• Robert S. Mueller III gave up partnership at WilmerHale where he earned $3.4 million since the beginning of 2016 to take the job as special counsel investigating possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump’s election campaign, according to a financial disclosure released by the Justice Department. ( Politico )
• Other lawyers on Mueller’s team also left behind substantial compensation. James L. Quarles III, who left WilmerHale with Mueller, earned more than $5.8 million as a partner. Jeannie Rhee, another partner, drew more than $2 million, and Aaron Zebley, who was Mueller’s chief of staff at the FBI and also came from Wilmer, earned more than $1.4 million. ( The Washington Post )
• Microsoft’s plan to nearly eliminate the billable hour with outside counsel has law firms bracing for change. Mitch Zuklie, chair of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, said: “I’m bullish about this, but that doesn’t mean we won’t lose money on individual engagements as we learn how this works.” Orrick has represented Microsoft since 2008 and is one of a handful of law firms that will have to adapt to Microsoft’s plan. ( Am Law Daily )
• Citibank is trying to recoup more than $3.2 million from two former name partners of Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg. The lawsuit in federal district court in Washington D.C. was filed against Gregory Novak and Tracy Druce, now with Polsinelli in Houston, claiming they owe the remains of a $10 million loan they allegedly underwrote in 2013. ( The National Law Journal )
• Securities and Exchange Commission nominee Hester Peirce is just the latest George Mason University affiliate to fill a key regulatory position in the Trump administration. Trump has selected six top officials from the suburban Virginia’s law school renamed last year in honor of the conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia after his death and its Mercatus Center. ( Bloomberg BNA via BLB )
• Joel Sanders, former chief financial officer of Dewey & LeBoeuf, was convicted in May of defrauding the failed law firm’s creditors before its collapse. Now, a number of his current and former colleagues are urging a Manhattan federal judge to go easy on his sentencing. ( New York Law Journal )
• Curtis J. Mahoney, a Williams & Connolly partner who is the Trump administration’s pick for a deputy U.S. trade representative post, reported $833,000 in partnership income from the Washington firm, according to documents in the U.S. government ethics office publicly released Tuesday. ( The National Law Journal )
Compiled by Casey Sullivan and edited by Gabe Friedman.
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