August 26, 2021

Good morning. The data is in on how new law graduates did on their job hunt last year, and the pandemic’s impact was smaller than many expected; somebody bought famed plaintiffs’ attorney Tom Girardi’s Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame award at Girardi Keese’s bankruptcy auction; and a Michigan federal judge has sanctioned Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood over their lawsuit to overturn Michigan’s electoral results. You better get reading.

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In pandemic job hunt, new lawyers fared better than expected

REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

Attorneys looking for their first jobs as the COVID-19 pandemic raged did better than anticipated, according to new data from the National Association for Law Placement.

The overall employment rate for the class of 2020 fell by about 2% compared with 2019, beating estimates of how the pandemic would impact legal hiring, writes Karen Sloan.

But the median starting salary for 2020 graduates was actually higher than the previous year, the data show.

“The good news is that despite all of that, the employment outcomes and salary findings for members of the class of 2020 are remarkably strong, and although in many cases they fall short of the highwater marks notched by the class of 2019, they showcase a resilient job market for new law school graduates,” NALP executive director James Leipold said of the data.

Read here to find out what the 2020 law graduates’ median salaries are.

Industry buzz

The Chapter 7 trustee overseeing LeClairRyan’s dissolution updated a lawsuit over the firm’s doomed joint venture with alternative legal services provider UnitedLex to include Gary LeClair, the firm’s co-founder and longtime leader. Chapter 7 trustee Lynn Tavenner alleges LeClair “had delusional visions of transforming the legal industry into a hugely profitable and scalable (albeit legally unethical) enterprise.” LeClair's attorney, J. Scott Sexton of Gentry Locke, said the suit was "factually untethered and wildly misleading." (Reuters)
The U.S. Trustee in Nashville asked the Middle District of Tennessee Bankruptcy Court for the OK to have its trial attorneys appear virtually or by telephone for the next 90 days, citing the CDC’s “high” rating for COVID transmission in the surrounding counties. Read the motion here.
Spencer Fane is merging with Nashville-based Bone McAllester Norton. Spencer Fane, based out of Kansas City, Missouri, is expected to gain 40 attorneys in the deal, bringing the combined firm’s headcount to about 370. (Reuters)
The California Department of Fair Employment is accusing Activision Blizzard of using WilmerHale to interfere with its investigation of the video game company’s employment practices by sending employee complaints to the firm and then claiming they are privileged. Activision said it has complied with the department’s requests, and a WilmerHale representative did not respond to a request for comment. (Reuters)
The special prosecutor in the Steven Donziger contempt case did not make a specific sentencing recommendation to Senior U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan but urged consideration that the attorney “has expressed no remorse” over the conduct underlying the charge. (Reuters)

Number of the day:

$450

REUTERS/Irfan Khan

That’s how much someone paid to buy legendary plaintiffs’ attorney Tom Girardi’s award from his induction into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame at an auction of items from his now-bankrupt law firm, Girardi Keese. The award received 27 bids, but the hall of fame no longer lists Girardi -- who is facing allegations that he embezzled settlement proceeds from clients -- among its inductees. Girardi has been suspended from the practice of law in California and was recently disbarred before the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.

Video: Nirvana members sued for exploitation over naked baby album art

A man who as a naked baby appeared on the cover of Nirvana’s 1991 “Nevermind” album has filed a lawsuit against the surviving members of the influential band, alleging the image was child sexual exploitation. Reuters video journalist Tom Rowe spoke with Los Angeles attorney Bryan Cunningham of Zweiback, Fiset and Coleman about the case. Watch the video here.

Columnist spotlight: Reader reaction: Clients owed ‘a duty of candor inconsistent with hucksterism’

A Texas judge pushes back against Jenna Greene’s recent column about the ban by the Florida Bar on lawyers using celebrities in ads. “I am sorry if you don’t believe that respect for the bar should be both cultivated and zealously protected,” wrote the judge. “When we act like clowns, that is how we are perceived.” Read more about the judge’s objections and why Greene stands by her position.

Check out other recent pieces from all our columnists: Alison Frankel, Jenna Greene and Hassan Kanu.

Coming up today

Marci Palatella, chief executive of a liquor distribution company, is scheduled to plead guilty for paying $500,000 to get her son into the University of Southern California. Palatella, who is represented by a team of attorneys from Skadden, was originally slated for a trial this fall alongside other parents charged in the sweeping college admissions scandal.
U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan is slated to hear oral arguments over whether Los Angeles-based Manatt, Phelps & Phillips must turn over records to the Federal Trade Commission relating to a $704,000 payment an alleged scam artist made to the firm in 2014. The law firm pushed back on the FTC’s request in June, arguing the agency’s record request was too burdensome.
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg is expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor traffic charges in state court in Beadle County, South Dakota after he hit and killed a man while driving last year. Ravnsborg said he thought he hit a large animal but discovered the man, 55-year-old Joseph Boever, when he returned to the scene the next day.
Lawyers for a group of retirees from Allstate Insurance Co will ask the 11th Circuit to revive claims that the company illegally terminated their retiree life insurance benefits. The retirees are represented by Robert Pearl of the Pearl Law Firm and William Garrison of Heninger Garrison Davis, and Allstate is represented by Uchenna Ekuma-Nkama of Dentons.
A group of 344 former senior employees at Lehman Brothers will ask the 2nd Circuit to find that the defunct investment firm's deferred compensation plan was not part of its bankruptcy estate, giving them access to more than $260 million in deferred payouts. The employees are represented by James Fitzpatrick of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, and Lehman’s bankruptcy estate is represented by Richard Scarola of Scarola Zubatov Schaffzin.

Reporter’s notebook: Not all New York midsize firms are trying to keep up with Big Law salaries

Business of law reporter Chinekwu Osakwe discusses how smaller firms are handling associate pay

Over the summer, Big Law firms battled to see who would lead the way in setting the most competitive associate salaries.

In mid-June, Willkie Farr & Gallagher set the salary for first year associates at $205,000, stepping over Davis Polk & Wardwell’s previous record-breaking salary of $202,500.

One midsize firm in New York, Holwell Shuster & Goldberg, which has about 60 lawyers, announced in late June that it would be matching Big Law associate salaries, starting at $205,000 for the class of 2020 and going all the way up to $350,000 for the class of 2014.

But other midsize New York firms like Morrison Cohen, which has more than 100 lawyers, and Kane Kressler, which has about 40 and isn’t looking to grow much beyond that, don’t feel the need to join the race.

Both firms said they don’t disclose salaries and rarely even hire first and second year associates at all.

“Our methodology is to wait until the best of the brightest get disillusioned with Big Law and the tyranny of the billable hour, and look for a culture that exposes them to real client contact and real legal issues,” said Jeffrey Tullman, co-managing partner of Kane Kessler.

Tullman said that in general, the firm bumps salaries once a year in December and is able to retain associates without any issues.

David Scharf, chair and co-managing partner of Morrison Cohen, echoed these sentiments and said that associates at the firm aren’t part of a lockstep scale.

“It is in essence merit-based. That has a correlation to billing rates that we feel we are able to bill our clients for those particular associates,” said Scharf.

REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage

“Despite the haze of confusion, commotion, and chaos counsel intentionally attempted to create by filing this lawsuit, one thing is perfectly clear: Plaintiffs’ attorneys have scorned their oath, flouted the rules, and attempted to undermine the integrity of the judiciary along the way.”

U.S. District Judge Linda Parker in Detroit, who sanctioned Trump attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell along with several others who filed a lawsuit attempting to overturn President Joe Biden’s election victory in Michigan. The lawsuit was dismissed last December. Click here to read what else Parker said about the attorneys’ actions.

In the courts

The 1st Circuit upheld the convictions of Insys Therapeutics Inc founder John Kapoor and four other company officials after a jury found they had bribed doctors to prescribe opioids and then defrauded insurers into paying for them. Kapoor, who is serving a 5-1/2-year prison sentence, is represented on appeal by Martin Weinberg. (Reuters)
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in New York plans to rule by Friday in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case. Nine U.S. states oppose the deal, which Purdue says is worth more than $10 billion. (Reuters)
The 2nd Circuit has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit by a group of academics challenging the diversity policies at NYU law school’s flagship law review. Susman Godfrey defended the law school in the appeal. (Reuters)
Federal prosecutors have charged the former chief executive of HeadSpin Inc in San Francisco federal court in a fraud scheme involving allegations that he overstated the Silicon Valley startup’s revenue. John Hemann of Cooley was shown representing Manish Lachwani on a related SEC civil complaint filed in federal court. (Reuters)
An Ohio-based hospital represented by a team from Honigman is pressing an antitrust appeal at the 6th Circuit, asking the full court to review a recent unanimous panel decision in a dispute over a dropped insurance agreement. (Reuters)

Industry moves

Erica MacDonald, who served as U.S. attorney in Minnesota from 2018 to February 2021, will join Faegre Drinker next month in Minneapolis as a white-collar partner. The firm also said Henry Van Dyck is set to arrive at the firm as a Washington, D.C., partner from the Justice Department, where he served as a supervisor in the criminal division’s fraud section. (Faegre Drinker)
Fragomen said veteran immigration lawyer Monique van Stiphout has joined the firm as a partner in Washington, D.C., from Maggio & Kattar. (Fragomen)
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has named Barbara Roper as senior advisor. Roper arrives from the Consumer Federation of America, where she was director of investor protection. (SEC)

Lawyer speak: Delivering justice from home

Sateesh Nori, the attorney in charge of the Queens neighborhood office of New York’s Legal Aid Society, won a case on behalf of a client who was illegally evicted during the pandemic -- without ever meeting him in person. That experience proved to Nori that remote legal work could be just as effective as in-person, but more accessible, he writes. Click here for Nori’s story.

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