Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. has been named best in class in patent litigation by Intellectual Asset Management Patent Survey in 2015 and again in 2016 and was named one of the 10 largest IP firms in Houston in 2016 by the Houston Business Journal.

In a release, the firm said AZA’s IP patent stable includes partners Demetrios Anaipakos, Amir Alavi and Steve Mitby; and Of Counsel David Warden, Brian E. Simmons and Scott W. Clark. Three on the team are board certified civil trial lawyers, and three on the team including associate Alisa Lipski are licensed as patent attorneys before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A number of our lawyers have formerly been chemists, engineers, electrical engineers and biochemists. AZA lawyer Ifti Ahmed, a former engineer, served as a law clerk to both Judge Alan D. Lourie of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and to Judge John Ward of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Read the article.

Onex Corporation and Baring Private Equity Asia have announced their affiliated private equity funds have agreed to acquire the Intellectual Property & Science business (IP&S) from Thomson Reuters, for $3.55 billion. IP&S owns a collection of leading subscription-based businesses that provide a diverse customer base with access to scientific literature, patent, trademark, pharmaceutical and other curated content. The transaction is expected to close later this year subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Latham & Watkins LLP advised Onex and Baring Asia on the transaction with an M&A team led by Washington, D.C. partner Paul Sheridan and Chicago partner Shaun Hartley. Advice was also provided on benefits and compensation matters by Washington, D.C. partner Adam Kestenbaum; on tax matters by New York partner Lisa Watts; on intellectual property matters by New York partner Steven Betensky and Washington D.C. counsel Kieran Dickinson; on real estate matters by New York partner Dara Denberg; on senior secured bank financing matters by Washington, D.C. partner Jeffrey Chenard; on bond financing matters by Washington, D.C. partners Rachel Sheridan and Shagufa Hossain; on antitrust matters by Washington, D.C. partner Marc Williamson and Brussels partner Sven Völcker; and on other corporate matters by Boston partner William Schwab.

In a release, the company said IP&S provides comprehensive intellectual property and scientific information, decision support tools and services that enable academia, corporations, governments and the legal community to discover, protect and commercialize content, ideas and brands that are important to them. Its portfolio includes Web of Science, Thomson CompuMark, Thomson Innovation, MarkMonitor, Cortellis and Thomson IP Manager. Headquartered in Philadelphia, IP&S employs approximately 4,100 people across more than 75 offices in over 40 countries.

The release continues:

“IP&S is a diversified portfolio of high-quality, well-positioned businesses providing proprietary, curated content through products and services that are entrenched in their customers’ day-to-day activities,” said Kosty Gilis, a Managing Director with Onex. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to acquire the company and partner with management and Baring Asia to enhance IP&S’ operations and support its growth in the years to come.”

“We look forward to partnering with IP&S management and Onex to support the development of the company globally, particularly in Asia where we see a differentiated growth opportunity,” said Jean Eric Salata, Founder and Chief Executive of Baring Asia. “Already an established leader in China and across the region, we believe the outlook for the business is underpinned by an increasing shift towards more knowledge driven economies and a continued emphasis on research and development.”

“We are pleased to announce the agreement today to sell our Intellectual Property & Science business to Onex and Baring Asia,” said Jim Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Thomson Reuters. “With the completion of this divestiture, Thomson Reuters will be even more focused on operating at the intersection of global commerce and regulation.”

The transaction is expected to be funded with an equity investment of approximately $1.6 billion for 100% ownership of IP&S. Onex’ portion of the equity investment (approximately $1.2 billion) will be made by Onex Partners IV and certain limited partners as co-investors, including Onex.

Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal advisor to Onex and Baring Asia on the transaction.

About Onex 
Onex is one of the oldest and most successful private equity firms. Through its Onex Partners and ONCAP private equity funds, Onex acquires and builds high-quality businesses in partnership with talented management teams. At Onex Credit, Onex manages and invests in leveraged loans, collateralized loan obligations and other credit securities. The Company has approximately $23 billion of assets under management, including $6 billion of Onex proprietary capital, in private equity and credit securities. With offices in Toronto, New York, New Jersey and London, Onex invests its capital through its two investing platforms and is the largest limited partner in each of its private equity funds.

Onex’ businesses have assets of $36 billion, generate annual revenues of $23 billion and employ approximately 145,000 people worldwide. Onex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol OCX. For more information on Onex, visit its website at www.onex.com. The Company’s security filings can also be accessed at www.sedar.com.

About Baring Private Equity Asia
Baring Private Equity Asia is one of the largest and most established independent alternative asset management firms in Asia, with a total committed capital of over $10 billion. The firm runs a pan-Asian investment program, sponsoring management buyouts and providing growth capital to companies for expansion or acquisitions, as well as a pan-Asian real estate private equity investment program. The firm has been investing in Asia since its formation in 1997 and has over 125 employees located across seven Asian offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, Singapore, Jakarta, and Tokyo. Baring Asia currently has over 35 portfolio companies active across Asia with a total of 150,000 employees and sales of approximately $31 billion in 2015. For more information, please visit www.bpeasia.com.

Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP announced that Michael Drankoski has been named the firm’s new executive director, effective immediately. He will replace Judy Vetkoetter upon her retirement from Gardere later this year.

Drankoski has more than 20 years of experience working with AmLaw 100 firms, with a primary focus on information technology. He joins Gardere from Norton Rose Fulbright’s Dallas office, where he held the position of director of administration, overseeing all non-attorney functions in that office.

“Michael’s extensive background in legal management makes him the ideal fit to assume the executive director position,” says Gardere Chair Holland N. O’Neil. “He is a results-oriented leader, who I am confident will provide the best support for our attorneys, staff and clients.”

As executive director, Drankoski will oversee Gardere’s administrative functions throughout the Firm’s five offices and will play a key role in the firm’s Dallas office move this fall.

Quarles & Brady LLP has announced that Daniel G. Radler will become the firm’s managing partner, effective Dec. 1, 2016. Fredrick G. Lautz, who has served in the position since its inception in 2007, will continue to support key strategic growth initiatives, including lateral recruitment, following the transition.

Radler will be the second managing partner in the firm’s history. Lautz, the first to assume the role after the unexpected passing of Firm Chair Pat Ryan, has overseen the firm’s significant success and growth over the last nine years, including the opening of new offices in Indianapolis, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. In a release, the firm said his tenure has been marked by a strong commitment to attract the nation’s most talented attorneys, particularly within the firm’s key practice areas, including franchise & distribution; financial services; business law; health & life sciences; intellectual property litigation; and data privacy.

The release continues:

The firm has also strengthened its financial and operational positions as a result of its measured growth under Lautz’s leadership. In addition to opening three new locations, the size of the Chicago office has doubled from 50 attorneys to 110 attorneys today, and the firm’s other offices have experienced significant growth as well.

“Our approach to client service has always been to source talented attorneys in increasingly demanding regional markets and industry sectors, and then build offices around those practitioners,” said Lautz. “Dan is a brilliant attorney and tremendous leader, and I’m excited about the direction in which he’ll be taking the firm over the next several years.”

“Quarles & Brady’s growth has been and continues to be rooted in the legal savvy and client service that is the hallmark of our firm,” said Kimberly Leach Johnson, firm chair of Quarles & Brady. “It’s about delivering excellence and Fred has been a tremendous champion for it, not only in his own work, but in the expectations all of us in the firm extend to each other. Dan carries that same fierce commitment to excellence. His knowledge and experience will continue to advance our focus on new and more innovative ways to deepen our expertise and serve our clients even more strongly.”

As a former engineer, Radler brings a practical solutions mindset to the managing partner role. During his 19 years at Quarles & Brady, he has served in leadership roles that include national chair of the Intellectual Property Practice Group and a member of the Executive Committee.

“I’m honored to be following in Fred’s footsteps, and continuing the growth trajectory and tremendous momentum he has created for the firm,” said Radler. “Additionally, I am firmly vested in building upon the firm’s core values surrounding client service, innovation, diversity and inclusion, and civic involvement.

About Dan Radler

In addition to his J.D., Radler holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical Systems Engineering, adding a substantive level of technical knowledge to his grasp of IP law. Before he became an attorney, Radler spent several years as an engineer designing and testing propulsion systems for advanced technology aircraft, and later working as a project manager responsible for the design and construction of automated materials handling systems and warehouses.

In private practice, he advises clients on all aspects of intellectual property law with a particular focus on patent procurement; patent re-examinations; infringement and validity opinions; and licensing in a variety of disciplines, including materials handling equipment, heavy machinery, manufacturing and molding processes, fluid dynamics, printing technology, hydraulics, seals, bearings, and general mechanical and electro-mechanical devices.

About Fredrick Lautz

Lautz is a corporate attorney by trade but has been fully ensconced at Quarles & Brady’s helm, supervising the partnership, guiding the firm’s strategic and operational growth, and working hand-in-hand with the firm chairperson to chart Quarles’ long-term course. He has maintained a singular focus on the firm’s business objectives, continuously conferring with partners to maintain a strong sense of developing trends and themes and how they inform the delivery of superior legal services

Lautz practices law in the areas of mergers & acquisitions and corporate finance & securities, working with clients of all types and sizes, including financial institutions, mutual funds, and manufacturing, retail, distribution, and professional services companies. He advises businesses on corporate governance matters, buy/sell agreements, executive and equity compensation programs, general operational matters, and securities offerings (including public and private offerings of equity and debt securities). His experience representing mutual funds and investment advisors includes organization and initial registration, board composition and corporate governance matters, regulatory compliance, share distribution structures and relationships, and acquisitions and reorganizations.

Mitratech, a provider of Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) solutions, announces the latest release of eCounsel, the company’s first major software release since the acquisition of Bridgeway in the fall of 2015.

In a release, the company said extending Collaborati to eCounsel clients works across multiple product lines.

Specific enhancements and benefits in this latest release include:

• Collaborati Integration
• Security Assertion Markup Language support
• Security Enhancements

Read the Mitratech release.

U.S. securities regulators have accused a KPMG partner and two other individuals of insider trading on tips about three pending corporate mergers on which the accounting firm was providing advice, Reuters is reporting.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed the suit in federal court in Atlanta, claiming KPMG tax partner Thomas Avent of passed tips to his stockbroker, Raymond Pirrello, writes Nate Raymond. The SEC says Pirrello told a friend, Lawrence Penna, who with his family made more than $111,000 trading on the information.

The report says KPMG said on Friday that it was “deeply troubled” by the allegations and had placed Avent, a 63-year-old Atlanta resident, on administrative leave.

Read the article.

Limited Liability Companies, or LLCs, are now the most popular legal entity for organizing businesses in the United States, according to a new report issued by Berkman Solutions.

“While it is tempting to conclude that S Corporations are substantially more popular than LLCs, this conclusion is based on the total number of legal entities. S Corporations have a more than 15 year head start on LLCs. Adjusting for that head start, the data reveals that LLCs are eclipsing S Corps,” according to Berkman’s analysis.

“Looking at the year-over-year net change in tax filings demonstrates that LLCs have a slight edge over S Corporations since 2004, except for 2006,” it continues. “The year-over-year net change captures the addition (or reduction) in tax returns from the prior year by legal entity type.”

Read the article.

Archer Norris published its second annual California Business Litigation Report, revealing that corporate lawyers continue to view many aspects of California’s business environment as perplexing, downright exasperating, and in many ways more challenging than other states.

In a release, the firm said employment laws and labor issues were found to be by far the most significant legal concern of companies doing business in California, reported by 62% of respondents. When it comes to areas in which litigating in California is more challenging than in other states, employment law and labor issues again landed in the top spot (69%), followed by environmental law and regulation (57%). The survey showed that the most-cited legal stumbling blocks also include commercial litigation, product liability, intellectual property, land use, and health care. Among out-of-state counsel specifically, regulatory compliance was repeatedly cited as a chief challenge across a wide spectrum of legal concerns.

Conducted in partnership with ALM Marketing Services, Archer Norris’s survey polled general and corporate counsel with business interests in California on their opinions of the California legal climate, how they evaluate litigation matters, and how they choose outside counsel for handling these matters.

This year, Archer Norris also examined current attitudes toward hot issues such as cybersecurity, finding that anxiety about exposure to cyber risks indeed runs deep among in-house counsel, with nearly two-thirds reporting they are “very concerned.” They are most worried about information loss and associated costs resulting from data leakage or systems attacks, damage to critical IT infrastructure, and risk arising from malware and computer viruses.

“The results of our 2016 survey make it clear the legal terrain in California continues to prove daunting not only to companies new to litigating in the state, but also to those who have been handling matters here for some time,” said Gene Blackard, Managing Partner of Archer Norris. “In order to overcome these challenges, it’s more critical than ever for companies doing business in California to have highly responsive and knowledgeable outside counsel. Archer Norris has guided hundreds of businesses through the complex litigation and transactional landscape here, with the goal of seeing our clients succeed in California long-term. With more than 100 attorneys practicing in five offices across the state, we’re exactly where our clients need us to be to best handle their diverse needs.”

The survey also yielded insights about how in-house counsel evaluate which outside California counsel is the right partner. While 55% of respondents noted the importance of a firm offering competitive rates and fees, a number of other factors were deemed more important than cost. Respondents first and foremost look for dependability and consistency (74%), followed by responsiveness, depth of experience, knowledge of the business and industry, and whether the law firm is one known for thoroughly exploring options for resolution other than going to trial.

Respondents reported spending about one-quarter of their overall legal budgets on outside counsel, and most said their budgets will stay the same or increase this year (37% and 29% respectively) compared to last. Many admit they would consider paying “premium” fees (up to 30% above the norm) to defend “bet the company” issues (23%) or legal matters where the client risks losing $1 million or more (32%).

The previous Business Litigation Playbook white paper, which also reveals corporate counsels’ greatest legal concerns within a variety of practice areas, can be downloaded.

Theranos Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Holmes was banned for two years from owning or operating laboratories by U.S. regulators, a major blow against the controversial blood-testing startup that’s come under scrutiny for risking patient harm with unreliable tests, reports Doni Bloomfield for Bloomberg Technology.

“The once high-flying Silicon Valley company was also penalized for an undisclosed amount and lost its eligibility to get payments from federal health insurance programs for lab services, according to a statement late Thursday from Theranos, citing a notice it received from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,” the report says. “The closely-held firm is shutting down its Newark, California, lab and plans to rebuild it, Holmes said.”

The company founded by Holmes at one time had a $9 billion private valuation, based on technology that it said would allow for cheap, less-painful blood tests processed with breakthrough analyzers. Regulators soon stepped in, citing violations that put patients’ health and safety at risk.

Read the article.

Reuters is reporting that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service said Facebook Inc. may have understated the value of intellectual property it transferred to Ireland by “billions of dollars,” unfairly cutting its tax bill in the process, according to court papers.

A Justice Department lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco seeks to enforce IRS summonses served on Facebook and to force the company to produce various documents as part of the probe, report Nate Raymond and Tom Bergin.

“The tax authority is examining whether Facebook understated its U.S. income by selling rights to an Irish subsidiary too cheaply,” according to the report. “Doing so could boost taxable profits in Ireland, which has a corporate tax rate of 12.5 percent, and reduce taxable income in the United States which has a rate of at least 35 percent.”

Read the article.

A supposedly rogue investigation that Uber originally claimed it knew nothing about — and which could turn out to be a costly embarrassment for the ride-hailing giant — began with a 10-word request from the company’s general counsel, reports Matthew Flamm in Crain’s New York Business.

By email in 2015, Uber GC Salle Yoo asked the company’s security chief, “Could we find out a little more about this plaintiff?”

The Uber email, along with some others, eventually led to involvement by global intelligence firm Ergo, court records reveal.

“They were entered in support of a motion for relief brought by Connecticut conservationist Spencer Meyer—the mysterious plaintiff about whom Yoo inquired immediately after Meyer filed an antitrust class-action suit charging Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick with price fixing,” Flamm reports. The plaintiff claims the Ergo investigator used a ruse to snoop on him on his lawyer.

Read the article.

It is becoming common for more and more transactions to be created, negotiated, finalized and executed electronically, according to an alert from Arnall Golden Gregory LLP. From a real estate perspective, virtually all documents other than those that are being recorded are exchanged electronically.

The article addresses whether, and under what circumstances, contracts executed via the internet or otherwise are enforceable under applicable federal and state laws.

Topics covered include e-signatures, the applicability of general contract principles, and commercial real estate agreements.

The conclusion is that “it is clear that binding real estate transactions have been and will continue to be conducted via electronic transfer of signatures.”

Read the article.

Edward F. Donohue III of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP has published the third installment in his series on client arbitration agreements for lawyers.

“Many attorneys have been using the same engagement agreements for decades designating standard commercial providers such as the American Arbitration Association to resolve client disputes,” he writes. “In recent years some have learned the hard way that their agreements do not comply with consumer protection rules that have developed in recent years. The failure to incorporate new standards into fee agreements means not only that non-conforming provisions will be deemed unenforceable.  In some cases attorneys will find that their arbitration agreements are wholly unenforceable.”

This installment has subheadings titled “Guess What? Your Fee Agreement is Non-Compliant,” “If Your Wealthiest Client is a “Consumer” Should You Abandon Arbitration Clauses?,” and “If You Still Want to Arbitrate Catch Up With the Rules.”

Read the article.

With the recent passage of the Defense of Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), businesses are welcoming the many benefits the statute brings, including federal jurisdiction, robust equitable relief, and the ability to recover compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees, writes Michael Greco in Fisher Phillips’ Non-Compete and Trade Secrets blog. However, in the midst of celebrating this new federal cause of action, many employers are overlooking a requirement embedded deep within the statute.

“Namely, employers are required to provide employees with notice that they are entitled to immunity if they disclose a trade secret for the purpose of reporting suspected illegal conduct,” he writes. “If employers fail to give notice in the manner required by the DTSA, they will not be able to recover punitive damages or attorneys’ fees. Consequently, employers must pay careful attention to the DTSA notification requirements, which are not as straightforward as many believe.”

He explains that “the immunity notification requirements of the DTSA are less than straightforward. If employers intend to avail themselves of the new federal cause of action, they should carefully analyze their agreements and policies to ensure compliance.”

Read the article.

Considerable litigation has arisen as to whether a  waiver of subrogation provision in a construction contract applies to bar an insurer’s subrogation claim against a contractor to the extent the insurer covered damage to the owner’s “non-work” property under the owner’s existing property policy, writes Robert Barrack in Robinson Cole’s Construction Law Zone blog.

He explains that a majority of jurisdictions have held that the waiver of subrogation provision in the construction contract applies to bar subrogation claims where the owner’s property policy covers the damage to “non-work” property.

In his article, he explains waiver of subrogation provisions and discusses some cases that address the subject.

Read the article.

Wednesday, July 20, 12 p.m. CDT
Register

Bracewell’s next event in its Power Regulatory Webinar Series will be a July 20 webinar titled “Qualifying Facilities, Exempt Wholesale Generators and Market-Based Rates: The Basics and Beyond.”

The Wednesday, July 20, webinar will begin at noon Central time.

Speakers will be Catherine P. McCarthy, Stephen J. Hug, and Blake Urban.

Future events and speakers in the series will be:

Wednesday, September 14
“Developments in Western Markets”
Deanna E. King and Stephen J. Hug

Wednesday, October 12
“FERC Audits”
Robert E. Pease and Tyler S. Johnson

Wednesday, November 9
“FERC Update on Anti-Market Manipulation – Power”
Michael W. Brooks and Serena A. Rwejuna

Register for the next webinar.

Forty three long and painful years have passed since Víctor Jara, the famous Chilean folk singer whom Rolling Stone Magazine called one of the top 15 protest artists of all time, was found dead covered with dozens of bullet wounds in the brutal Pinochet military coup that upended his country.

A Florida jury found Florida resident Pedro Pablo Barrientos Nunez liable for the torture and murder of Jara, and the court ordered Barrientos to pay $28 million in damages – $8 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages.

Richard S. Dellinger with Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A. in Orlando served as the local counsel and worked closely with The Center for Justice and Accountability, a San Francisco-based legal advocacy group, and the New York law firm Chadbourne & Parke, LLP to represent the Jara family.

“This is justice at its best,” said Dellinger who worked tirelessly with the legal team in the eight-day trial. “Mr. Barrientos received a fair trial process that Mr. Jara never received. I am proud of what we were able to give the Jara family, who never lost sight of what happened 43 years ago and fought hard to hold Jara’s killer to account. I hope that this week’s verdict provides some measure of justice and renewal for the Jara family,” added Dellinger.

In a release, the firm said:

Joan Jara, Victor Jara’s 88-year old widow, attended the trial and said, “It has been a long journey seeking justice for Victor’s death. His songs continue to be sung today, and inspire both artists and those who seek social justice. For Victor, art and social justice were one and the same. Today, there is some justice for Victor’s death, and for the thousands of families in Chile who have sought truth.”

The legal team filed a civil suit on September 4, 2013 before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against Barrientos on behalf of Jara’s widow, Joan Jara, and children, Amanda Jara Turner and Manuela Bunster. The complaint alleged that Barrientos was responsible for the torture and execution of Jara, who was also a theater director and activist inspired by artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Joan Baez, Holly Near, Arlo Guthrie, Peter, Paul & Mary, and The Clash. A professor of theater in Santiago in 1973, Jara was one of thousands of intellectuals, political leaders and perceived political supporters of the Allende government detained en masse at Chile Stadium during the early days of the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet.

The former officer, Barrientos, who is now 65 years old, moved to Central Florida at the end of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990. His whereabouts were unknown until mid-2012, when a Chilean television crew located him in Florida. He worked as a landscaper and then a cook. Over the past several years, Barrientos worked at Perkins Restaurant in Deltona. Barrientos told the court that he came to the United States to earn money for his family. He did not report his military past when he applied for citizenship in 2010.

“I find it unnerving that the former Pinochet Lieutenant who is responsible for the torture and murder of Victor Jara and others at the Chile Stadium was living right here in Deltona,” said Dellinger. “This is a person who could have been one of our neighbors.”

Throughout the trial, the plaintiffs called many eyewitnesses to the stand, including ex-military conscripts assigned to the Chile Stadium detention center who placed Barrientos at the scene of Victor’s death. One conscript testified that Barrientos repeatedly boasted that he killed Jara. Additional testimonies came from others who were incarcerated in Chile Stadium with Jara, who witnessed the brutality levied against him by the Pinochet regime.

Jara’s torture and death has become a world-wide symbol for the suffering of all the innocent people who were detained, tortured, and killed at Chile Stadium, many of whom have yet to be identified.

Reuters is reporting that the FBI in New York City has undisclosed probes into about 30 suspected insider trading schemes, in a sign investigators remain focused on building cases despite a court ruling that could curtail such prosecutions.

Nate Raymond writes that the investigations come amid a resurgence of insider trading cases, with prosecutors in Manhattan charging 11 people so far in 2016, up from just four in 2015.

“The probes follow a 2014 ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that authorities have said could allow some individuals to avoid prosecution and that has already led to charges being dropped or reversed for 14 defendants,” the report says.

Read the article.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday gave the U.S. Department of Justice broad leeway to police password theft under a 1984 anti-hacking law, upholding the conviction of a former Korn/Ferry International executive for stealing confidential client data, reports Reuters.

“The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said David Nosal violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in 2005 when he and two friends, who had also left Korn/Ferry, used an employee’s password to access the recruiting firm’s computers and obtain information to help start a new firm,” reports Jonathan Stempel.

The court found that Nosal acted “without authorization” even though the employee, his former secretary, had voluntarily provided her password.

Read the article.

About 107 law firms have issued raises to their associates after the initial big salary hike announced by Cravath, Swaine & Moore almost a month ago, reports Above the Law editor Joe Patrice in a transcribed interview with Casey Sullivan on Bloomberg Law.

“Not all of these firms have matched Cravath entirely,” Patrice explains. “Some only matched in some markets, others have matched for younger classes but offered more modest raises to senior attorneys. A couple have issued holding statements that they will increase salaries but won’t release details until later.”

He says general counsel’s concern over higher billing rates is overblown. Even if firms passed 100 percent of the cost of the raises on to clients, the hike would amount to about a $10 per hour increase in billing rates for associates, he says.

Read the interview.