The Legal File

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• D.C. law firms could see a better 2022 after revenue lagged last year

Revenue for D.C.-based law firms increased by 8% in 2021 - lower than the 14% national average, a survey by the Wells Fargo Private Bank Legal Specialty Group found.

Owen Burman of the legal specialty group attributes the lower revenue growth to D.C. firms focusing less on

“capital markets, private equity, tech and life sciences"

which drove the legal market heavily in 2021. But as the Biden administration ramps up its regulatory agendas this year, Burman said D.C. firms are forecasting growth that's "in line with or better than" the national average.

• VIDEO: Biden looks to keep up brisk pace filling courts

President Joe Biden has confirmed federal judges at a faster pace in his first year in office than anyone since former President John F. Kennedy. But that record will be tested as he also works to fill his first seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

• U.Va law school program courts first-generation college students

The University of Virginia School of Law's new Roadmap Scholars Initiative aims to guide first-generation college students and those from low-income backgrounds through the law school admissions process, in what the school described as a comprehensive approach to promoting a diverse pipeline of law students.?

Mark Jefferson , the school's assistant dean for diversity, equity and belonging hopes the program is a model for its peer schools:

"If we all pitch in and put together programs like this, there will be more than enough students who otherwise might not have been able to get into a top law school, and we can all share them"

• Big plaintiffs' firms vie for lead role in aerospace antitrust cases

Major U.S. plaintiffs' firms, including Labaton Sucharow ; Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd ; Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll ; Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein ; and Keller Lenkner are competing to be lead counsel in newly filed antitrust lawsuits alleging a conspiracy in the aerospace industry to suppress wages and restrict recruitment.?

U.S. District Judge Sarala Nagala last month?consolidated ?more than 20 lawsuits filed since mid-December, when the U.S. Justice Department alleged a criminal antitrust conspiracy in the aerospace labor market.

The DOJ said these criminal indictments were the first in an ongoing investigation of the aerospace engineering services industry. The Biden administration has said antitrust enforcement in labor markets will be a top focus.

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