Wake Up Call: US Lawyers’ Billable Hours Hit Two-Decade Low

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

• US lawyers’ billable hours have plunged to their lowest level in decades as demand for deal advice evaporates, according to a report citing a new survey of 170 law firms by Thomson Reuters. The survey also found that law firms’ direct expenses jumped 10.1% and overhead expenses 10.9% through November, their highest marks since 2008. (Financial Times)
• Southwest Airlines Co., facing fallout from mass travel cancellations, promoted associate general counsel Jeff Novota to vice president legal-corporate & transactions. (Swamedia.com)
• Covington & Burling is advising AstraZeneca on its $1.8 billion acquisition of US biotech company CinCor Pharma. Cooley LLP is counseling CinCor, according to a statement. (GlobeNewswire)
• An artificial intelligence chatbot passed the multiple choice portion of the national bar exam. (Law.com)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Dechert hired litigation boutique Kaplan Hecker & Fink to defend it against a lawsuit filed by a former Wall Street Journal reporter who accuses the firm and one its former partners of a scheme to damage his reputation and force him out of his job. (Reuters)
• Weil Gotshal named commercial litigation partner Chantale Fiebig and antitrust partner Jeff White co-managing partners of the firm’s Washington office. (Weil.com) Norton Rose Fulbright named Paris office head and aviation and finance partner George Paterson as global head of banking and finance. (NortonRoseFulbright.com)
• Deloitte Legal hired four attorneys from big UK firm Shoosmiths to launch a UK real estate business. (Global Legal Post)
• The US Justice Department announced a settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, that it said requires the platform to change its ad delivery system to prevent discriminatory advertising in violation of the Fair Housing Act. (Justice.gov)
• Johnny Depp’s Brown Rudnick lawyer Camille Vasquez has a new gig at NBC News as legal analyst. (Deadline)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Cincinnati, Ohio-headquartered Dinsmore & Shohl said it added 10 banking and real estate attorneys and eight professional staff through a merger that became official Jan. 1 with San Diego firm Mulvaney Barry Beatty Linn & Mayers. (Dinsmore.com)
• Baker McKenzie snagged Federal Drug Administration regulatory counsel Xin Tao from Hogan Lovells as a partner in Washington. A former research biochemist, Tao advises US and China-based companies on the evolving food and drug regulatory regime in China, where he was born and went to school. (BakerMcKenzie.com)
• Fox Rothschild hired land use and real estate attorney Leigh F. Prince as a partner in Charlotte, North Carolina. (FoxRothschild.com)
• Locke Lord picked up Winstead public finance shareholder Drew Slone as a partner in Dallas, Texas. (LockeLord.com)
• Stradley Ronon brought back trial lawyer Michael Engle as a partner and co-chair of the firm’s white-collar defense, internal investigations, and corporate compliance practice group alongside New York-based co-chair Steven D. Feldman. Engle arrives from Armstrong Teasdale with white collar partner Ashley E. Shapiro. They were both at Stradley Ronon earlier in their careers. (StradleyRonon.com)
• Indiana-based Peoples Bank and Finward Bancorp said top lawyer Leane Cerven will retire as executive vice president, chief risk officer, general counsel, and corporate secretary effective May 5. (Northwest Indiana Business Magazine)

Promotions Effective Jan. 1

• Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP promoted 16 new partners and one of counsel; Pryor Cashman elected five partners and one counsel; McKool Smith promoted two attorneys to principal; Seward & Kissel promoted one to partner and one to counsel. (Sewkis.com)

Technology

• London-based legal spend management software startup Apperio announced that it closed a $7 million growth financing round, bringing its total financing raised to $19.9 million. (Apperio.com)