Walmart’

The company’s initiative makes Walmart has become the 100th signatory to the national Corporate Pro Bono Challenge(SM), a voluntary benchmark developed and administered by Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO), a partnership project of the Pro Bono Institute (PBI) and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), designed to encourage and promote pro bono service with in-house lawyers and legal departments.

In addition, the Walmart legal department and the Walmart Foundation announced today they will make a $115,000 donation to Legal Aid of Arkansas and the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission. The grant will help the Commission continue its efforts to address key issues raised by low-income clients, including family law, consumer practice, financial, housing, and employment matters.

In a press release, Jeff Gearhart, executive vice president and general counsel of Walmart  was quoted as saying: “Our pro bono effort is a natural extension of our company’s overall belief in being a good corporate citizen. Helping to ensure that access to legal services is a reality for all of our citizens, regardless of their ability to pay, is consistent with Walmart’s commitment to making a difference in the communities that we serve.”

The Walmart Foundation funds initiatives focused on education, workforce development, economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness.

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• Saul Ewing Hires Buchanan Ingersoll Team
• United Law Group Hiring 70
• Associates Have to Make Do With Fewer Staffers
• Law Firms Continue to Squeeze Associates with Salary and Bonuses

Ash Gulati, executive director of UBS’s UK-based prime brokerage & equity derivatives legal team, will join the London office of Akin Gump as senior counsel.

Matthew French, head of UBS’s distressed investment team, will leave after less than a year, to join the Nomura Group. He will work in mergers & acquisitions.

The moves leave 70 lawyers at UBS’s City of London legal team.

UBS AG is a diversified global financial services company, with its main headquarters in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland. It is the world’s largest manager of private wealth assets.

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• Orrick and Akin Gump in Merger Talks
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• Former Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer Joins Akin Gump
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The new organization of chief legal officers and law firm managing partners is dedicated to improving diversity in the legal profession.

The LCLD evolved from the 2008 Call to Action Summit, a gathering of 125 senior legal professionals, consisting solely of general counsels from Fortune 500 companies and managing partners of the nation’s top law firms, who discussed real solutions to the substantial diversity gap within the legal profession.

Among its first orders of business, the LCLD is assessing the progress made by four working groups established during the 2008 Call to Action Summit. The groups include Law Firm Call to Action; Strategies for Law Firm and Corporate Partnerships; Goals to Measure Success; and Recruitment, Retention and Advancement.

• Lawyers Raise $200,000 for Human Rights
• DLA Piper Adds Pair of Attorneys to Beijing Office
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• Justice Department Under Attack
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The firm took over dissolved Lehman Brothers’ European and Middle East equities & investment banking operations, leading to redundancies. Lawyers at both Lehman and Nomura were targeted.

The Tokyo bank expects more cuts.

The Nomura Group saw its beginnings in Osaka in 1919. The group is involved in numerous industries, from oil and gas to construction, chemicals and foodstuffs. It is best known internationally as a financial powerhouse.

• Pannone Lays Off 35 Staff, Goes to 4-Day Week
• Rumor: DLA Piper to Cut Equity Partners
• Maclay Murray & Spens to Keep 4 of 31 Trainees
• Collas Day Lays Off 6 Staff
• White & Case to Lay Off London Partners

Online rumors say that the bank, which recently merged with Wachovia, is cutting up to 20% of its legal department. The bank would not confirm the numbers, but characterized the percentage affected as “small.”

Founded in New York in 1852, San Francisco, California-based Wells Fargo & Co. is the 4th largest bank in the US by assets, and the second largest bank by market cap.

• Nomura Lays Off 10 In-House Lawyers
• Tipster: Fish & Richardson Lays Off Corporate Lawyers [Update]
• Tipster: Layoffs at USC Law School
• Tipster: More Layoffs Today at Fulbright & Jaworski [Update 2]
• Layoffs Ongoing at Fulbright & Jaworski? [Update 2]

The study, entitled “Sustaining Pathways To Diversity: The Next Steps in Understanding and Increasing Diversity & Inclusion in Large Law Firms,” is based on questionnaires completed by more than 4,000 attorneys at 124 different large firms.

Some findings:

• The study found that fitting in with the majority culture at a firm is actually a better indicator of long-term success than top-tier law school credentials.
• When it comes to professional development, landing plum assignments, and receiving satisfactory coaching and feedback, whites enjoy a significant advantage over all minorities.
• There is a feeling among white men that minorities hired at firms are less qualified, even if they graduated from top law schools, because they were admitted through affirmative action programs.
• The women and minority lawyers surveyed were less likely than their white male counterparts to feel that they are treated as equals by their peers. Also, 75% of white attorneys perceived that they had access to the training and development they needed, compared to 59% of minorities.
• But the majority of minorities and women surveyed said they don’t think they are victims of race or gender discrimination.

• Award Celebrating Diversity Given To Crowell & Moring
• Ex-Associate Accuses Firm of Gender Discrimination
• Diversity at Law Firms Changes
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