Wake Up Call: Women Near Half of Fortune 500 GC Hires in 2021

In today’s column, the University of the District of Columbia is adding 450 seats for the July Uniform Bar Exam; deal work is down but dealmakers say they aren’t panicking; after outbound deals dried up in Japan during the pandemic, international law firms found new sources of work.

• Leading off, Fortune 500 companies hired 59 general counsel in 2021, almost half of whom were women, according to a report from consulting firm Russell Reynolds Associates. The report says Fortune 500 GC hires in 2021 were more likely to be female and ethnically diverse than in previous years. It attributes the change to pressure big companies faced to boost diversity in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. (Russell Reynolds)
• Big Law firms in Japan saw their outbound M&A work dry up during the pandemic, but they found “new avenues of growth” in such areas as inbound investments by private equity and tech companies, restructuring and cross-border antitrust work. (Law.com International)
• American tech companies and private equity firms are “revising their thinking” about Japan, whose strategic position has evolved to a safe counterweight to China, a report says. (Financial Times)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Deal volume is down this year but dealmakers aren’t panicking yet. (American Lawyer)
• Chicago-based Seyfarth Shaw and its client Stryker Corp. were hit by discovery sanctions by a Colorado federal judge who criticized Seyfarth for “nasty litigation tactics.” (Law.com)
• The D.C. Court of Appeals announced that the University of the District of Columbia will provide 450 extra seats for the July Uniform Bar Exam, or 1,550 in total. The announcement came after an outcry over limited seating for the test and priority seating given to local law grads. (Law.com)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett said Kirkland & Ellis real estate finance partner James Esterkin returned to its London office as a partner. Esterkin earlier spent four years at Simpson Thacher as an associate before jumping to Kirkland in 2017; Haynes and Boone’s London office grabbed Eversheds Sutherland partner and head of hedge funds Ben Watford as a partner; Reed Smith hired energy finance attorney Matthew Lea as a partner in Houston. He arrives from Winstead PC; Goodwin Procter picked up Latham & Watkins corporate attorney Scott French as a technology partner in Los Angeles. (GoodwinLaw.com)
• Nixon Peabody’s Albany, New York, office hired labor and employment attorneys Vincent Polsinelli and Christopher Stevens as counsel. Polsinelli, earlier a partner at the firm, returns after close to seven years at Jackson Lewis, where he was principal and Stevens was an associate. Stevens arrives from Goldman Sachs, where he was vice president and an employment attorney; FisherBroyles got Manatt corporate and M&A attorney Sean Wee as a partner in New York; Steptoe & Johnson LLP recruited transportation in-house veteran Timothy Strafford as a partner in Washington. He arrives after over a decade at the Association of American Railroads as associate general counsel and corporate secretary. Earlier he was chief of staff to the chairman of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. (Steptoe.com)
• San Diego-based defense and transportation systems provider Cubic Corporation hired longtime General Dynamics general counsel and executive Matt Luxton as senior vice president and general counsel; Memphis, Tennessee-headquartered International Paper said its longtime senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary Sharon Ryan is retiring June 30 after 34 years at the company. She’ll be replaced by current VP and deputy general counsel Joseph Saab; risk transfer and investment platform Vestoo hired veteran insurance industry in-house leader David Schonbrun as chief legal officer. He arrives from specialist insurer Hiscox USA, where he was senior vice president, head of legal and government affairs and secretary. Vestoo hired former McGuireWoods partner, Securities and Exchange Commission senior counsel, Daniel Goldfried as deputy CLO. (Yahoo! Finance)