• As law firms’ compensation strategies become more ‘cut throat,’ partners are increasingly under pressure to perform. That environment is shaking out winners and losers among partners. (Am Law Daily)
• Chicago-based Johnson & Bell, the first law firm to face a class action for insufficient data security, scored a win when a Chicago federal judge ruled that claims against it for allegedly failing to protect client information must be heard individually in arbitration, not combined as a class. (Law.com)
• E-commerce marketing company Groupon is cooking up law firm score cards to help manage its dealings with outside counsel, particularly costs, as the legal profession turns to a customer feedback tool long used by restaurant chains such as TGI Friday. (BLB)
• At least 16 lawsuits have been filed against insurers UnitedHealth Group Inc., Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc. alleging they defraud patients and violate insurance laws through a “clawback” system that overcharges patients for drugs. (Bloomberg)
• An increase in billable hours pushed Hogan Lovells’ revenue up almost 6 percent last year, to $1.925 billion, but profits per partner stayed roughly flat at $1.253 million. The firm added 93 full-time lawyers, to reach 2,609, about one-fifth of whom are equity partners. The firm had an unpredictable year in London and Europe, where it gets about 40 percent of its revenue. (National Law Journal)
• A New York federal judge handed co-founder of Comverse Technology Inc. the longest U.S. prison sentence for options backdating to boost executive compensation, in part for fleeing the country and spending a decade on the lam in Africa. (Bloomberg)
Brexit And Lawyers
• Seven months after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, the government’s legal department has published vacancies for as many as 17 London-based trade lawyers, but the starting annual salary of 48,400 pounds ($60,747) may be a hard sell. (Bloomberg) U.K. business-services companies such as accountants and law firms expect to increase average selling prices in the next three months by the most since February 2007, according to a recent survey. (Bloomberg)
• One in 10 foreign-born currently working in the U.K. is planning to leave the country soon, according to a new report. (The Lawyer) Brexit bulletin: the EU loses, too. (Bloomberg)
Legal Business
• Goodwin Procter had its its fourth-straight yearly increase in gross revenue in 2016, by 5.4 percent to $912 million. But in a year in which the Boston-based firm increased lawyer headcount 7.2 percent to 847 lawyers, it also had a 0.5 percentage point drop in profits per partner to $1.98 million, after growing 14 percent the year before. (Am Law Daily)
• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati followed up a strong 2015 with mixed financial results in 2016. Gross revenue at the Palo Alto, California-based firm gained 2.7 percent, to $755 million, but profits per partner dove 11.1 percent, to $1.97 million, after soaring 22.6 percent in 2015. (National Law Journal)
• Thompson & Knight’s busy 2016 in corporate securities, private equity, trial, real estate and bankruptcy practices helped the Dallas-based firm post a 2.9 percent gain in gross revenue, to 213.5 million. Profits per partner rose 3.7 percent, to $985,000. (Texas Lawyer)
• The troubled listed law firm Slater & Gordon announced an Australian $425.1 million ($326.5 million) net loss for the first six months of the 2016/17 financial year. (The Lawyer)
Legal Market
• Star dealmaker Scott Barshay, lately of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, led the way last week for Oakville, Ontario-based Restaurant Brands International Inc. on its $1.8 billion cash acquisition of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Inc. And other deal watch news. (Am Law Daily)
• On Sunday the London Stock Exchange Group said it is unlikely that European regulators will give a greenlight to its merger with Deutsche Börse, which would have formed a new European giant in a rapidly consolidating industry. (New York Times DealBook)
• How U.S. investigators cracked the case of a counterfeit makeup operation. Global seizures of counterfeit perfume and cosmetics jumped 25 percent from 2011 to 2013, according to a recent data, making them a growing sector of the $461 billion annual trade in pirated and counterfeit goods. (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• A Minnesota woman is suing Uber after one of the company’s drivers allegedly sexually assaulted her in his car. The federal lawsuit is the latest of several sexual assault cases that Uber faces. (The Recorder)
President Trump’s First 100 Days
• Labor secretary nominee R. Alexander Acosta has shown an interest in enforcing laws without costly courtroom battles. That may signal a kinder, gentler DOL for employers if he’s confirmed to the post. (Bloomberg BNA via BLB)
• U.S. environmental chief Scott Pruitt unveiled plans to roll back at least three Obama-era rules at the EPA while vowing to give businesses “regulatory certainty.” (Bloomberg)
• Policies supported by Republican congressional leaders to repeal and replace Obamacare could lead individuals to lose their health coverage, according to a presentation to state governors who met Saturday in Washington, D.C. (Bloomberg)
Happening in SCOTUS and Other Courts
• A federal judge on Monday will consider Takata Corp.’s proposed $1 billion settlement over deadly automotive air bags that have claimed at least 17 lives around the world. (Bloomberg)
• A Volkswagen AG compliance executive arrested in the U.S. over the company’s emissions-cheating scandal pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy as five other executives based in Germany remain outside prosecutors’ reach. (Bloomberg)
• Apple Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc., EBay Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Salesforce.com Inc. are among the technology companies that are backing transgender rights by joining a friend-of-the-court brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding bathroom access. (Bloomberg)
• After the Trump administration reversal of Obama-era policy on transgender bathroom use, the Supreme Court will probably dismiss the case it’s hearing on the matter. That might actually be a better result for transgender rights than a judgement on merits would have been. (Bloomberg View)
• A recent medical journal study found that after states legalized same-sex marriage they had a lower proportion of high school students who reported making a suicide attempt. (JAMA Pediatrics)
• The administration’s new immigration enforcement guidelines may increase the burden on the country’s already overwhelmed immigration courts, lawyers, academics and other professionals said. (Law.com)
• Under existing doctrine, a federal district judge was probably right to temporarily block a California law designed to bar certain websites from listing actors’ ages. So actors should just use their constitutional right to lie about their age. (Bloomberg View)
• “Wonder” the dog came out on top in a recent Supreme Court ruling addressing a disabled girl’s rights under U.S. law. (Bloomberg Radio)
Laterals and Moves
• Software giant ARM has hired a new general counsel, Carolyn Herzog who was previously deputy general counsel and chief compliance officer at Symantec. Herzog is to replace Philip Davis, who left in the wake of ARM’s takeover by Japanese conglomerate Softbank. (The Lawyer)
Technology
• Legislators in at least four U.S. states — Georgia, Maryland, Illinois and Tennessee — have proposed bills that would limit deployment of autonomous car technology on public roads to automakers. As written, the bills could prevent Uber or Google from operating self-driving cars. (Recode.net)
• The now Republican-dominated Federal Communications Commission plans to stop implementation of a privacy rule that requires Internet Service Providers to protect the security of its customers’ personal data, such as Social Security numbers, financial and health information, and Web browsing data. (Ars Technica)
• Now that it’s becoming clear that China’s central bank will be one of the first to issue a digital currency, it’s legitimate to ask if “bityuan” will send the country’s banking system over the edge. The short answer: Not just yet. (Bloomberg Gadfly)
• Israeli researchers report that a new malware lets a drone pilfer data by watching a computer’s blinking LED. (Wired)
• Artificial intelligence technology has a lot of potential for improving humans’ digital life, but before it can reach that potential it has big problems to solve, according to a report. (Tech Republic)
Miscellaneous
• Two years ago Russian fertilizer magnate Dmitry Rybolovlev sued his art dealer and filed a criminal complaint against him in Monaco, alleging he was overcharged by as much as $1 billion. Now Rybolovlev is unloading works he acquired at often record prices. (Bloomberg)
Compiled by Rick Mitchell and edited by Casey Sullivan.