Wake Up Call: UK Firms Hire Mostly Men for Highest-Paid Roles

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

• Women remain significantly underrepresented in senior dealmaking roles at UK law firms, particularly in lucrative corporate and finance practices. Between 2019 and 2024, men accounted for 80% of partner hires in these areas, with women never exceeding a quarter of hires in any given year. (Financial Times)
• A team of Quebec lawyers who waged a 27-year legal battle against Big Tobacco will receive an unprecedented $901 million in fees after Ontario’s top judge approved their contingency payout this week. The award—22% of the $4.12 billion won for victims—was deemed reasonable given the immense risk, time, and resources invested in the landmark case, which forced tobacco companies to face liability for misleading the public about the dangers of smoking. (The Globe and Mail)
• Kim Kardashian has taken the California bar exam, marking the final step in her unconventional path to becoming a lawyer. After beginning a legal apprenticeship in 2019, Kardashian passed the “baby bar” on her fourth attempt in 2021 and cleared the professional responsibility exam earlier this year, allowing her to sit for the full bar in July. (Vulture)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Exclusive: Leonard Wood joined Goodwin Procter as a partner in its shareholder activism and takeover defense practice group. He joins from Sidley Austin.
• Retired federal judge Barbara Lynn joined Dallas boutique Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann. She joins from the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.