Wake Up Call: Squire Starts Talks to Cut U.K. Staffer Jobs

In today’s column, Skadden Arps laid off about 4% of its U.S. professional staff and Nixon Peabody converted furloughs to permanent layoffs in new moves by firms trying to protect their finances amid the Covid-19 crisis; a Florida firm said it’s getting a big response for its drive-thru services; Arnold & Porter won a $200,000 settlement in which Trump Administration officials admitted to lying in court; and Saint Louis-based Armstrong Teasdale picked up seven attorneys, including four partners, from a closing Kansas City firm.

• Leading off, Squire Patton Boggs started a U.K. labor consultation process that could lead to cuts of administrative jobs, a day after the firm announced new “flexible” work arrangements for the country, a report from London says. (The Lawyer)

• Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and Nixon Peabody yesterday joined the ranks of firms making new job cuts as they try to come to grips with the post-Covid-19 economy. New York-based Skadden said it’s laying off about 4% of its professional staff in the U.S. (BLAW) Meanwhile, Boston-based Nixon Peabody said it’s converting some furloughs it made early in the crisis into permanent layoffs. Davis Wright Tremaine took similar actionearlier this week. (BLAW)

• Baker Mckenzie this week said it’s cutting 6% from its North American workforce. Legal pundits say more drastic changes are likely in store for Big Law attorneys and employees as firms contemplate their long-term futures. (BLAW)

• Still, some firms are actually easing austerity, at least for those employees that still have their jobs. Kelley, Drye & Warren became the latest firm to roll back some of the pay cuts it introduced in the spring. Fox Rothschild, Crowell & Moring, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, and Davis Wright Tremaine have made similar moves. (BLAW)

• Florida firm Comiter, Singer, Baseman & Braun said it has received an “overwhelming response” to a program that helps clients avoid airborne Covid exposure by letting them sign legal documents without getting out of their cars. Masked and gloved attorneys and witnesses work in a covered area outside to help clients execute documents. (Palm Beach Post)

• About a dozen Big Law firms said they have no immediate plans for returning to in-person work in the U.S. before 2021. (American Lawyer)

• But in London, Hogan Lovells said it’s moving ahead on its plan to bring people back into the office. (The Lawyer)

• After Arizona last week became the first jurisdiction to allow nonlawyer ownership of law firms, the District of Columbia may be in line to follow as a Bar committee in the district pushes on with its work weighing rules changes. (BLAW)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer won a $200,000 settlement in which the Trump Administration admitted to lying in litigation challenging the administration’s policy blocking New Yorkers from using “trusted traveler” programs aimed at helping Americans get expedited screenings at international airports and borders. (National Law Journal)

• Saint Louis-based Armstrong Teasdale picked up seven attorneys, including four partners, and 13 staff members from Martin Leigh, a closing Kansas City firm that had national and regional banking, mortgage, business, and title company clients. (ArmstrongTeasdale.com)

• Federal authorities charged a New Jersey lawyer claiming to be a former Dechert associate with fraudulently getting over $9 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans. (New Jersey Law Journal)

• Taylor Swift has to face claims that her hit “Shake It Off” infringed the copyright in a 2001 song, an L.A. federal appeal court ruled. Swift is represented by Davis Wright Tremaine in the case. (BLAW)

• One of President Trump’s go-to law firms for his personal business, Kasowitz Benson Torres, as required by U.S. law registered as a “foreign agent” in connection with its work for an Israeli businessman. (National Law Journal)

• Lawyers from Ongaro PC and Reed Smith helped Honeywell International Inc. win the first virtual asbestos trial of the Covid-19 era. The case took place in California’s Alameda County Superior Court. (The Recorder)

• A new Dechert podcast features a panel of private equity leaders discussing how they get deals done in the age of Covid. (Dechert.com)

• Weil, Gotshal & Manges advised Boston-based Providence Strategic Growth, the growth equity arm of Providence Equity Partners, on its investment in Semarchy, a San Francisco-based provider of data management software that plans to use the funds to expand its product innovation customer base. Semarch was advised by L2 Counsel, P.C. No deal terms were released. (Semarchy)

Pro Bono

• Holland & Knight said the firm donated $100,000 to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. (HKLaw.com)

Laterals, Moves

• Paul Hastings added private equity and M&A lawyer Arthur de Baudry d’Asson as a partner in Paris. He joins from Weil Gotshal & Manges, where he was a corporate partner. (PaulHastings.com)

• London-based Bird & Bird recruited Norton Rose Fulbright partner Gregory Man to lead its global Islamic finance practice, as well as its finance and financial regulation practice in the Middle East. Man led Norton Rose’s debt capital markets practice in the Middle East. Earlier, he led the Islamic Finance practice in Asia at Clifford Chance. (TwoBirds.com)

• Distributed firm FisherBroyles recruited Alston & Bird M&A partner Soren Lindstrom, who joins in Dallas and New York as a partner. (FisherBroyles.com)

• Former Airbus Americas chief legal officer Renée Martin-Nagle joined Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott as special counsel in Pittsburgh. She’s a sustainability scholar with focus on international water law and integrated water resources management services. (Legal Intelligencer)

Legal Education

• The Florida Supreme Court shot down a proposal that would allow recent law school graduates to substitute training for taking the bar exam. (BLAW)

• Also in Florida, two Jacksonville law professors are suing the for-profit Florida Coastal School of Law, accusing the school and its owner of breach of contract by unilaterally cutting employees’ agreed upon salaries to offset budget shortfalls.(News4Jax)

• The chair of the New York State Board of Law Examiners, Dianne Bosse, recently retired after 19 years in the role. Her replacement, retired New York appeals court associate Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, is at Greenberg Traurig as of counsel and co-chair of the national appellate practice group. (New York Law Journal)