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Law Firm Signs Renewal and Expansion at 600 Third Avenue

  • November 11, 2023

L&L Holding Company’s David Berkey and Polsinelli’s Gabriel Dabiri along with 600 Third Avenue (Getty, L&L Holding Company, Polsinelli)

L&L Holding and BlackRock’s Murray Hill office tower just got a major vote of confidence from its top tenant.

Kansas City-based law firm Polsinelli inked a 10-year lease renewal and expansion at L&L and BlackRock’s 600 Third Avenue, adding a fourth floor and roughly 13,100 square feet to its footprint.

The renewal brings Polsinelli’s footprint at the 42-story tower to more than 52,500 square feet, making it the property’s largest tenant. The law firm has occupied just over 39,000 square feet across three floors in the building since 2015. The New York Post first reported the deal.

L&L’s David Berkey represented the landlord in-house, while CBRE’s Kevin McLennan, Ian Murphy and Silvio Petriello represented Polsinelli. The CBRE team declined to comment on the lease. Asking rents for the space ranged from $80 to $90 per square foot, the Commercial Observer reported.

The 575,200-square-foot property is now 94 percent leased, with other notable tenants including law firm Aaronson Rappaport and investment management firm 3G Capital.

Polsinelli’s Gabriel Dabiri told The Real Deal that the firm needed more space after growing its New York presence by 63 percent last year, though the expansion only ups its office space by about a third.

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Law firms and finance companies, a traditional backbone of Manhattan’s office market, appear to be regaining market share as technology companies pull back on space following a decade-long leasing binge. Financial, insurance, real estate and law firms accounted for 43 percent of office leases signed in the borough last year, an increase from 2021, while the share of leases signed by tenants in the technology, media and information sectors declined to 19 percent, according to a

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As Law Firms Strive to Grow, Is All the World a Stage?

  • November 10, 2023

Global law firms are racing to find new ways to build revenue. This isn’t really surprising. They know times have changed. The hot deal market that drove last year’s record revenue and profits has cooled. Crippling inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, continued uncertainty about China and fears of a recession have all hampered global business. 

This explains why law firms have been launching new offices all over: In the past week alone, U.K.-based Watson Farley & Williams opened in Seoul—its fifth office in Asia; Nagashima Ohno also established its fifth office in Asia, launching in Indonesia, where Japanese clients have pledged to invest billions over the next few years; DAC Beachcroft opened offices in Milan and Rome, hoping to expand its insurance offering and provide regulatory advice to clients in Europe; and Clyde & Co merged with a U.S. boutique, gaining a stronghold in Boston.

We don’t know if all these offices will gain traction in the pursuit of profit. But we do know that the Clyde & Co merger was one of several that took place last week in the U.S. And it was especially important to the U.K.-based firm, which believes the merger will enable it to expand its offering across the Northeastern United States—a region that is home to insurance, biotech, healthcare and professional services companies. 

Clyde & Co may be taking a page from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s playbook. In its last financial year, Freshfields’ U.S. revenue grew 29%—outstripping its growth in all of the other regions in which it operates around the world. Freshfields has made a substantial investment in the U.S. over the past few years, launching an office in Silicon Valley, poaching top talent from elite law firms, and paying competitive associate salaries. But those moves demonstrate the importance of the U.S. market to

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Steinberg Law Firm Listed as Best Law Firm by Best Lawyers for 14th Straight Year

  • November 8, 2023

Charleston, South Carolina–(Newsfile Corp. – November 3, 2023) – For the 14th consecutive year, the Steinberg Law Firm has been named to the “Best Law Firms” list by Best Lawyers(R). The firm is acknowledged as a leading law firm in the Charleston, South Carolina region for Personal Injury Litigation, Workers’ Compensation Law, and Product Liability Litigation.

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Steinberg Law Firm Named Best Law Firm

Best Lawyers(R) publishes an annual list of the most accomplished law firms in the country, categorized by practice area and further segmented by country and region. To qualify for Best Law Firms, law firms must submit a comprehensive submission packet, a list of references, and a survey to Best Lawyers(R). The judging committee reviews all the submissions, and the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers in America(R) is released in November each year.

It is an honor for Steinberg Law Firm to be named to this prestigious list year after year. The firm was first recognized as a Best Law Firm by Best Lawyers(R) in 2010 and has been acknowledged for Workers’ Compensation Law since then. Personal Injury Law and Product Liability Litigation were added to the firm’s accolades in 2017 and 2022, respectively. Best Lawyers(R) also publishes a Best Lawyers list, in addition to the Best Law Firms list.

This year, 11 attorneys from Steinberg Law Firm were named to the Best Lawyers list. New to the list this year are attorneys Annie E. Andrews and Adam P. Greene, who have been added to the Best Lawyers(R) Ones to Watch List.

Steinberg Law Firm Best Lawyers Attorneys:
 David T. Pearlman
Thomas M. White
Steven E. Goldberg
Michael J. Jordan
Benjamin W. Akery
Catherine D. Meehan
Kelly M. Alfreds
Taylor L. Grooms
Annie E. Andrews
Adam P. Greene
Malcolm M. Crosland, Jr.

Founded by Gregory White

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Law Firms Warn Universities About Antisemitism on Campus

  • November 6, 2023

With universities across the United States grappling with a rise in antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, elite law firms are putting schools on notice. In a letter to some of the nation’s top law schools obtained by DealBook, about two dozen major Wall Street firms warned that what happens on campus could have corporate consequences.

“We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses,” the firms wrote.

Among the firms that signed the letter are:

  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore

  • Debevoise & Plimpton

  • Kirkland & Ellis

  • Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

  • Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

  • Skadden

  • Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Another signatory, Davis Polk & Wardwell, last month rescinded job offers over letters blaming Israel for the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

The letter follows a series of recent antisemitic episodes at universities. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York sought this week to reassure Jewish students at Cornell after online posts threatening violence against them. Students at other schools have said they feel increasingly unsafe amid rallies and other acts that, in some instances, have become violent.

And school leaders have been criticized for equivocating in their responses to both the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and to antisemitism more broadly. (The University of Pennsylvania, which has faced a donor revolt, on Wednesday announced measures that include a task force on antisemitism.)

Big Law carries huge clout. Students at the schools that received the letter — 14 top institutions, along with others that have strong ties with

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Major US law firms call on law schools to condemn ‘antisemitism, Islamophobia’

  • November 5, 2023
Sullivan Cromwell <a href=law firm“/

Sullivan Cromwell law firm in New York City, U.S., July 27, 2022. REUTERS/David Dee Delgado/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

Nov 2 (Reuters) – More than two dozen major U.S. law firms sent a letter on Wednesday to the deans of the nation’s top-ranked law schools expressing concern over a wave of antisemitism and intimidation on university campuses amid the latest fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The 27 firms urged 14 of the top-ranked law schools in the U.S. to take a “unequivocal stance” against discrimination and harassment and said they “look forward” to learning from law schools how they are addressing the situation on their own campuses.

“There is no room for antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism or any other form of violence, hatred or bigotry on your campuses, in our workplaces or our communities,” reads the firms’ letter, which cites reports of antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and rallies calling for the elimination of Israel on college campuses.

A Sullivan & Cromwell spokesperson said on Thursday that senior chair Joseph Shenker spearheaded the letter to the law schools known in the legal industry as the “T-14,” as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Other signatories include some on the nation’s biggest and most profitable law firms, including Cravath, Swaine & Moore; Latham & Watkins; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

University of California, Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky said on Thursday that he welcomes the firms’ statement condemning antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism but was unclear on next steps.

“I am unsure what the law firms are asking law schools to do, but it is certainly our role to protect the freedom of speech of all of our students, while also ensuring that there is a conducive learning environment and preparing students

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Supreme Court Faces Credibility Crisis After Chief Justice’s Wife Found To Be Paid By Law Firms

  • June 11, 2023

Many Americans believe the country’s political leaders — especially leaders of the opposite party — have dangerously extremist views, are pushing the country in the wrong direction, and in some cases are corrupt. Moreover, divisions in the country seem to have dramatically widened over the last decade and show no signs of lessening.

Skepticism about U.S. leaders has even filtered down to perhaps the most respected of all U.S. institutions, the country’s Supreme Court. Increasingly, a make-or-break characteristic of a Supreme Court appointee seems to be his or her political views, prompting many to question the impartiality of justices with lifetime appointments to the nation’s highest judicial body.

Such concerns will doubtless be magnified by the April 28 media reports that Jane Roberts, the wife of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, was paid US$10.3 million by corporations and law firms for her services as a legal recruiter who placed high-priced attorneys at those entities over the eight-year period of 2007-2014. 

At least one of the law firms (which paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars for her services) argued a case before the Chief Justice Roberts-led Supreme Court, and other law firms which paid Ms. Roberts could be seeking to do so as well. Justice Roberts has been Chief Justice of the Supreme Court since 2005.

Ms. Roberts continues to work as a legal recruiter or headhunter. Judge Roberts’ most recently filed financial disclosure makes no mention of the amount of money his wife makes, nor which firms

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EY Failed Split Gives Break to US Law Firms Fearing Competition

  • June 1, 2023

Ernst & Young’s scuttling of a plan to spin off its consulting business and much of its tax practice gives breathing room to US law firms who fear new competition from big accounting operations.

The spin-off would have allowed EY to more aggressively pursue the legal services side of its business, said Mark Vorsatz, chief executive officer of consulting firm Andersen.

“The split would have unleashed the capabilities of an international firm with few peers in terms of platform,” Vorsatz said. The opportunities for a slimmer legal and tax advisory group “would have been endless,” he said.

Law firms have long fretted about the scale of competition they’d face should accounting firms plunge into the US legal practice, as they have done in Asia and South America. EY collected $45.4 billion in revenue in fiscal 2022, compared with $6.5 billion by the largest law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, that calendar year.

“Think about the resources they can bring to bear,” Marcie Borgal Shunk, president of the Tilt Institute law firm consultancy, said of accounting operations. “They have a big advantage.”

EY shelved the breakup after partners, particularly in the US, disagreed on the compensation and resources needed for the audit practice left behind after the consulting and tax businesses would be split off. Firm leaders told partners they’d keep working for a possible split some future day.

Meanwhile, EY’s legal unit remains an integral, fast-growing part of the firm’s business and a “core focus,” the firm’s global law leader, Cornelius Grossmann, said in a statement.

“EY Law is committed to continue investing as we have over the past decade in hiring, acquisitions and strategic alliances,” he said. EY’s law operation has maintained a “growth trajectory” since 2020, Grossmann said, though he declined to be more specific.

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Legal AI race draws more investors as law firms line up

  • May 31, 2023

With more and more lawyers at major law firms using fast-advancing generative artificial intelligence tools, legal AI startup Harvey said Wednesday that it raised $21 million in fresh investor cash.

Sequoia Capital, which is leading the Series A fundraising round, said more than 15,000 law firms are on a waiting list to start using Harvey. OpenAI Startup Fund, Conviction, SV Angel and Elad Gil also participated in the funding round, Harvey said.

Harvey, founded in 2022 and built on OpenAI’s large language model GPT-4, raised $5 million in a round led by the OpenAI Startup Fund last year. The company says it builds custom large language models for law firms.

Technology companies and investors have rushed to embrace large language model-based generative AI since Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT debuted in November. The models are trained on large, customizable data sets to produce text or other outputs that can closely mimic human creativity and analysis. Researchers used GPT-4 to pass the bar exam last month.

Global law firm Allen & Overy said in February that 3,500 lawyers and staff would use Harvey to automate some document drafting and research.

In March, accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers said it would give 4,000 legal professionals access to the platform.

Harvey co-founder Gabriel Pereyra and representatives for Sequoia did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

Several other major firms have signed deals to adopt new AI products just in the past few months — a remarkable pace for a profession that was slow to abandon the fax machine.

“This is an arms race, and you don’t want to be the last law firm with these tools,” Daniel Tobey, chair of DLA Piper’s AI practice, said of AI products. “It’s very easy to become a dinosaur these days.”

DLA Piper is one of several large firms

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Jane Roberts, who is married to Chief Justice John Roberts, made $10.3 million in commissions from elite law firms, whistleblower documents show

  • May 29, 2023
John and Jane Roberts arriving for a state dinner

Jane Sullivan Roberts, the spouse of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts made more than $10 million in commissions as a headhunter for top-tier law firms between 2007 and 2014, according to internal documents included with a whistleblower complaint.Alex Brandon/AP

  • Jane Roberts was paid more than $10 million by a host of elite law firms, a whistleblower alleges.

  • At least one of those firms argued a case before Chief Justice Roberts after paying his wife hundreds of thousands of dollars.

  • Details of Jane Roberts’ work come as Congress struggles to reform the Court’s self-policed ethics.

Two years after John Roberts’ confirmation as the Supreme Court’s chief justice in 2005, his wife, Jane Sullivan Roberts, made a pivot. After a long and distinguished career as a lawyer, she refashioned herself as a legal recruiter, a matchmaker who pairs job-hunting lawyers up with corporations and firms.

Roberts told a friend that the change was motivated by a desire to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest, given that her husband was now the highest-ranking judge in the country. “There are many paths to the good life,” she said. “There are so many things to do if you’re open to change and opportunity.”

And life was indeed good for the Robertses, at least for the years 2007 to 2014. During that eight-year stretch, according to internal records from her employer, Jane Roberts generated a whopping $10.3 million in commissions, paid out by corporations and law firms for placing high-dollar lawyers with them.

That eye-popping figure comes from records in a whistleblower complaint filed by a disgruntled former colleague of Roberts, who says that as the spouse of the most powerful judge in the United States, the income she earns from law firms who practice before the Court should be subject to public

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Attorney Employee Retention Tax Credit Refunds for Law Firms

  • May 22, 2023

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 30, 2023 / The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) tax refund for attorneys, lawyers, law firms, legal practices, and other professional legal service type businesses provides a valuable tax refund from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Almost all law firms in every state qualify a portion of the eligibility period due to mandated court shutdowns, suspension of court operations and jury trials, that happened in every federal, state, county, or local city government judicial court system. Even if your firm revenue didn’t decline, or it even increased, under the closure and partial shutdown rules, most law firms may still qualify for up to a $26,000 to $33,000 tax refund per attorney, lawyer, paralegal, and other employees on the firm’s payroll in 2020 and 2021.

Disaster Loan Advisors, Sunday, April 30, 2023, Press release picture
Law firm partners, lawyers, and attorneys are missing out on a potentially large Law Firm Employee Retention Credit Tax Refund by not fully understanding how and why they qualify. Image Credit: StockStudio44 / 123rf.

How Most Law Firms Qualify for the Employee Retention Credit (ERC)

All law firms may be eligible to claim the tax credit;elm:context_link;itc:0″ class=”link “employee retention tax credit in 2022, 2023, and even 2024, “if” they qualify any portion of time between March 13, 2020 to September 30, 2021 for law firms that were around prior to the COVID pandemic. For law firms and legal practices that were started or purchased after February 15, 2020, those law firms are eligible from the time their legal practice opened until December 31, 2021. These types of law firms and attorney law practices are also referred to as a recovery startup business, and qualify for the 4th quarter of 2021.

Two Key Ways Law Firms Can Qualify for the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC)

Law firms only need

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