Wake Up Call: Women Now Make Up Majority of Law Firm Associates

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel. Programming Note: Wake Up Call is off Friday, Nov. 29. Happy Thanksgiving.

• For the first time, women make up the majority of law firm associates, according to the American Bar Association’s 2024 ABA Profile of the Legal Profession. From 2019 through 2023, JD degrees were awarded to 12,175 more women than men, with a corresponding increase of women entering the profession. (The Florida Bar)
• Rushab Sanghvi was named general counsel of the American Federation of Government Employees, the nation’s largest union for federal employees. Sanghvi has spent his entire legal career with AFGE, and was most recently deputy general counsel before taking over as acting general counsel earlier this year. (AFGE)
• The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office agreed to pay $50,000 to keep fired lawyer Steve Gosney from suing them for alleged gender discrimination and First Amendment violations. Gosney was fired just a month after his June start date amid controversy over a novel he wrote that contains sexual violence and sexist depictions of women. (The Miami Herald)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Andrew Husdan joined Kirkland & Ellis as a debt finance partner.
• Jang Yeo joined DLA Piper as a partner in its corporate practice in Seoul. He joins from Greenberg Traurig.
• Lauren Rubin joined Akin Gump as senior counsel in its lobbying and public policy practice. She joins from Washington Council Ernst & Young.
• Kevin Leftwich joined Jones Walker as a partner in its corporate practice group in New Orleans.
• Emily Chase-Sosnoff joined Jackson Lewis as a principal in Tampa.
• Joanna Pecenik Vergès d’Espagne, Marc Tkatcheff, and Jean-Dominique Morelli joined Herbert Smith Freehills as partners in its corporate practice in Luxembourg. D’Espagne and Tkatcheff join from A&O Shearman. Morelli joins from Maples & Calder.
• David Freda joined Moore & Van Allen as a member in its commercial real estate group in Charleston, S.C. He joins from Morris, Manning & Martin.
• Kevin Buttery joined Pierson Ferdinand as a partner in its litigation department in Philadelphia. He joins from Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani.