Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges has snagged an in-house litigator from Samsung Electronics. John Kim, previously senior intellectual property litigation counsel for the company, has joined the firm’s Silicon Valley office. starting June 9th. Kim has an excellent academic record, having graduating Cornell University with a mechanical engineering degree, and having received his J.D. from American University Washington College of Law. http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleIHC.jsp?id=1202422258508

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has hired a partner from Akin Gump for its executive compensation and employee benefits group. Tristan Brown joins as Partner in Simpon Thacher’s Palo Alto office. The firm welcomes him with open arms.

Source: www.earthtimes.org

Haynes and Boone has been honored for its pro bono work and has received the W. Frank Newton Award. The firm worked for 7 years to free Alberto Sifuentes and Jesus Ramirez, two wrongly accused Mexican nationals. The two were convicted of a 1996 murder of a convenience clerk in Texas, despite there being much evidence supporting their innocence. The Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Project, funded by the Government of Mexico, asked Haynes and Boone for their help. They agreed and in 2002, partners Sarah Teachout, Ron Breaux, and Berry McNeil got to work. These attorneys, plus others, would end up putting in 7,493 hours, which in firm terms, is equivalent to about $2.35 million. With the firm’s hard work, these innocent two men were freed after serving 12 years in prison.

Source: www.earthtimes.org

Bird & Bird has announced an amazing 24 percent increase in revenue. This makes them the fastest growing technology and media firms out of all 100 top UK firms. Their new profit reaches £143m, their highest in three years, as well as £27m more than last year’s figure. This grand increase appears to be the result of their international expansion, particularly in Eastern Europe and India.

Source: www.thelawyer.com

Sullivan & Worcester is jumping on the bandwagon of law firms that profit from global warming. They too have created a climate-change group to aid companies on resulting issues from global warming. According to a January survey by Bloomberg News, 20 of the top 100 US law firms have already created such a practice group. The list includes: Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, Heller Ehrman, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and last, but especially not least, Baker & McKenzie, who created their climate-control group in the late 1990s.

Source: www.news.muckety.com

Ashurst has raised pay for newly-qualified lawyers. The new figure, £65,000, is £1,000 more than last year’s. However, last year’s salary increase of 16 percent is significantly more than this year’s 1.5 percent. In 2007-2008, the firm made £323m in revenue.

Source: www.thelawyer.com