Women make up as many as 50 percent of new associates, yet they leave law firms much more frequently than men, the American Bar Association found in a new study.

Bloomberg Law, reporting on the ABA study, summarized the findings:

“The report found that there are big differences in how the genders view their firm’s handling of promotions, leadership opportunities and equity partnerships.

“Some 91% of firm leaders, for example, felt their firms are “actively advocates of gender diversity,” while only 62% of the women lawyers responding thought the same thing.”

The study found that women cited the level of stress at work, care-taking commitments, differences in pay, and the firm’s emphasis on marketing as negative factors.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

A survey of chief legal officers by the consulting firm Altman Weil found that 76 percent of the respondents think there will be a recession in the United States within the next two years.

And that finding may be the reason why corporate legal departments are showing caution in spending, points out the ABA Journal on a report on the survey results.

One of the findings indicates that only 27 percent of departments increased their spending on law firms in 2019, down from 42 percent that did so last year.

Read the  ABA Journal article.

Image by Gage Skidmore

After a weekslong search to find a lawyer who would represent Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer finally found a legal team to represent him in the criminal investigation into his activities related to Ukraine, reports The New York Times.

Although Giuliani has a wide range of close associates, “at least four prominent attorneys declined for various reasons, according to people familiar with the matter. They included Mary Jo White, who also once led the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District, as well as Theodore V. Wells Jr., a trial lawyer at Paul, Weiss, according to people familiar with those discussions,” the Times reports.

He announced he will be represented by three lawyers, including his longtime friend, Robert J. Costello. Giuliani and Costello crossed paths last year during the investigation of another Trump associate, Michael D. Cohen.

Read the NY Times article.

Biglaw firm Milbank was the first to announce its associate bonuses this season.

The scale at Milbank is the same as last year’s, Above the Law reports. The bonuses range from $15,000 to $100,000 and will be paid on Dec. 31, according to senior editor Staci Zaretsky.

And that lack of an increase is causing some negative feedback, writes Above the Law’s executive editor Elie Mystal:

“Based on my inbox, associates are not exactly thrilled about the extra $15,000 to $100,000 this scale provides. Of particular issue is the fact that in 2018, associates got summer bonuses. In 2019, they did not. So, in overall bonus compensation, a same-scale bonus actually results in less compensation for associates.”

Read the Above the Law articles here and here.

A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled in favor of O’Melveny & Myers in a case alleging the Biglaw firm was conflicted in its representation a decade ago of a now-defunct investment firm Aletheia Research and Management, reports Bloomberg Law.

The ruling let stand an arbitrator’s August finding that O’Melveny didn’t commit legal malpractice, noting that “only in very unusual circumstances” does this occur and the investment firm’s trustee didn’t meet this standard, according to Bloomberg’s Melissa Heelan Stanzione.

A Chapter 7 estate trustee for Aletheia had argued that the law firm’s failure to recommend that Aletheia hire independent counsel to review the company’s relationship with its founders contributed to the company’s ultimate downfall.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law reports that Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is accused in a new lawsuit in New York of discriminating and retaliating against a black former associate because of his complaints about racial bias at the law firm.

Kaloma Cardwell alleges the firm denied him job assignments — causing him to go from billing more than 100 hours per month to zero billable hours for four consecutive months. The firm then fired him, according to his complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Cardwell was the only black attorney hired in the firm’s 2014 class of more than 120 new associates, and one of only four black attorneys at the entire firm, the complaint says.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The 10th edition of “Best Law Firms,” published by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers, ranks 14,365 law firms in various areas of legal practice.

Presented in tiers, the rankings give designations to firms in 75 major practice areas nationally and in 127 practice areas regionally.

In the group of 75 practice areas, some of the firms earning top recognition include Jones Day in commercial litigation, K&L Gates in corporate law, Troutman Sanders in energy law, McDermott Will & Emery in health care law, Covington & Burling in insurance, Bracewell in oil and gas, and Cooley in technology law.

Read the article.

DLA Piper, fighting a sexual-assault claim against a former partner, filed a response to the accusation Tuesday, saying the lawyer who filed the complaint orchestrated a “flirtation” to advance her career, reports Bloomberg News.

DLA and former partner Louis Lehot parted ways after his colleague Vanina Guerrero accused the star Silicon Valley lawyer of sexually assaulting her.

The firm said it conducted an “impartial investigation” of the matter.

“Ms. Guerrero was a willing participant in a lengthy emotional flirtation with Mr. Lehot that she orchestrated to advance her career,” DLA Piper said in a letter to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, citing Guerrero’s emails.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Jones Day’s “hypercentralized,” subjective decision-making process places final control over pay, promotion, and other significant decisions “unchecked in the hands of one man,” six female former lawyers told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

That man is managing partner Stephen J. Brogan, claim Nilab Tolton and the five other lead plaintiffs. They filed a supplemental memorandum Oct. 24  opposing Jones Day’s motion for partial judgment on the pleadings in their proposed class action, filed in April, according to a Bloomberg Law article.

Brogan backs his “totalitarian grip” on Jones Day with a “no whining policy” under which women aren’t allowed to raise sex-based inequities, they say.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

When Pepper Hamilton partner David Stratton received an invitation to the firm’s upcoming judicial diversity panel, he forwarded the message to two other partners with a derisive comment about the affinity groups, according to a report on Above the Law.

The problem, though, is that he later sent an apology for his snippy comment, he used the reply-all feature. That was a bad idea, because not everyone was even aware of his original, wildly inappropriate comments until the apology was sent.

Above the Law senior editor Kathryn Rubino said the firm’s bosses weren’t happy with this turn of events. “They quickly sent their own email from managing partner Thomas Cole, distancing themselves from Stratton’s off-color comments, and assuring everyone the matter is being properly handled behind the scenes,” she writes.

Read the Above the Law article.

The proposed changes to the rules for lawyer advertising in Texas are on track to be submitted for official approval, according to Bruce Vincent, writing on the website of Muse Communications.

The State Bar of Texas’ board of directors will have 120 days to consider the amended rules that are expected to be submitted by the Committee on Disciplinary Rules and Referenda in January.

Some of the new rules cover such topics as the use of trade names for lawyers, claims of legal specialization, the submission of law firm websites for approval, and gifts to nonlawyer referral sources.

Read the article.

Image by Tony webster

The ABA Journal reports that an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit claims that the former general counsel of Wynn Resorts approved a “secret undercover operation” to gather derogatory information about a former salon employee who provided information to the Wall Street Journal.

Plaintiffs claim that former Wynn general counsel Kim Sinatra was part of a civil conspiracy targeting Jorgen Nielsen, the former artistic director of a salon at Wynn Las Vegas.

The Journal‘s Debra Cassens Weiss reports: “The suit alleges that Sinatra and two other defendants participated in a plan to send ‘an undercover operative’ posing as a client to the new salon that employed Nielsen. The place was the salon at Palms Casino Resort.”

Read the  ABA Journal article.

All five shareholders in the trial and appellate firm Johnston Tobey Baruch are recognized in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, and three earned the distinction of being selected Lawyers of the Year for Dallas-Fort Worth.

Firm managing shareholder Randy Johnston’s work with plaintiffs in professional malpractice solidified his selection as Lawyer of the Year. Renowned in Texas legal circles, his experience in commercial and mergers and acquisitions litigation, along with legal and professional malpractice law, secured his Best Lawyers honors.

Shareholder and firm co-founder Robert Tobey earned Lawyer of the Year honors for his legal malpractice work on behalf of plaintiffs. He also won recognition for malpractice defense and commercial litigation. Shareholder Chad Baruch’s exceptional appellate work also earned him a Lawyer of the Year designation.

No other law firm this size in Texas has received this many Lawyer of the Year honors for 2020.

Shareholder Karen Fitzgerald’s work with individuals in employment law and her litigation skills in labor and employment led to her selection. Coyt Johnston earned Best Lawyers honors for his commercial and mergers and acquisitions litigation skills.

Read more about the honors and
five benefits of hiring a smaller firm.

Exterro has published the 2019 In-House Legal Benchmarking Report, comparing in-house legal processes among 180 participating legal departments.

Compared to last year’s results, legal teams are choosing to coordinate services with fewer outside partners and are moving more operations in-house.

The report can be downloaded at no charge from the Exterro website.

Exterro says on its website that the report provides:

• 4 important takeaways to help improve your legal processes in 2020

• Results to 29 questions surrounding in-house legal activities

• Data to help drive change in your in-house legal department

Download the report.

José Angel Toledo is the subject of 31 disciplinary complaints filed with the Florida Bar by his clients and a medical provider, according to a petition the Bar filed with the Florida Supreme Court.

“The complaints against José Toledo say he stopped responding to client inquiries and failed to distribute funds in legal settlements,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. “The complaints echo one another, with some clients saying they never received money from settlements and others saying they had trouble getting in touch with him.”

Investigators have been unable to find him, too. His landlord evicted him from his office in September, and a Bar investigator entered the office and found nine filing cabinets and six credenzas filled with clients’ files.

Read the  Tampa Bay Times article.

Bloomberg Law reports that the partners of Mossack Fonseca & Co., the law firm portrayed as the villains in the new movie Netflix “The Laundromat,” sued the company for libel and trademark infringement.

The firm’s complaint in U.S. district court in Connecticut claims the film “defames and portrays the Plaintiffs as ruthless uncaring lawyers who are involved in money laundering, tax evasion, bribery and/or other criminal conduct.”

The founders of the law firm implicated in the Panama Papers also say “the implications and innuendo converge to cast Plaintiffs in the light of mastermind criminals whose crimes include, but are not limited to, murder, bribery, money laundering and/or corruption.”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law reports that law students from elite universities protested outside DLA Piper offices in three cities Oct. 10, calling on the firm to drop arbitration agreements from employee contracts.

“Demonstrators from Harvard, Columbia, NYU and Georgetown law schools handed out leaflets in New York, Washington, and Boston,” writes Bloomberg’s Stephanie Russell-Kraft. “They’re part of a student-led initiative leveraging their status as top Big Law recruits to fight what they says is ‘harassment and discrimination in the legal profession.’”

DLA Piper partner Vanina Guerrero, who claims she was sexually assaulted and retaliated against by a fellow partner, said she is unable to bring those claims in court because of a mandatory arbitration agreement.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Forbes has partnered with market research company Statista to create a list of top U.S. corporate law firms, selecting 243 firms and identifying the most recommended ones in 17 practice areas, based on survey responses from 2,500 lawyers.

“The results include not only names well-known in the corporate and legal worlds—white-shoe law firms and members of London’s so-called “magic circle” of top law firms—but also boutique firms that focus on very specific branches of the law,” explains the article.

Of the 243 firms on the list, Kirkland & Ellis is the top revenue-producing firm in the world, with more than $3 billion in annual revenue. Also on that $3 billion list is Latham & Watkins.

Read the Forbes article.

Elizabeth Holmes

Photo by Max Morse for TechCrunch

The Mercury News reports that lawyers representing disgraced Theranos founder and accused fraudster Elizabeth Holmes said in a civil case claim she hasn’t paid them for more than a year and probably never will, according to court records, and they don’t want to be her lawyers anymore.

“Ms. Holmes has not paid Cooley [LLP] for any of its work as her counsel of record in this action for more than a year,” lawyers Stephen Neal, John Dwyer and Jeffrey Lombard said in the filing. They are asking the court for approval to stop representing Holmes.

Holmes faces maximum penalties of 20 years in prison and a $2.75 million fine, plus possible restitution, according to Ethan Baron of the News.

Read the Mercury News article.

Over the past few decades, Republican and Democratic administrations have increasingly leaned on deferred prosecution agreements in corporate criminal cases and non-prosecution agreements to settle allegations against corporations, according to a Washington Post report.

For example, JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest bank, has repeatedly resolved federal investigations over the last eight years by striking a deal: It wouldn’t be prosecuted as long as it stayed out of trouble, writes the Post‘s Renae Merle.

“This comes at a time when the Trump administration is prosecuting fewer white-collar crimes,” she explains. “The number of cases brought against corporations fell to 99 last year, compared with 181 in 2015, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Most were against small companies, 62.9 percent employed fewer than 50 workers, the commission reported.”

Read the Post article.