Wake Up Call: Willkie Eyes Three Days in Office in 2022

In today’s column, cloud-based e-discovery platform Everlaw said it raised $202 million in a funding round led by private equity firms; Littler added a Portuguese firm to its global employment law platform; McDermott Will & Emery promoted a firm-record 41 lawyers to partner.

• Leading off, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which said back in March that it won’t require attorneys to work in-office this year, now says they won’t be required to be in-office full-time in 2022. Nevertheless, it would like Covid-vaccinated lawyers to start coming in now to get back into the habit of working on site. It said its hybrid model calls for lawyers to come in an average of three days a week in 2022. (Above The Law)
• As more and more firms reopen their offices, associates, especially younger ones, could face growing pressure to start making the commute again. (American Lawyer) In France, which appears to have had better success dealing with the Delta Covid variant than the U.S. has, law firms already require lawyers to commute into the office as they did before the pandemic. (Law.com International)
• Mintz announced special fall bonuses for associates of up to $40,000, based on seniority; Sidley Austin, which expected its employees to be back in office as of Monday, has not announced bonuses. But it did say it’s giving New York lawyers special Sidley-branded Apple AirPods Pro. The announcement got a “lackluster response,” a report says. (Above The Law) Morrison & Foerster gave its London associates a pay increase. (The Lawyer)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Management-side worklaw firm Littler said Portugal-based labor and employment firm DCM Lawyers is joining its global network. Littler said the network now has partner firms in 12 European countries. (Littler)
• Britney Spears’ Greenberg Traurig lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, is seeking information from her father about his spending during the 13 years he managed the pop star’s conservatorship. (NBC News) A Philadelphia judge froze the assets of South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, who’s in jail in a sprawling fraud and murder saga. Lawyers suing Murdaugh said he may be hiding millions of dollars. (Associated Press)
• White & Case had been looking for new premises in London but has decided instead to add space in its current location. (The Lawyer) Saul Ewing is moving out of downtown Baltimore to smaller premises in Harbor East. (Baltimore Business Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Norton Rose Fulbright grabbed Mayer Brown financial services lawyer Tom Delaney as a partner in Washington. He was earlier a special counsel at the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and a Treasury Department lawyer; Fenwick & West added two intellectual property lawyers as partners. Carl Morales, who has a doctorate in chemistry and chemical biology from Harvard University, joined in New York from Dechert. Rufus Pichler joined in San Francisco after 21 years at Morrison & Foerster; Nixon Peabody hired intellectual property litigator Joshua Pollack as counsel in Los Angeles. He arrives from Lathrop GPM. (NixonPeabody.com)
• Hunton Andrews Kurth recruited a former Interior Department land appeals chief administrative judge, Jason A. Hill, as environmental and natural resources counsel in Arlington, Va., and head of its public lands practice; Abu Dhabi-founded construction law boutique Mantle Law said it opened a London office with a partner poached from Dentons, Gurbinder Grewal; McDermott Will & Emery promoted 41 lawyers to partner, its largest ever class. (MWE.com) Proskauer Rose promoted 26 lawyers, 14 to partner and 12 to senior counsel. (Proskauer.com)
• Longboard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. hired former Morgan Lewis partner Steven Spector as general counsel. He spent close to 19 years as top lawyer at Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Yahoo! Finance)

Technology

• Cloud-based e-discovery platform Everlaw said it raised $202 million in a funding round, bringing its total valuation to over $2 billion. TPG led the round, with additional participation from HIG Growth Partners. (Everlaw) Paladin, a U.S.-based pro bono legal technology platform, is launching in the U.K. in partnership with six major law firms. (Global Legal Post)