Wake Up Call: Ex-Client Sues King & Spalding for $1 Billion

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• King & Spalding and one of its former partners are facing a $1 billion legal malpractice lawsuit over allegations that they tried to wrest the ownership of a health care-based investment fund away from its client. White Oak Global Advisors alleged in a complaint that former King & Spalding partner Terry Novetsky worked against its interests by secretly helping Isaac Soleimani, the then-CEO of White Oak’s health care-based fund. (Reuters)
• Another eight lawyers have left or announced their intentions to leave the Minnesota US Attorney’s Office. The departures add turmoil to an office already reeling from last month’s mass resignation of six veteran prosecutors because of recent directives from the Justice Department. (Minnesota Star Tribune)
• Former London lawyer Ross Macgregor is under fire after leaving Akin to sell one-to-one interview coaching to aspiring solicitors for £300 a session. While Macgregor markets the sessions as a realistic mock interview informed by his experience, students say the fee is unfair and risks deepening inequality in a profession already struggling with social mobility. (Legal Cheek)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Lee Schindler and Jamie Nicole Johnson joined Cooley as partners in its emerging companies and venture capital practice in Seattle. They join from Perkins Coie.
• Tiffany Fordyce joined Reed Smith as a partner in its labor and employment group in Chicago. She joins from Greenberg Traurig.
• Liz Graffeo joined Reed Smith as a partner in its global corporate group in Denver. She joins from WilmerHale.
• Zaid Mansour joined Orrick as a partner in its energy and infrastructure team in Düsseldorf. He joins from Clifford Chance.
• Seth Farber joined Haynes Boone as a partner in its white collar and investigations practice in New York. He joins from Winston & Strawn.
• Suzanne Levy Friedman joined Honigman as a partner in its regulatory department in Washington. She joins from Hogan Lovells.
• Matt Manning joined Husch Blackwell as a partner in its consumer financial services practice in Houston. He joins from McGlinchey Stafford.
• Jim Butler, David Sudeck, Mark Adams, Jeff Myers, and Joe Mellema joined Blank Rome as partners. They join from Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell.
• Matthew Hayes joined Venable as a partner in the transactional tax group in Chicago.