Of all the offerings from internet giant Google, a robust Google My Business account should be one of the first goals for any company or law firm that wants to make sure they can be found online by the right audience, advises Bruce Vincent of Muse Communications.

In the post on the Muse website, Vincent explains that the information provided on a Google My Business listing is used by Google along with other online information to create the “knowledge panel” that appears on the right side of a Google search results page when you search for a business name.

He explains how to set up the account in Google and how to update and monitor the account.

Read the article.

The 2020 Lateral Partner Satisfaction Survey, released by legal search firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, reveals that the top reason for law firm partners to make lateral moves is lack of confidence in firm management and strategy.

“The next most-often cited reasons were a lack of support to build their practice (about 35%), dislike of their firm’s culture (about 31%) and compensation (about 31%). The lawyers were allowed to choose more than one factor,” reports the  ABA Journal.

The survey also shows that many partners are making life-changing decisions with very little due diligence.

Read the survey.

Read the  ABA Journal‘s report.

Above the Law reports that Reed Smith has announced a global Mental Health Task Force to help Reed Smith’s team address mental health issues as they arise.

Partner Kimberly Gold, inaugural chair of the task force, describes the firm’s plan:

“The mission of this task force is to ensure that our lawyers and professional staff have access to help whenever they or their family members experience or are at risk of experiencing mental health or substance use issues. We will also challenge the well-documented stigma surrounding these issues and cultivate a workplace culture that promotes psychological wellness and positive help-seeking behaviors.”

Read the Above the Law article.

Houston civil trial law boutique Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, has added five attorneys.

The new hires include:

• Samantha Brantley focused on corporate litigation
• H. Jared Doster focused on intellectual property law
• Louis Liao is an intellectual property attorney focused on patent litigation
• Luke Ott focused on commercial litigation
• Crystal V. Venning focused on complex commercial litigation including disputes arising from business contracts, government contracts and large construction projects

AZA is a trial firm working with high-stakes litigation for multinational companies, also representing individuals and mid-sized businesses with serious legal issues. The firm also manages company investigations, helping company boards, in-house counsel, and audit committees identify problems and ensure compliance before litigation ensues.

Read more about the new hires.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the law firm and legal services technology company Atrium plans to lay off an undisclosed number of in-house attorneys in a bid to restructure the San Francisco startup.

CEO Justin Kan posted in the company’s blog that Atrium “will keep a small group of partners in-house who will serve our clients with strategic services like financing and (mergers and acquisitions), as well as work with our network of vetted and trusted firms to deliver general corporate legal services.”

The company provides legal and business services to startups, charging them on a subscription basis, according to the Chronicle‘s Chase DiFeliciantonio.

Read the SF Chronicle article.

Bloomberg Law takes a look at the hundreds of Kirkland & Ellis hard-working, non-share partners who live in a sort of limbo—a solid step above associate status, but still well-short of achieving the coveted position of equity partner, where they are able to share in the firm’s largesse.

Bloomberg’s Roy Strom explains:

“It’s an exchange that helps fuel the bottom line at one of the world’s richest law firms: Kirkland gets non-share partners’ blood, sweat, and tears, and billable hours. And in return, non-share partners bank on the experience and contacts gained at Kirkland in hopes that despite the significant blow of not getting coveted Kirkland shares, they can land well elsewhere.”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton have voted to merge, creating a 1,100-lawyer firm with offices in 23 cities known as Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders.

Current Troutman managing partner Steve Lewis will become chair and CEO of the combined firm, and Pepper Hamilton chair Tom Gallagher will become vice chair.

“Troutman is the larger of the two firms, taking in nearly $525 million in revenue in 2018—good for 68th most among U.S. law firms, according to the latest AmLaw rankings,” writes Bloomberg’s Roy Strom.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The ABA Journal reports that a lawsuit claims that Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and its lawyers took advantage of a corporate CEO who was suffering from substance abuse and mental health problems.

The Journal‘s Debra Cassens Weiss explains:

“The suit, filed in state court in New York, says Akin Gump took over finances and bookkeeping for Future Media Architects, a family-owned company that acquires and sells internet domain names. Akin Gump also directed and negotiated the sale of the domain names, often without input from its then-CEO and half owner, Thunayan Al-Ghanim, the suit says.”

…

“But eventually,” the suit alleges, “Akin Gump—aware that Thunayan was in no condition to monitor either FMA’s or Akin Gump’s activities—took advantage of the opportunity to loot FMA’s assets for personal profit.”

Read the  ABA Journal article.

A former Skadden attorney is suing Sullivan & Cromwell for legal malpractice, claiming that the firm represented a client in a matter for which one of its partners had once been an arbitrator, in violation of ethics rules, reports Bloomberg Law.

The plaintiff, Andrew Delaney, claims that Sullivan & Cromwell acted “unlawfully” and “unethically” in the international arbitration matter, according to Bloomberg’s Melissa Heelan Stanzione.

“The Harvard Law School graduate’s complaint alleges that Sullivan & Cromwell partner James H. Carter chaired an arbitration panel that found in favor of Delaney’s clients, and the firm subsequently “proceeded to represent the losing party” to oppose enforcement of the award,” Stanzione writes.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The Eight Circuit has rejected a plaintiff’s claim that an arbitration clause in a retainer agreement she signed with a law firm was unconscionable, according to Carlton Fields’ Reinsurance Focus.

The plaintiff claimed she had received a call from a purported agent of the firm informing her of a purported life-threatening medical condition, leading her to have surgery that she considered to be less than successful. She sued the law firm and other defendants, and the firm sought to compel arbitration pursuant to a retainer agreement.

The district court found the arbitration agreement was unconscionable and refused to compel arbitration. Despite acknowledging that the circumstances that gave rise to this lawsuit were “troubling,” the Eighth Circuit determined that the retainer agreement was not procedurally unconscionable.

Read the article.

The ABA Journal reports that a Biglaw partner who relied on her assistant to create first-draft billing records based on her work product has been suspended for six months for overbilling.

The Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers sought a two-year suspension for Boston lawyer Doreen Zankowski for her billing practices when she was at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr. The firm had opened an investigation after Zankowski told her department chair that she worked 3,173 billable hours and more than 720 nonbillable hours in 2015, according to the opinion of the Supreme Judicial Court justice hearing the case.

Zankowski conceded to a hearing committee that “her billing practices were inadequate, careless, rushed and error-prone,” according to the justice’s finding.

Read the ABA Journal article.

A forecast from Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group and Hildebrandt Consulting expects law firm revenue growth to rise between 5.5% and 6% in 2020.

The Citi 2020 client advisory offers this partial overview:

“Looking forward, we know that many firms are concerned about the risk of a recession and the underlying macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility. However, we do not anticipate a recession in 2020. That said, we believe it is now prudent for law firms to prepare for less certain times ahead. We also note that firms are facing many talent-related challenges: retention at all levels, the rising cost of talent, and how best to plan for the departure of rainmakers and senior partners.”

Read the Citi report.

Blomberg Law is reporting that a real estate developer is suing New York City litigation boutique O’Shea & Partners for breach of contract, alleging it charged “grossly excessive” and padded fees when it represented the developer beginning in 2013.

Plaintiffs claim the firm charged “almost $1.9 million over a three year period, without engaging in any discovery, or document collection, whatsoever.”

In the complaint in the New York court, plaintiffs Madison Equities LLC and the group’s principal, Robert Gladstone, are seeking at least $900,000 over the “fraudulent” billing, writes Bloomberg’s Melissa Heelan Stanzione.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Littler has launched an initiative to advance nonbinary gender inclusiveness within the firm, according to a release from the firm.

Internally, the firm is providing resources to employees that outline suggested practices for handling matters that involve nonbinary individuals whose gender identities are beyond the two categories of “male” or “female.” Gender-based pronouns will be eliminated from human resources documents, including handbooks, and employees will have the option of choosing a nonbinary identifier in the firm’s internal HR system. In addition, the firm is standardizing email signature blocks including the addition of a voluntary option to include preferred-pronoun identification.

Additionally, marketing collateral and other external materials will be made gender-neutral.

“An important part of gender identity is the pronouns we choose. By being mindful of others’ preferred pronouns and by proactively sharing our own preferred pronouns, we can help to ensure that we respect one another’s gender identity and avoid misgendering people,” said Tom Bender and Jeremy Roth, co-managing directors of Littler, in a joint statement. “In conjunction with broader efforts as part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we’re confident that these initial steps will further foster a more welcoming and inclusive environment for our employees and clients.”

Associates at Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz can thank management for setting a standard-breaking bonus scale for Biglaw associates, according to a report by Above the Law.

The firm, with offices in Washington, Los Angeles and New York, set a bonus scale that is 1.5 times the going market rate. Above the Law senior editor Staci Zaretsky writes that this is the fourth time the firm has beaten the market on bonuses since it opened four years ago.

Senior associates and those in the class of 2012 are in line for bonuses of $150,000.

Read the Above the Law article.

Jones Day has filed a motion seeking sanctions against plaintiffs who filed a $200 million lawsuit alleging that the law firm discriminates based on gender and motherhood, reports the ABA Journal.

The firm alleges in the sanctions motion that the plaintiffs made up the lawsuit’s pay-bias claims “out of whole cloth” and seeks their dismissal, writes the Journal‘s Debra Cassens Weiss. Jones Day also is seeking an order for the plaintiffs’ lawyers to pay fees and costs that the firm spent to litigate the motion.

Jones Day has claimed that the plaintiffs in the original suit wrongly assumed that female associates at the firm were paid less than their male counterparts.

Read the  ABA Journal article.

Above the Law has a report on BTI Consulting Group’s latest 2020 Client Service A-Team report — the report designed to show which law firms are tops in 17 different client-service-related activities.

The four basic categories considered in the survey include: understanding the client’s business, uniformity of service, dealing with unexpected changes, unprompted communication, and anticipating clients’ needs.

The article lists the 30 Biglaw firms that were mentioned most often across all categories, starting with Jones Day at the top of the list.

Read the Above the Law article.

Nine law firms face civil claims they aided and abetted a multimillion-dollar securities scam run by convicted fraudster Robert Shapiro through the now-defunct real estate investment firm Woodbridge Group of Cos., according to a Courthouse News Service report.

The suit, seeking $500 million inn general damages, describes a web of collusion with Woodbridge, through which Shapiro engineered a classic $1.3 billion Ponzi scheme that targeted the elderly and their retirement accounts, reports Courthouse News’ Maria Dinzeo.

Woodbridge, now in bankruptcy, is suing through its trustee.

The firms named as defendants are Halloran & Sage LLP, Robinson & Cole LLP, Finn Dixon & Herling LLP and Rome McGuigan P.C. of Connecticut; Balcomb & Green P.C. and Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP of Colorado; Bailey Cavalieri LLC of Ohio; and Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLC and Sidley Austin LLP of Illinois.

Read the Courthouse News article.

Bloomberg Law reports that Armstrong Teasdale LLP’s mandatory partner retirement policy doesn’t violate the Age Discrimination in Employment Act because partners aren’t covered employees, the Eighth Circuit ruled, deciding a matter of first impression.

The court said equity partner Joseph S. von Kaenel wasn’t a firm “employee” when he was forced to retire at age 70.

The court relied on a precedential six-factor test for determining who is an employee, including whether the organization can fire the individual and set rules for the individual’s work, how much the employer supervises the work, and whether the individual shares in profits, explains Bloomberg’s Julie Steinberg.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Goodwin Proctor has announced an expanded paid parental leave policy for employees in its U.S. offices, reports Above the Law.

The new policy gives lawyers up to 18 weeks paid parental leave, while staff will be eligible to take at least 12 weeks. And birth mothers will be eligible to take at least six additional weeks of disability leave, according to the announcement sent to employees.

The firm also announced that lawyers will move to a flexible vacation policy, with no specified limit to the total number of vacation days in a calendar year.

Read the Above the Law article.