Wake Up Call: troubled crypto firm Celsius changes legal team

In today’s column, the legal sector has added 35,200 jobs since June 2021, new data show; Akin Gump’s British junior lawyers received a big pay rise, thanks to the rising dollar; and insurance lawsuits are on the rise.

• As a leading, hard-working crypto-lending platform, Celsius Network has replaced Akin Gump with Kirkland & Ellis to provide advice on restructuring options, the Wall Street Journal reports. Celsius, who froze withdrawals in June, had employee Akin Gump restructuring lawyers but was allegedly oppose their recommendation to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (WSJ) The problems with Celsius, which is also accused of fraud in a lawsuit, comes when the crypto sector is facing an ever deeper “winter”. (Bloomberg News)
• The legal services sector added 35,200 jobs from June 2021 to June 2022, according to New data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The sector added around 3,000 jobs from May to June 2022. (ABAJournal.com)
• In a new salvo in the war for legal talent, Akin Gump increased the salary of junior workers in the UK to £ 179,000 ($ 213,900), “the highest in the country” in the UK. The trip is based on a change in Akin Gump’s dollar-to-pound exchange rate to the Cravath standard for junior employees, according to a report. The company previously paid £ 164,000. (Roll on Friday)

Lawyers, side movements

• Insurance disputes increased by around 47% from 2017 to 2021, especially driven by disputes over business interruptions stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. (Daily Business Review)
• Norton Rose Fulbright said their Brussels office was named an antitrust and competition partner Miranda Cole the new head. Cole joined the firm earlier this year after about 13 years at Covington & Burling. Norton Rose’s Brussels office also brought in antitrust and competition partners Alexandra Rogers from White & Case, where she had been for almost 14 years. (NortonRoseFulbright.com)
• Former Legal Director of Barrick Gold Corporation for Latin America and Asia Pacific Francisco Balduzzi joined Womble Bond Dickinson as a corporate and securities partner in Houston. He advises on cross-border M&A, transactions and disputes within energy and natural resources and mining. He previously spent over a decade internally at the consulting and engineering firm Wood; Skadden Arps named London-based partner Lorenzo Corte as co-head of global transactions, replaces Scott Simpson WHO died in May. (National Law Journal)
• Denver International Airport and the city’s law firm appointed the city’s assistant attorney general Everett Martinez as the airport’s new attorney general and executive vice president. Everett, a former public finance lawyer at Greenberg Traurig and Kutak Rock, will oversee a team of 18 attorneys and attorneys. (FlyDenver.com)

Technology

• Lawyers who use TikTok say that the platform’s benefits for self-promotion and branding outweigh the risks of data protection, but they are taking precautions. (News from Legaltech)