Wake Up Call: Surfside Condo Lawyers Seek $100 Million in Fees

In today’s column, an e-discovery boutique said it’s laying off 10% of “time keepers”; the total number of U.S. lawyers rose 6.6% in the last decade; law firms have warmed to large group hires.

• Leading off, lawyers in the Surfside condo settlement are asking for slightly over $100 million in fees. That about 10% of the nearly $1 billion settlement that the victims’ lawyers reached last month with defendants and other parties in the class action over the collapse of an apartment tower. (Miami Herald)
• The managing partner of e-discovery boutique Redgrave LLP notified employees at the firm that, because of a “substantial decrease in demand,” the firm is cutting staffing by around 10%. The cuts apparently include attorneys. (Above The Law)
• The life sciences deal market hit a record in 2021, with average deal value up 43% and deal volumes up 30% from 2020, according to a report. (Mintz.com)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• The total number of active lawyers in the United States was 1,327,010 on Dec. 31, 2021, up 6.6% since 2012. The percentage that Black lawyers account for in that population hasn’t budged during that time, according to new data from the American Bar Association. (ABA Journal)
• Law firms have become more open to bringing in large groups of lawyers through lateral hires and mergers. (American Lawyer)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Perkins Coie snagged DLA Piper partner Patrick Anding, an adviser to emerging tech and media companies, as a venture capital partner in Los Angeles and San Diego; Dentons recruited Washington-based federal tax policy lobbyist Matthew Cutts as head of its US policy and government relations group. He arrives from Squire Patton Boggs, where he led the financial services and tax policy public policy practice; McGuireWoods hired public finance and infrastructure partner Isaac Yilma from Squire in Atlanta; Epstein Becker Green said health care and life sciences attorney Richard Hughes, who was at the firm from 2014 to 2016, is returning as a member in Washington. Hughes was recently vice president of public policy at biotech company Moderna Inc.; Alston & Bird added two finance lawyers, partner Joseph McKernan from Hodgson Russ in New York and counsel Maria Merritt from McGuireWoods in Atlanta. (Alston.com)
• Cooley hired Latham & Watkins health care and life sciences partner Frances Stocks Allen as a partner in its life sciences corporate partnering & licensing practice in London; Norton Rose Fulbright got back a former intellectual property partner at the firm in London. Jonathan Ball returns from Gowling WLG, which he joined in 2019; Covington & Burling picked up M&A and private equity attorneys Uri Doron and Jared Manes from Winston & Strawn. They join as partners in New York and co-chairs of Covington’s so-called Nordic initiative, which advises Nordic companies looking to invest in the US; Thompson Hine grabbed former Arent Fox construction law practice leader James Frankel as a partner in New York. He arrives from Venable; Akerman brought in litigator Richard Alvarez as a partner in Tampa. (Akerman.com)
• Texas-headquartered Six Flags Entertainment Corp. hired travel tech company top lawyer Aimee Williams-Ramey as chief legal officer. Last December Six Flags parted ways with its general counsel, Laura Doerre, and said it it was eliminating the position in a “strategic reorganization"; OneSpan Inc., a Boston-based digital agreements security company, hired former WilmerHale capital markets attorney Lara Mataac as GC and chief compliance officer. She was recently general counsel at Boston-based email marketing platform Constant Contact; crypto currency payment app BitPay hired regulatory compliance and digital asset lawyer Allison Raley as chief compliance officer and general counsel. She was a Little Rock, Arkansas-based partner at Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard. (WSJ)

Technology

• Fort Lauderdale-based The LegalTech Fund, which invests in legal tech startups, said it closed its fundraise at $28.5 million, beating its goal of $25 million. It said McDermott, Will & Emery and Orrick, and tech company DocuSign, were among participants in the round. (LegalTechFund.com)