Wake Up Call: Skadden Leads Dupont’s $1.75 Billion Spectrum Buy

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

• Skadden is advising Dupont on its deal to buy Spectrum Plastics Group, a manufacturer of specialty medical devices and components, for $1.75 billion. Fried Frank is counseling the seller, AEA Investors, on the transaction, expected to close in the third quarter. (PR Newswire)
• Compensation for in-house counsel declined 3% overall in 2022, pulled down, in particular by a 23% decline in bonuses overall, according to a new survey report from executive search boutique Barker Gilmore. (BarkerGilmore.com)
• Law firms and other advisers billed crypto exchange FTX $103 million to work on its bankruptcy in the first quarter. Sullivan & Cromwell led all billers in March, with $14.1 million in fees and expenses, and it billed $44.4 million over the first quarter, according to a report citing recent court filings. (CoinTelegraph)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Foley & Lardner named energy litigation practice co-chair Scott Ellis the next managing partner of its Houston office, where he has served as hiring partner. (Foley.com)
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer said partner Andrew Austin, its global co-head of consumer and health care, took over as its London head of disputes, effective May 1. He succeeds Mark Sansom, who was recently appointed the firm’s London managing partner. (Freshfields.com)
• Jenna Ellis, who was an attorney for Donald Trump in his 2020 reelection campaign, is now criticizing the former president. (Newsweek)
• An Ohio lawyer who led police on a 100 mph car chase had his law license indefinitely suspended by the Ohio Supreme Court. (The Columbus Dispatch)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• K&L Gates hired real estate and construction lawyer Larry Woodard as partner in Chicago. He joins from Honigman LLP, where he was a co-leader of the construction planning practice. (KLGates.com)
• Loeb & Loeb picked up Fried Frank real estate investments and transactions attorney Brian Helweil as partner in New York. (Loeb.com)
• Fox Rothschild added land-use attorney Beth Trahos as partner in Raleigh, North Carolina, in its real estate department. She arrives from Nelson Mullins LLP. (FoxRothschild.com)
• Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath said it got back technology attorney Lionel Weaver as counsel in Chicago in its government and regulatory practice. Weaver, who was at the firm from 2004 to 2013, advises clients on deploying artificial intelligence models and algorithms. He was information governance counsel for insurance company Sentry. (FaegreDrinker.com)
• Barnes & Thornburg recruited longtime intellectual property attorney and recent administrative trademark judge Linda Kuczma as of counsel in Chicago. She arrives after nearly 12 years on the trademark trial and appeal board of the US Patent and Trademark Office. (BTLaw.com)
• Vedder Price added veteran finance attorney Nicholas Pascal in London as partner. He arrives from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. (VedderPrice.com)
• Digital physical therapy provider Sword Health Inc. hired financial technology in-house leader Beth Stevens, a former Big Law associate, as chief legal officer. She was recently general counsel at ONE, a consumer fintech startup backed by Walmart and venture capital firm Ribbit Capital. (SwordHealth.com)
• Digital health company ResMed promoted senior vice president and deputy general counsel Michael Rider to global general counsel and chief administrative officer, effective July 1. He’s a former Gibson Dunn associate and was in-house at American Airlines. (GlobeNewswire)
• Maritime defense contractor Austal USA hired former Alabama federal prosecutor Adam Overstreet as vice president of legal affairs and chief compliance officer, based in Mobile. Overstreet arrives recently from Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc., where he was senior counsel of the shipbuilding division. (Austal.com)

Technology

• Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner posted an interactive online map that tracks states’ artificial intelligence-focused legislation. (BCLPLaw.com)

Legal Education

• Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, reappointed its dean, April Barton. (Law.com)