Wake Up Call: Boies Loses Three More Partners in New York

In today’s column, legal advisory firm Baretz+Brunelle’s new “talent intelligence” unit is facing trade secrets litigation; President Biden’s nominee for ambassador to Hungary reported his partner pay at Jenner & Block; the UK legal profession watchdog fined a former VW Financial Services general counsel in a conflict-of-interest probe.

• Leading off, Boies Schiller Flexner is losing three more partners from its New York City office, according to reports based on a leaked internal memo. The exits include the head of Boies’ global investigations and white collar defense group Peter Skinner, leaving for Morrison & Foerster. The firm’s co-general counsel Illana Miller is also reportedly leaving. Partner William Marsillo is said to be taking an in-house job at an telecommunications and energy infrastructure company. The firm also announced that it’s consolidating its New York City and Armonk, New York, offices into a regional hub. (Business Insider) (Reuters)
• Legal industry advisory firm Baretz+Brunelle announced the hire of law firm “talent intelligence” specialist Howard Rosenberg to lead its new practice focused on due diligence services for law firms’ lateral hires. The hire has triggered trade-secrets litigation with an existing company in the space, Decipher Investigative Intelligence, which Rosenburg co-founded and left in 2019. (Law.com)
• Magic circle firm Clifford Chance hiked pay for so-called newly qualified UK-based lawyers to 125,000 pounds ($156, 227) in the latest salvo of London’s pay war for junior lawyers. (Financial Times)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• The Biden administration’s nomination for U.S. ambassador to Hungary, Jenner & Block partner David Pressman, reported earning more than $1.8 million from the firm. (National Law Journal)
• Former Volkswagen Financial Services general counsel Jeremy Bouch agreed to pay a fine of 2,000 pounds ($2,502) plus 600 pounds in legal costs to settle a conflict-of-interest probe, the UK’s legal profession watchdog announced. According to his LinkedIn profile, Bouch is now lead legal counsel at Barclays. (SRA.org.UK)
• Insurance payouts to settle legal malpractice claims reached a record high last year according to a report. It says some of those claims, for the first time, were made by insurers against defense attorneys they hired. (Claims Journal)
• Law and lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is moving its Denver headquarters next year to the Block 162 office tower downtown. With a 100,000 square foot space across several floors, Brownstein will be the building’s largest tenant. (Denver Post)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Eversheds Sutherland grabbed longtime Alston & Bird bankruptcy attorney David Wender as Atlanta-based partner and head of corporate debt advisory in its financial restructuring group; former Securities and Exchange Commission counsel Coy Garrison joined Steptoe & Johnson LLP as a partner in Washington in its blockchain & cryptocurrency practice and financial services group; Arnold & Porter snagged Baker McKenzie’s Texas litigation and government enforcement chief Tom Kruse as a partner in Houston.
• Sheppard Mullin appointed its privacy and cybersecurity practice co-leader Liisa Thomas to be managing partner of its Chicago office, the first woman to hold that role; ArentFox Schiff hired former Troutman Pepper employee benefits and executive compensation partner Mamta Shah as a partner in its corporate and securities practice in New York; also in New York, Schulte Roth & Zabel got back investment management attorney Leonora Shalet as a partner. She was at the firm close to 13 years earlier in her career and returns after about 2 years as a partner at Morrison & Foerster. (PR Newswire)
• Norton Rose Fulbright federal tax controversy and litigation partner Robert Kovacev moved to Miller & Chevalier as a member in Washington; U.K. law firm BDB Pitmans will no longer advise on pensions after its entire five-lawyer pensions practice team, including two partners, moved over to Big Law firm Osborne Clarke. (OsborneClarke.com) Apple Inc.’s head of global intellectual property transactions Sarita Venkat announced on LinkedIn that she’s moved to networking giant Cisco as vice president and deputy general counsel of global litigation. (LinkedIn)

Legal Education

• U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, the second woman of color to serve as chief judge in New York’s Southern District, spoke to Fordham Law graduates about the importance of mentorship. (New York Law Journal)