Modern Lawyer


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    Perkins Coie's Trump Fight Doesn't Scare Off UK Suitor

    Perkins Coie LLP's ongoing fight with the Trump administration did not deter a proposed combination with British law firm Ashurst, signaling that the legal community is not worried about fallout from the president's suspension of the firm's security clearances.

  • Davis Polk Hires Sports Leader In New York From Proskauer

    Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP announced that its mergers and acquisitions group has added a former Proskauer Rose LLP attorney who will also lead the firm's sports practice.

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    CoCounsel Loses Some Early Adopters As Competition Grows

    CoCounsel has lost some of its earliest adopters while still welcoming new customers, spotlighting the ups and downs that legal artificial intelligence giants face as the market favors experimentation.

  • Ex-Finnegan Associate Gets Wage Theft Suit Revived In DC

    The D.C. Court of Appeals revived a former Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP associate's lawsuit alleging the firm reneged on its promises to pay tuition reimbursement and productivity bonuses, saying the trial court should have conducted "a fuller analysis" before shutting the book on the case.

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    Law Firm Growth Driven Mostly By Rate Increases In 2025

    Increasing demand and especially rising billing rates have made for a strong first nine months of 2025 for the legal industry, according to a report released Monday by Wells Fargo's Legal Specialty Group, with the top 50 firms by revenue seeing the best performance.

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    UK Firms Drive Transatlantic Appetite For M&A Dealmaking

    The merger announced Monday between British legal giant Ashurst LLP and American law firm Perkins Coie LLP is the latest in a spate of deals driven, in part, by an appetite among global firms to gain a strong presence in the U.S.

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    WilmerHale Taps SEC's Former Investment Management Exec

    WilmerHale has hired a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, who most recently was director of the agency's Division of Investment Management, to lead the firm's investment management practice.

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    MVP: Paul Hastings' Cameron W. Fox

    Cameron W. Fox, chair of Paul Hastings LLP's traditional labor practice group and partner in its employment law department, persevered through a trial during the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles and secured a win for Levi Strauss & Co. in a discrimination case where the jury reached a unanimous verdict in less than 20 minutes, earning her a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Employment MVPs.

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    MVP: Goodwin's Jamie Fleckner

    This past year, Goodwin Procter LLP partner Jamie Fleckner led the way to several hard-fought wins for big-name clients in class actions brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Benefits MVPs.

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    MVP: Sullivan & Cromwell's Isaac Wheeler

    Isaac Wheeler of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP's tax practice advised RedBird Capital Partners on the Skydance and Paramount deal, helped xAI and X on a $113 billion transaction related to their merger and guided Tishman Speyer on its $3.5 billion refinancing of Rockefeller Center, earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Tax MVPs.

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    MVP: Mayer Brown's John R. Prairie

    John R. Prairie, a government contracts partner with Mayer Brown LLP, successfully challenged a $254 million other transaction agreement award issued by the Space Development Agency and represented an incumbent contractor in getting the U.S. Army to let it compete for a more than $10 billion contract, earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Government Contracts MVPs.

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    MVP: Willkie's Brett H. Miller

    Brett Miller of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP represented the unsecured creditors' committees of leading Scandinavian airline SAS AB, Chilean telecom WOM SA, Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes SA and oil refiner Vertex Energy Inc., earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Bankruptcy MVPs.

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    MVP: Mayer Brown's Amanda Baker

    Mayer Brown LLP's Amanda Baker advised DailyPay as it completed a $200 million asset-backed securitization of a system that allows employers to provide access to pay outside the traditional two-week cycle, earning her a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Complex Financial Instruments MVPs.

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    MVP: Cahill Gordon's Joel Kurtzberg

    Joel Kurtzberg of Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP secured significant victories on behalf of companies like X Corp. and Grubhub in cases challenging state measures that address online speech, earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Technology MVPs.

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    MVP: Quinn Emanuel's Philippe Pinsolle

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP's Philippe Pinsolle helped to secure a €14 billion ($16.2 billion) arbitral award for German energy company Uniper after Russian government-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom cut off gas deliveries in mid-2022, earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 International Arbitration MVPs.

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    MVP: Paul Weiss' Audra Soloway

    Audra Soloway, a co-chair of Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP's securities litigation and enforcement group, secured several major class action dismissals for clients over the past year, including for Amazon and several of its executives in a suit over the pace of growth in the company's distribution network, earning her a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Securities MVPs.

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    MVP: Latham's David Allinson

    David Allinson of Latham & Watkins LLP's private equity practice shepherded Blackstone's $7 billion sale of Hotwire Communications to Brookfield and represented CPP Investments in a $15 billion joint venture to expand hyperscale data centers in the U.S., earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Private Equity MVPs.

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    MVP: Coinbase's Ryan VanGrack

    As Coinbase's global head of litigation, Ryan VanGrack has advanced the crypto exchange's "fight for crypto" on multiple fronts — including getting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and state regulators to drop enforcement actions and lodging suits demanding transparency on regulators' past treatment of crypto — earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Fintech MVPs.

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    MVP: Desmarais' John Desmarais

    Desmarais LLP partner John Desmarais helped Apple beat a $360 million damages case and protected more than $400 million in damages for Ravgen Inc. in two of his eight trials last year, earning him a spot as one of the 2025 Law360 Intellectual Property MVPs.

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    MVP: Ropes & Gray's Adrianne Ortega

    Ropes & Gray LLP's Adrianne Ortega represented Walgreens Boots Alliance in a take-private action valued at up to $23.7 billion, and her work this year leading several healthcare clients through transformative transactions and helping them understand related complex regulatory issues has earned her a spot among the 2025 Law360 Healthcare MVPs.

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    Faegre Drinker Hires Buchanan Ingersoll's Tech Chief

    Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP announced Monday that it has added the former chief information officer of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC to its C-suite as its chief technology and innovation officer.

  • Law School Admission Council Pushes To Toss Antitrust Suit

    The Law School Admission Council is continuing its push to toss a proposed class action accusing it of fixing application fees with its member schools, saying in a Pennsylvania federal court filing last week that the applicant's opposition to its dismissal motion "entirely fails to engage with the incoherence at the core of his case."

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    Maynard Nexsen Taps Ex-VP Vance Atty To Lead DC Office

    Maynard Nexsen PC announced Monday that it has added a former deputy counsel to Vice President J.D. Vance as managing shareholder of its Washington, D.C., office.

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    Pinsent Masons Unit Adds Head Of Client Development

    Pinsent Masons LLP's alternative legal services unit Vario said Monday that it has hired experienced law firm professional Jenny Grotepass to be head of client development for its managed legal services and consulting teams.

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    Ashurst, Perkins Coie To Form $2.7B Giant In US-UK Deal

    The U.K.'s Ashurst LLP and U.S.-based Perkins Coie LLP said Monday that they have agreed to merge to form a new firm with combined revenue of $2.7 billion, the latest in a string of transatlantic law firm tie-ups.

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Expert Analysis

  • Talking Mental Health: The View From Life After BigLaw Author Photo

    Life coach and author Wendy Tamis Robbins discusses why she left a career in BigLaw to work in the professional well-being space after finding freedom from anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and substance use disorders, and highlights two changes the legal industry should implement to address attorneys' mental health.

  • 6 Essential Skills For Summer Associates To Land An Offer
    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    With full-time offer rates at the lowest point since 2012, summer associates must do all they can to distinguish themselves, starting with a few fundamentals — from the importance of asking clarifying questions to being honest about mistakes, says James Argionis at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Making Legal Cents: How Law Firms Can Innovate Faster Author Photo

    To meet the demands of an evolving legal market and changing client expectations, law firms must not only embrace innovation, but also find ways to accelerate adoption and mitigate risks in an industry historically resistant to change, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.

  • Ask A Mentor: How Should Departing Partners Approach Pay? Author Photo

    Sabina Lippman at CenterPeak discusses steps BigLaw partners can take when considering a move or announcing their departure to help navigate tricky compensation issues and remain on good terms with their current partners.

  • How 2 Litigators Decided Dad Would Stay Home With The Kids Author Photo

    Jennifer Hoekstra at Aylstock Witkin shares the tough conversations about timing, goals, logistics and values involved in her family's decision that she would build her career as a litigator and law firm partner while her husband stepped back from his own litigation role to stay home with their children.

  • Series

    My Nonpracticing Law Job: Legal Commentary Ghostwriter Author Photo

    Wayne Pollock at Copo Strategies shares how he went from overworked Am Law 50 associate to owner of a legal thought leadership ghostwriting service, and provides four lessons for anyone who might be considering launching a business within the legal industry.

  • Ask A Mentor: As Trials Grow Rarer, How Do I Hone My Skills? Author Photo

    Gary Parsons at Brooks Pierce offers advice for young lawyers seeking trial experience in an environment where fewer cases make it to trial, including how to build their reputations, set their expectations and pick the right firm.

  • Talking Mental Health: Managing Depression As A Co. Founder Author Photo

    New Era ADR co-founder Collin Williams discusses his journey navigating a clinical depression diagnosis, how this experience affected his leadership style, and what the legal industry can do to better support attorneys with mental health conditions.

  • Series

    My Nonpracticing Law Job: Career And Wellness Coach Author Photo

    Tara Rhoades at The Sanity Plea shares how she went from BigLaw partner to legal industry career and wellness coach, and explains how attorneys can use their capabilities, knowledge and professional networks to pursue coaching themselves, or bring refreshed meaning and purpose to their current roles.

  • Roundup

    Talking Mental Health Author Photo

    Attorneys and other legal professionals share insights on mental health and well-being in this Law360 Pulse Expert Analysis series.

  • Series

    Talking Mental Health: Tackling Stress As A Practice Leader Author Photo

    Constance Rhebergen at Bracewell discusses how she handles the stress of being a practice chair, how sources of stress have changed in the legal industry over the past decade and what law firms can do to protect attorney mental health.

  • Making Legal Cents: Engaging A Remote, Evolving Workforce Author Photo

    In the face of a dispersed and changing workforce with Generation Z entering the scene, law firms should consider some practical strategies to revitalize their cultures, provide meaningful mentorship and safeguard their knowledge bases, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.

  • How Firms Can Effectively Evaluate Their Summer Associates Author Photo

    One of the most effective ways firms can ensure their summer associate programs are a success is by engaging in a timely and meaningful evaluation process and being intentional about when, how and by whom feedback should be provided, say Caroline Cimei and Erica Fine at Shutts & Bowen.

  • Series

    Talking Mental Health: Life As A Lawyer With OCD Author Photo

    Kelly Hughes at Ogletree discusses what she’s learned in the 14 years since she was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, recounting how the experience shaped her law practice, what the legal industry and general public get wrong about the disorder, and how law firms can better support employees who have OCD.

  • 3 Innovative Ways AI May Be Used In Legal Practice
    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
    Author Photo

    Artificial intelligence tools will increasingly be used by outside counsel to better predict the outcomes of litigation — thus informing legal strategy with greater precision — and by clients to scrutinize invoices and evaluate counsel’s performance, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

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