Good morning. Attorney General William Barr is headed to the exit, plaintiffs lawyer and "Real Housewives" husband Tom Girardi is in big trouble with a federal judge for failing to distribute settlement money owed to Lion Air crash victims' families, a new survey by Major, Lindsey & Africa finds the gender pay gap for partners is narrowing, the UAW has reached a settlement with the feds, and Jenna Greene wonders if anyone actually listens to law firm podcasts. The first Americans have received the vaccine. This dumpster fire of a year is looking a little brighter!
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
Barr to step down as AG next week amid tensions with Trump
Judge freezes Girardi's assets over millions owed to Boeing crash victim families
Tom Girardi's legal troubles deepened on Monday, as a federal judge froze the prominent plaintiffs attorney's assets and sanctioned him and his firm Girardi Keese for failing to distribute $2 million in settlement proceeds to the families of victims of 2018's fatal Boeing 737 MAX crash in Indonesia.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin in Chicago during a contempt hearing said Girardi, 81, and his Los Angeles-based firm made a "serious ethical violation that's probably illegal" by not distributing money owed to clients from settlements with Boeing over the crash of Lion Air Flight 610, David Thomas reports.
Durkin said he would refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago. The judge also entered a $2 million judgment against Girardi and his firm, threatened to hold two other lawyers in contempt and placed the cash-short firm into receivership.
The hearing came after co-counsel Edelson PC in a lawsuit accused Girardi and his wife, Erika Jayne of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," of misusing settlement money to fund their "outrageous lifestyles."
Girardi's lawyer, Michael Monico, said he has "issues regarding his competence" and that they were "trying to find out where the money went and why it went there." Read more.
Industry buzz
- Associates at two leading litigation boutiques will be enjoying bonuses this year that surpass the payouts promised to their counterparts at Cravath and other Big Law firms. Susman Godfrey said associates who joined the firm in 2018 will get an $80,000 bonus, increasing to $170,000 for associates who joined in 2012 or earlier. Hueston Hennigan is also giving out market-busting bonuses, with associates earning bonuses worth 30% to 45% of their salary, depending on the firm's performance and their own performance. (Reuters)
- Naomi Biden, 2020 Columbia Law grad and granddaughter of President-elect Joe Biden, is joining Arnold & Porter's 55-member incoming class in January. (Above The Law)
- In a year when conferences and other in-person events have been canceled, law firms have turned to LinkedIn. Legal sector marketing on the social media site is up 68% year-over-year, the company says. Law firms are using the platform for brand awareness, spotlighting their attorneys, finding new clients and more. (The American Lawyer)
- The pass rate for Texas' October online bar exam dropped to 60%, down from 77% for the in-person exam the state held in September. Some 1,037 people sat for the September test while 1,116 took it remotely in October. (Texas Lawyer)
Gender gap for law partner compensation narrows: survey
The gender pay gap among law firm partners remains but is narrowing, with men last year earning $1.13 million on average to the $784,000 that women took home, according to a new survey.
Compensation for women in 2019 rose on average 15% from two years earlier, compared with 7% for men, according to a biennial survey of more than 1,200 U.S. partners released by the recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, Caroline Spiezio reports. Other findings:
- Partners on average reported compensation of $1.05 million, up 10% from the $962,000 recorded two years earlier. Median compensation increased from $625,000 to $675,000.
- Partners of color on average earned 20% less than their white counterparts, or $869,000 versus $1.05 million. But the gap for Black partners has narrowed, with partners reporting a 78% increase in compensation, compared with 11% for white ones.
- Labor and employment partners continued to report the lowest average total compensation, $667,000, and were the only practice group tracked by the report to see a decline. The highest paid were tax and ERISA partners, earning $1.37 million on average.
Check out how partners think COVID-19 could affect their pay.
For new Goodwin partner, the road to her promotion included IPO juggling and a pandemic
The Daily Docket profiles the newest generation of law firm partners.
|
Stephanie Richards Goodwin Procter
|
For eight years, Stephanie Richards had a goal: make partner at a law firm. The 32-year-old just didn't expect to do it amid a pandemic. "I thought I'd be having a huge party with all of my friends and family to celebrate these eight years of hard work, which didn't happen," she said.
After relocating from California, Richards joined Goodwin Procter's life sciences group as an associate in Boston in 2018. Her practice includes advising biotech companies on IPOs, as she did this year as iTeos Therapeutics prepared to go public.
That work coincided with her bid to make partner and as the COVID-19 pandemic forced everything into a work-from-home environment. The $201 million IPO launched in mid-July, just days after she sat for her partnership interview. Richards said she had to "justify why I would be a good pick after having stayed up all night the night before trying to get an IPO on file."
She learned she made partner in September. The big party was replaced with a call to her parents, a picnic with friends and a dinner. She's now adjusting to her new normal. "I've had this goal for so long," she said. "It's sort of interesting to think, OK, I'm the responsible adult in the room."
Coming up today
- Fresenius Kabi will ask the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia to revive an antitrust lawsuit accusing a subsidiary of rival Endo International of using anticompetitive deals to keep generic versions of its blood pressure drug Vasostrict from hitting the market. Amy Manning of McGuireWoods and Benjamin Bradshaw of O'Melveny & Myers will argue for Fresenius and Endo, respectively.
- Chesapeake Energy through lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis and Jackson Walker will ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David Jones in Houston to approve its proposed reorganization plan, which would cut $7 billion from its debt stack. The plan faces opposition from the company's unsecured creditors' committee, represented by lawyers at Brown Rudnick. The committee argues the plan was designed at the behest of senior lenders looking to take over the company at an unfair discount.
- The 6th Circuit will consider whether to uphold an injunction that blocks enforcement of a Tennessee law that prevents first-time voters from voting by mail unless they first show identification at an election office. Danielle Marie Lang of the Campaign Legal Center will argue in favor of the injunction on behalf of voting and civil rights groups and will face Assistant Attorney General Matthew Cloutier.
- Lawyers for Houston technology executive Robert Brockman will push U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco to transfer to Texas the criminal tax evasion case against him. Federal prosecutors say the CEO of Reynolds and Reynolds Co hid $2 billion in income from the IRS over two decades. Defense lawyer Neal Stephens of Jones Day filed the motion to transfer the case, arguing the case has minimal connection to California.
"This agreement is yet another step towards restoring the full faith and confidence of our members in our union and its leadership."
UAW International President Rory Gamble, after the union reached an agreement with federal prosecutors in Detroit to resolve a five-year federal corruption investigation that ensnared two former UAW presidents. The agreement calls for independent oversight and reforms of the union and the payment of $1.5 million to settle tax issues. Terence Campbell of Cotsirilos, Tighe, Streicker, Poulos & Campbell advised the UAW. (Reuters)
In the courts
- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has gone to court to force Amazon.com Inc to comply with outstanding subpoenas over a state investigation into its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Becerra, who President-elect Joe Biden has nominated to serve as health and human services secretary, filed the petition in Sacramento County Superior Court. (Reuters)
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New Mexico should not pay the price for Pecos River water intended for Texas that evaporated while New Mexico held it in a reservoir to prevent flooding following a tropical storm. (Reuters)
- The COVID-19 pandemic doesn't excuse Chuck E. Cheese from paying rent at six locations across three states, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur in Houston ruled. Isgur in a 29-page decision rejected a bid by company lawyers led by Weil Gotshal's Alfredo Perez for rent abatement or reduction at venues in California, Washington and North Carolina, finding its leases prohibit it from delaying rent due to a "force majeure" event. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan refused to move a criminal trial from New York to Colorado for Timothy Shea, a businessman charged with teaming up with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to defraud investors in a scheme to raise money to build the president’s long-promised Mexico border wall. (AP)
- Greenpeace is suing Walmart in Alameda County Superior Court in California, accusing the retail giant of violating consumer protection laws by labeling its house-brand, throwaway plastic products as recyclable when they are not. (Reuters)
- The 9th Circuit ruled in favor of the estate of Michael Jackson by holding that HBO must go to arbitration over allegations the cable network breached a nondisparagement clause in connection with its 2019 Emmy-winning documentary "Leaving Neverland," which focused on sexual abuse allegations against the late entertainer. Gibson Dunn's Theodore Boutrous argued the case for HBO while Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert's Jonathan Steinsapir repped the estate. (AP)
- Pinterest agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle a gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court by its former chief operating officer. The settlement with Françoise Brougher is one of the latest to ever be announced in a case involving an individual's claims of gender discrimination. She was repped by David Lowe of Rudy Exelrod Zieff & Lowe. Morgan Lewis' Melinda Riechert led Pinterest's defense. (New York Times)
- The SEC filed a lawsuit in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, accusing the former controller of CEB Inc of tipping off his brother-in-law to the management consulting company's $2.6 billion acquisition by Gartner in 2017. The SEC said the tip by William Wright allowed Christopher Clark and his son to make $296,000 through insider trading. Kevin Muhlendorf of Wiley Rein and Mark Cummings of Sher, Cummings & Ellis rep Wright and Clark, respectively. (Reuters)
Industry moves
- Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner appointed Jason Marty as its new chief operating officer. Marty is currently global COO at Baker McKenzie and will officially start on March 1. He will be based in Chicago. (BCLP)
- Intellectual property litigator Ted Chandler joined Baker Botts in San Francisco as a partner. He was previously at Sidley Austin. (Baker Botts)
- Allen & Overy added Adam Sofen as a partner in its U.S. transactional practices in New York. He joined from Sullivan & Cromwell, where he was special counsel. (Law.com International)
- Matt Frank joined Steptoe as a tax partner in D.C. moving over from KPMG. (Steptoe)
- Taylor English Duma expanded into Massachusetts with the addition of Michael Burwick as a partner in the Atlanta-based firm’s corporate department in Boston. He was previously with The Wagner Law Group and also serves as general counsel to Asset Strategy Holdings. (Taylor English)
- Corporate attorney Joel Hughey joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough’s Atlanta office as a partner. He was with Eversheds Sutherland. (Nelson Mullins)
Columnist spotlight: Hello? Is anyone listening? Law firm podcasts flood the market
Every week, Jenna Greene seems to get a news release about another law firm starting a new podcast. WilmerHale; Mayer Brown; Saul Ewing; Greenberg Traurig; Milbank; Reed Smith. The launch list goes on and on. Are Big Law podcasts worth the effort? Is anyone listening? The short answer: Yes. They might not be raking in NPR numbers but lawyers told Greene that podcasts have gotten them new clients and have acted as a supplemental marketing tool. And, in a world that’s still shuttered due to the pandemic, attorneys like Clark Hill's Joann Needleman, who used to travel 100,000 miles a year for meetings and conferences, are finding that a podcast is a great way to keep their names out there. Read Greene's full column on the law firm podcast boom here.
Check out other recent pieces from all our columnists: Alison Frankel, Jenna Greene and Hassan Kanu.
Lawyer speak: In a patent claim, does 'one' or 'a' of something mean only one?
The Federal Circuit recently found that "exceptions to the general rule that 'a' or 'an' [or one] means more than one arise only when 'the language of the claims themselves, the specification, or the prosecution history necessitate a departure from the rule.'" JAMS neutral Thomas Creel explains how courts have interpreted patent claims based on one indefinite article in the language of the patent and when "one" means one versus when it would mean two or three.
Copyright © 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 610 Opperman Drive, Eagan, MN 55123
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list here.
|