Wake Up Call: Wilson Sonsini Delays Full Reopening to 2022

In today’s column, law firms in Florida and Texas are grappling with how to comply with an expected federal vaccine mandate; Visa promoted its top lawyer to vice chair; a Magic Circle firm elected a woman litigation partner to be its first-ever managing partner.

• Leading off, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the latest Big Law firm to scrap office reopening plans for 2021, citing the rapid spread of delta-variant Covid-19. The Silicon Valley-based firm says it won’t fully reopen until February 2022. That’s the latest reopening date of any law firm yet, a report says. (Above The Law) When law firms do finally get their employees back into the office, the people will be psychologically different after 18-plus months of remote work. Or they’ll just be different people. (American Lawyer)
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is working on an emergency rule requiring all businesses with 100 or more workers to mandate vaccinations or weekly Covid-19 testing for all employees. In Texas, that’s causing uncertainty for companies, including law firms. In Florida, law firm leaders are trying to find ways to comply with the mandate without losing their top talent. (Daily Business Review)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• U.K. elite firm Slaughter and May elected London-based litigation partner Deborah Finkler to become the 131-year-old firm’s first-ever managing partner, starting May 2022. (Global Legal Post)
• Litigation funding “is becoming a key weapon in the arsenal of a disputes team,” says Emma Carr, London-based commercial litigation partner at Gowling WLG. (Financial Times)
• Orrick represented underwriters in software company Freshworks Inc.'s recent IPO, which raised over $1 billion. (BLAW) Arnold & Porter got a $1.5 million, one-year extension to its lobbying contract with Turkey regarding the country’s participation in a U.S. F-35 fighter jet program. (Reuters)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• McDermott Will & Emery hired six transactions partners across four cities. Matt Carter from O’Melveny & Myers and Zena Ho from Bryan Cave joined in Los Angeles; David Huberman, from Sullivan & Worcester and Andrew Warmus from Baker & McKenzie joined in Chicago; Min Lee, from Mastercard Data and Services joined in New York; and Andy Lehman from Akin Gump joined in Houston; BakerHostetler poached four employment class action attorneys from McGuireWoods in California, including partners Matthew Kane in Los Angeles and Sylvia Kim in San Francisco and two associates in L.A. (BakerLaw.com)
• Cozen O’Connor brought in veteran Big Law patent counselor Todd B. Buck as a member in Washington. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was most recently of counsel at Mintz; K&L Gates grabbed Morgan Lewis intellectual property litigator Jeffrey Gargano as a partner in Chicago. He earlier spent close to 12 years at McDermott as a partner; Seyfarth Shaw added corporate attorney Lisa Schaures as a partner in Chicago. She was recently a shareholder and technology industry group leader at Pacific Northwest firm Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt; Nelson Mullins hired energy and infrastructure lawyer Prem Malali, who joins from Murtha Cullina as a partner in New York. He specializes in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure. (NelsonMullins.com)
• Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher said Federal Trade Commission antitrust attorney Jamie E. France, previously at the firm as an associate, rejoined as of counsel in Washington; Jones Walker hired litigator and appellate trial attorney Lena Giangrosso as special counsel on its health-care litigation team in New Orleans; Acting U.S. Attorney for Texas’ Northern District Prerak Shah, former chief of staff to Senator Ted Cruz and ex-Gibson Dunn associate, announced he’s resigning, effective Oct. 1. (Justice.gov)
• Visa Inc. promoted its EVP, chief legal and administrative officer Kelly Mahon Tullier to vice chair, chief people and administrative officer. It promoted senior VP and general counsel Julie Rottenberg, a former Arnold & Porter partner, to executive vice president, general counsel. It was the second promotion this year for both women; cybersecurity firm SentinelOne, which recently had a $1.2 billion IPO, hired veteran in-house leader Keenan Conder, whose previous roles include top lawyer at online travel giant Expedia, as its chief legal officer and corporate secretary. (SentinelOne.com)

Technology

• Corporate legal, risk and compliance software provider Mitratech bought Germany legal tech company Alyne, its third acquisition this year. (Artificial Lawyer)