Movers, Shakers & Rainmakers

In this epidose of "Movers, Shakers & Rainmakers," David Lat and Zach Sandberg discuss the newly released 2024 Vault Rankings. How are the Vault rankings formulated? Who moved up? Who dropped down? And why? For the Move of the Week, David discusses Norton Rose's hiring of a 12 attorney team from Bryan Cave, while Zach analyzes Mayer Brown's addition of Gabrielle Levin from Gibson Dunn to co-lead their Employment Litigation & Counseling practice.

This week, on "Movers, Shakers & Rainmakers," we interview Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack, CEO and President of the American Arbitration Association (AAA). Bridget served as the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court before assuming leadership of the AAA. In this episode, we journey through the early stages of Bridget's career as a public interest lawyer and professor, before she made the bold move of entering the election for the Michigan Supreme Court in 2012. Bridget tells us about her decision, after an impressive decade on the bench, to join the AAA, where she has worked to provide more people with access to justice by adopting new technologies in online dispute resolution. She highlights the AAA's recent acquisition of ODR.com and speaks to the significant influence of artificial intelligence in the development of alternative dispute resolution. For the move of the week, David covers Cooley's hiring of federal prosecutor John Bostic, who garnered significant renown during the investigation and trial of Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes. Zach discusses Paul Hastings' recent surge of lateral finance and restructuring partner hiring, which includes a group of eleven private credit and special situations partners that just joined the firm, led by Jennifer Daly.

In this episode of Movers, Shakers & Rainmakers, we go down the rabbit hole with Kyle Gann, corporate partner at Winston & Strawn. Kyle defied his father's advice and became a lawyer anyway, overcoming an injury that nearly snatched his dream of becoming an attorney from his grasp. On the show, our conversation goes in a different direction than we're used to: Kyle opens up and shares vulnerably about his past. If you have a penchant for philosophy, you will enjoy our discussion about how the fear of loss can direct one's course in life. Finally, Kyle sheds light on the main law by which he operates: live with joy. For the Move of the Week, David covers Cahill's opening of a Wilmington office with a group of crypto hires while Zach speaks to Sullivan & Cromwell's addition of a prominent tech M&A group from Skadden.

This week, on Movers, Shakers & Rainmakers, our hosts David Lat and Zach Sandberg do a deep dive on the most recent set of the American Lawyer's famed law firm rankings—both the Am Law 100 ranking, which came out last month, and the Second Hundred ranking, which was just released. Who is moving up in the world? Are there firms struggling? What factors are driving the success of the firms that are flourishing? Join our hosts as they run through numerous metrics that measure a firm's financial health and performance in this must-listen episode. For his move of the week, David follows another high-profile acquisition by Paul Weiss, which seems to be on a hiring spree, while Zach breaks down Baker McKenzie's onboarding of a major West Coast transactional team from Munger.

This week, on Movers, Shakers & Rainmakers, our hosts speak with Melissa Saleh, whose start-up, FairPlay AI, is introducing AI-powered models that increase fairness and profits for lenders. Melissa and David go back twenty years to the early days of blogging when Melissa shook up the legal industry with her controversial blog, Opinionistas. Melissa would leave the practice of law to go full force into the world of digital journalism, writing for numerous prominent media brands. We talk about career throughlines, and it just so happens that Melissa had a particularly powerful throughline in both her narrative work and career: technology's influence on our lives. It was this current that ultimately pulled her into the dynamic role that she now occupies: that of a tech founder. For the move of the week, David discusses the proposed merger between Troutman Pepper and Locke Lorde, while Zach analyzes a multi-office group hired by Shook, Hardy & Bacon.