Boies Schiller's Bad Stretch, The Perils of Being In-House at Home, Defunct Law School's Deal OK'd: The Morning Minute
Here's the news you need to start your day.
June 15, 2020 at 06:00 AM
4 minute read
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
BOIES OF SUMMER – The next few months could be interesting ones for Boies Schiller Flexner as it seeks to chart a path forward after the recent departures of executive committee members Bill Isaacson and Karen Dunn, which one former partner described as "devastating." Dylan Jackson and David Thomas report that, according to information provided by sources, the work generated by Isaacson and Dunn, as well as a group of West Coast partners who left this year, could be as much as $100 million. The firm, however, strongly denied that figure, adding that "the vast majority of the most profitable business remains with the firm." Still, Boies Schiller has lost 11% of its total head count and 24% of its partnership in the last six months, and there are more departures on the horizon, though the firm says those will be the result of an ongoing restructuring. Stay tuned.
IN-HOUSE, STRESSED OUT – Contrary to popular belief, it is not necessarily easier for in-house lawyers to actually work in houses. In fact, a new flash poll by the Association of Corporate Counsel suggests that many of them are having a rough go of working remotely. Phillip Bantz reports that, in addition to several other troubling findings, more than 43% of respondents said they were experiencing anxiety, nearly 50% reported having trouble switching off from work and nearly 75% were experiencing moderate to very high levels of burnout.
LAST CLASS - Nearly three years after closing its doors, Charlotte Law School appears to have closed the book on a long-running class action against it by former students who alleged they were kept in the dark about the school's accreditation troubles. Katheryn Tucker reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last week affirmed a $2.65 million settlement in the case, despite objections by some class members that the amount was woefully insufficient.
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EDITOR'S PICKS
Rogue Employee, Not Hacker, Posted Pro-Trump Tweet, California Court Says
DC Circuit Didn't Sound Eager to Force Dismissal of Case Against Michael Flynn
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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
CONSCIOUS UNCOUPLING – Eversheds Sutherland and Singaporean firm Harry Elias are breaking up—but it seems to be for the best. Anna Zhang reports that the combination, which was a first-of-its-kind arrangement when approved in 2017, is coming to an end in July. Philip Fong, managing partner of Eversheds Harry Elias, said the firms' agreement had included a mechanism by which they could decide at the three-year mark whether to renew the merger. "In hindsight this was timely, especially given the challenges facing the legal sector in Singapore and around the world," Fong said.
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WHAT YOU SAID
|"All of us should feel terrible about black women making up less than 1% of the equity partners in law firms. We should be saying that cannot stand in 2020. Take that on."
|— Jeanne Gills, partner and intellectual property lawyer at Foley & Lardner, calling for law firms to commit to making real progress on diversity.➤➤ Sign up here to receive the Morning Minute straight to your inbox.
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