“Holland & Knight and Thompson & Knight announced on Friday that they are in talks for a merger that would unite two of the largest law firms from Florida and Texas, respectively,” reports Meghan Tribe in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“According to a joint statement released by the firms and viewed by Bloomberg Law, the two are in the midst of due diligence in connection with the combination that they expect to complete in the next 90 days. A tentative closing date is set for the summer, the statement said.”

“The combined firm would have nearly 1,600 lawyers across 30 offices, placing it among the largest law firms in the U.S.”

“This proposed combination would expand significantly each firm’s presence in important geographic markets and would also improve the breadth of the services offered to clients in key industries, said Mark Sloan, managing partner of Thompson & Knight and Steven Sonberg, managing partner of Holland & Knight, in the statement.”

Read the article.

“Nine Kirkland & Ellis lawyers have taken in-house private equity positions during the first quarter of 2021, with most leaving for legal chief roles,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“Kirkland corporate partner Nadia Karkar left the firm’s San Francisco office last month to join TPG Global LLC as a general counsel based in the same city. Elizabeth Freechack, a New York-based mergers and acquisitions and private equity partner, joined private equity firm L Catterton as a deputy general counsel, also in March.”

“Among other notable exits, Andrew Fleischman, a New York-based corporate partner, jumped to FTV Management Co. LP in February as general counsel. Joshua Merrill, a newly promoted private equity and M&A partner in Dallas, also left that month to become legal chief at Echo Investment Capital.”

Read the article.

“Biglaw has done well — really, really well — in spite of the ongoing pandemic. In fact, the largest law firms in America have done so well that many of them are in the process of handing out millions of dollars’ worth of special bonuses to their hardworking associates. But are there any firms that are willing to do more and increase salaries along with those bonuses?” asks Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“The last time we saw a salary raise was in 2018, when the majority of Biglaw firms increased their base pay for associates to $190K. Earlier this spring, DLA Piper increased base pay for its associates in some offices, and we wondered whether others would follow in the firm’s footsteps, and now, it looks like that day has come.”

Read the article.

“Three lawyers were among the top six highest-paid executives at ViacomCBS Inc. in 2020, according to a proxy statement filed by the media conglomerate,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“General counsel Christa D’Alimonte and fellow attorneys Nancy Phillips and Doretha “DeDe” Lea received more than $12.7 million in total compensation, the April 2 proxy filing shows.”

“The payouts come as the company continues to face shareholder litigation related to the Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. merger a year ago. The reunion of the two companies resulted in rounds of layoffs by New York-based ViacomCBS, which is now divesting itself of non-core assets.”

“Phillips and Lea joined the combined company in late 2019 ahead of the completion of the $11.7 billion all-stock merger. D’Alimonte, a former top lawyer at Viacom who succeeded Michael Fricklas in 2017, assumed leadership of the combined ViacomCBS legal group in December 2019.”

Read the article.

“Law firm mergers may quadruple by the end of the year after cratering in 2020 when offices struggled to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, an Altman Weil report released Tuesday found,” reports John Hughes in Bloomberg Law’s US Law Week.

“Law combinations began a rebound in the first quarter of 2021 with 26 transactions, putting deals on a pace to shatter the total of 65 in all of last year. Acquiring firms on average had 908 lawyers compared with 14 in those being acquired, according to Altman Weil.”

“The Altman Weil findings resemble those of legal consultancy Fairfax Associates, which found firms focusing on smaller combinations. Fairfax Associates recorded 18 completed mergers in the first quarter of 2021, a slight drop from the same time period in 2020, which saw 21 mergers.”

Read the article.

“Bona Law, a national boutique antitrust law firm headquartered in San Diego, announced today that two prominent antitrust attorneys, Pat Pascarella and Jim Lerner, have joined the firm. Together they bring with them more than five decades of experience at top international law firms and a dozen years as chief in-house antitrust counsel at a Fortune 10 company,” released Bona Law in their Law Firm News.

“Pascarella, who moved from a Global Competition Review 100 firm, brings with him wide-ranging experience in antitrust litigation and counseling. He has represented clients facing investigations, enforcement, and litigation in the United States, Mexico, Columbia, and Europe. His career also includes service with the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division in Washington, D.C., and a dozen years as AT&T’s chief in-house antitrust counsel.”

“Lerner moved from Global Competition Review 100 firm Winston & Strawn. He is a global antitrust counselor and litigator who has represented clients before competition enforcers in numerous high-profile U.S. and international criminal and civil cartel investigations involving products such auto parts, carbon fiber, cathode ray tubes, computer components, food flavor enhancers, impact modifiers and processing aids, lysine, and vitamins. He has also defended numerous clients in major multi-district antitrust class actions.”

Read the announcement.

“Will Meyerhofer’s patients lately tell their therapist a similar story. They are working all hours of the day and night. Being the Big Law workhorses they are, they’re going along fine. That’s until they hit a wall, staring at a blank screen when they know they have more work to do,” opines Roy Strom in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“Meyerhofer, a former Big Law attorney who now practices psychotherapy on Zoom based in Manhattan, said burnout among Big Law associates is not a new phenomenon, but it has kicked up to new levels during a pandemic that has seen record levels of demand for associates’ time. One recruiter recently estimated some Big Law associates could be on track to put in an annualized 3,000 billing hours in 2021 if they continue their current pace.”

Read the opinion.

“A corporate litigant disputing the legal bill charged by Squire Patton Boggs has filed a third-party complaint alleging that LexisNexis helped the law firm inflate its fees,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Law Firms.

“… filed by the Armor Screen Corp. against the RELX Group, LexisNexis’ parent company. The suit alleges that LexisNexis charged Squire Patton Boggs a flat rate, but the law firm billed more than $100,000 for what appeared to be separate searches with the help of a LexisNexis product.”

“The product, called PowerInvoice, can be used to generate customized reports. The product was used “to construct sham bills,” according to the suit, filed in Florida’s 15th Judicial Circuit.”

Read the article.

“In an effort to capture this sought-after talent, Biglaw firms are pulling out all the stops. We’re talking big signing bonuses for associates (Above the Law has anecdotally heard they’ve hit six figures), same-day offers, and the opportunity to work remotely with no set date for return to in-person work (Goodwin Procter is even willing to hire associates on a permanent remote basis).” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“So where is this associate battle taking place? According to data by Decipher, a competitive intelligence firm, lateral movement in the most active 10 markets is up double digits in the first two months of 2021 compared to the four-year average.”

Read the article.

“Fried Frank, a firm that place 56th on the Am Law 200 thanks to $776,000,000 in gross revenue in 2019, announced its own special bonuses. As expected for such an elite firm, they’re matching the standard set by Davis Polk,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“At Fried Frank, the two special bonus payments are split equally, which is a nice touch. The billable-hour threshold for the bonuses is 1850, annualized, and associates who miss out on the first payment have an opportunity to catch up if they bill the requisite hours in the back half of the year.”

Read how the payments break down at the firm.

“The role of general counsel and chief legal officers has shifted from a defensive position to an offensive one. Bobby Balachandran, CEO of Exterro, says the Association of Corporate Counsel’s legal officers survey shows more GCs and CLOs are being called on to quarterback compliance, risk mitigation, and data privacy,” reports Bobby Balachandran of Exterro in Bloomberg Law’s Health Law & Business.

“A seismic shift has been occurring over the last several years in the role of general counsel and chief legal officers. This role is now focused as much on business risk as legal risk.”

“The increasingly overlapping responsibilities among legal, privacy, compliance, security, and IT teams in global companies are creating new challenges for GC and CLOs everywhere. Rapidly evolving regulations and laws are forcing them to assume a broader role in organization-wide compliance and risk mitigation strategies.”

Read the article.

“Massachusetts’ top court ruled Thursday that a Duane Morris litigation partner got off too easy when she was suspended for six months for overbilling clients at her prior law firm, saying her actions reflected manifest “dishonesty” and deserved a two-year suspension instead,” reports Reuters Legal in Thomas Reuters’ Westlaw Today.

“The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned a single justice’s decision to impose a six-month suspension on Doreen Zankowski, saying her billing practices while at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr showed a “reckless indifference” to what her clients should be charged.”

“Justice David Lowy, writing for the 4-0 court, said that by all accounts, Zankowski had worked ‘exceptionally hard, was one of the firm’s highest revenue producers, and achieved excellent results for her clients.'”

Read the article.

“… a trend that was started by Willkie on Friday, March 19, 2021 (offering between $7,500 and $40,000), and quickly one-upped by Davis Polk on Monday, March 22, 2021 (offering between $12,000 and $64,000) — many firms quickly fell in line and matched the generous scale,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

Above the Law has compiled a comparison table of “special bonus scale, the minimum hours required to receive those bonuses (if available), and the date those bonuses will be paid.

Read the article.

“Global law firm Hogan Lovells has opened a Legal Service Center (LSC) in the firm’s Louisville office. The LSC provides dedicated services to the Corporate & Finance practice with an initial focus on due diligence analysis and review services. The LSC is co-located with the firm’s existing Global Business Service team,” reports Hogan Lovells in their Press Releases.

“The LSC currently has a team of five dedicated to providing legal services related to corporate and finance matters. The team is led by Robert Fleu, who joined the firm in May 2020, and has 20 years of combined experience in-house and at an Am Law 200 law firm. Hogan Lovells expects to grow the team at the LSC over time to meet increasing client needs.”

“Currently focused on providing due diligence support for M&A, capital markets, and other transactional matters, the team plans to add additional capabilities to support all of the core practices of the firm’s Corporate & Finance practice. These will include areas such as fund formation, finance, bankruptcy, private equity, and venture capital.”

Read the article.

“A new pair of bonuses recently introduced by Big Law to reward and retain associates may not be enough to keep them in their seats in a hot job market and amid what recruiters call increasing lawyer burnout,” reports Meghan Tribe in Bloomberg Law’s US Law Week.

“Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Davis Polk & Wardwell kicked off the new bonus race earlier this month, offering up to $64,000 per attorney.”

“Through March 29, more than 20 Big Law firms have matched this “special bonus” scale, including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Cooley, Fenwick & West, Latham & Watkins, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Kirkland & Ellis is among a number of Big Law firms that have yet to announce a match.”

“The case for bonuses is simple: Big Law business is booming, particularly in the corporate space, and extra cash could help recruit and retain associates. On the other side of the equation is the lure of a hot job market and burnout from the heaviest workloads firms have faced in recent memory, along with personal pressures caused by Covid-19.”

Read the article.

“Day Pitney LLP announced that it will expand its East Coast presence through a merger with Rhode Island-based law firm Howland Evangelista Kohlenberg LLP, a dedicated trusts and estates boutique handling complex and sophisticated planning, probate and trust matters for high net worth individuals and families. Nine attorneys, including name partners Renée A. R. Evangelista and A. Max Kohlenberg, will join the firm’s Individual Clients department, growing its ranks to nearly 80 attorneys, once the merger is completed effective July 1, 2021,” announced Day Pitney in their Press Releases.

“The combined firm will retain the Providence office and all personnel of Howland Evangelista Kohlenberg. The attorneys joining Day Pitney have experience in estate planning, estate settlement and trusteeship. Evangelista, admitted in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island, handles sophisticated estate planning and implements estate settlement techniques to save clients gift, estate and income taxes, while ensuring that their property passes according to their wishes. Kohlenberg, admitted in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, focuses on complex estate and trust planning, with particular emphasis on representing multigenerational family groups, professionals, executives and owners of closely held businesses.”

Read the announcement.

“Way back in September 2020, when Biglaw firms were busy rolling back their COVID austerity measures, one firm decided to offer a sign of hope for all associates. After surviving salary cuts, furloughs, and sometimes even layoffs, their firms really did appreciate all of the hard work they were putting in during the pandemic,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“Cooley — a firm that hadn’t announced any compensation cuts — stepped up and offered special bonuses ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 for all associates and counsel. Of course, Davis Polk upped the ante (just like the firm did this spring), but Cooley deserves all the credit in the world. Now, the firm is here to match Davis Polk once again.”

Read the article.

“Which firm is the latest to fall in line and offer up bountiful bonuses in recognition of its attorneys’ hard work?,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“That would be Paul Weiss. Chairman Brad Karp sent a memo yesterday evening detailing all of the hard work associates and counsel had put in during 2020 and beyond, including work for their communities in the firm’s coronavirus relief center and for its racial justice, social justice, and voter-protection initiatives.”

Read the article.

“Debevoise & Plimpton’s associates and counsel in the U.S. will receive special bonuses in June and September of this year, as Big Law seeks to reward lawyers for their hard work during Covid-19 and to retain valuable talent,” reports Rebekah Mintzer in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“The dual cash payouts will total between $12,000 and $64,000 depending on the attorney’s seniority, according to a firm memo obtained by Bloomberg Law late Wednesday. This is on par with the totals offered by others over the past week, including fellow Wall Street firms Davis Polk & Wardwell, Milbank, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.”

Read the article.

“New York’s Davis Polk & Wardwell, whose fall 2020 bonuses set the standard for top law firms looking to reward pandemic-weary associates, said Monday it will give associates extra bonuses in the spring and fall of 2021, too. The special 2021 bonuses range from $12,000 combined for the class of 2020 up to $64,000 for the class of 2014 and earlier,” reports Reuters Legal in Thomson Reuters Westlaw Today.

“Associates will be paid between $4,500 and $24,000 on April 26 and then from $7,500 up to $40,000 on September 30, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. They’ll also get a typical year-end bonus.”

Read the article.