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

Welcome to Lookzy.  In today's Lookzy:

• Scotts Miracle-Gro has a cannabis subsidiary?

• A judge opines on what qualifies as 'fudge' and 'mint'

• Sullivan & Cromwell bills $7.5 million for 19 days of work

• Goodwin hired 646 laterals and 280 first years from 2020-2022

SHEARMAN'S LATEST MESS: LAYOFFS

Shearman has laid off 12 associates and 26 non-attorney staff, citing a need to "align our capacity levels with existing client demands."

While the termination of these 12 associates is a low percentage of the firms 850 lawyers, the move marks a continued slow bleed for the firm.  

First, rumors emerged that Shearman was in early discussions about a potential merger with Hogan Lovells.  Next, a bonus mess: Shearman had initially announced market bonuses, and the firm historically has never required any hours minimum in order to receive a full bonus. 

However, following the bonus announcement, the firm began scheduling Zoom calls to announce that a new hours minimum - 2,225 hours, perhaps the highest minimum in BigLaw - would apply not just to 2023, but also retrospectively, to 2022.  In practice, this shorted many associates on a bonus they expected to receive.  

Coupled with the merger rumors, the bonus bungle spelled financial trouble for many onlookers, which appears to be confirmed with this layoff announcement.  Time will tell if Shearman will continue its slow bleed or if this move marks a turning point for firm finances and communication. 

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ECON SNAPSHOT

The difference between special bonuses and layoffs

THE VERDICT

Arguing today's litigation news

Weed killer.  Hawthorne Collective, a subsidiary of Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., filed a suit against JW Asset Management, an investment company, claiming that it tried to "ruin" Hawthorne's $175 million investment in RIV Capital Inc, a cannabis industry acquisition firm.  Hawthorne's suit claims that JW and an affiliated entity violated US antitrust law in their attempt to control the board of directors of the cannabis firm.  

NFT infringement.  Luxury brand Hermès International SA won its suit against NFT creator Mason Rothschild, with a Manhattan federal jury awarding Hermès $133,000 in damages stemming form Rothschild's infringement of Hermès' "Birkin" trademark through the sale of "MetaBirkin" NFTs.  The jurors rejected the premise that these NFTs were protected by the First Amendment.  

Big jury awards.  Colibria Heart Valve was awarded $106.5 million by a California federal jury in its suit against Medtronic's CoreValve for CoreValve's infringement of a heart valve replacement device.  

Infinity infringement.  Meta Platforms and blockchain company Dfinity Foundation settled Dfinity's trademark lawsuit against Meta over Meta's new infinity symbol logo, with both companies asking the judge to dismiss the case with prejudice.  Cooley is representing Meta.  

False advertising.  A Illinois federal judge dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit against Walmart Inc., which claimed Walmart deceived shoppers when it sold 'Fudge Mint' cookies that lacked both fudge and mint.  The judge concluded that "fudge" could include vegetable oils, as Walmart's cookies did, and that "mint" described a flavor, not an ingredient.  

THE DEAL

Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news

More barbarians.  Activist investor Dan Loeb's Third Point LLC disclosed a stake in Salesforce, making it the fifth major activist hedge fund to have acquired a stake in the company over the last couple months ahead of Salesforce's nomination window for new directors starting February 12th.  

The new CS.  Apollo Global Management is reportedly considering investing in CS First Boston, the new investment bank to be spun out of Credit Suisse following a string of scandals with the bank's advisory business last year.  CS First Boston is taking on outside capital and plans to eventually IPO.  

SBF's shares.  Robinhood's board authorized the company to pursue purchasing most or all of the 55 million Robinhood shares acquired by Emergent Fidelity Technologies Ltd., the holding company created by former FTX executives Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, in May 2022.  

Cementing the deal.  Swiss cement company Holcim, the world's largest cement maker, agreed to acquire Duro-Last, a private US roofing systems manufacturer for $1.29 billion in an attempt to build out its US presence.  

Crypto mining.  Canadian crypto miner Hut 8 Mining Corp. agreed to combine with US Bitcoin Corp. in a merger of equals, with the combined company to have a $990 million market capitalization.  Bennett Jones LLP and Skadden are representing Hut 8 and Stikeman Elliott, Greenberg Traurig and Brown Rudnick are representing US Bitcoin Corp. 

BUSINESS OF THE FIRM

Lateral Moves: 

• Sidley Austin hired partner Nicholas Cassin from Kirkland.

• Hogan Lovells hired partner Brad Edmister from Morgan Lewis.

• Sheppard Mullin hired partner Ann O’Brien from BakerHostetler.

• Foley Hoag hired partner Carmen DeMatteis from Lowenstein Sandler.

• Lewis Brisbois hired six cybersecurity attorneys from Wilson Elser, less than a month after it lost 32 cybersecurity attorneys to Constangy Brooks.

Industry News: 

• Big bills. Sullivan & Cromwell billed $7.5 million for just its first 19 days of work on the FTX bankruptcy. We've previously detailed the record-high billing rates for the 150 S&C lawyers working the bankruptcy.

• Goodwin's laterals. A law.com report identified that prior to January's layoffs, Goodwin Procter hired 646 lateral associates between 2020 and 2022 while 392 departed. This was in addition to taking on over 280 first-year associates in the same time frame.

• DC office. New York trial boutique Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler opened a Washington DC office with two white-collar lawyers.

BOILERPLATE

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