Welcome to Lookzy. Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Litigation, deals, lateral moves and industry news; we cover it all.

In today's Lookzy:

• The inside scoop on Cooley's layoffs

• Latest updates on bonus news

• Jenner & Block sues a country

• Blackstone's potential $5.5 billion Vegas deal

COOLEY LAYOFFS INSIDE SCOOP

Cooley laid off 150 employees yesterday: 78 lawyers and 72 paralegals and business professionals. Joe Conroy, Cooley's chairman and CEO, noted in a firm-wide memo that, "Simply put, we hired more talent than we can reasonably develop, train and deploy against current and anticipated client demand."

These publicly-announced layoffs come after previous reports of stealth layoffs at Cooley a month ago. When pressed, Cooley described those terminations occurring after performance reviews, suggesting they were performance-related. However, sources countered that many of the associates terminated at that time were in good standing, and that the chief issue appeared to be a lack of business.

With yesterday's lay offs, rumors are that layoffs were largely targeted at corporate associates in the startup/VC practice, which has been decimated due to market conditions. Many of the lateral associates Cooley hired over the prior two years were lawyers in, or pivoting to, the startup/VC space. While new first years generally appear to have been spared, insiders suggest as much as half of the rising second year class may have been laid off.

That said, Cooley is still offering benefits like biweekly free massages in certain offices. These lay offs also come immediately before the holidays at a time where Cooley elected 18 new partners and will (we assume) be announcing bonuses shortly. Certain mid-level and senior associates have noted that they still expect to be receiving full bonuses.

Will Cooley leadership - those responsible for the dramatic overhiring that has led to these layoffs - take responsibility for this mismanagement come bonus time?

Read our previous coverage on Cooley's earlier layoffs here.

ECON SNAPSHOT

The difference between special bonuses and layoffs.

THE VERDICT

Arguing today's litigation news

Law firm v. country.  Jenner & Block sued the country of Sierra Leone in DC federal court, seeking recovery of over $8 million in legal fees for defending the country in various courts since 2019. Sierra Leone has already paid Jenner $3.6 million for its work, but the complaint claims Sierra Leone orally agreed to pay more than what an engagement letter set out at the start.

J&J racking up legal fees. A NJ federal judge remanded 33 suits back to state court alleging Johnson & Johnson designed and sold hip defect implants that allegedly caused injuries.

Rotor hubs. London's High Court ruled in favor of GE in their defense against a suit by Siemens, which had alleged that GE's Haliade-X infringed on Siemens' European patent related to the use of bearings in rotor hubs for wind turbines. The High Court ruled that Siemens did not have a valid patent.

COVID lit. United Airlines sought dismissal of an employee lawsuit which alleged that UA breached a nearly $5 billion Covid relief deal by forcing employees to take unpaid leave.

AMC allowed to settle. The DE Chancery Court approved of a $17.4 million dollar settlement by AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. to a group of stockholders for breach of fiduciary duty related to a number of unfair dividend and other payments.

THE DEAL

Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news

The house always wins. Blackstone has reportedly agreed to sell its stakes in the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in a $5.5 billion deal.

Swedish ed. Asset manager Brookfield agreed to acquire 49% of SBB's education portfolio for up to $987 million. Linklaters is repping Brookfield.

Regulatory dealblock. State Street Corp. has terminated its acquisition of the investor services units of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., more than a year after signing the $3.5 billion acquisition agreement, citing regulatory hurdles.

Cognac lit. Jay-Z offered to buy out Bacardi's 50% share in D-Usse, the cognac brand they jointly owned, for $1.5 billion, unsealed court records show. The offer came after Jay-Z and Bacardi valued the company at materially different prices.

Biologicals. Corteve Inc. agreed to acquire plant science company Stoller for $1.2 billion in cash. Latham is repping Stoller.

SPAC news. SPAC Twin Ridge Capital Acquisition Corp. and fiber wheels maker Carbon Revolution Ltd. have agreed to merge, setting Carbon Revolution up to go public in the US at a $270 million post-money valuation.

Reverse investment. NJ-based REIT Reverse Mortgage Investment Trust Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in DE, noting more than $10 billion in liabilities.

BUSINESS OF THE FIRM

Lateral Moves: 

• Cooley elected 18 new partners. Big week for the firm.

• White & Case hired its first chief diversity officer, Hedieh Fakhriyazdi.

• Dechert's David Forti and Mark Thiefelder will become co-chairs of the firm, succeeding Andy Levander who served as chairman since 2011. Henry Nassau, Dechert's CEO, is stepping down and the firm will retire the CEO title.

Industry News:

• The bonus standard appears to have been set: after Baker McKenzie kicked things off, Cravath, McDermott and some boutiques have matched last year's scale.

• Former NY Chief Judge Janet DiFiore apparently continued to use state funded court officers as her personal chauffeurs and protection details months after resigning.

• Cooley partner Lindsay Jenkins, whom the Senate Judiciary Committee is voting on today regarding a seat on the Northern Illinois District Court, disclosed $6 million in total assets.

• The NY State Bar Association is suing to double the pay of lawyers who represent indigent defendants across the state to $158 an hour.

• The Senate voted in Boies Schiller partner Anne Nardacci to fill a seat on the US District Court for the Northern District of NY.

• Penn State will reunify Dickinson Law and Penn State Law as one law school.

BOILERPLATE

Though you likely need no reminder, Cravath's 2022 bonus scale is below:

Alright, back to billing. That's all, folks!