“You may have noticed a risk factor in annual reports and SEC registration statements about ‘conflicting laws and regulations.’ Once rare, the warning has become common, thanks to globalized operations and proliferating regulators. For compliance officers, it’s a growing minefield,” writes Richard L. Cassin The FCPA Blog.

“What do ‘conflicting laws and regulations’ warnings look like?”

The blog discusses the risk of encountering conflicting laws and regulations.

Read the blog.

“Will Meyerhofer’s patients lately tell their therapist a similar story. They are working all hours of the day and night. Being the Big Law workhorses they are, they’re going along fine. That’s until they hit a wall, staring at a blank screen when they know they have more work to do,” opines Roy Strom in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“Meyerhofer, a former Big Law attorney who now practices psychotherapy on Zoom based in Manhattan, said burnout among Big Law associates is not a new phenomenon, but it has kicked up to new levels during a pandemic that has seen record levels of demand for associates’ time. One recruiter recently estimated some Big Law associates could be on track to put in an annualized 3,000 billing hours in 2021 if they continue their current pace.”

Read the opinion.

“A corporate litigant disputing the legal bill charged by Squire Patton Boggs has filed a third-party complaint alleging that LexisNexis helped the law firm inflate its fees,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Law Firms.

“… filed by the Armor Screen Corp. against the RELX Group, LexisNexis’ parent company. The suit alleges that LexisNexis charged Squire Patton Boggs a flat rate, but the law firm billed more than $100,000 for what appeared to be separate searches with the help of a LexisNexis product.”

“The product, called PowerInvoice, can be used to generate customized reports. The product was used “to construct sham bills,” according to the suit, filed in Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit.”

Read the article.

Arent Fox is pleased to announce the return of Copyright Partners Ross J. Charap and Matthew L. Finkelstein to the firm’s New York office. Ross and Matt previously worked at Arent Fox from 2010 – 2014. Their team includes Counsel Celeste M. Moy and Associate Jackie Robinson.

The team’s principal focus is music: buying and selling copyrighted works and royalty streams worth more than $750 Million during their time together. They represent successful and famous songwriters and recording artists in all genres: from the Rolling Stones to Jessye Norman (the famed opera singer), from Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg (of Wizard of Oz fame) to Raynard Miner (“Higher and Higher” and “Rescue Me”). They have had great success assisting their clients in recapturing copyrighted works assigned many decades ago and monetizing the recaptured rights.

The team also represents national and international independent music publishing companies for many purposes including the acquisition of music publishing catalogs and related royalty streams.

In addition, they represent non-music clients on matters concerning technology, film, digital media, and book publishing.

Littler, the world’s largest employment and labor law practice representing management, has added Melissa A. Cee as its first Chief Talent Officer, based in the firm’s New York office. Cee joins Littler from TIAA, a leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, medical, cultural and government fields, where she held the role of Chief Human Resources Officer for several business units over the past decade.

In her new role, Cee will further evolve Littler’s human capital management functions amid the continued expansion of the firm’s global footprint, including strategic recruiting, talent development, compensation, employee benefits and mobility across the firm. She will also focus on guiding Littler’s efforts to attract, develop and retain a talented and diverse workforce.

In her most recent role at TIAA, Cee led the HR function for the company’s financial solutions business with a workforce of approximately 7,000 employees. Prior to that, she served in similar roles spearheading HR strategy and implementation for TIAA’s Retail Financial Services and Asset Management businesses. Prior to joining TIAA, she was the Head of Human Resources and Administration for Cain Brothers LLC, an investment banking and capital advisory firm.

Cee’s appointment comes on the heels of Littler naming shareholder Paul Bateman as Chief Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Officer in January and Webber beginning as Managing Director and President that same month.

Coming off the firm’s sixth consecutive record-setting year, the partnership of Davis Wright Tremaine voted to confirm Scott MacCormack as the firm’s new managing partner and elected a diverse slate of new members to its Executive Committee, which will continue to be chaired by Sarah Tune. MacCormack will assume the Managing Partner position this summer. The new Executive Committee members begin their terms effective today.

MacCormack, who joined the firm in 2008, has significant leadership experience, having served on the Executive Committee for six years, chaired the firm’s Compensation Committee, and served as co-chair of the firm’s energy practice. He also currently serves on the firm’s Diversity Executive Council.

MacCormack succeeds Jeff Gray, who has served as managing partner since 2015. During Gray’s tenure, the firm saw a 54% growth in revenue and outperformed the vast majority of the Am Law 100 in growth rates for revenue, revenue per lawyer, profits per lawyer, and profits per partner. Additionally, in that time the firm expanded its presence in California, substantially strengthened its industry practices in technology, healthcare, financial services, food and beverage, and restaurants, and continued to be recognized for its award-winning media and litigation practices. The firm also achieved Mansfield 3.0 Certification Plus and recently received U.S. Bank’s Invested in Diversity Award and Discover Financial Services Legal Organization’s Excellence in Diversity Award.

Based in Seattle, MacCormack is a partner in the business & tax practice, where he focuses on business transactions, mergers and acquisitions, project development, and finance for medium to large enterprises. He also serves as principal outside counsel to several Northwest-based businesses. Prior to joining Davis Wright Tremaine, he was a shareholder at Heller Ehrman. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, magna cum laude, and his B.A. from Columbia University.

In addition to MacCormack’s selection, the partnership elected four new members to its Executive Committee. The new slate of members includes:
Jaime Drozd Allen, Seattle
Camilo Echavarria, Los Angeles
Wendy Kearns, Seattle
Jean Tom, San Francisco

They join the following returning members: Sarah Tune (Chair), Tom Burke, Claude Goetz, Pete Johnson, Jesse Lyon, Bill Miner, and Portia Moore.

Hanzo, a company known for its pioneering technology in dynamic web content preservation from enterprise collaboration applications and complex websites, today announced the appointment of Paul Suh to the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Suh is based in New York and is responsible for driving Hanzo’s financial strategy, operational rigor, and overall performance.

Suh is a seasoned finance and operations executive with expertise in SaaS platforms, fintech, digital media,  gaming, and payments. His well-rounded experience includes leading finance departments, operations, product, marketing, HR, legal and corporate development for rapidly growing startups.

About Paul Suh

Before joining Hanzo, Suh previously served as the CFO of BackOffice.co an artificial intelligence and machine learning fintech start-up and recent graduate of the 500 Startups Accelerator Program.  Prior to that, Paul served as the CFO for coolmath.com, an edutainment casual gaming company owned by private equity sponsor H.I.G. Capital and sold to London-based Sandbox & Co.  Suh also served as CFO/COO of various other companies including Sandow, Optimal, Inc. (sold to Brand Networks), Crispy Gamer, Inc (sold to LiveGamer), and Flexplay Technologies (sold to The Convex Group). He loves building transparent, data-driven cultures in quickly scaling businesses. Suh holds a B.S. in Finance, Operations, and Information Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that eight attorneys in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office were named to the 2020 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll. Anna M. Lashley and Jessica L. Zurlo each received High Honors for performing 100 or more hours of pro bono service. In addition, Connor M. Blair, Lee-Ann C. Brown, Joshua Dhyani, Andrea J. Kotrosits, Patrick R. Quigley and John Parker Sweeney received Honors for completing 50 or more hours of pro bono service.

The Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll recognizes lawyers who donated 50 hours or more of pro bono service during the last calendar year to those who cannot afford legal counsel. The 2020 Honor Roll recognizes all sectors of Washington’s diverse legal community, including honorees from 168 law firms and individual practices, as well as federal and local government agencies, corporations, associations, law schools and public interest organizations.

Through Bradley’s pro bono program, attorneys from across all 10 of the firm’s offices devote a significant amount of time each year to pro bono work and community service. In 2020, Bradley’s attorneys and staff performed more than 13,000 hours of pro bono service, valued at more than $5.3 million.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Carol R. Van Cleef, counsel in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office, has been appointed as an independent director to the BTCS Board of Directors.

BTCS is an early entrant in the digital asset market and one of the first U.S. publicly traded companies focused on digital assets and blockchain technologies. Through its transaction verification services business, the company actively verifies and validates blockchain transactions and is primarily focused on disruptive, non-security protocol layer assets such as bitcoin and ethereum.

Van Cleef is an internationally recognized authority and pioneer in legal issues involving cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. As chair of Bradley’s Blockchain and Digital Assets practice, she leads the firm’s virtual currencies and blockchain work, helping clients navigate the complex, dynamic and rapidly evolving issues in these areas.

With a focus on regulatory, compliance, and enforcement matters, Van Cleef has built a global reputation as a leading attorney and problem solver in financial services industry and cryptocurrency and blockchain communities. She represents virtual currency exchanges, blockchain developers, NFT creators and platforms, and various types of financial services and fintech companies.

In addition, Van Cleef serves as CEO of Luminous Group, a blockchain technology, growth advisory and risk management solutions company that develops and delivers anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance training through the AML Training Institute. She also serves as an advisor to a number of early-stage companies in fintech and blockchain-related technologies.

“In an effort to capture this sought-after talent, Biglaw firms are pulling out all the stops. We’re talking big signing bonuses for associates (Above the Law has anecdotally heard they’ve hit six figures), same-day offers, and the opportunity to work remotely with no set date for return to in-person work (Goodwin Procter is even willing to hire associates on a permanent remote basis).” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“So where is this associate battle taking place? According to data by Decipher, a competitive intelligence firm, lateral movement in the most active 10 markets is up double digits in the first two months of 2021 compared to the four-year average.”

Read the article.

“Citadel Securities has appointed Heath Tarbert as chief legal officer, the electronic trading firm said on Thursday, months after he resigned as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC),” was released in Reuters’ Business News.

“The company, co-founded by billionaire investor Kenneth Griffin, said Tarbert would take on his new role on Monday and be responsible for all legal and compliance matters at the company.”

“Tarbert, a former corporate attorney and senior Treasury Department official, stepped down as CFTC chair in January. He was nominated by former President Donald Trump to be both chair and one of five commissioners at the CFTC, taking office in July 2019.”

Read the announcement.

“Fried Frank, a firm that place 56th on the Am Law 200 thanks to $776,000,000 in gross revenue in 2019, announced its own special bonuses. As expected for such an elite firm, they’re matching the standard set by Davis Polk,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“At Fried Frank, the two special bonus payments are split equally, which is a nice touch. The billable-hour threshold for the bonuses is 1850, annualized, and associates who miss out on the first payment have an opportunity to catch up if they bill the requisite hours in the back half of the year.”

Read how the payments break down at the firm.

“The role of general counsel and chief legal officers has shifted from a defensive position to an offensive one. Bobby Balachandran, CEO of Exterro, says the Association of Corporate Counsel’s legal officers survey shows more GCs and CLOs are being called on to quarterback compliance, risk mitigation, and data privacy,” reports Bobby Balachandran of Exterro in Bloomberg Law’s Health Law & Business.

“A seismic shift has been occurring over the last several years in the role of general counsel and chief legal officers. This role is now focused as much on business risk as legal risk.”

“The increasingly overlapping responsibilities among legal, privacy, compliance, security, and IT teams in global companies are creating new challenges for GC and CLOs everywhere. Rapidly evolving regulations and laws are forcing them to assume a broader role in organization-wide compliance and risk mitigation strategies.”

Read the article.

“Massachusetts’ top court ruled Thursday that a Duane Morris litigation partner got off too easy when she was suspended for six months for overbilling clients at her prior law firm, saying her actions reflected manifest “dishonesty” and deserved a two-year suspension instead,” reports Reuters Legal in Thomas Reuters’ Westlaw Today.

“The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned a single justice’s decision to impose a six-month suspension on Doreen Zankowski, saying her billing practices while at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr showed a “reckless indifference” to what her clients should be charged.”

“Justice David Lowy, writing for the 4-0 court, said that by all accounts, Zankowski had worked ‘exceptionally hard, was one of the firm’s highest revenue producers, and achieved excellent results for her clients.'”

Read the article.

“Coinbase Global Inc., the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange that expects to go public in April, has brought on veteran Morgan Stanley lawyer Ian Rooney as its new head of enterprise compliance,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“The San Francisco-based company also hired Molly Abraham this month as an associate general counsel for commercial. She was most recently general counsel at general counsel for flying car startup Kitty Hawk Inc.”

“The latest batch of legal hires, confirmed by Coinbase spokesman Elliott Suthers, comes a month after the company added a new compliance chief and a half-dozen other lawyers, including associate general counsel Lindsay Danas Cohen and product counsel Alexander Zozos and Kenneth Hwang.”

Read the article.

Lansing – April 1, 2021 – Dykema, a leading national law firm, announced today that Lansing-based Member W. Alan Wilk has been appointed as Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Government Policy & Practice Group. Wilk steps into this leadership position already serving as Leader of Dykema’s Political Compliance Team and Co-Leader of the firm’s Public Retirement Team.

In his practice, Wilk focuses on election, campaign finance and lobby law compliance matters. He also focuses on public retirement and health care projects, and for the last 25 years has developed vast experience drafting and implementing several innovative retirement programs for large public retirement systems.

Additionally, as a member of the firm’s Nonprofit and Tax-Exempt Organizations practice, Wilk has incorporated hundreds of nonprofit entities, including charities, civic organizations, trade associations, and political groups. He regularly advises these organizations on a wide range of issues, including corporate, tax and regulatory matters. Wilk has coordinated and conducted internal investigations regarding potential civil and criminal activity for nonprofit and education clients.

Wilk has been involved in politics since 1984. Before passing the Michigan Bar, he served as campaign manager, co-campaign manager or campaign volunteer for Gubernatorial, Congressional, State Senate, State Representative and various local races. He has served as counsel for Gubernatorial, Secretary of State and Attorney General political funds. Wilk currently represents political funds for several state elected officials and has been involved in several election litigation cases, as well as regulatory matters concerning political parties, PACs, candidates and numerous ballot question campaigns.

Wilk earned his J.D. from Boston College, and a B.A., with honors, from James Madison College at Michigan State University.

New York– Sidley Austin LLP is pleased to announce that Anthony Norris and Christopher Rile are joining the firm in New York as partners in its global M&A and Private Equity practice. They join from Ropes & Gray LLP, where they have been longtime partners in the firm’s private equity transaction group.

Norris and Rile represent leading private equity sponsors on mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, preferred equity investments, securities offerings, and other significant transactions. Norris focuses on industries such as healthcare, software, and technology. Rile will focus his practice on representing private equity sponsors and public and private businesses in a wide range of industries such as healthcare and life sciences, software and technology, consumer and distribution, financial services, industrials, business services, and professional sports.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLPis pleased to announce that Kent Jones has joined the Charlotte office as a partner in the firm’s real estate and finance practices along with attorney Josh Stone.

Jones practices in the areas of commercial real estate development, finance, commercial leasing, loan workouts and general corporate law. He assists developers, public/private partnerships, investors, and lenders in managing and closing commercial real estate transactions, including land use, financing and development matters, and drafting and negotiating purchase contracts, commercial leases, loan documentation, development agreements and related agreements. Jones also advises businesses and business owners in entity choice and formation issues, equity structures, and the negotiation and preparation of shareholder agreements, operating agreements, service contracts, manufacturing and consulting agreements, and franchising and licensing agreements.

Jones earned his J.D. from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and his B.A. from Sewanee: The University of the South.

As an associate in the Real Estate Practice Group, Stone assists clients with commercial real estate transactions. Prior to practicing law, he worked as a financial advisor for Wells Fargo Advisors. Stone received his J.D. from the West Virginia University College of Law and his B.S. in Economics from West Virginia University.

Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that Marcus Woo has rejoined the firm in New York as a partner in the firm’s Intellectual Property practice and will be reassigned to the Taipei office once local registration documents are completed. Woo was most recently Vice President & General Counsel of HTC Corporation, a global consumer electronics company.

In returning to Perkins Coie, Woo will focus his practice on representing clients in Taiwan and beyond on intellectual property and corporate matters, including U.S. IP litigation work for Taiwanese companies.

As HTC Vice President & General Counsel, Woo oversaw HTC litigation and transactions and managed a legal team of more than 50 staff across the company’s corporate and M&A, litigation and licensing, and patent prosecution and management areas. He also oversaw global legal affairs for HTC Europe, HTC America and subsidiaries in China. During his career, Woo has represented telecommunications, information technology and electronics, entertainment software, airlines and aerospace, and industrial and consumer product clients in intellectual property protection and management and technology licensing matters. He is a former Perkins Coie partner.

Woo earned his J.D. from Indiana University Bloomington’s Maurer School of Law and his B.A. from Oberlin College. He started his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in New York. Woo attended the Chinese Language School at Middlebury College and is bilingual in English and Chinese.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Benchmark Litigation has named the firm its 2021 Tennessee Litigation Firm of the Year, which marks the second consecutive year the firm has received the award. Bradley was honored March 31 during a virtual awards ceremony.

Bradley was one of three finalists for the award, which recognizes litigation firms in each state based on the significance of their representations. The firm also was a finalist for Litigation Firm of the Year in Alabama and Mississippi. The state honors are part of the ninth annual Benchmark Litigation U.S. Awards, with nominees chosen based upon research conducted between March and November 2020. Benchmark Litigation determines its annual rankings through peer reviews and case examinations.

It was announced in October 2020 that 53 Bradley partners across all the firm’s offices were recognized in the 2021 edition of Benchmark Litigation, which also listed Bradley as a “Tier 1” firm for Product Liability and Recall in the United States. A leading guide to litigation firms and attorneys in the United States and Canada and the only publication that exclusively covers the litigation and disputes market in the U.S., Benchmark Litigation “highly recommended” Bradley in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, and “recommended” the firm in North Carolina.

Nearly half of Bradley’s nearly 550 attorneys are litigators who represent clients in litigation and arbitration in every U.S. state and in every federal district and appellate court across the country, as well as internationally. The attorneys handle matters in nearly every substantive area of business law and in a wide range of industries, including high-stakes and complex cases.