ADDITION AND ATTRITION - Goodwin Procter averaged one deal every eight hours during the past two years, a level of productivity that further fueled the firm’s 60% jump in head count since October 2019 and 28% growth in profits per equity partner in a remarkably strong 2021 fiscal year. But, as Law.com’s Dan Roe reports, the demand also came with historic turnover: Goodwin has gained or lost more than 1,000 lateral associates since 2020, averaging about one lateral associate move per day, according to an American Lawyer analysis of three years of hiring data from Law.com Legal Compass. In total, 646 associates joined the firm in lateral moves while 392 departed, leaving a net gain of 254 associates. More than 100 associates came and went within the three-year span, and 28 stayed for 12 months or less. Goodwin has also welcomed more than 280 first-year associates in the past two years, per Law.com Compass data.
SETTLING IN NORCAL - Securities lawyers, keep your eyes on the Northern District of California. Sure, the high-wattage trial against Elon Musk didn’t even yield enough money to buy a blue checkmark for your Twitter profile but still: there’s undeniably something about that jurisdiction that seems conducive to the sorts of cases that produce big nine-digit mega-settlements. As Law.com’s Ross Todd writes in his Litigation Daily column, two of the top 10 securities settlements tracked by ISS Securities Class Action Services in 2022 occurred in the Northern District of California, just behind the three that landed in the undisputed securities litigation hotbed of the Southern District of New York. The question now is whether the NDCA can fully solidify its spot as the go-to mega-settlement venue behind the SDNY.
