Hourly Rates Are Skyrocketing—and Driving Laterals: The Morning Minute
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May 25, 2023 at 06:00 AM
4 minute read
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
CHARGING UP - It wasn't just talk: hourly rates for law firm partners jumped 4.5% in 2022, driven in part by law firms' fears of profitability losses from inflation and a drop in M&A activity, according to a report from LexisNexis CounselLink. The report, based on $52 billion in legal spending across 420,000 timekeepers and 1.4 million legal matters, says that annual percentage increase was the largest since CounselLink put out its first report in 2013. The largest portion of corporate spending went to partners at the 50 largest firms. Those firms also saw their market share swell to 47.3%, particularly in regulatory and compliance, M&A and financial matters, where the 50 largest firms consumed 55% of legal billing in 2022. "There's all this increased regulatory pressure going on out there. And who do you want to handle this stuff? You're gonna go to the firms that you think had the most insight into this and that's going to be the big firms," report author Kris Satkunas, director of strategic consulting for CounselLink, told Law.com's Maria Dinzeo.
PARTNERS UNDER PRESSURE - As we've covered here before, astronomical rate hikes among big firms have not gone unnoticed by clients. But unhappy clients make for unhappy lawyers and this tension is now starting to result in lateral movement out of the First Hundred and into the Second Hundred, Law.com's Justin Henry reports. The exodus from Big Law has been apparent in practices with the most rate pressure, allowing Second Hundred firms like Ice Miller and McCarter & English along with even smaller shops like FordHarrison to recruit Am Law 100 partners in IP, labor and employment and certain areas of litigation. They're also landing the clients these partners serve. You can dig into all the Am Law 200 data here.
ON THE RADAR - Counsel at King & Spalding on Wednesday removed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against dairy product manufacturer Leprino Foods Co. to Connecticut District Court. The suit, filed by Pullman & Comley on behalf of fitness supplement company Ultimate Nutrition Inc., accuses the defendant of breaching a contract to supply the plaintiff with whey protein. The case is 3:23-cv-00677, Ultimate Nutrition Inc v. Leprino Foods Company. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.
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Who Got The Work
Caroline Pignatelli of Cooley has entered an appearance for law firm Cooley, partner Matt Hallinan, retired partner Michael Tu and a pair of Cooley associates in a pending fraud lawsuit related to the firm's representation of startup company Carbon IQ and founder Benjamin Cantey. The case, filed Sept. 26 in New Jersey District Court by the DalCortivo Law Offices on behalf of Gould Ventures and member Jason Gould, contends that the defendants deliberately or recklessly concealed critical information from the plaintiffs regarding fraud allegations against Cantey. Gould claims that he would not have accepted a position on Carbon IQ's board of directors or made a 2022 investment in the company if the fraud allegations had been disclosed. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch, is 3:24-cv-09485, Gould Ventures, LLC et al v. Cooley, LLP et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom have stepped in to represent PDD Holdings, the operator of online marketplaces Pinduoduo and Temu, in a pending securities class action. The case, filed Sept. 30 in New York Eastern District Court by Labaton Keller Sucharow and VanOverbeke, Michaud & Timmony, contends that the defendants concealed information that rendered the growth of PDD unsustainable and posed substantial risks to PDD’s business, including merchant policies that made it unprofitable for vendors to do business on PDD platforms; malware issues on PDD applications; and PDD’s failure to implement effective compliance systems. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen, is 1:24-cv-06881, Macomb County Retiree Health Care Fund v. Pdd Holdings Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Robert A. Fumerton, Scott D. Musoff, Michael C. Griffin and Judith 'Judy' A. Flumenbaum of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom have entered appearances for PDD Holdings f/k/a Pinduoduo in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Oct. 1 in New York Eastern District Court by the Rosen Law Firm, contends that the defendants concealed the company's sale of goods likely produced by forced labor and its efforts to install malware on users' phones, exacerbating the risk of regulatory and public scrutiny. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Marutollo, is 1:24-cv-06950, Shaw v. Pdd Holdings Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Nicholas M. DePalma and Christian R. Schreiber of Venable have stepped in to represent CP Management Services, CRS RB4 Holdings and other defendants in a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The suit was filed Aug. 30 in Virginia Eastern District Court by Greenberg Traurig on behalf of Daito Kentaku USA. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton, is 1:24-cv-01538, Daito Kentaku USA, LLC v. Comstock Partners, LC.
Who Got The Work
Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs partner Andrew J. Pulliam has entered an appearance for Steve Jensen in a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The action, filed Aug. 30 in Tennessee Middle District Court by the Law Office of Perry A. Craft on behalf of Timothy Robins, accuses the defendant of writing a worthless check for over $94,000 for the sale of auctioned goods. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Eli J. Richardson, is 3:24-cv-01064, Robins v. Jensen et al.
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