Thoughts on New Jones Day Practice Group? Forum

[Anonymous User]

What do people think about Jones Day's new practice group: State Attorney General Enforcement, Investigations & Litigation Practice? Personally, I can't figure out why the firm felt the need to create an entirely new practice for state attorney general enforcement, and I don't think it'll be all that marketable to clients.

https://www.jonesday.com/en/news/2021/0 ... n-practice

Anon because I'm an associate at JD and my other posts may out me.

[avenuem]

Weird question. Are you looking to feel good about the firm because people have good things to say about the practice group?

FWIW, Jones Day might be bad at resolving its black box compensation problems but the practice group is a good idea. Jones Day's US locations include states like Cali, Massachusetts, and New York. In all of those states AGs have been very active lately in going after corporations:

https://oag.ca.gov/media/news
https://www.mass.gov/orgs/office-of-att ... ealey/news
https://ag.ny.gov/press-releases

There's money to be had. There's corporations on the receiving end of AG's actions. Yes, AG work can be tossed under general White Collar/Investigations, but why not target that specific area?

[Wild Card]

are they hiring?

ba dum tss

[Anonymous User]

Incoming JD associate, and it seems like a good idea to me. I'm noticing lots of firms starting/expanding groups like this, and JD is big enough to have offices in places where it could be useful. I think the group will most hire partners (read: former AGs and OAG people), so not sure how much it'll matter to associates, who I guess will probably be in other groups along with this one when bodies are needed.

[stupididiot]

State AG's offices are taking a lot of the type of mass consumer actions that used to be brought as class actions but dont anymore cause of arbitration clauses. This is making State AG's office increasingly important/powerful/connected. You could just put them under general lit/investigations, but i think the considerations are specialized enough and suits big enough to have some kind of group. Also, I could easily see JD paying huge sums to hire some high profile ex-AG's (especially in republican states) and really becoming a player in the State AG field.

[Iowahawk]

State AG's offices are taking a lot of the type of mass consumer actions that used to be brought as class actions but dont anymore cause of arbitration clauses. This is making State AG's office increasingly important/powerful/connected. You could just put them under general lit/investigations, but i think the considerations are specialized enough and suits big enough to have some kind of group. Also, I could easily see JD paying huge sums to hire some high profile ex-AG's (especially in republican states) and really becoming a player in the State AG field.

A lot of the tech antitrust is also state AG-driven. And obviously opioids but that's a bit different. But yeah I'm confused about OP's confusion, state AG practices are likely to be a growth area given how important they're becoming. I'm sure it overlaps a lot with white collar, complex/commercial, fin reg, etc. but there are plenty of more niche practice groups around.