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Another top law firm has instituted cost-cutting measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019 Holland & Knight had gross revenue of $1,026,809,000, making it number 38 on the Am Law 100, but big revenue numbers in the past aren’t always enough to insulate Biglaw firms from the lurking economic uncertainty caused by coronavirus.

In a firmwide email (available in full on the next page), Managing Partner Steven Sonberg announced staff furloughs and salary cuts for partners, associates, and staff. Cuts to partner draws average 25 percent at the firm, and are done on a progressive scale. Associates, counsel, and senior professionals will see compensation cut by 17.5 percent. Staff making $75,000-$150,000 will have a 10 percent pay cut and staff making $150,000+ get a 15 percent reduction.

One tipster at the firm said of the cuts, “This is particularly discouraging as Holland & Knight is known for paying below market compensation even though they are billion dollar revenue firm.” Another said simply, “aw shucks.”

A spokesperson for the firm provided the following statement on the austerity measures:

Holland & Knight announced today adjustments to the firm’s U.S. operations in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The plan includes temporary reductions in both partner draws and compensation for associates, counsel, senior professionals, and staff, as well as the furlough of some staff members.

Partner draws have been reduced on average by approximately 25% under a progressive scale that requires more highly compensated partners to absorb a higher percentage reduction. The firm will generally reduce the compensation of associates, counsel, and senior professionals by 17.5%. In addition, staff who earn more than $75,000 but less than $150,000 will have their compensation reduced by 10%, while staff who earn more than $150,000 will see a 15% reduction. Staff earning less than $75,000 will not be impacted.

The principal consideration in selecting staff for furlough was whether the current environment precluded or limited the firm from utilizing the staff members. Those furloughed will continue to receive their benefits during the furlough. All of these measures will remain in effect for the next 60 days, during which time the firm will evaluate the advisability of continuing, eliminating, or altering them.

In 2019, Holland & Knight’s revenue and net income increased for the tenth straight year. According to Steven Sonberg, the firm’s Managing Partner, “The firm entered the current crisis in a strong financial position. Nevertheless, it is not immune from the effects of the economic downturn. In order to meet the challenges we face, we are asking all members of Holland & Knight to sacrifice in some way as the firm continues to evaluate its operations. Our proactive, but measured, approach to management has served the firm well during the past and we are confident it will do so during this crisis.”

If your firm or organization is slashing salaries, closing its doors, or reducing the ranks of its lawyers or staff, whether through open layoffs, stealth layoffs, or voluntary buyouts, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Our vast network of tipsters is part of what makes Above the Law thrive. You can email us or text us (646-820-8477).

If you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Layoff Alerts, please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the layoff alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each layoff, salary cut, or furlough announcement that we publish.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).

It’s no secret that the Germans have had their differences with the European Central Bank which, while it has not been as profligate as certain members of the Eurozone and was certainly useful in bringing Greece to heel, was also perhaps a bit looser with the purse strings under a citizen of one of those members than it would have been under a properly tightfisted Teuton. This lingering frustration with the spending of German euros on things Germans do not want is certainly felt by the members of Germany’s Constitutional Court, which chose this week to express those feelings by essentially declaring the ECB unconstitutional under Germany’s Basic Law.

Earlier this week, Cadence Counsel — the in-house division of Lateral Link, and a certified Women’s Business Enterprise — announced the appointment of Monique Burt Williams as its new CEO. Monique brings with her almost two decades of experience in the legal world: after graduating from law school, she worked at a prominent litigation boutique, before becoming a leader in the world of legal staffing.

Yesterday, I connected with Monique by phone — she’s based in Chicago, where she’s working from home with her husband and two kids — to discuss her impressive background, why she joined Cadence, and how both employers and lawyers can navigate the challenging times in which we live.

DL: Welcome to Lateral Link, Monique! To start off, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

MBW: David, thank you! I’m thrilled to be here.

Well, I was born and raised in a small beach town in western Michigan. My parents are retired educators. My dad is a retired basketball coach, and I am a retired gymnast, so I grew up with a deep appreciation for service, creativity, and hard work. I completed my undergraduate coursework at the University of Michigan, then attended Indiana University for law school. Through a completely unexpected chain of events, I left firm life to join the legal staffing industry, which — some 12 years later — led me to accept the CEO role with Cadence Counsel. I feel like I have lived about seven different lives, but each experience really can be traced back to the lessons of that beach town in some way. And so here we are…

DL: And what drew you to the opportunity to take the helm at Cadence Counsel?

MBW: I have been following the success of Lateral Link and Bridgeline Solutions for quite some time, and I was intrigued when [Lateral Link founder] Mike Allen approached me with the prospect of leading Cadence Counsel. I was impressed by what he and his team have built over the years. Beyond the firm’s pedigree and depth of talent, I think that I was most drawn to the organization’s philanthropic history.

Although talks of my joining Cadence Counsel began pre-pandemic, once the coronavirus’s implications became apparent, I quickly learned that Mike and I were aligned as to how Cadence Counsel should lead the in-house placement industry through this period of uncertainty and beyond. That was the final confirmation that I needed. I knew that this family of companies was a perfect fit for me, and I knew that I could be useful in the role.

DL: As readers of Above the Law well know, these are challenging times for the legal profession. What role do you see yourself and Cadence Counsel playing in terms of helping lawyers and employers in this uncertain environment?

MBW: It’s my job to ensure that Cadence Counsel’s vision remains intact in any environment, whether certain or uncertain. We are here to promote the utilization of elite, diverse interim counsel within corporate law departments. Contract attorneys have been around for decades; they have simply endured various marketing spin cycles over the years. The concept has always been the same: law departments can reduce their overall legal spend by turning to talented contract attorneys. This model makes just as much sense when things are “normal” as it does when we are battling a pandemic.

What sets us apart, I think, is Cadence Counsel’s willingness to join our clients on the same side of the table when tackling the business challenges that law departments face. We focus on offering immediate solutions, not hopeful sales pitches. Our COVID-19 Bridge Program is a prime example. Right now, associates are struggling to remain employed, while corporate law departments are attempting to manage increasing workloads with headcount and budgets that are leaner than ever. The industry needed immediate, no cost relief, and we have positioned ourselves to provide that relief. Whenever the next challenge arises – and it will – we will engineer a solution to that situation as well.

DL: You just mentioned the COVID-19 Bridge Program. Can you say a bit more about it?

MBW: The COVID-19 Bridge Program was created as a direct response to the hardships that the legal industry is facing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In an effort to help corporations as they manage increased workflows with reduced coverage, Cadence Counsel is deploying interim counsel on a complimentary basis to corporate law departments. That’s what is so exciting about this program. We are continuing our core practice of matching world-class interim talent with successful corporations, but we are doing so in a way that will allow everyone’s shoulders to just relax for a second while we work together to figure this out. The hope is that our clients will use this unprecedented opportunity to advance the productivity of their law departments in these challenging times.

DL: You’ve talked about how Cadence Counsel tries to see things from the perspective of the in-house employers it serves. What advice would you offer corporate counsel about talent management today?

MBW: One of the most important things in-house leaders can do right now is encourage creativity and diversity of thought. Corporations are making executive-level decisions based on field-based challenges; real issues need to be illuminated, tangible solutions identified. If you are hearing radio silence when posing questions on conference calls or if you are getting the same suggestions from the same team members, chances are high that your teams reflect a homogeneous mindset. This is the perfect opportunity to inject your workforce with a fresh, diverse perspective.

DL: And turning to the candidate side of the ledger, what advice would you offer individual lawyers right now?

MBW: I would love to see lawyers reach out to Cadence Counsel with their ideas for industry improvement. Our aim is to approach each placement with a fresh set of eyes, and our candidates play a key role in that effort. I would also suggest mentioning even the most intricate details when walking our team members through professional and personal experiences, as there may be a specialized talent or perspective that we may highlight that will set them apart from other applicants.

DL: Is there a silver lining to the current cloud hanging over us?

MBW: The silver lining for me is that my lawyer husband and I have figured out how to sleep train a five-month-old and potty train a two-year-old in the middle of a pandemic! That’s another thing I would suggest to lawyers who are attempting to navigate today’s uncertain environment: try to find and celebrate the wins in each day, no matter how small they may feel. They will energize you for all of the work that awaits our industry on the other side of this.

DL: So very true. Thanks for taking the time to chat, Monique, and welcome once again to Lateral Link!

If you’re an in-house lawyer seeking permanent or temporary talent, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Monique. You can contact her by email or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Cadence Counsel Names Monique Burt Williams as Chief Executive Officer [Business Wire]

Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts from Lateral Link’s team of expert contributors. David Lat is a managing director in the New York office, where he focuses on placing top associates, partners and partner groups into preeminent law firms around the country.

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Lateral Link is one of the top-rated international legal recruiting firms. With over 14 offices world-wide, Lateral Link specializes in placing attorneys at the most prestigious law firms and companies in the world. Managed by former practicing attorneys from top law schools, Lateral Link has a tradition of hiring lawyers to execute the lateral leaps of practicing attorneys. Click ::here:: to find out more about us.

Stay in school, kids! Study hard, make the right connections, go from the Ivy League to a prestigious SCOTUS clerkship, and one day you too can be a MAGA troll boarding an airplane during mass contagion so you can get a hideous haircut to own the libs.

As a legal matter, Shelley Luther was not “wrongly imprisoned when she refused to apologize for trying to earn a living.” Luther was jailed for contempt of court because she violated both a state closure order and a court-issued restraining order to keep her Dallas salon closed during the coronavirus pandemic. When given a chance to apologize for violating the court’s explicit instruction to keep her salon closed a few days longer, she refused to do it.

“If you would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that your actions were selfish, putting your own interest ahead of those in the community in which you live,” Dallas Civil District Judge Eric Moyé told Luther during last week’s hearing, he offered to simply fine her and allow her to go home instead of serving a seven-day sentence.

Luther chose to go to jail instead.

“I have to disagree with you sir, when you say that I’m selfish because feeding my kids is not selfish,” Luther said. “I have hairstylists that are going hungry because they’d rather feed their kids. So sir, if you think the law is more important than kids being fed then please go ahead with your decision but I’m not going to shut the salon.”

You pays your money, you takes your chances. Or, in this case, you raise $500,000 of GoFundMe cash, become a right wing celebrity martyr, and get released from jail two days later by the Texas Supreme Court.

Here’s former Alaska governor Sarah Palin practicing serious social distancing with the salon’s stylists this week.

And so Ted Cruz, fashion icon, literally got on a plane and flew to Dallas to get his hair cut in Luther’s salon in recognition of her brave defiance of state law and court order.

Truly a pair of civil rights icons! Now check out the final product.

Oh.

Hmm.

Maybe … it was for a good cause?

Yikes! Well, freedom isn’t free, people. As Thomas Jefferson said, the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the hair clippings of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz Gets a Hair Cut at Dallas’ Salon a la Mode [NBC Dallas]

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Elizabeth Dye (@5DollarFeminist) lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

The Department of Justice is moving to drop the case against Michael Flynn, claiming that they just don’t have any evidence, a curious claim since Flynn twice agreed under oath to a statement of facts that spells out every element of the crime and is about as damning as evidence can get, but they’re hoping everyone just glosses over that. It marks the culmination of Flynn’s efforts with the assistance of new counsel Sidney Powell, to attempt to undo his guilty plea. It was a moonshot of a plan, but with the help of an Attorney General unconcerned with the damage this could cause, they managed to pull it off.

Because lying to law enforcement is the sort of thing the DOJ would ideally take seriously. One can argue the merits of criminally sanctioning this behavior, but there’s no argument that from the DOJ’s stance there should be every incentive to keep people from giving investigators the run around. If the Department was concerned about consistency, they would have serious concerns about publicly declaring that lying to the FBI wasn’t up to their prosecutorial standards, but this is a tin pot dictatorship now and capriciousness holds sway.

As one might imagine with the Attorney General just making up legal takes, a horde of graduates of Twitter Law School rushed online to share their analysis of the case with predictable effects.

If you’re looking for bad legal takes, you don’t have to go much further than the account “Bad Legal Takes” where Professor Steve Vladeck attempted to explain what “leave of court” means to an audience that was not interested.

Can the judge really salvage this case over the DOJ’s abdication? Yeah, but it would be an unusual case. Here’s a decidedly non-terrible explanation:

And Above the Law alum Kayleigh McEnany got in on the act, pushing the entrapment theory that’s become popular in wingnut circles:

Alas, it’s not entrapment to ask someone a question just because you suspect they’re about to lie. We even have a whole Fifth Amendment just to protect someone from having to lie if they don’t want to. This really isn’t difficult.

If we’re going to start stripping away qualified immunity to prosecute law enforcement for cases they pursue, maybe we could start with one where the sophisticated actor with highly regarded counsel didn’t admit to the crime multiple times. Maybe?

But it does speak to the cancer that Barr’s Justice Department is injecting into society. It’s all about vengeance with little if any interest in what the statutes actually say.

Good God. There are people who read these people and believe them. Where to begin with this one… Actually, you know what? Never mind. Hand me the whiskey.

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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 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.

I recently reflected that I have been practicing law in one capacity or another for about 10 years now. In each position I have held, I have been given more responsibility to manage the work of my colleagues. At my current firm, I am lucky enough to now manage the work of some junior lawyers and paralegals. That made me think — do I have a management style? And what is it that works best?

I believe that each person needs to develop their own style of management and find out what work best for them. But I also think that there are some core principles that will assist most lawyers in becoming better managers of their colleagues.

First, I think to be an effective manager, you need to be a good leader. The best way to establish yourself as a leader in your firm is to lead by example. If you expect your colleagues to work late at night, you should be prepared to do so as well. I know that seniority has it benefits, but if you show your more junior colleagues that you are willing and able to work late, then they will respect you more as a leader. This will also help you earn your colleagues’ respect and show them why you are in a management position.

Second, I believe that having a good demeanor is key to being an effective manager in the legal field. You should aim to be kind and understanding but at the same time, don’t allow your colleagues to take advantage of you. That is why I think it’s important to strike a balance between being a good colleague and a good boss. You still need to be stern and sometimes you may need to set aside your friendly demeanor so that things get done when necessary.

Third, to be an effective manager, you should always reward your junior colleagues’ good work. I think that having workplace events from time to time leads to more productive lawyers. Whether it be a firm event in the office, or taking your colleagues out for a celebratory meal, rewarding your colleagues for a job well done will encourage them to work even harder on the next assignment, and it will make for much better morale in the work setting.

There are also other ways to reward the lawyers and staff that you manage. I believe that most junior lawyers and staff really value experiencing the events in a case that they often can attend. If possible and cost efficient, make sure to bring your staff to client meetings, depositions, and court appearances. Speaking from the position of a former paralegal and junior lawyer, being brought to these types of meetings and appearances really meant a good deal to me. Being able to see what goes on after a document review or research memo is completed, works wonders to help your junior staff’s confidence and desire to work harder.

Overall, I think that you should manage your colleagues in a way that you would like to be managed by your bosses. If you were not treated well and not brought to client events as a junior lawyer or paralegal, you should not continue that trend. If you were to treat your colleagues in the negative way that you may have been treated, it will only create a bad work environment. Thus, if that is the case, then try to change things and be a good, effective leader who is respected by his or her colleagues and gets things done.

Managing people will always be a challenge, but if you find what works for you, then your practice will benefit as your more junior colleagues can complete certain tasks and allow you to progress as a more senior lawyer.

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Peter S. Garnett is an attorney at Balestriere Fariello who represents clients in trials, arbitrations, and appeals. He focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation and contract disputes from pre-filing investigations to trial and appeals. You can reach Peter at peter.s.garnett@balestrierefariello.com.

While law school deans complain that New York’s social distancing policies might inconvenience their bar passage stats and Florida declares its intention to go ahead and hold the July exam pandemic be damned, Indiana has decided to embrace a thoroughly rational remote examination option. Mark your calendars, everyone: this is the week that we’re looking to a state that brought us Mike Pence as a role model.

In an order issued yesterday, Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush of the Indiana Supreme Court took stock of the ongoing crisis and decided the only prudent course of action would be to call off the in-person exam and do it all remotely:

As a result of the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unclear whether the State Board of Law Examiners will be able to safely administer a two-day, in-person Indiana bar examination on July 28-29, 2020 as scheduled or at any later date in calendar year 2020.

The Supreme Court therefore ORDERS that the Indiana State Board of Law Examiners shall conduct a one-day bar examination administered remotely on Tuesday, July 28, 2020. The examination shall consist of the Indiana Essay Examination and a series of short answer questions on the topics tested on the Multistate Bar Examination.

One assumes “remotely” means online, but that’s not explicitly spelled out. As with the Massachusetts contingency plan — to potentially draft their own exam and administer it online — scores will only be good in Indiana crimping portability for examinees, and we should expect the NCBE to remind everyone that testing on the topics of the MBE is not the MBE and shouldn’t be accepted outside of the state.

Honestly, every state should be pressured to accept one-off exam scores from places like Indiana and potentially Massachusetts for 2020 administrations. The challenges this year are unique and it wouldn’t be a big deal for Illinois to just declare that anyone who got admitted to Indiana in 2020 is eligible to apply to the Illinois bar. We can just all admit that 2020 is a special case. This could take the NCBE and its hand-wringing over online exams out of the process and let everyone get on with the business of minting new attorneys.

But that would require the reasonableness of a place like Indiana and right now it’s not clear that other states are up to the task.

Earlier: Florida Promises Most Packed July Bar Exam Ever To Own The Libs
Law School Deans Rail Against Grave Injustice Of… Waiting A Few Months To Take The Bar Exam
With NCBE Quibbling Over Online Bar Exams, Massachusetts Says They’ll Just Write Their Own

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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 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.

Even though folks are getting increasingly desensitized to the general sense of upheaval and uncertainty thanks to COVID-19, the actual conditions are changing — and pretty rapidly. The ever-growing list of Biglaw firms taking austerity measures to cut costs and maintain cash flow is a good reminder of the scope of how the legal profession is being altered by the novel coronavirus.

Yesterday in a call with managing partner Thomas Cole, associates at Pepper Hamilton learned they’d be taking a whopping 20 percent pay cut, while partners are taking an unspecified reduction in distributions. And these salary reductions are likely to last through the end of the year. As one tipster noted, “It’s rough!”

But while all this is going on, the firm is still planning its merger with Troutman Sanders. The combination was originally scheduled to be completed by April 1, but due to the coronavirus, that was postponed to July 1. But tipsters at the firm tell Above the Law that even this extended timeframe sticks in the craw of many now asked to deal with such a substantial pay cut:

What I cannot understand, and what is baffling just about every Pepper attorney I talk to, is that we are proceeding with the Pepper / Troutman merger to be effective on July 1st! Mergers are being cancelled left and right in this market because they are incredibly expensive, mainly from an integration perspective (integrating technology systems, accounting departments, marketing departments, practice groups, etc., etc.). Many attorneys are confused as to why we are spending many millions of dollars on merger integration costs, when partners, counsels, associates and staff are taking 20% pay cuts! Why not put that integration money towards employees at a time during which we are all so vulnerable, and hold off on the merger until the times improve? All energy should now be on taking care of our clients and employees, and bringing in whatever new business is out there – not wasting millions of precious dollars on an unnecessary expense during the most critical time in our history. I think the vast majority of Peppers feel this way.

We reached out to the firm for comment, but have yet to hear back.

If your firm or organization is slashing salaries, closing its doors, or reducing the ranks of its lawyers or staff, whether through open layoffs, stealth layoffs, or voluntary buyouts, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Our vast network of tipsters is part of what makes Above the Law thrive. You can email us or text us (646-820-8477).

If you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Layoff Alerts, please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the layoff alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each layoff, salary cut, or furlough announcement that we publish.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).

Lawyers, I see you. I know what you’re doing in this pandemic. You are viewed as a place of intelligence, information, and direction. Your colleagues and clients likely turn to you for guidance as our world spins in uncertainty.

That means that you have stories.  Confidential, attorney-client privileged, awesome, virus-themed stories.

Legal Madness is collecting submissions (of all kinds) during the month of May.

What is Legal Madness? Last year, NYU Law School’s Engelberg Center and I gathered anonymous stories of in-house counsel, turned the tales into scripts, and hired actors to perform the monologues on stage. The first Legal Madness was a sold-out theatrical event that took place in New York City.

Even while being socially isolated, we are scaling the production.

Please submit your two-sentence, two-paragraph, or two-page real-life scenario via our private submission form on www.legalmadness.party.  Don’t pressure yourself … just click and send. Typos are my favorites. And we are not looking for law review or Great American Novel-quality writing. We are looking for truth, levity, weirdness, and heart. We all need that more than ever.

Thanks for all you do, lawyers, and nonlawyers. Keep safe, keep healthy, and keep hope. The theaters will reopen and we will laugh together.

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Sarah was the General Counsel / first Lawyer at Etsy and Vroom.  She’s a co-founder of The Fourth Floor, a creator and producer of Legal Madness, an NYU Law School Engelberg Center fellow, a board member, an investor, and a speaker. You can also find Sarah hammering silver, eating candy, and chasing her child. sarahfeingold.com.