Above the Law reports on the possibility — really speculation — that  special counsel Robert Mueller could be looking into connections between Squire Patton Boggs and Donald Trump’s lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen.

Editor Kathryn Rubino points out that the firm has distanced itself from Cohen, saying that he “maintained his independence, was not an employee of the firm, and did not maintain files or bill clients through the firm.”

“But the revelations that have come to light about Cohen’s shell company, Essential Consultants, and the money collected from big-name companies for access and insights into the Trump administration have cast a pall on the Biglaw firm,” she writes.

Leading the speculation is Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti, who has said that the apparent reason the firm cultivated a relationship with Cohen was to supplement its lobbying business.

Read the Above the Law article.

A lack of familiarity with advertising rules can lead to a firm or an individual lawyer having their ad, website, etc., labeled as “noncompliant” by the State Bar of Texas Advertising Review Department, warns Bruce Vincent of Muse Communications.

That department reviews lawyer advertising for violations under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct. Those who fail to remedy noncompliant communications may be the subject of an official complaint filed with the Bar’s Chief Disciplinary Counsel.

Vincent interviewed Gene Major, director of the State Bar Advertising Review Department and director of the Bar’s Attorney Compliance Division, about the state’s lawyer advertising landscape and the common mistakes that can lead to violations.

Major discussed some of the most common mistakes and violations he sees, possible penalties, and the use of mailing lists for marketing.

Read the article.

Venerable Fort Lauderdale law firm Conrad & Scherer is under siege, reports the Miami Herald.

The firm is bitterly fighting a former client, prominent investor Douglas Von Allmen, who claims the firm stiffed him on a $25 million loan that financed costly efforts to recover losses from from a Ponzi scheme, explains reporter Jay Weaver.

And the firm also is fighting on another front, against major Alabama-based energy firm Drummond Company. Drummond has accused the law firm and a former partner of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to witnesses to bolster their human-rights abuse cases against the corporation.

“The law firm lost the litigation with Drummond, and it is now facing a defamation case that gained significant momentum last week in a key ruling by an appeals court in Atlanta,” writes Weaver.

Read the Miami Herald article.

Image by Gage Skidmore

Rudy Giuliani is leaving his job at a powerhouse law firm, citing the “pressing demands” of special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election, reports The Hill.

“In light of the pressing demands of the Mueller investigation, I believe it is in everyone’s best interest that I make it a permanent resignation,” Giuliani said inn a statement. “This way, my sole concentration can be on this critically important matter for our country.”

Reporter Max Greenwood writes that Giuliani’s resignation from Greenberg Traurig signals that he may anticipate a more prolonged engagement with Mueller’s investigation than previously thought.

Read The Hill article.

Amy Boardman Hunt of Muse Communications has some suggestions about how a lawyer or firm can spread the word after they’ve been named to a best lawyers list.

In her blog post, she also discusses the pros and cons about being singled out for recognition.

The post covers some of the best ways to let others know about the honor:

• An email to colleagues, clients, and referral sources, or inclusion in the firm’s newsletter;
• Press release posted on a wire service;
• Blog post;
• Social media;
• Digital ad on a legal website, and
• Congratulations ad in the local newspaper.

Read the article.

Former Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates has signed on with King & Spalding — rejoining the law firm where she began her career before her 27-year tenure in the Justice Department, reports the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Mark Meltzer writes that Yates will be a partner in the firm’s Special Matters team and will head an independent investigations group that includes several other former government enforcement lawyers – including five former U.S. attorneys. She’ll be based in Washington and Atlanta.

Soon after he took office, President Trump fired Yates, a former U.S. attorney in Atlanta as acting attorney general after she declined to enforce Trump’s proposed travel ban. Yates told Justice Department lawyers not to make legal arguments defending Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees.

Read the Business Journal article.

Above the Law got its hands on an email sent out by Paul Hastings that on the surface promotes diversity, but does so by praising male partners.

Editor Kathryn Rubino comments: “Paul Hastings seems to think men at the firm need a pat on the back for ‘including [women] in client work’ and other basic stuff they should be doing anyway. Pro tip: If you’re trying to promote diversity, giving (mostly) white men center stage is doing the very, very least you can do.”

The firm-wide email, reproduced on Above the Law’s website, features photos of each of the nine male “champions” and promotes their practice areas. The promotion is followed by praise from unnamed women, such as “[He] is a true champion to women and men at the firm and is also just a nice guy!”

Read the Above the Law article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that three associates sued Morrison & Foerster on Monday, alleging it discriminated against them and held them back in their careers after they became pregnant.

The plaintiffs, women lawyers practicing in California, allege they were denied work opportunities because of their gender, and that they were cut out of their practice groups following maternity leave, reports Stephanie Russell-Kraft.

The three unnamed plaintiffs, who are suing the firm on behalf of a putative class of female attorneys at the firm, claim in their complaint that “At MoFo, the mommy track is a dead end.” A spokesman for the firm disputed the claim.

Several Big Law firms, including Proskauer Rose, Sedgwick, and Chadbourne & Parke (now Norton Rose Fulbright), have been hit with allegations of gender discrimination in recent years, but this is the first suit focusing on maternity discrimination, according to Russell-Kraft.

Read the Bloomberg article.

Above the Law reports that the names of some of the biggest law firms in the country have come to light after the Department of Justice seized records from the home and office of Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

“The first Biglaw firm caught up in the mess is Squire Patton Boggs. Last year the firm announced a strategic alliance with Cohen, but as the heat’s been turned up, they’ve sought to distance themselves,” writes editor Kathryn Rubino.

Other firms’ materials could have been caught in the raid, including Morgan Lewis, Gerstman Schwartz Malito, and Cole Schotz, the article states.

Read the Above the Law article.

Above the Law has published its latest Power 100 law firm firm ranking, which measures firms’ reputations and their appeal as potential employers for  talented lawyers.

Editor Elie Mystal focuses on results for Jones Day, which fell 33 spots in the rankings, from number 18 to number 58.

“Jones Day declined in every objective data point we measured. But the objective points are only half of the methodology,” Mystal writes. “The other half is a reputation survey, and that’s where Jones Day got stuffed in a locker and ridiculed by all the cool kids.”

He posits that the firm’s association with President Donald Trump may have led to the sharp decline. Partner Don McGahn took on the job as White House Counsel, and the firm was quick to associate itself with the new administration in 2017.

Read the Above the Law article.

Kim Technologies will present a complimentary webinar, “Automating with a Legal Ops Platform vs Siloed Product Solutions,” on May 3, 2018, beginning at 1 p.m. EDT.

“The benefits of a unified software platform over multiple siloed products are clear,” the company says on its website. “Who wouldn’t want to keep all their data in one place; search and report on anything at the click of a button; provide a seamless user experience across the entire department or organization? Traditionally, this ‘holy grail’ has taken huge amounts of time and money to implement and maintain, and has rarely been an option for Legal. Instead, most law departments and law firms have organically grown a hodge-podge of software siloes that create an obstacle to innovation, efficiency and transparency.”

This webinar will cover:

• Global AI market update
• Preparing for the Age of Data
• Platform vs Product and why it matters
• To code or not to code, that is the question
• Automating workflows, documents and dashboards in hours, with no IT support!
• Q&A session

Register for the webinar.

Image by ImageCreator

Bruce Vincent of Muse Communications offers some tips on the best practices for writing or updating your online biography to impress potential clients.

In a post on the Muse website, Vincent says the key is making sure that what you say about yourself is well written, organized, and presented in a way that will impress the people who see it.

One of the best places to start when you’re ready to begin writing or updating your bio is to handle the “easy stuff” before working on the narrative, including your:

• Areas of practice;
• Undergraduate and law school and any accompanying honors;
• Professional affiliations, including local and state bar groups;
• Professional accolades;
• Pro bono accomplishments;
• Published articles or presentations.

Read the article.

Crain’s Chicago Business reports that the exodus of DLA Piper lawyers leaving for McDermott Will & Emery is “significantly” fewer than 50 and brings in “dramatically” less than the $100 million in revenue attributed to them, according to an internal DLA memo.

The memo is a response to reports that about 50 lawyers across the country were leaving the legal behemoth for Chicago-based McDermott. Reporter Claire Bushey writes that  McDermott Chairman Ira Coleman wrote in a memo that altogether, the new attorneys would add more than $100 million to McDermott’s top line.

DLA Piper firm leaders responded in an email to employees that the McDermott memo contained “materially inaccurate and misleading pieces of information.”

Read the Crain’s article.

DLA Piper announces that 62 lawyers have been promoted to its partnership. The promotions are effective as of April 1, 2018, in the United States and May 1, 2018, for EMEA and Asia Pacific. The promotions were made across many of the firm’s practice areas in 42 different offices throughout 20 countries.

Across the firm’s practices globally, Litigation and Regulatory saw the largest intake of new partners with 16 promotions, followed by Corporate with 14 promotions. Tax and Finance and Projects both had eight. Real Estate and Intellectual Property and Technology had six and four promotions respectively, while there were three in Employment, two in Government Affairs and one in the firm’s US Office of General Counsel.

In total, there were 19 promotions in the United States, six in Canada, ten in the United Kingdom, 18 across Continental Europe, two in Asia, two in Latin America, two in the Middle East, two in Australia and a further one in South Africa. A full list of partner promotions by office and practice is included below.

Simon Levine, Global Co-CEO of DLA Piper, commented, “I would like to congratulate all of our lawyers who have been promoted to partners this year. This round of promotions brings to our partnership another highly talented group from across the world who represent the quality, breadth and depth of DLA Piper and are vital to the continued success of our business.”

Jay Rains, Global Co-CEO, added, “We are delighted by the promotion of this talented, diverse group of top-caliber lawyers. Their client work and importance to the firm are now a foundational part of our ongoing success and our ability to evolve to meet the challenges of the market, and they will play a key role in our delivery of legal services of the highest quality and value to our clients around the world. We look very forward to their ongoing contributions.”

Full list of partners by office:

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Michiel Coenraads, Litigation and Regulatory
Leen van der Marel, Real Estate

Atlanta, United States
Jeremy Corcoran, Corporate

Austin, United States
Rebecca McKnight, Government Affairs

Baltimore, United States
Kathleen Birrane, Litigation and Regulatory
Thomas Grace, Tax

Bangkok, Thailand
Don Rojanapenkul, Litigation and Regulatory

Birmingham, United Kingdom
Phillip Kelly, Litigation and Regulatory

Boston, United States
Brian Awe, Real Estate
Andrew Sroka, Finance and Projects

Brussels, Belgium
Laurent De Surgeloose, Employment

Bucharest, Romania
Alina Lacatus, Corporate

Calgary, Canada
Ryana Mather, Corporate

Chicago, United States
Ferlillia Roberson, Intellectual Property and Technology

Dubai, UAE
Richard Hughes, Corporate
Jamie Ryder, Intellectual Property and Technology

Edmonton, Canada
Veronica Monteiro, Corporate

Frankfurt, Germany
Christian Lonquich, Real Estate
Carlos Robles y Zepf, Corporate

Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Christina Loh, Corporate

Houston, United States
Grayson Stratton, Litigation and Regulatory

Johannesburg, South Africa
Janine Simpson, Litigation and Regulatory

Kyiv, Ukraine
Illya Sverdlov, Tax

Lisbon, Portugal
Vanessa Antunes, Litigation and Regulatory

London, United Kingdom
Chris Arnold, Corporate
Joel Cooper, Tax
Randall Fox, Tax
Steven Krivinskas, Finance and Projects
Christina Lawrence, Litigation and Regulatory
Kelly Lovegrove, Tax
Peter Lowe, Real Estate
Bryony Robottom, Finance and Projects

Los Angeles, United States
Andrew Hoffman, Litigation and Regulatory

Madrid, Spain
Juan Gelabert, Finance and Projects
Ricardo Plasencia, Corporate

Miami, United States
Chad Ehrenkranz, Corporate

Milan, Italy
Alessandro Ferrari, Intellectual Property and Technology
Alessandro Martinelli, Tax
Davide Rossetti, Litigation and Regulatory

Minneapolis, United States
Poonam Kumar, Corporate

Moscow, Russia
Philip Lamzin, Finance and Projects

New York, United States
Evan Parness, Employment

Northern Virginia, United States
Joe Davis, Office of General Counsel

Paris, France
Myriam Mejdoubi, Real Estate
Theobald Naud, Litigation and Regulatory

Perth, Australia
Alyson Eather, Finance and Projects

Philadelphia, United States
Brian Robinson, Litigation and Regulatory

Phoenix, United States
Jared Jensen, Corporate

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Luiz Augusto Osorio, Corporate

São Paulo, Brazil
Carolina Marcondes Sant’Angelo, Corporate

Seattle, United States
Kate Lucente, Intellectual Property and Technology

Sheffield, United Kingdom
Alastair Clough, Litigation and Regulatory

Silicon Valley, United States
SeoJung Park, Tax

Sydney, Australia
Eddie Ahn, Tax

Toronto, Canada
Russel Drew, Finance and Projects
Leslie Frattolin, Employment

Vancouver, Canada
Morgan Burris, Litigation and Regulatory
Michael Mjanes, Real Estate

Warsaw, Poland
Andrzej Balicki, Litigation and Regulatory
Tomasz Rudyk, Litigation and Regulatory

Washington DC, United States
Brad Jorgensen, Government Affairs
David Ridenour, Finance & Projects

Above the Law is reporting that Reed Smith partner Andrei Baev is out a year after joining the firm from Chadbourne & Parke. Baev has come under scrutiny recently for his connections to Republican donor Elliott Broidy.

Bloomberg has reported that Baev contacted Broidy, a Los Angeles-based financier currently serving as deputy finance chair for the Republican National Committee, about working together on a campaign to influence members of the Trump administration in order to alleviate U.S. sanctions against certain Russian companies.

Editor Kathryn Rubino writes that “Norton Rose Fulbright (which last year merged with Chadbourne) has denied that work was done to actually remove Russian companies from the U.S. sanctions list.”

Read the Above the Law article.

CRE8 Independent Consultants presents a free on-demand workshop on law firm process improvement, offering 20 ideas in 20 minutes.

Today, to attract and maintain clients, law firms are being asked to lower fees through discounted rates, alternative fee arrangements, fixed fee through the life of the matter, and to follow client guidelines that restrict who can bill and what expenses can be charged, the company says on its website. Firms can respond by writing off charges (losing profitability) or by examining their internal processes to determine how to increase efficiency and to improve quality. How should AmLaw 100, and 200 law firm Executive Directors, Chiefs, and Partners respond to these challenges? Education is the first step.

This workshop in 20 minutes discusses:

• what are the internal, and external signs a law firm needs process improvement,
• over twenty different areas within a firm that can benefit from process improvement,
• how a firm can use procedural changes (non-technology) to reduce costs, mistakes, communication issues, and re-work; while improving quality and client service,
• why process improvement is important before installing a new computer system,
• process improvement methods for law firms,
• a five-step process improvement method to improve a law firm,
• how to engage professional and administrative staff to participate in, and support the successful roll-out of process changes, and
• how to create a culture within the firm to sustain on-going process improvement.

Sign up for the on-demand workshop.

In the era of online content marketing, the press release seems as quaint and outdated as the fax machine. But a well-written, concise, timely press release remains one of the most potent vehicles for getting your law firm’s story in front of important audiences, writes Amy Boardman Hunt for Muse Communications.

“The reason press releases are more important today is that we’re no longer solely, or even primarily, interested in winning over increasingly hard-to-win-over reporters,” she explains. “Lawyers and law firms who use content marketing are essentially their own publishers now. As long as you have a website, social media or email (ideally, all three), you can tell your own story directly to your clients and potential clients.”

She discusses four reasons why an old-fashioned press release is still a great way to get your story out there, and offers advice on how to get attention for the news.

Read the article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that Bill Voge, the managing partner and chair of Latham & Watkins, has stepped down and resigned from the firm after admitting to inappropriate personal conduct of a “sexual nature,” the firm announced on Tuesday.

The firm said Voge made a series of voluntary disclosures to the firm’s executive committee and then resigned. The conduct he described “involved the exchange of communications of a sexual nature with a woman whom he has never met in person and who had no connection to the Firm.”

“Latham was ranked as the top grossing law firm in the world in 2017, with $2.8 billion in revenue, more than 2,200 lawyers and offices flung all over the world,” writes reporter Casey Sullivan.

Read the Bloomberg article.

Making sure a firm’s website is compliant with State Bar of Texas advertising rules is just one of the many responsibilities for Texas lawyers and law firms who are launching a new site or updating an existing site, writes Bruce Vincent in a blog post for Muse Commuinications.

“Just like television or print advertisements, websites are considered advertising by the State Bar of Texas,” he explains. “That means that your site’s content must be submitted for approval to the State Bar Advertising Review Committee, which has maintained responsibility for approving and monitoring legal advertising, including websites, for more than 20 years.”

He discusses some common ad rules violations, such as misrepresenting specialization and professional honors, making unfair comparison to other firms, improperly listing verdict amounts, and including photos of non-lawyers.

Read the article.

Above the Law takes a look at the law firms that are highest-rated by in-house counsel based on the industries they work in.

The report is based on Above the Law’s Outside Counsel rankings, a broad overview of the 50 firms in-house counsel trust the most when they need outside help.

Elie Mystal takes a look at the firms that were highest rated in finance and in energy. The complete report includes top 10 lists from six different industries: Consumer Products, Energy, Media/Entertainment, Life Sciences/Health Care, Finance, and Tech.

Read the Above the Law article.