Wake Up Call: Linklaters Bolsters Paris Team With Boutique Raid

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

• Linklaters hired an eight-lawyer restructuring and insolvency team in Paris led by partner François Kopf, who has joined as global chair of restructuring and insolvency. The group joins from French boutique Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier and includes Kopf, partner Mathieu Della Vittoria, two counsel, and four associates. (Global Legal Post)
• Veteran human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce is once again challenging the British government by representing Palestine Action in its fight against being designated a terrorist organization. Over her five-decade career, Peirce has built a formidable reputation for defending some of society’s most vilified individuals, including wrongly convicted IRA bombing suspects and religious extremists. (The Telegraph)
• A New York judge dismissed Schulte Roth & Zabel’s $38 million rent abatement lawsuit against its Manhattan landlord, ruling that the firm failed to prove its lease supported such a claim based on COVID-19 disruptions. The case centered on a 1998 lease agreement and whether pandemic-era inaccessibility alone qualified for rent relief under its “unavoidable delay” clause. (Reuters)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Corey Wright and Lisa Collier joined Paul Hastings as partners in its finance practice in New York. They join from Latham & Watkins.
• Lindsay Oak joined Frost Brown Todd as a partner in its commercial finance practice group in Columbus, Ohio.