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The Afternoon Docket

The Afternoon Docket

A weekly newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

 

By Caitlin Tremblay

What's going on this week?

Power shifts, hiring highs and AI are reshaping the legal landscape. From Trump defense lawyers jumping ship between elite firms to law graduate employment hitting yet another record, to more AI "hallucinations," this week had it all.

Plus, your weekly Career Tracker.

Law grad employment hit record high again

 

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

A record percentage of U.S. law school students landed legal jobs soon after graduating in 2025, according to new ABA data, despite reduced hiring for government and public interest jobs.

The percentage of 2025 juris doctor graduates who landed ‌jobs requiring bar admission within 10 months of leaving campus ticked up one percent from 2024, which was also a record year, to 83%.

Read more here.

 

Industry updates

  • Trump defense lawyers depart law firm Sullivan & Cromwell for Gibson Dunn
  • Anthropic, law firm Freshfields to jointly develop AI legal tools
  • Judge Albright, who oversaw patent litigation boom in Texas, to resign
  • A&O Shearman promotes Francesca Croci and Chiara De Luca to partners for M&A
  • Ex-Biden White House lawyer joins Paul Weiss spinoff
  • Sullivan & Cromwell law firm apologizes for AI 'hallucinations' in court filing
  • Students ask U.S. judge to appoint new law firm to lead financial aid class action against universities
  • Norton Rose Fulbright sued for malpractice over botched patent application
 
 

Career Tracker

In New York:

Arnold & Porter added white-collar partner Eric Snyder from McGuireWoods … Construction partner Michael Contos joined Tarter Krinsky & Drogin from Wilk Auslander … Paul Weiss added commercial litigation partner Adam Hoeflich from Bartlit Beck … Venture capital partners Mike Flynn and Saarah Woodby moved to Pillsbury from McDermott … Tam Ho moved to Simpson Thacher’s data center team as a partner from Kirkland … Susan Duarte moved to Womble Bond Dickinson’s corporate and securities practice as partner from Marashlian & Donahue … Igor Kleyman returned to Cleary Gottlieb as partner in its digital assets group from Amazon where he was head of responsible AI governance … Restructuring and finance partner Joshua Feltman joined Kirkland from Wachtell … DLA Piper added structured finance partner Robert Fettman from Debevoise & Plimpton … Family law partner Valerie Tocci joined Fox Rothschild from Alter Wolff Foley & Stutman.

In D.C.:

Government contracts partner Cara Wulf moved to Nixon Peabody from McCarter & English … Antitrust partner Kathryn Mims joined A&O Shearman from White & Case … Squire Patton Boggs added Jennifer Goedke, former chief of staff for Rep. George Whitesides, to its public policy practice … Congressional and regulatory investigations partner Ashley Joyner Chavous moved to Holland & Knight from Covington & Burling … Chelsea Pullen moved to Simpson Thacher’s data center team as a partner from Greenberg Traurig … Investigations and compliance partner Shelita Stewart moved to Steptoe from Hogan Lovells.

In San Francisco:

Nicole Lopez, former global director of youth safety policy at Meta, moved to Orrick … McGuireWoods added tax and fund formation partner Andrew Chan from Kirkland … Finance partner Katie Taylor moved to Simpson Thacher from Kirkland.

In Boston:

McDermott added health and life sciences partner Kyle Faget from Foley & Lardner … Healthcare and life sciences transactional partner Julie-Anne Lutfi moved to Troutman Pepper from Foley & Lardner … Eckert Seamans added corporate partner Eric Asquith from Rath Young Pignatelli. 

In Chicago: 

Music industry partner Rory Wellever joined Akin from Kirkland … McDermott added health and life sciences partner Monica Chmielewski from Foley & Lardner … Foley & Lardner hired transactions partner Ashley Sinclair from Kirkland … Associations and nonprofits partner Kathryn Cobb moved to Barnes & Thornburg from Ice Miller.

In Houston:

Energy, power and natural resources partner Sudan Maccio moved to Haynes Boone from PetroTal Corp where he was chief legal counsel … Nelson Mullins added litigation and regulatory partner Keith Russell from BakerHostetler.

In Seattle:

Holland & Knight added tax-exempt organizations and philanthropy partner Alexandra Mitchell from KPMG … Corporate partner