How's the legal hiring market?, Chief Justice Roberts won't testify, Davis Wright picks new chair, and SEC alum joins Sullivan ??
Reuters Legal
From the courts to law firms, we bring you the latest legal news. Subscribe to our newsletters: https://bit.ly/3nhgllA
?? Good morning from The Legal File! Here are today's top legal stories:
The law school class of 2022 graduated into a strong entry-level hiring market, landing legal jobs at a higher rate than their predecessors in 2021 and 2019—the last cohort before COVID-19 temporarily pushed down new lawyer hiring.
Nearly 78% of last year's new juris doctors found jobs that require bar passage within 10 months of leaving campus—up from about?76% among the class of 2021, according to figures released by the American Bar Association. And nearly 85% of 2022 law grads had either full-time, long-term jobs that require passing the bar or jobs for which a J.D. is an advantage, up from 83% the previous year.
The largest hiring gains came among law firms, which employed 52% of 2022 law graduates, up from less than 51% the previous year.
It remains to be seen if that increase in hiring will be sustained for the law class of 2023. Law firms have seen a significant slowdown in demand over the past year, and a handful have?laid off associates?or delayed the start dates of incoming associates.
U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will not testify at an upcoming Senate Judiciary Committee hearing expected to focus on judicial ethics, he said in a letter to the committee chair.
The committee's Democratic chairman, Dick Durbin, had?asked?the chief justice to appear before the panel to address potential reforms to ethics rules governing the justices. The senator cited "a steady stream of revelations regarding justices falling short of the ethical standards."
Roberts said he would "respectfully decline" the invitation, adding that such appearances by chief justices were exceedingly rare given concerns about the separation of powers between the three branches of the U.S. government.
The recent reporting has raised questions over potential conflicts of interest for the justices and the court, which has endured escalating criticism because it lacks a formal ethics code.
领英推荐
U.S. law firm Davis Wright Tremaine has elected a new crop of executive committee leaders, including Camilo Echavarria as chair. Davis Wright said Echavarria, an employment litigator, is the first Latino tapped to chair the executive committee of the 600-lawyer firm, which was founded in Seattle in 1944.
He is taking over from outgoing chair Sarah Tune, who has been in the position since 2018. Echavarria also leads the firm's Los Angeles office and is a member of its diversity executive council.
Echavarria said the firm recently implemented a new five-year strategic plan that includes growing its offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and entertainment hub Culver City, where it opened an outpost in January.
Financial services is one of several practice areas that Echavarria said the firm wants to expand. It boosted its financial services offerings last year by?acquiring?44-attorney firm McGonigle. The combination gave Davis Wright an office in Chicago, where Echavarria said there is a "big opportunity" to grow.
U.S. law firm Sullivan & Cromwell has hired?Dalia Blass, the former director of the SEC's Division of Investment Management, to join its investment management practice.
Blass will be a partner in Washington, D.C., advising asset managers and other financial services clients on regulatory, compliance, and enforcement issues. She was most recently the head of external affairs at BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager.
Sullivan & Cromwell said Blass would help clients navigate an increasingly complicated regulatory environment facing asset managers, which have been at the forefront of political battles over the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investing movement.
Blass said she was drawn to Sullivan & Cromwell because of the New York-founded firm's reputation in the financial services industry. The firm has long represented top Wall Street firms and been a leader in transactional work.
?? That's all for today! Thank you for reading?The Legal File!
For more legal industry news, read and subscribe to The Daily Docket.