“Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google LLC have hired a pair of public policy experts to expand their antitrust and energy capabilities,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Business and Practice.

“Sean Pugh and James ‘Jamey’ Goldin left Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, respectively, this month for in-house legal roles at the technology giants.”

“Pugh, a former Senate Judiciary Committee staffer who served as antitrust counsel to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), confirmed in an email that he joined Amazon’s public policy shop July 6.”

“Pugh joined Amazon after five months at Faegre Drinker, a law firm that hired him as counsel in March for its litigation group in Washington. Faegre Drinker advised Boulder, Colo.-based warehouse robotics startup Canvas Technology LLC on its $100 million sale to Amazon in 2019.”

Read the article.

“Law grads have had employment offers rescinded at 49% of the law schools surveyed by the National Association for Law Placement,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Latest News.

“Hardest hit were graduates of schools in the Southeast region, where 57.5% of the schools reported rescinded offers; and schools with more than 750 students, where 61% reported rescinded offers. ”

“Rescinded offers were most common in private practice. Among schools that reported rescinded offers, 85% said private sector employers had done so.”

Read the article for more findings.

Read the article.

“Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner co-chairs Steve Baumer and Lisa Mayhew sent a firmwide email letting everyone know that it will be laying off attorneys and staff as a result of the coronavirus crisis. On top of that, the firm will be shuttering its Beijing office,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“BCLP will offer severance to the affected lawyers and staff based on the higher salaries they received prior to the cuts that the firm instituted in April and reimburse the 15 percent salary cuts to those who are laid off before they leave the firm. The firm will also offer outplacement coaching and counseling to those who are let go.”

“Sources have already told us that associates in the firm’s Phoenix and Dallas offices have been affected by the layoffs. Let us know if your office has been impacted.”

Read the article.

“Many attorneys doing public defender work do so under contract with counties – meaning they get paid a flat amount, regardless of the number of hours they work. And that’s the primary method of public defense in about a third of Indiana,” reports Brandon Smith in Indiana Public Media.

“Many lawyers in Indiana doing public defender work earn less than minimum wage, after accounting for overhead costs.”

“Those attorneys have significant overhead costs that public defenders who are employees of the counties don’t have, staffing and office space the most significant.”

“And when taking into account those overhead costs, the Public Defender Commission’s survey says contract attorneys earn less than $6 per hour.”

Read the article.

“Hughes Hubbard & Reed has laid off some associates and staff members after receiving a paycheck protection loan from the federal government,” reported by Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal.

“The law firm confirmed layoffs of “certain attorneys and staff” in a statement to Above the Law. The statement did not provide specifics.”

“Hughes Hubbard provided this statement to the ABA Journal: “We decided in the early stage of the pandemic to keep our entire team intact for as long as we could, hopeful for a swift economic recovery. We were one of the more than 100 firms that decided in the early stage of the pandemic to apply for the [paycheck protection program] and were approved based on the [Small Business Administration] criteria. That money was used for its intended purpose, to save jobs during the worst of the crisis.”

Read the article.

“It’s been a very long time coming, but Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton and Atlanta-based Troutman Sanders have finally completed their merger to create Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders, a 1,100-lawyer firm with combined legacy revenue of $900 million in 2019, making it one of the 50 highest-grossing firms in the country,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“The merger was publicly announced in November 2019 and the firms were originally supposed to combine on April 1, 2020, but the pandemic put a damper on their plans. ‘While we are well-positioned to execute the combination on April 1, we believe the decision to postpone is in the best interest of our attorneys, staff, and clients,’ the firms noted in a March announcement, postponing the merger to July 1 due to the “unprecedented” challenges associated with the coronavirus crisis. In the meantime, both firms enacted austerity measures like pay cuts to control costs while COVID-19 wreaked economic havoc across the country.”

“Now that Troutman Pepper is finally here, with 26 offices spread across the country, CEO and chair Stephen Lewis, who formerly served as Troutman’s managing partner, is ready to get this party started.”

Read the article.

“A new lawsuit filed in Kansas state court by propane supply company Ferrellgas Partners, an ex-client of Biglaw firm DLA Piper, alleges the firm engaged in ‘strident double-dealing’ that was only revealed when the wrong invoice was mistakenly sent to Ferrellgas,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“In July of 2018, the company hired DLA Piper for debt restructuring advice. According to the suit, the work on that matter naturally tapered off by November of that year, but the representation was not formally terminated. However, in November of 2019 Ferrellgas received a $14,000 invoice, signed by Thomas Califano — the same restructuring partner they’d previously worked with — for research about Ferrellgas. During that same time, the company was fielding hostile takeover threats.”

“The lawsuit says that after inquiries from Ferrellgas, DLA returned their client file and that the firm says an internal investigation revealed the client information was not used in connection with work for any other client. But the lawsuit draws the conclusion that the invoice revealed DLA was working for adverse interests.”

Read the article.

“Gov. Steve Sisolak on Sunday called for an investigation into the arrests of several legal observers at a protest against police brutality this weekend on the Strip,” reports David Ferrara in Las Vegas Review Journal’s local news.

“At least seven attorneys and law students who documented interactions with police and demonstrators were taken to jail late Saturday.”

“News of the arrests drew condemnation from public officials and attorneys on social media.”

“Attorneys are trained to ‘take notes and not engage with either side.’”

Read the article.

“The Law Offices of Jeffrey Lohman has faced some significant setbacks in litigation with Navient purporting that Lohman’s office set up TCPA lawsuits in violation of RICO. While no substantive ruling has been entered in that suit yet, the Court has at least preliminarily found that emails between Lohman and his clients are discoverable pursuant to the crime-fraud exception to the A/C privilege,” reports Eric J. Troutman in

“But Lohman’s office had a better day … in a suit in federal court in Missouri.”

“The Johnson case is quite different from the Navient matter in that it is not a RICO case and does not directly challenge Lohman’s (alleged) conduct of encouraging folks to stop payment to create possible TCPA lawsuits. Rather the suit involves the relationship between Lohman and something called Burlington Financial Group, which allegedly took $2,500.00 from the Plaintiff for debt services it (allegedly) never provided.”

“Lohman’s role in the overall transaction appears to be pretty limited.”

Read the article.

“Two more law firms announced pay cuts in the past week, marking a third slow week of bad news,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.

“If larger law firms lose the same percentage of lawyers as in 2008 to 2010 during the financial downturn, there will be 20,000 jobs lost, Simons wrote. Most of the departures—17,000 of them—would be in the nation’s top 100 grossing law firms, he said. The other 3,000 departures would be in second hundred firms.”

“The entire legal services sector has already surpassed that number in job losses. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the sector lost 64,000 jobs in April.”

“The two firms that announced cuts in the past week are Reed Smith and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan.”

Read the article.

“Just because information relating to your representation of a client might be publicly available, your duty of confidentiality means that you can’t disclose it if it is not ‘generally known.’ The two concepts — public availability and being ‘generally known’ — are not the same, as a New Jersey lawyer learned earlier this month when the state supreme court imposed a one-year suspension in a disciplinary case that (among other things) involved a Yelp review,” reports Karen Rubin in Thompson Hine’s in The Law for Lawyers Today Confidentiality.

“According to the disciplinary board’s decision, the lawyer represented a client in a child custody matter and achieved a ‘seemingly good result’ via settlement. Over a year later, however, the client posted ‘poor reviews’of the lawyer’s services on several websites. In turn, as set out in the board decision, the lawyer posted a review of the client’s massage business on Yelp, where he said that the client ‘is a convicted felon for fleeing the state with children. A wonderful parent. Additionally, she has been convicted of shoplifting from a supermarket. Hide your wallets well during a massage. Ooops, almost forgot about the DWI conviction. Well maybe a couple of beers during a massage would be nice.'”

“After the client complained, the lawyer sought to explain his actions, according to the board decision. He admitted he was ‘very upset’ by the client’s negative Yelp rating of his practice, and felt that his response was justified because ‘what was good for the goose was good for the gander.'”

Read the article.

“A Biglaw firm finds itself the defendant in a lawsuit over an issue a lot of folks feel right now — late rent,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“According to the lawsuit, filed in Illinois, the Biglaw firm of Jenner & Block is behind on its rent for the firm’s Chicago office. Landlord Hart 353 North Clark LLC, affiliate of global real estate investment management firm Heitman LLC, said in a lawsuit filed May 20th in Cook County Circuit Court the firm owes $3,726,415.74, plus late fees and interest, for its 416,000+ square feet of office space.”

“But not so fast, the firm contends their lease provides an out. Randy Mehrberg, co-managing partner, that the firm’s partners are availing themselves of a provision in their lease agreement that provides rent abatement if the space cannot be used as intended. And he assures everyone this rent dispute is not a harbinger of financial troubles for the firm.”

Read the article.

“Plaintiffs lawyers shouldn’t have been awarded $280,000 for negotiating a $15,000 settlement, a Los Angeles appeals court has ruled,” reports John O’Brien in Legal Newsline Stories.

“The California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District issued its ruling on May 21 in a blow to lawyers who claimed to spend more than 800 hours on the lawsuit and initially requested close to $600,000 in fees and expenses.”

“The decision comes in a former server’s lawsuit against Fleming’s Steakhouse & Wine Bar’s. She alleged she was deprived her 10-minute breaks, but her lawyers claimed the settlement included wage and hour claims that entitled them to recover fees.”

“Afterwards, attorneys at Felahy Employment Lawyers and Yash Law Group sought $580,794 in fees and more than $16,000 in costs, claiming they spent 869.6 hours were incurred. They said the wage and hour claims were ‘closely intertwined’ with retaliation and wrongful termination claims.”

Read the article.

Lawyer, Robert Theofanis launched his estate planning practice in mid-2019. His “plan was to start off with below-average fees and by the end of the first year increase them to the high end of the market,” discusses Theofanis in ABA Journal’s Your Voice.

After working his way through those clients, he started charging his published fees, which were about average for the area.

He was hitting his stride at the start of 2020 and felt it was time to increase his fees. “At the time, I was in the middle of a marketing program and decided to hold off on increasing fees until after I updated my website with new marketing content.”

“Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.”

In the end, he decided to raise his fees for two reasons.

Read the article.

“A Dallas law firm fired an employee after he wrote in a Facebook post that lambasted businesses that require customers to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic and made references to firearms and ammunition,” report Dana Branham in The Dallas Morning News’ Public Health.

“The law firm, Thompson & Knight, called the post ‘threatening and offensive’ in a statement.”

“The firm’s chief marketing officer, Kelby Luther, confirmed Monday that the terminated employee is Kevin Bain, who had worked as a document services manager based in Dallas.”

“Luther said the firm’s statement refers to a widely shared Facebook post in which Bain referred to the Whole Foods grocery store on Lomo Alto Drive in Highland Park, saying that any business that insists he wear a mask ‘will get told to kiss my Corona ass and will lose my business forever.'”

Read the article.

“Biglaw is an industry-specific nickname for high-revenue law firms with large headcounts. It can also refer to smaller firms that pay their lawyers a market rate salary, or even a medium-sized outfit with wide, international reach and notoriety,” writes Joshua Holt in Law Fuel’s blog.

“All of these types of firms are typically headquartered in major US cities, like Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, with multiple branches in smaller markets. And, most notably, lawyers who work in Biglaw can expect to be paid based on the Cravath scale.”

“The Cravath Scale, an offshoot of the Cravath system, is named after Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, the firm which is generally considered the authority on setting associate salaries. Its compensatory functions include factors like the number of years out of law school and particular law school classes, among others.”

“Lawyers on this pay scale not only earn the same salary but can also anticipate receiving the same annual market bonus. Based on the lockstep and closely monitored structure of the scale, if one firm offers an associate a higher salary, other firms tend to follow suit. But while this scale is based on a platform of consistency, changes have been experienced throughout the years.”

Read the article.

“In the wake of the market disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, a number of employers have announced temporary salary reductions as a means of conserving cash, and thus demonstrating sound stewardship. This memorandum discusses key considerations for companies and boards that are contemplating a salary reduction program for members of executive management,” discuss John J. Cannon III, Doreen E. Lilienfeld, Gillian Emmett Moldowan, Matthew Behrens and Max Bradley in Shearman & Sterling’s Perspectives.

“Companies considering implementing a base salary reduction for executives should begin with a careful review of their existing contractual requirements to determine whether the reduction could trigger the right of an executive to terminate employment for ‘good reason.’ ‘Good reason’ (or constructive termination) rights may arise under employment agreements or in severance plans. ‘Good reason’ triggers may also engender consequences under equity or incentive compensation arrangements and deferred compensation plans.”

“Each arrangement that includes a ‘good reason’ construct should be analyzed to determine whether the contemplated reduction in base salary could trigger an argument of constructive termination. The company ought to consider whether the salary reduction is significant enough to cause a trigger if the ‘good reason’ definition is qualified by materiality and if ‘good reason’ is triggered when the salary reduction is part of an across-the-board program that reduces salaries for the entire company or similarly situated employees. If it is determined that the salary reduction could trigger ‘good reason,’ employers should seek consent and waivers from the executives before proceeding.”

Read the article.

“As mentioned in previous articles, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has substantially impacted the legal profession. Economic issues have affected the need for legal services, which has forced law firms to reduce headcount, lower salaries, and take other efforts to weather the storm. However, based on my own experience, some practice areas seem to be expanding in the current environment, and other practice areas are struggling because of COVID-19,” writes Jordan Rothman in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“If attorneys have a good sense of the practice areas that are expanding and contracting in the current environment, they can best weather the storm of COVID-19.”

Read the article.

“Baker Donelson is imposing temporary pay cuts, reducing partner draws, and furloughing some employees because of the financial impact of the COVID-19 epidemic,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Latest News.

“Baker Donelson confirmed the measures in this statement provided to the ABA Journal: ‘We have undertaken a number of measures to ensure the financial stability of the firm moving forward, which includes shareholder reduction in draws and salary that have already been implemented,’ the statement said. ‘This will be followed over the next few weeks by temporary salary reductions across the firm and with a furloughing of some employees. … Our hope is that, once this crisis subsides, we will eventually be able to bring the furloughed team members back to Baker Donelson. Until then, we are providing them with support to help minimize the impact of what we know is an extremely trying situation, particularly in these highly uncertain times.'”

Read the article to find what other law firms are following suit by taking temporary measures in response to work slowdowns.

Read the article.

“Top in-house lawyers are getting their compensation cut along with other executive officers as the new coronavirus causes widespread economic distress,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Corporate Governance.

“Marriott International Inc., the Cheesecake Factory Inc., and other companies have announced plans to cut pay for top executives. Bloomberg Law recently reported that gaming company Accel Entertainment Inc.’s leadership is going even further, foregoing 100% of their pay until it hopes normal business operations resume next month.”

“Veta Richardson, president and CEO of the Association of Corporation Counsel, said that she can’t recall another time when executive pay cuts have become so extensive.”

Read the article.