WeWork Comes To Terms With What It Actually Is

Biglaw Firm Pivots Direction And Loses Partners In The Process

(Image via Shutterstock)

Big changes are in the air at Irell & Manella.

Yesterday, the Biglaw firm announced to all attorneys that the firm was pursuing an “alternative business model.” According to the email sent by partner Jonathan Kagan, they are “focus[ing] on areas where we have a clearly demonstrated record of success and excellence when compared to other firms.”

The email goes on to spell out exactly what that means:

“We therefore plan to focus our future growth and investments in our litigation practice areas, particularly IP and complex business litigation. Although we will continue to have lawyers in other practice areas at the Firm (particularly in certain transactional areas), we do not anticipate making significant investments in non-core practice areas in the near future.”

As you might imagine, not everyone — particularly those in “non-core” areas — is excited about the change. And Kagan’s email reflects this, as he points to several partners, Mike Kaplan, Greg Klein, and Harry Mittleman, who have departed or are on their way out. And, as the new reality sets in, more exits are anticipated.

Kagan’s email goes on to assure the attorneys that the firm is in “fantastic financial health,” which is always nice to hear, but especially so after high-profile departures.

Best of luck to Irell with its new strategic vision. And here’s hoping all those attorneys who are no longer aligned with the core focus of the firm find a welcoming lateral market.

Read the full email from Kagan below.


headshotKathryn 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).

Morning Docket 02.04.20

Madonna (Photo by Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)

* Madonna has been sued over claims that this “material girl” has been showing up late to concerts. [Billboard]

* UpCounsel, the website that matches lawyers with clients that need projects completed, has announced that it will be shuttering on March 4th. [ABA Journal]

* A Minnesota personal injury lawyer is in hot water for allegedly conspiring with chiropractors to defraud insurance companies. [Star Tribune]

* The attorney for a woman charged with busting through Mar-a-Lago checkpoints claims his client is mentally unwell. [Associated Press]

* Judge Deborah Batts, the federal judge tasked with overseeing the New York criminal trial of Michael Avenatti, passed away yesterday at the age of 72. [NBC News]


Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

Zimbabwe miners turning increasingly to off-grid as country’s power crisis deepens – The Zimbabwean

One of the country’s largest miners, RioZim, last week applied to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) for licences to build four solar power plants for each of its four mining operations, with a combined output of 214MW, the publication said.

RioZim has also signed a $200m agreement with Chinese firm, China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Corporation (CGGC), for the construction of three solar power plants at its mines.

Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICBC) of China has already signed up to provide 85% of the funding while Standard Bank will also make 15% contribution, said Fin24.

Caledonia Mining Corporation, a Toronto-listed gold mining company, has along been able to circumvent infrastructural problems in Zimbabwe.

It beat its gold production guidance for 2019 and announced an increase in its quarterly dividend despite power shortages and other operating bottlenecks and restrictions. It also announced it wants to build a 20MW power plant at its Blanket mine.

Steve Curtis, CEO of Caledonia Mining, expressed interest to develop a power hybrid system that will incorporate solar, grid and diesel power to improve performance at the mine, while achieving sustainability at the same time.

“During the day (it will be a) photo-voltaic generating plant. We will then use technology to create a hybrid system and we will save on diesel and on the US dollars we spend on our grid power,” he said.

Post published in: Business

Kim Kardashian Studies Herself For The Bar Exam — See Also

This Biglaw Firm Is Doing A Lot Of Things Right

According to Vault’s Annual Associate Survey for 2020, which Biglaw firm ranked first in each of these quality of life rankings: Overall Best Law Firm to Work For, Overall Diversity, and Overall Best Summer Associate Program?

Hint: It was the first time ever a firm got top marks in each of those big ticket categories.

See the answer on the next page.

David Einhorn Desperately Ill With Ackmania Again

Montana Legislator Will Shoot Socialists In The Head As Mandated By The Constitution

(Image via Getty)

The Montana GOP is learning the hard way that not all publicity is good publicity. On Friday, State Rep. Rodney Garcia sidled up to the microphone at a GOP election event to ask former Montana congressman Ryan Zinke a pointed question about the raging epidemic of socialists “entering our government” and generally ravaging Big Sky Country. Why, wondered Mr. Garcia, were patriotic Montanans not shooting them dead as the Founders intended?

“So actually in the Constitution of the United States (if) they are found guilty of being a socialist member you either go to prison or are shot,” he clarified to reporters later, adding, “They’re enemies of the free state. What do we do with our enemies in war? In Vietnam, (Afghanistan), all those. What did we do?”

Well, yes. But we don’t generally point to the My Lai massacre as the legal standard for behavior in a civil society which is not, in fact, at war with “socialism.”

When pressed, Rep. War Crimes was unable to cite the specific constitutional provision allowing civilians to impose the death penalty on their ideological opponents.

“I agree with my Constitution,” Garcia told the Billings Gazette. “That’s what makes us free. We’re not a democracy, we’re a Republic Constitution.” (Does he mean constitutional republic?)

Citing unspecified Facebook ads, the father of six insisted, “They’re teaching that to kids. Thank God my grandkids know it’s wrong because I teach them. And it’s a very dangerous situation.”

Perhaps Congressman Zinke did perceive a dangerous situation from an obvious lunatic threatening death to anyone who disagrees with him. After all, Montana does take a pretty relaxed approach to concealed carry permitting. Or perhaps Zinke is just a political coward. In any event, faced with Garcia’s ranting, he ducked, saying, “You know, Montana’s a great state.”  Which is true, but not an answer.

This is not Mr. Garcia’s first visit to the Crazytown Rodeo. Last March, he told the rightwing conspiracy blog “North West Liberty News” that parents have the right to physically retaliate against Montana Child and Family Services employees investigating child welfare complaints. Or as he described it, “trying to kidnap them.”

“If they don’t like it, they have a right to grab them by the collar and the seat of the pants and throw them out their door,” Garcia said. “They’re invading their personal property.”

Which is excellent legal advice if you want to add an assault charge to the child endangerment file.

In the end it fell to MT GOP executive director Spenser Merwin to correct the record.

“The Montana Republican Party wholeheartedly condemns the comment that was made and under no circumstance is violence against someone with opposing political views acceptable,” he told the Gazette, clarifying that extrajudicial killings are definitely not part of the GOP platform. “It’s disappointing that this isolated incident took away from the weekend’s events which showcased the strength of our statewide candidates and the importance of the upcoming election.”

Your circus, your monkey, Mr. Merwin.

Billings legislator insists Constitution says it’s OK to shoot socialists [Billings Gazette]
Billings lawmaker accuses state employees of ‘kidnapping’ children [Helena Independent Record]


Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

Hello Again! Using Your Phone System As A Lead Conversion Machine

Date: February 6th, 2020
Time: 4pm ET / 1pm PT

In our earlier webinar with our friends at Ooma, we explored the ways in which the humble telephone remains the most important piece of legal technology for your practice.

In our next webinar, we will take a look at how to OPTIMIZE your phone system. Webinar will touch on:

  • Studies show clients want information about the legal process via voicemail, so learn how to utilize voicemail features to create compelling messages.
  • Never let a client call go unanswered: Leverage phone system’s routing functionality.
  • Meet the challenge of implementation in a firm-wide environment, with a discussion of how to optimize a phone system for a large group of staff.

Join us on February 6th and learn how to optimize your practice’s phone system.
Learn from the experts, from our friends at Ooma all about the benefits of a truly efficient, economical phone system fully integrated into your attorney workflow.

Can’t make the live event?  Register anyway and webcast will be available on-demand 24 hours after the live event. 

Ransomware Attacks Hit Three Law Firms in Last 24 Hours | LawSites

Five U.S. law firms — three in the last 24 hours — have been among the companies and organizations targeted by a new round of ransomware attacks. In two of the cases, a portion of the firms’ stolen data has already been posted online, including client information.

This according to Brett Callow, a threat analyst with Emsisoft, a cybersecurity company that is also an associate partner in the No More Ransom Project, an initiative between multiple law enforcement agencies and the private sector.

Hackers have stolen data from at least five law firms, using the threat of releasing the data to extort payment from the firms, Callow said. In the two cases in which hackers already posted law firm data, they published it on the clear web where it can be viewed by anybody.

The hackers are using the so-called Maze ransomware, which was the subject of a warning issued to companies earlier this month by the FBI. Earlier this week, Ars Technica reported that victims of the Maze  ransomware attacks have included a grocery chain, a CPA firm, and a college.

The hackers infiltrate systems using email with malicious attachments, Callow said. He does not know the exact nature of the emails being used against law firms, but he assumes they are being crafted in such a way that lawyers are likely to open them.

Their modus operandi is to initially name the companies they’ve hit on their website and, if that doesn’t convince the companies to pay, to publish a small of the amount of their data as “proofs.”

“This makes sense,” Callow said. “The more data they publish and the more sensitive that data is, the less incentive an organization has to pay to prevent the remaining data being published. It’s the equivalent of a kidnapper sending a pinky finger.”

If the organization still doesn’t pay, the remaining data is published, sometimes on a staggered basis, he said.

The group has also published data in Russian hacker forums with a note to “Use this information in any nefarious ways that you want,” Callow said.

Once a company does pay, then its name is removed from Maze’s website.

If any reader has more information on the nature of the emails being used, please let me know and I’ll update this post.