Author: TSA Press

A
week
after
Milbank

got
the
bonus
party
started,
and
only
a

couple
of
days
since
Cravath
got
on
board,
Biglaw
firms
are
starting
to
come
around.
So
far,
it’s
mostly
Am
Law
50
firms,
and
the
latest
addition
to
the
associate
bonus
party
is
no
exception.

Today
Dechert,
#39
on
the
ranking
with
$1,293,528,000
in
gross
revenue
last
year,
announced
bonuses.
The
base
bonus
schedule
should
look
familiar
—
it’s
a
match
of
the

Milbank
special
and
year-end
bonuses.

Associates
that
bill
a
total
of
1,950
qualifying
hours
(client,
pro
bono
and
community)
are
eligible
for
these
bonuses,
payable
before
the
end
of
January
2025.
Associates
that
hit
higher
billable
thresholds
are
eligible
for
even
more
cash.
At
the
2,200
mark
associates
can
expect
an
extra
30%.
At
2,400
associates
are
looking
at
a
40%
bump.
Full
details
on
the
bonuses
are
available
in
the
firm’s
memo,
available
in
full
on
the

next
page.

So
is
your
firm
matching
*both*
the
year-end
and
special
bonuses?
Let
Above
the
Law
know!
We
depend
on
your
tips
to
stay
on
top
of
important
bonus
updates,
so
when
your
firm
matches
(or
if
they
fail
to
do
so),
please
text
us
(646-820-8477)
or email
us (subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Matches”).
Please
include
the
memo
if
available.
You
can
take
a
photo
of
the
memo
and
send
it
via
text
or
email
if
you
don’t
want
to
forward
the
original
PDF
or
Word
file.

And
if
you’d
like
to
sign
up
for
ATL’s
Bonus
Alerts
(which
is
the
alert
list
we
also
use
for
salary
announcements),
please
scroll
down
and
enter
your
email
address
in
the
box
below
this
post.
If
you
previously
signed
up
for
the
bonus
alerts,
you
don’t
need
to
do
anything.
You’ll
receive
an
email
notification
within
minutes
of
each
bonus
announcement
that
we
publish.
Thanks
for
all
of
your
help!

---

Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email

her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter

@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon

@[email protected].

---

---

For
a
very
long
time,
taking
the
LSAT
was
the
thing
you
did
if
you
were
serious
about
attending
law
school.
Now
there’s
a
lot
more
wiggle
room.
The
ABA
recently
voted
to
create
a
process

that
will
let
law
schools
bypass
evaluating
standardized
testing
scores
altogether.
That
said,
law
school
applicants
may
find
it
beneficial
to
still
take
a
standardized
test
in
case
the
score
strengthens
their
resume.
The
LSAT
is
still
the
tried
and
true
evaluator,
but
competing
test
options
like
the
GRE
and
JD-Next
may
one
day
usurp
the
top
spot.
But
these
experimental
options
aren’t
just
changing
what
applying
for
law
school
looks
like,
they’re
also
changing
hands.
JD-Next
is,
at
least.

Reuters
has
coverage:

Aspen
Publishing
has
bought
alternative
law
school
admissions
program
JD-Next
from
the
University
of
Arizona
James
E.
Rogers
College
of
Law,
the
company
said
on
Tuesday.

Aspen
purchased
the
program,
developed
at
the
Arizona
law
school
in
2019
as
an
alternative
to
the
widely
used
Law
School
Admission
Test,
for
an
undisclosed
amount.
So
far,
56
law
schools—more
than
a
quarter
of
all
American
Bar
Association-accredited
campuses—have
received
ABA
permission
to
use
JD-Next
test
scores
when
admitting
students.

The
change
in
ownership
may
be
the
push
Aspen
needs
to
grow
JD-Next
as
a
competitor
to
the
LSAT.
It
is
also
happening
at
a
time
that
the
importance
of
standardized
testing
may
be
on
the
decline.

LSAT
Competitor
Sold
Amid
Push
For
Alternative
Law
School
Admissions
[Reuters]

Earlier:

And
Then
There
Were
57:
5
More
Schools
Accept
JD-Next

Got
Good
Grades?
You
Might
Not
Even
Have
To
Bother
With
The
LSAT
Anymore!

---

Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s.
 He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
cannot
swim, a
published
author
on
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected] and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.

We’d
already

heard
from
Paul
Hastings
about
annual
bonuses
and
now
we’re
closing
the
loop
with
word
from
the
other
half
of
Biglaw’s
version
of
the
Paul
brothers.
Just
don’t
make
us
decide
which
is
Jake
and
which
is
Logan.

Paul
Weiss,
21st
on
The
American
Lawyer’s
2024
Am
Law
100
ranking
having
put
up
over
$2
billion
in
gross
revenue
in
2023,
will
be
joining
the
annual
bonus
party.

And,
as
expected,
the
firm
will
match
the
special
bonus
amounts
that
Milbank
handed
out
over
the
summer.

Bonuses
will
be
paid
on
December
20.

It’s
been
a
busy
year
for
Paul
Weiss
from
a
business
perspective.
They’ve
got
a

new
non-equity
tier,
gone
deep
in

a
lateral
partner
hiring
streak,
embarked
upon
an
effort
to

move
into
the
booming
Houston
market,
and

never
gave
up
on
expanding
its
associate
ranks.
Matching
the
market
is
just
one
more
component
of
a
firm
operating
at
the
top
of
Biglaw.

Memo
recreated
on
the
next
page…

Remember
everyone,
we
depend
on
your
tips
to
stay
on
top
of
this
stuff.
So
when
your
firm
matches,
please
text
us
(646-820-8477)
or email
us (subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Matches”).
Please
include
the
memo
if
available.
You
can
take
a
photo
of
the
memo
and
send
it
via
text
or
email
if
you
don’t
want
to
forward
the
original
PDF
or
Word
file.

And
if
you’d
like
to
sign
up
for
ATL’s
Bonus
Alerts
(which
is
the
alert
list
we’ll
also
use
for
salary
announcements),
please
scroll
down
and
enter
your
email
address
in
the
box
below
this
post.
If
you
previously
signed
up
for
the
bonus
alerts,
you
don’t
need
to
do
anything.
You’ll
receive
an
email
notification
within
minutes
of
each
bonus
announcement
that
we
publish.

---

Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or

Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a

Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.

---

---

It
was
22
years
ago
yesterday
that
I

launched
this
blog.
For
its
continued
existence,
I
owe
four
debts
of
gratitude:

• To
  you,
  the
  readers,
  without
  whom
  this
  blog
  would
  have
  no
  reason
  to
  exist,
  and
  whose
  feedback
  and
  engagement
  over
  the
  years
  has
  been
  the
  greatest
  reward.
  There
  are
  still
  a
  handful
  of
  you
  who
  have
  been
  with
  me
  from
  the
  beginning.
• To
  the
  advertisers,
  who
  have
  been
  generous
  in
  sponsoring
  this
  blog
  over
  the
  years.
• To
  everyone
  at
  Justia,
  to
  whom
  I
  will
  be
  forever
  grateful
  for
  
  rescuing
  this
  blog
  from
  near-demise
  in
  2010
  and
  for
  continuing
  to
  host
  this
  blog
  to
  this
  day,
  not
  to
  mention
  helping
  us
  launch
  the
  
  LawNext
  Legal
  Technology
  Directory.
• To
  the
  innovators
  and
  entrepreneurs
  of
  legal
  tech,
  who
  consistently
  amaze
  me
  with
  their
  ingenuity
  and
  creativity
  and
  make
  every
  day
  of
  covering
  legal
  tech
  more
  exciting
  than
  the
  one
  before.

For
more
of
the
story
of
why
I
started
the
blog
and
how
it
evolved,

see
this
post.

As
the
end
of
2024
approaches,
I
find
myself
reflecting
on
the
year
that
has
been.
This
past
year
has
been
unique
for
me
not
because
of
any
extraordinary
achievements
or
career-defining
moments.
The
year
has
been
unique
because
I
have
done
something
I
have
never
allowed
myself
to
do
before.
I
made
a
conscious
decision
to
take
a
pause
and
just
be
present.

As
lawyers
—
especially
those
of
us
in-house
—
the
pressure
to
do
more
and
to
prove
our
value
by
how
busy
we
are
is
often
present.
Meetings,
emails,
reports,
crisis
management
—
it
can
feel
endless.
But
this
year,
I
realized
that
I
don’t
always
have
to
hustle.
I
don’t
have
to
be
busy
for
the
sake
of
being
busy.
I
don’t
have
to
accept
every
opportunity
that
comes
my
way
to
write,
to
speak,
to
host,
or
to
moderate.
The
legal
profession,
in
general,
often
rewards
constant
activity
but
is
that
really
the
best
way
to
work?
Or
to
live?

This
year
I
decided
to
stop
buying
into
the
busy
to
be
busy
mindset.
I
stopped
rushing
through
each
task
just
to
get
to
the
next
one.
I
took
time
to
breathe
and
to
appreciate
where
I
am
and
what
I
have.
I
didn’t
just
fill
up
my
after-work
hours
with
“productive”
activities
—
I
made
space
for
the
things
that
really
matter.
That
change
in
mindset
allowed
me
to
spend
more
time
with
my
colleagues,
my
friends,
and
my
family.

• It
  gave
  me
  the
  chance
  to
  support
  colleagues
  (and
  their
  families)
  who
  were
  faced
  with
  personal
  and
  professional
  challenges.
  We
  attended
  events
  together.
  We
  ate
  together.
  We
  were
  present
  for
  each
  other.
• It
  gave
  me
  the
  chance
  to
  get
  to
  reconnect
  and
  spend
  time
  with
  old
  friends
  and
  deepen
  bonds
  with
  new
  friends.
• It
  gave
  me
  the
  chance
  to
  be
  with
  my
  family
  as
  we
  said
  goodbye
  to
  my
  grandmother
  and
  as
  we
  welcomed
  two
  more
  babies
  into
  the
  family.

These
moments
—
the
sad
ones
and
the
happy
ones
—
they
matter.
In
the
legal
profession,
we
are
taught
to
compartmentalize,
to
stay
professional
no
matter
what
and
to
go,
go,
go.
The
problem
is
when
you
are
always
on
the
go,
you
are
constantly
thinking
about
the
next
deadline
and
you
find
yourself
missing
the
important
moments
that
truly
shape
your
life.

Here’s
the
thing
about
those
important
moments
—
they
are
fleeting.
You
never
know
how
long
those
moments
will
last.
This
year
reminded
me
of
the
immense
value
in
simply
being
still,
in
allowing
yourself
to
experience
life
without
the
constant
hum
of
busyness.

2024
wasn’t
about
climbing
the
ladder
or
hitting
new
career
milestones.
It
was
about
living.
It
was
about
stepping
back,
taking
things
in,
and
appreciating
the
here
and
now.
I
didn’t
burn
out
this
year.
Instead,
I
gave
myself
permission
to
simply
be
—
and
it’s
made
all
the
difference.
I’m
grateful
for
the
time
I
spent
with
my
loved
ones
and
for
the
lessons
that
this
quieter
year
has
taught
me:

• I
  have
  learned
  that
  success
  isn’t
  all
  ways
  measured
  in
  productivity
  or
  how
  many
  tasks
  we
  complete.
• I
  have
  learned
  that
  success
  can
  be
  measured
  by
  the
  richness
  of
  the
  relationships
  we
  nurture,
  the
  personal
  growth
  we
  experience,
  and
  the
  balance
  we
  bring
  into
  our
  lives.

The
work
will
always
be
there,
but
the
people
you
love
won’t
be.
The
deadlines
will
come
and
go,
but
the
memories
you
make
—
those
are
the
things
you
will
want
to
hold
on
to.
As
lawyers,
we
do
have
choices.
We
do
not
have
to
live
in
a
perpetual
state
of
hustle.
We
can
find
those
quiet
moments,
and
we
can
embrace
them.
And,
for
that,
I
am
truly
grateful.

Giving
ourselves
permission
to
pause,
reflect,
and
be
present
in
the
moment
is
one
of
the
most
valuable
choices
we
can
make
—
for
our
well-being
and
for
those
we
care
about.

Sometimes,
the
greatest
gift
you
can
give
yourself
is
the
space
to
enjoy
the
journey.

For
this,
I
am
also
grateful.

---

Lisa
Lang
is
an
in-house
lawyer
and
thought
leader
who
is
passionate
about
all
things
in-house. 
She
has
recently
launched
a
website
and
blog
Why
This,
Not
That™
(www.lawyerlisalang.com
)
to
serve
as
a
resource
for
in-house
lawyers. 
You
can
e-mail
her
at




[email protected]


,
connect
with
her
on
LinkedIn 
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawyerlisalang/)
or
follow
her
on
Twitter
(@lang_lawyer).

Ever
since
Biglaw
started
bestowing
a

variety
of
bonuses
upon
associates,
we’ve
received
a
slew
of
emails
from
law
firm
support
staff
wondering
what
their
fate
may
be
as
the
Benjamins
continue
to
rain
down
upon
their
colleagues.
After
all,
it
takes
an
army
for
law
firms
this
large
to
run,
and
the
behind-the-scenes
battalions
of
staff
members
deserve
their
due,
too.

Which
firms
have
gone
out
of
their
way
to
show
their
support
staff
that
they
truly
matter?
Which
firms
have
dipped
into
their
pockets
to
say
thank
you
to
their
staff?

This
is
exactly
what
we’d
like
to
know.
If
your
firm
has
offered
bonuses
of
any
kind
to
staff
members,
please
be
sure
to
reach
out
to
us.
We
want
to
know
if
your
firm
is
really
spreading
the
wealth
to
all
employees.

Remember
everyone,
we
depend
on
your
tips
to
stay
on
top
of
compensation
updates,
so
when
your
firm
announces
or
matches,
please
text
us
(646-820-8477)
or email
us (subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Bonus/Matches”).
Please
include
the
memo
if
available.
You
can
take
a
photo
of
the
memo
and
send
it
via
text
or
email
if
you
don’t
want
to
forward
the
original
PDF
or
Word
file.

And
if
you’d
like
to
sign
up
for
ATL’s
Bonus
Alerts
(which
is
the
alert
list
we
also
use
for
salary
announcements),
please
scroll
down
and
enter
your
email
address
in
the
box
below
this
post.
If
you
previously
signed
up
for
the
bonus
alerts,
you
don’t
need
to
do
anything.
You’ll
receive
an
email
notification
within
minutes
of
each
bonus
announcement
that
we
publish.
Thanks
for
your
help!

---

Staci
Zaretsky is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law,
where
she’s
worked
since
2011.
She’d
love
to
hear
from
you,
so
please
feel
free
to

email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
comments,
or
critiques.
You
can
follow
her
on

X/Twitter
and

Threads
or
connect
with
her
on

LinkedIn.

---

---

Law
firms
are
facing
more
financial
reporting
demands
than
ever
before.

While
many
consider
new
avenues
to
help
decode
and
present
financial
data,
others
find
the
solutions
as
intimidating
as
the
problem.

This
new
report,
compiled
from
an
Above
the
Law
survey
of
nearly
300
legal
professionals,
explores
the
challenges
law
firms
face
on
their
journey
to
better
BI,
including
the
decision
to
buy
or
build,
deciding
the
right
KPIs
to
measure
firm
and
individual
performance,
tackling
adoption,
and
why
law
firms
have
been
so
slow
to
integrate
BI
into
their
business.

Download
it
to
explore:

• Key
  challenges,
  including
  stakeholder
  buy-in
  and
  KPI
  selection
• Satisfaction
  and
  ROI,
  including
  common
  success
  metrics
  and
  law
  firm
  views
  on
  their
  BI
  systems
• Adoption
  insights,
  including
  unexpected
  value-adds
  and
  reducing
  law
  firm
  workloads
• Future
  outlook,
  including
  top
  priorities
  and
  the
  impact
  of
  AI
  adoption

When
you’re
a
major
Biglaw
firm
with
big
budgets
and
dedicated
IT
professionals,
major
legal
technology
vendors
eagerly
court
your
business.
Small
firms
willing
to
commit
to
one
of
the
bigger
practice
management
providers
can
attend
some
wonderful
user
conferences
and
learn
about

a
whole
ecosystem
of
partner
products.

But
at
a
certain
point,
lawyers
need
tech
to
better
provide
for
their
clients
and
they
don’t
have
Am
Law
100
resources
or
the
need
to
lock
into
a
whole
brand.
Where
do
they
go
for
a
survey
of
the
field
of
available
products?

On
October
10,

HeyCounsel
—
which
bills
itself
as
“a
230+
strong
community
of
vetted,
thoughtful
&
committed
lawyers
who
are
building
their
practices
together”
—
hosted
its
first

Demo
Day,
a
gathering
of
legal
technology
vendors
focused
on
the
small,
solo,
and
fractional
lawyer
markets.
The
event
invited
16
companies
to
present
their
tools
and
services,
offering
attorneys
a
chance
to
evaluate
emerging
solutions
in
a
collaborative
setting.

The
format
was
straightforward:
each
vendor
had
eight
minutes
to
showcase
their
technology,
followed
by
a
four-minute
Q&A.
The
day
was
split
into
morning
and
afternoon
sessions,
with
attendees
casting
votes
to
select
the
most
compelling
offering
by
the
end
of
the
event.

The
featured
technologies
spanned
a
range
of
applications.

Reclaim.ai,
for
instance,
is
a
scheduling
tool
that
integrates
with
existing
calendars
to
streamline
time
management.

PointOne
provides
an
AI-powered
timekeeping
and
pre-bill
review
platform.

GC
AI
offers
a
generative
AI
system
designed
for
in-house
counsel,
with
automated
document
drafting
and
up-to-date
strategic
advice.
Other
tools
aimed
at
contract
automation,
client
communications,
and
compliance
tracking.

In
addition
to
the
main
event,
HeyCounsel
provides
other
resources
for
its
members,
such
as
curated
templates,
discounts
on
tech
products,
and
opportunities
to
connect
with
peers
and
mentors.
These
offerings,
along
with
events
like
Demo
Day,
reinforce
the
organization’s
focus
on
empowering
lawyers
to
make
informed
choices
about
their
practices.

Events
like
these
allow
lawyers
to
see
live
presentations
and
engage
directly
with
creators
while
surrounded
by
peers
facing
the
same
obstacles.
Never
underestimate
the
value
of
hearing
someone
ask
the
one
perfect
question
you
couldn’t
quite
think
of
in
the
moment.

Plus,
networking
with
friends
is
a
better
use
of
your
time
than
scouring
online
reviews.
You
spend
enough
time
by
yourself
in
a
solo
practice…
don’t
let
all
that
isolation
make
you
weird.

---

Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or

Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a

Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.

Woo-hoo!
Biglaw
bonus
season
is
officially
in
full
swing,
with
Biglaw
firms
announcing
their
bonus
schedules
at
a
rapid
clip.
We
can
now
report
that
Cleary
Gottlieb,
ranked
36th
on
the
Am
Law
100
with
$1,491,568,000
in
gross
revenue
in
2023,
has
let
associates
at
the
firm
know
they’ll
be
paid
the
top
of
the
market
compensation.

The
following
scale
is
what
the
firm
announced
today:

As
you
can
see,
it’s
a
match
of
the
Milbank
scale
—
both
the
traditional
annual
ones
and
the
special
bonuses
Milbank
gave
out
back
in
the
summer.
The
bonuses
will
be
paid
out
on
December
20th.

So
is
your
firm
matching
*both*
the
year-end
and
special
bonuses?
Let
Above
the
Law
know!
We
depend
on
your
tips
to
stay
on
top
of
important
bonus
updates,
so
when
your
firm
matches
(or
if
they
fail
to
do
so),
please
text
us
(646-820-8477)
or

email
us (subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Matches”).
Please
include
the
memo
if
available.
You
can
take
a
photo
of
the
memo
and
send
it
via
text
or
email
if
you
don’t
want
to
forward
the
original
PDF
or
Word
file.

And
if
you’d
like
to
sign
up
for
ATL’s
Bonus
Alerts
(which
is
the
alert
list
we
also
use
for
salary
announcements),
please
scroll
down
and
enter
your
email
address
in
the
box
below
this
post.
If
you
previously
signed
up
for
the
bonus
alerts,
you
don’t
need
to
do
anything.
You’ll
receive
an
email
notification
within
minutes
of
each
bonus
announcement
that
we
publish.
Thanks
for
all
of
your
help!

Read
the
full
memo
below.

2024
Bonus
and
2025
Salary
Memorandum
–
Associates
on
the
U
S
Salary
Scale

---

Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email

her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter

@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon

@[email protected].

---

---

In
a
scandal
that
rocked
the
business
community,
a
former
high-profile
executive
was
sentenced
to
prison,
plus
five
years
of
supervised
release
and
restitution.
The
crime?
Embezzling
an
astonishing
$10
million
within
a
matter
of
months.
The
case,
however,
was
not
a
simple
paper
trail:
it
required
an
intensive
investigation
by
the
Forensic
Services
Practice
at

Charles
River
Associates
that
was
marked
by
meticulous
accounting
analysis,
advanced
digital
sleuthing,
painstaking
document
reconstruction,
and
robust
private
investigator
services.

It
all
began
when
a
public
company
hired
a
new
Chief
Marketing
Officer
(“Mr.
CMO”).
Within
days
of
arrival,
Mr.
CMO
launched
plans
to
take
the
company’s
marketing
strategy
in
new
directions.
He
purportedly
placed
company
funds
on
deposits
for
different
endorsements,
advertisements,
and
a
billboard
in
Times
Square.
He
then
manipulated
those
contracts
with
vendors
(including
some
that
had
undisclosed
related-party
ties
to
himself)
to
redirect
funds
back
to
his
personal
custody
and
control.

These
funds
were
used
on
spending
sprees
including
multiple
lavish
homes,
numerous
romantic
partners,
a
private
plane,
plastic
surgery,
luxury
watches,
jet
skis,
and
a
Mercedes
SUV.

A
year
later,
the
company
went
through
a
reduction
in
force,
and
Mr.
CMO
found
himself
out
of
a
job–perhaps
not
surprising
since
his
various
marketing
“investments”
had
never
actually
generated
much
of
a
return
on
investment.
Only
then
did
the
company
discover
alarming
signs
of
his
nefarious
activities.
CRA’s
forensic
experts
were
brought
in
by
the
company’s
board
to
investigate
what
had
happened,
assist
with
civil
recoveries,
and
give
comfort
to
management
and
the
external
auditors
that
they
were
on
the
right
path
forward
to
fixing
the
financial
statements.

Mr.
CMO
had
exploited
his
position
with
a
precision
that
was
both
daring
and
calculated.
He
had
created
fake
accounts,
fabricated
invoices,
and
manipulated
payment
records
to
reroute
company
funds.
Each
fraudulent
transaction
was
concealed
under
layers
of
legitimate
payments,
a
smoke
screen
that
would
take
weeks
to
clear.
This
was
no
opportunistic
theft
but
had
all
the
markings
of
a
deliberate,
calculated,
premeditated
scheme.

To
add
to
the
intrigue,
CRA’s
experts
employed
genealogical
research,
discovering
information
stemming
from
a
30-year-old
murder
case
that
linked
Mr.
CMO
to
a
sibling
who
was
also
involved
in
the
fraud.
Mr.
CMO
had
legally
changed
his
name
some
years
earlier,
which
had
helped
to
obfuscate
the
related
party
nature
of
some
of
the
key
transactions.

Armed
with
this
information,
the
company
successfully
pursued
civil
recovery
of
its
stolen
assets,
and
documentation
was
turned
over
to
the
U.S.
Attorney
for
criminal
charges.
They
obtained
phone
call
recordings
in
which
Mr.
CMO
was
inquiring
about
countries
without
extradition
treaties
with
the
US,
trying
to
figure
out
how
he
and
his
assets
could
escape.

Ultimately,
Mr.
CMO
pleaded
guilty
to
wire
fraud
and
contempt
charges,
receiving
a
four-year
prison
sentence,
five
years
of
supervised
release,
and
an
order
to
pay
restitution.

CRA’s
Forensic
Services
Practice
was
proud
to
deploy
the
roster
of
technical
skills,
sophisticated
tools,
investigations
experience,
and
professional
judgment
to
nimbly
bring
this
assignment
to
a
successful
close.