Wake Up Call: ‘Private Judges’ Aided Girardi Scams, Report Says

In today’s column, business concerns about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed climate disclosure rules are fueling demand for ESG attorneys; London-based Clyde & Co.’s revenues ticked up but its profits per partner ticked down in its recently closed fiscal year; and the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins promoted a deputy general counsel and HR director to top lawyer.

• Leading off, California’s outgoing chief justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, is calling for stronger oversight of the lucrative industry for alternative dispute resolution services after a recent report said so-called private judges helped disgraced litigator Tom Girardi allegedly swindle his clients out of millions of dollars. (Los Angeles Times)
• Business concerns about the SEC’s proposed rules for requiring climate risk disclosures are fueling a rise in demand for attorneys advising on environmental, social and corporate governance. (American Lawyer)
• London-headquartered Clyde & Co posted its 24th-straight year of global revenue growth in its latest fiscal year, up 1.6% to 650 million pounds ($786 million). However, its average profits per equity partner shrank. The firm, focused on insurance, energy, trade & commodities, infrastructure and transport, recently closed its merger with smaller insurance-focused BLM to form a firm with around 2,600 lawyers worldwide. (Global Legal Post)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Big Houston-based firm Baker Botts signed a lease renewal for its longtime home. The 172,301-square-foot extension for eight floors at 910 Lousiana is one of the city’s biggest office lease deals this year, a report says. Houston Chronicle
• Kirkland & Ellis counseled Devon Energy Corp. on its agreement to acquire Denver-based Validus Energy for $1.8 billion to expand its Eagle Ford shale patch; Davis Polk is advising global technology and software company Emerson on the $3 billion sale of its InSinkErator garbage disposal business to Whirlpool Corporation. (Bloomberg News)
• The Southern District of Florida’s website apparently removed the contact page for U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the judge believed to have signed an FBI search warrant for former President Trump’s Mar-a-Largo home. (National Law Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Cozen O’Connor recruited insurance litigator Kimberly Petrina, former head of North American casualty claims at Axis Capital, in Chicago as a member of its insurance department; Nelson Mullins added real estate transactions attorney Mike Schreiner as a partner in Atlanta. He joins from MetLife Investment Management, where he was a senior counsel; Eversheds Sutherland hired insurance partner Dan Brown for its recently opened San Francisco office. He arrives from McDermott Will & Emery; Fish & Richardson named Boston-based legal talent manager Katie Creedon its new chief legal talent and inclusion officer. She arrives from Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks. (Businesswire)
• National Hockey League team Pittsburgh Penguins promoted deputy general counsel, human resources director Tracey Mccants Lewis to chief people officer and general counsel. (Pittsburgh Business Times) New York-based Latham Group, Inc., which designs, makes and sells in-ground residential swimming pools, hired former longtime Eastman Kodak Company top lawyer Patrick Sheller as general counsel and secretary; Phoenix-based CopperPoint Insurance Companies said its outside counsel, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister partner Kevin Kinross, head of Taft’s insurance regulatory & transaction practice, will join the company Sept. 12 as executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer; London-based advertising tech company TripleLift promoted its deputy general counsel Kama Ostoya to general counsel. She’s a former Big Law attorney and was at Amazon Web Services as senior counsel. She’ll oversee appointment of a new chief privacy officer, expected in September. (PR Newswire)
• Denver-based Real estate brokerage RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. promoted vice president and assistant GC Susie Winders, a former Jones Day associate, to general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary. She’s the first woman to hold that role; JetBlue promoted privacy and compliance counsel Renée Anckner to vice president, associate general counsel. (Businesswire)

Technology

• Atlanta-based legal tech company Aderant said it signed an agreement to acquire viGlobal, a provider of people management software for law firms. (Aderant)