“Holland & Knight has bolstered its data strategy, security and privacy team with Hilary Lane, a partner who has longtime experience both at law firms and in-house at Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal,” reports Sara Merken in Reuters.

“Lane jumps to Miami-based Holland & Knight from Quarles & Brady, which she joined about a year ago.”

“Holland & Knight has more than 1,400 lawyers and professionals in 27 offices. The firm last month announced merger discussions with Dallas-based Thompson & Knight, a deal which would give it 275 additional lawyers and three new locations.”

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“Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is hiring Brock Dahl, a former deputy general counsel at the National Security Agency, as the U.K-founded firm that opened in Silicon Valley last year continues to bolster its technology practice,” reports Roy Strom in Bloomberg Law’s US Law Week.

“Dahl will serve as counsel at Freshfields, working out of Washington and Silicon Valley. He said in an interview he anticipates advising clients on issues including cross-border data transfers, data breach incidents, shifting ad-tech policies, and emerging areas such as a new subpoena power being wielded by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”

“Freshfields is the latest Big Law firm to grow its cybersecurity and data privacy practice, an area in high demand with cyberattacks on the rise and new data regulations being proposed and implemented at a rapid clip by U.S. states and foreign jurisdictions.”

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“Lowenstein Sandler has announced that Robert A. Johnston, Jr. has joined the firm as partner in its White Collar Criminal Defense group. He will be based in the New York office,” announced Lowenstein Sandler in their Firm News.

“Johnston’s practice includes investigations, regulatory counseling, pre- and post-transaction due diligence and monitoring, and compliance monitorships, with a special focus on representing private fund managers and portfolio companies and advising on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), anti-money laundering (AML), and trade sanctions compliance. His previous experience includes investigations and compliance projects in over 30 countries across six continents and matters involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commissions, and other state and local regulatory bodies, across a wide range of sectors, including technology, life sciences, consumer and retail, and financial services and private equity.”

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“Three large law firms have agreed to reduce fee applications by $1 million in their bankruptcy representation of Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription pain medication OxyContin, after the U.S. trustee alleged a failure to disclose a common interest agreement,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Verdicts & Settlements.

“The three law firms are Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; and Dechert.”

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“Dentons — a firm with almost 11,000 lawyers spread across the globe, with most of them situated in the U.S. — announced yesterday that they’d be matching market bonuses for associates,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“To receive a full bonus, associates must meet 2,000 creditable billable hours by year, and those who hit 2,250 hours or more will be entitled to a bit of a bonus boost. Only associates on track to hit their minimum hours will receive bonus money.”

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“Biglaw firms across the country continue to hand out special bonuses to associates and counsel as a way to thank them for their dedication during the pandemic — and to keep them around amid an incredibly hot lateral market. Other firms are going a step further and instituting salary increases, raising those in major markets to the standard Biglaw salary scale (if they weren’t already there), and others in smaller markets by tens of thousands of dollars,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“According to emails sent by management earlier this week at Ice Miller, an Am Law 200 firm, effective July 1, 2021, all full-time associates and partner-track counsel will receive at least a $20,000 raise. With this raise comes an 1,850 billable hours expectation, and adjustments to the firm’s bonus plan will also be made in connection with these salary increases.”

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“Data privacy attorney Hilary Lane has joined Holland & Knight’s Tampa office as a partner. Ms. Lane was formerly the chief privacy officer for NBCUniversal. She is a member of Holland & Knight’s national Data Strategy, Security & Privacy Team,” posted Holland & Knight in their News.

“Ms. Lane, a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), has extensive experience helping businesses navigate the privacy and cybersecurity landscape nationally and around the globe. As chief privacy officer for NBCUniversal, she built, implemented and led its global privacy program across diverse operating units and drove strategy throughout the organization. Building on that experience, Ms. Lane takes a strategic and practical approach, working closely with clients to design and implement global data privacy and security programs tailored to their business. Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Lane was a partner at Quarles & Brady.”

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“Schiff Hardin is stepping into a hot merger market that may put it in competition with other firms feeling pressure to scale up as quickly as possible,” reports David Thomas in Thomson Reuters Westlaw Today.

“The Chicago-based law firm is on the hunt for a merger partner after seeing its ranks steadily deplete over time, ever since a sizable group broke off to form Riley, Safer, Holmes & Cancila in 2016, said William Sugarman, founder and president of Windy City recruiting firm Astor Professional Research”

“Industry consultants have reported that the market for significant law firm mergers is heating up again after a pandemic-induced slowdown. Merger activity had reached record levels in recent years, only to plummet when the COVID-19 crisis led firms to tighten belts and kept law firm leaders close to home for much of 2020.”

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“There is limited good news at K&L Gates. Associates that bill a bunch of hours — well over the firm’s typical bonus hour requirement — will get special bonuses in line with the market rates sweeping the industry. But, woo boy, the firm’s extensive memo outlining the bonus is a real read,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“Take a look at this gem, where the firm tells associates they need to care about more than just what other firms are paying:
We believe the Associate experience at K&L Gates is and should be an outstanding and rewarding career path for reasons going well beyond hours worked and what other firms are undertaking and expecting in the markets.”

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“Sullivan & Cromwell — an agency that introduced in gross income of $1,555,441,000 in 2020, inserting it at No. 18 in the latest Am Law 100 rating — is requiring all workers to return to the workplace in individual on July 6. The information of the total reopening of the agency’s U.S. workplaces was introduced earlier this month throughout a call with all attorneys. No e-mail has been despatched out on the matter,” reports Staci Zaretsky in VBLSA’s Criminal Defense.

“… quite a few associates … are removed from pleased with the state of affairs. Why’s that? Because the agency has reportedly not made any point out of the potential for distant, work-from-home preparations going ahead.”

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“Sidley is is pleased to announce that Tom Califano is joining the firm’s global Restructuring group. Mr. Califano will be a partner in the New York office. He joins from DLA Piper where he was the global co-chair and U.S. chair of the Restructuring group,” released Sidley in their News.

“As a nationally recognized restructuring lawyer, Mr. Califano represents large private and public companies, both in and out of court, buyers of distressed companies, and significant ad-hoc creditor constituencies with a particular focus on company and buyer-side representations. During his more than 30 years in practice, he has extensive experience working within multiple industries, including healthcare, energy, and financial services restructurings.”

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“Though Biglaw has largely thrived throughout the pandemic, there’s still been a wave of layoffs throughout the industry, as firms try to tweak their model to respond to industry changes. Now comes word that yet another Biglaw firm is readying their own round of layoffs,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above The Law’s Biglaw.

“Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance is reportedly looking at between 44 and 73 layoffs of staff members in its London office. According to Roll on Friday, the departments impacted will be those hardest hit by the move to work from home, spurred by COVID-19. As such, secretaries, those in document production, and mail room staff will be offered severance packages in a ‘hybrid voluntary/compulsory redundancy approach.’ The firm is hopeful this will reduce ‘the number of compulsory redundancies needed.'”

“During the height of the pandemic, Clifford Chance avoided furloughs or layoffs, but now the firm says the time has come.”

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“Back in March, after completing an incredibly successful financial year against all odds in the face of a pandemic, DLA Piper decided it was high time to increase associates’ salaries outside of its major market offices. Slowly but surely, other firms began to follow in DLA’s footsteps: first came Alston & Bird, and then came King & Spalding,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“Midwestern firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister, which is now doing business as Taft Law following its early 2020 merger with Minneapolis-based Briggs and Morgan. Effective July 1, the firm will increase salaries for all associates by $10,000, and increase first-year salaries as well, based on the following matrix:”

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“The nation’s 100 highest-grossing law firms had an average 6.6% increase in gross revenue last year, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Law.com’s reporting on its Am Law 100,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.

“The increase topped the 5% revenue growth for the Am Law 100 in 2019, Law.com reports. Across all 100 firms, revenue hit $111 billion. Revenue per lawyer increased nearly 5% to $1.05 million, while profits per equity partner increased 13.4% to $2.23 million.”

“These 10 law firms topped the Am Law 100 list:”

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“Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. is billing at $2,295 as a partner at Covington & Burling, according to a contract that the firm signed with a public university,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in Above the Law’s Law Firms.

“Holder revealed his hourly rate in a March 30 letter to the Oregon Health & Science University, report the Oregonian, the National Law Journal and Oregon Public Broadcasting.”

“The letter confirms that Holder and his firm have been hired by the university to investigate harassment, discrimination, bullying and intimidation. Covington & Burling will discount its hourly rates by 10%.”

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“Littler Mendelson appears to have parted ways with a shareholder who allegedly misrepresented to a federal court that human resources software company ADP LLC wasn’t complying with a subpoena when in fact it had,” reports David Thomas in Westlaw Today.

“ADP was nearly sanctioned by an Alabama federal judge last month when subpoenaed documents it submitted in a class action lawsuit never made it to the plaintiffs. That’s because the defendants’ attorneys at Littler never produced those documents, telling the court that ADP was refusing to comply.”

“As a result, Littler has been forced to pay more than $63,000 of ADP’s legal fees, with another fee payment coming thanks to a Wednesday ruling from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Beaverstock. And there may have already been other repercussions as well: A Littler shareholder who allegedly misled the court, Gavin Appleby, was no longer listed on the firm’s website as of Friday.”

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King & Spalding, “the firm, ranked 21st on the Am Law 100 with $1,338,607,000 in 2019 gross revenue, announced special bonuses for associates yesterday. As one would expect from a firm with over a billion dollars in gross revenue, they’ve matched the market standard for associates, set by Davis Polk,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“And there’s more good news for associates in the memo, especially those in smaller market offices. The firm also announced that they are moving to a unified compensation and bonus structure for all U.S. associates, so those offices that were not previously on the $190,000 scale will see raises.”

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“The top in-house lawyer at Amazon.com Inc. received a total compensation package of nearly $17.2 million in 2020, according to the company’s annual proxy statement filed Thursday,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Daily Labor Report.

“David Zapolsky, Amazon’s general counsel since 2012, saw the bulk of his pay comprised of roughly $17 million in stock awards. He also drew a base salary of $160,000. Zapolsky has not previously been one of Amazon’s highest paid executives. He became an executive officer last year, according to Amazon’s proxy.”

“Amazon has faced an array of complex legal issues over the last year as the Seattle-based company’s fortunes soared during the coronavirus pandemic. It hired thousands of employees—including lawyers—to respond with an uptick in online shopping and an increased emphasis on workplace safety, two areas that have also have important implications for antitrust and labor law.”

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“The latest firm to announce bonuses is Katten Muchin, a firm that brought in $669,709,000 gross revenue in 2019, placing it at #63 in the most recent Am Law 100 ranking. The firm has of course matched the Davis Polk special bonus scale …”, posts Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“Although the firm’s standard billable requirement for bonuses is 2000 hours, Katten is only requiring 1900 hours annualized (including pro bono, firm citizenship, and firm legal work) for these special bonuses. The May payment is based on four months of work, and the September payment is based on eight months of work. The firm is offering two catch-up payment periods in August and December so that everyone will have the opportunity to reap these rewards.”

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“It’s always a big day when Kirkland & Ellis’ year-end financial results are unveiled. There was even an extra little buzz this year after the Financial Times reported in January that the firm may be the first to crack $5 billion in revenue,” opines Roy Strom in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“The semi-official results came in last week, and the firm’s top line didn’t quite reach $5 billion. Still, Kirkland did have another blowout year: revenue up 16% to $4.8 billion, and profits per equity partner up nearly 20% to nearly $6.2 million, The American Lawyer reported.”

“Here’s why Kirkland is on my mind today: In a year of financial returns that look like historical anomalies, the firm’s performance didn’t really stretch the imagination. It has been putting up eye-popping numbers for a while now.”

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