirkland & Ellis antitrust attorney Sean Royall as a partner in Dallas and Washington and co-leader of its antitrust and consumer protection litigation and investigations practices. Royall, a former deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition, joined Kirkland in 2019 from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher where he was longtime co-chair of the antitrust and competition practice group and founding co-chair of the privacy, cybersecurity and consumer protection practice group. (Sidley.com)
• Powered by strong demand, Alston & Bird posted revenues up 20.2% to $1.02 billion in 2021, beating the $1 billion mark for the first time. The Atlanta-headquartered firm’s profits per equity partner jumped 26.3% to $3.075 million. Its partnership rose 2.6% to 155, while its attorney head count expanded 6.4% to 829, according to a report based on early data. (Daily Report Online)
• As the pandemic has forced many business to shift to virtual work, some companies are becoming more flexible about letting their legal chiefs work remotely, legal hiring experts say. (Corporate Counsel)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Big Law’s bankruptcy’s boom is out of gas in the United States. However, U.S. law firms including Cleary, Davis Polk, and White & Case are getting a lot of restructuring work from Latin American companies which got little government support during the pandemic, a report says. (Law.com International)
• Democrat and Republican members of Louisiana’s legislature are arguing over who gets to talk to Baker Hostetler, the law firm the legislature hired for advice on the state’s political redistricting, a report says. (Louisiana Illuminator)
• Bird & Bird is the latest big U.K. firm to launch in Dublin, Ireland, in a post-Brexit move. (Global Legal Post) Five big U.S. firms and two U.K. firms launched a U.K. alliance to provide pro bono legal help to survivors of domestic abuse. (DaraProject.org)
• Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to file an Attorney Grievance Committee complaint against state Attorney General Tish James, his lawyer said. (Politico) A Virginia deputy attorney general resigned after revelations that she had made Facebook posts praising U.S. Capitol rioters Jan. 6, 2021. (WaPo)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Hinshaw & Culbertson recruited former JP Morgan Chase executive and in-house leader Charles “Chuck” Miller as a partner in its consumer financial services practice group in its New York City and Iselin, N.J., offices; Greenberg Traurig hired Vinson & Elkins corporate and investment partner Emily Stephens as a shareholder in Los Angeles. She advises on financial management and earlier spent 14 years at Oaktree Capital Management; FisherBroyles grabbed Troutman Pepper business litigation veteran Aurora Cassirer as a partner in New York; Greenspoon Marder brought in two litigation partners: Alan Schindler from Timmins in Denver and Glen Rothstein, a former partner and marketing committee member at Greenberg Glusker, in Los Angeles. (GMLaw.com)
• King & Spalding recruited Katten Muchin real estate lawyer Julia Schmidt as a partner in Washington; K&L Gates’ year-old Nashville office got three real estate lawyers from Baker Donelson, including partners Matt Harris and Rick Pensinger and of counsel Christian Schütz; Carlton Fields hired Troutman Pepper agency lending and real estate lawyer Thomas Scopelitis as of counsel in New York; Blank Rome added employment litigator Samantha Kovalyak in Pittsburgh; cybersecurity, data privacy, and commercial litigation attorney Tammy Berkhoudt joined Nelson Mullins in Atlanta as a partner. She arrives from Parsons Behle & Latimer; Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies said former congressional adviser and Amazon Web Services public policy senior manager Madison Smith joined the firm as a principal in Washington. (CoPublicStrategies.com)
• Former DLA Piper corporate and health-care attorney Darrell Taylor, whose previous in-house health-care roles include legal commercial brand team co-leader at pharmaceutical company AbbVie, joined biopharmaceutical company Biocept, Inc. in San Diego as senior vice president, general counsel, and chief compliance officer. (Businesswire)