Hilarie Bass

Washington Wrap is a weekly look at the biggest legal industry news and Big Law moves shaping the legal business in Washington, D.C. Send tips and lateral moves to Ryan Lovelace at [email protected].

The state of lawyers' mental and emotional health took center stage at the American Bar Association's National Legal Malpractice Conference in Washington this week.

ABA president Hilarie Bass told attendees that the suicide of a colleague in June 2017 prompted her to want to do more to address lawyer well-being. This week's conference featured a four-hour workshop and plenary sessions specifically aimed at the issue.

Miami-based Bass, a litigator who is co-president of Greenberg Traurig, said there are signs of depression or mental illness that law firms can identify. But the tools firms use to address mental problems in the legal profession are typically confined to intervening in a dramatic way—pulling cases and clients from a troubled colleague.

“It's not that we in firm management don't want to solve this problem, it's that we don't know how to do it,” Bass said.

Bass said statistics she has seen about law students' well-being are especially worrisome, because they suggest the legal profession is about to “face a tsunami of really, highly competitive but really pressured young people about to enter the economy.”

The ABA's conference looked to alleviate the tension of its own attendees with an hour of yoga in the mornings before the conference, alongside an open 12-step support meeting.

Anne Brafford, a former partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, told attendees at the ABA event not to dismiss potential red flags about their own mental health. After 18 years in the legal industry, Brafford returned to academia in pursuit of a Ph.D. in positive organizational psychology and is working to boost lawyers' feelings of meaning and purpose at work.

“Just because you don't have a mental disorder or addiction doesn't mean you're well,” Brafford said.

Law Firm Moves, News, and Notes:

Speaking of lawyer well-being, Ty Cobb's financial sacrifice in leaving Hogan Lovells to represent President Donald Trump—combined with managing a difficult client in a high turnover environment—likely makes his job one of the most stressful in the legal business in Washington.

The White House distributed this week more information about precisely what Cobb left behind at Hogan Lovells when joining Trump's legal team last summer: $5,297,315 in partner pay.

And speaking of Hogan Lovells: This week the firm added two leading lawyers as counsel in its government regulatory and international education practices.

Greg Ferenbach, a former Public Broadcasting Service general counsel who was most recently at Cooley, represents clients on education law matters at the state and federal levels. Ferenbach also managed legal affairs at Strayer University from 2002 to 2010 after working for approximately a decade at PBS.

Laura Ponto, former head of regulatory affairs and public policy at Google X's Project Wing, will focus on aviation, drones and new technology in the transportation sector for Hogan Lovells. Project Wing is Google's delivery drone venture.

Drinker Biddle & Reath is launching a new government contracts practice in Washington, D.C., featuring four new partners from Dentons.

Jessica Abrahams, formerly the chair of Dentons' global government contracts practices, will lead a team that also includes former Dentons' colleagues John Horan, Thomas Kelly and Dana Pashkoff. The quartet will work in Drinker Biddle's government and regulatory affairs group.

Drinker Biddle's poaching of four Dentons lawyers comes soon after news of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's exit from Dentons became public last week.

Dechert poached two partners from Hughes Hubbard & Reed for its Washington office:  F. Amanda DeBusk, international trade practice chair, and Melissa Duffy.

The additions to D.C. come as the firm has grown internationally, including seven lateral hires in Asia and five in London last year. The expansion looks likely to help clients navigate complicated trade issues developing in the aftermath of Brexit and new policies in the United States from the Trump administration.

Sidley Austin added Nathan Clukey as a partner in its tax controversy practice.

Clukey was previously a partner at King & Spalding and worked as a trial lawyer in the Justice Department's Tax Division. Clukey will handle complex tax controversy issues at Sidley Austin and he regularly advises clients on government investigations involving civil and criminal proceedings running parallel before the IRS and Justice Department.

Top trial lawyer Hank Asbill left Jones Day for Buckley Sandler this week.

Asbill will work as a partner in Buckley Sandler's white-collar and complex civil litigation practices in Washington. Asbill said his new firm is a “really great opportunity to work with a number of old friends.”

Asbill has experience on more than 100 trials and 30 appeals, including defending former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell.

The 2018 Am Law 100 rankings dropped this week, and Washington turned in a strong performance again this year.

The gross revenue threshold to crack the top 100 list increased to $349 million in this year's rankings. Click here to see how leading Washington firms placed.