Last October, hearts jumped in the West. The Iranian delegation at Geneva agreed to ship out the bulk of its low enriched uranium (LEU) to…

A while back there was an op-ed piece in the New York Times titled “Will Big Business Save the Earth?” A startling question given that…

Law firm partners come and go, but lately it seems that an unusually high number of them have been going away from White & Case.

Last month, over a dozen partners left WC’s London office for Latham & Watkins. In response, White & Case redeployed key partners, several of them from New York, to shore up certain overseas offices.

But the firm is losing some talent on the domestic side too. Says a source:

I know you’ve covered White & Case Palo Alto before. You mentioned the parking lot fiasco and, more recently, covered the defection of three partners from White & Case to Cooley Godward.

Well, they’ve lost a couple more partners. Last month, Jeff Washenko left, apparently for Morrison & Foerster (although he’s still not listed on the MoFo website).

More recently, Bill Coats left to join Kaye Scholer. This makes five partners who’ve left within the past few months. The office only has three partners left.

(The link to the Palo Alto office lists a few partners with two offices. But the only ones who actually use Palo Alto as their main office are Warren Heit, Bijal Vakil, and Jennifer Yokoyama.)

A second tipster’s take on the Palo Alto situation, plus comment from the firm, after the jump.

A different source offered this blunt assessment of the Palo Alto situation:

Palo Alto is now officially dead — the other top partners have already left (to Cooley). Basically, there are a handful of associates and a paralegal there now.

Is a larger pattern emerging at White & Case? This tipster thinks so:

White & Case has recently lost the head of every Middle East office, its London finance group, the head of global IT, head of global metals, top antitrust attorney in NY, etc.

Essentially, W&C offices don’t work together AT ALL (for example, wouldn’t it make sense to do some China work out of Palo Alto to keep the office alive??).

Anyway, expect more departures soon. If you speak to any legal recruiter in Europe, you will hear that W&C resumes are flooding the market.

We reached out to White & Case for comment. A firm spokesperson discounted the significance of the U.K. and Middle East departures:

The departures are regrettable, but they do not change our commitment to our London Bank Finance and Middle East practices. We intend to use this opportunity to rebuild those practices so they are even stronger and more integrated within the Firm.

(We discussed some of the steps the firm has taken in response to the departures back in this post.)

Meanwhile, with respect to Palo Alto:

[W]e have a dynamic IP group with lawyers in the United States, Europe, and Asia who do important work for important clients. Our IP group continues to grow, and we have promoted talented associates to partner this year to meet the client demand. Palo Alto is an important strategic office for the firm and our clients, and you should expect to see our office grow in the near future.

In addition, the spokesperson noted that the firm continues to hire away talent from other firms. For example, W&C recently expanded its restructuring and insolvency practice by bringing in Christian Pilkington as a partner in London. (Pilkington, who looks like a dashing chap, was formerly counsel at Skadden.)

If you have any insider info about what’s going on at White & Case — or any other major law firm, for that matter — you know where to reach us.

Silicon Valley Moves: Kaye Scholer Opens Office, Wilmer Partner Heads to DLA [The Recorder]
Lawyer Moves Herald Lateral Season [The Recorder]

Earlier: Musical Chairs: White & Case Regroups After Latham Raid
Musical Chairs: White & Case Loses Lawyers to Latham in London

Law – Services – Palo Alto – White & Case – Lawyers & Law Firms

Mama Apiyo’s stall in the Nairobi marketplace is a wealth of beauty secrets. There are balms for styling hair and make-up to cover blemishes. Then,…

Sana Rahim was born in the cowboy country of southeastern Wyoming, to Pakistani parents who had emigrated so her father could earn a doctorate.

She speaks Urdu with her family, but can’t read or write the language. She recites prayers in Arab…

[Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past two years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

Evan here, writing from the Miami airport, about to head off to London.

Happy Chinese New Year to all of our readers! Let’s hope the Year of the Tiger is a good one.

It has been a very busy few weeks, mainly due to a relatively hot lateral recruiting market in HK / China (also, my hometown Saints winning the Super Bowl here in Miami was quite a wonderful distraction). Robert and I were in Hong Kong earlier this month and we will be visiting our Moscow offices and making the rounds at our firm clients there (along with our colleagues, Yuliya Vinokurova, our resident Moscow recruiter, and Daniel O’Rourke) later this week for seven days. Robert was also in Shanghai earlier this month and I was in Tokyo and will be heading to Singapore from Moscow. Robert and I will be back in HK and SHG in March.

In Hong Kong, Robert, Alexis and I have been very much involved with the recent US firm rush to take on HK practices and that recruiting at the partner / group level has been fun, but quite intensive. Next week we will write about how this new important trend will affect US associate and counsel recruiting in HK in 2010.

The HK / China biglaw US attorney lateral hiring market has most definitely picked up to the highest levels we have seen since mid ‘08. For example, in the past week, Alexis Lamb, our resident recruiter in Hong Kong, made an associate placement in HK and I made two placements in HK, one associate and one counsel. In January and February, I have 12 new associate hires starting their new jobs in HK / China.

***More after the jump.

However, there are still far too many very qualified candidates on the market for the growing number of positions available. Thus, all major US and UK firms in HK / China can be extremely selective when filling openings. Also, there are still a handful of top US firms that remain on hiring freeze and a number of US and UK top firms in HK / China that are off hiring freeze but do not have the green light to hire for all their current needs. Firms falling into that latter category are typically focusing on cap markets hiring because of all the IPO deal flow that has been occurring in HK / China, although IPO work could fall off a little bit, temporarily, while the SHG and HK indexes have hit a snag recently.

We believe there will be a further up tick in US associate lateral hiring in HK / China for the next month or two, as many partners we talk to were waiting until after the Chinese New Year holidays to ramp up recruiting efforts.

Please do not be fooled though with what seems like a red hot lateral market in HK / China. It may seem the market is hotter than it really is because so many biglaw recruiters are trying to figure out how to break into the HK / China, the only hot biglaw lateral markets now. Surely, you have had a dramatic increase of cold calls recently, especially if you happen to be Chinese and / or have Mandarin fluency listed on your firm web bio. However, keep in mind that the biglaw deal flow in HK / China has been strong since last summer, especially in cap markets, and many firms have been understaffed by one or two associates for months. Now that most of these firms are relaxing their hiring freezes, at least somewhat, there is a spurt of hiring going on, due to pent up demand. I do not think this rate of hiring will continue for more than a few months before tapering off a bit.

Since last fall, most top US firms in HK / China have been following a pattern of coming off hiring freeze and within one month hiring 2 to 4 new US associates, but then slowing down hiring substantially. For example, I placed 4 associates at one US firm’s HK offices from July to September last year; made 3 placements at another US firm’s HK and BJ offices in November and December; and made 3 placements at another US firm’s HK and BJ offices from December and January. There are a few more firms that we predict will come off hiring freeze soon and make similar hiring runs.

Even with all the hiring going on in HK / China, as long as the US and other Western markets continue to be very slow biglaw lateral markets, there will be too big of an influx of qualified candidates in the HK / China markets for the amount of openings that exist. Thus, while in ‘06, ‘07 and ‘08, we were placing in HK / China US associates from a big variety of top US firms, in ‘09 and thus far in ‘10, the vast majority of US associate placements have been those coming from top 15 firms (more than half from top 5 firms). Further, all of our placements in ‘09 and thus far in ‘10 have had fluency in Mandarin, Japanese or Korean (while in the previous four years we were placing numerous English only associates in HK / China).

Hong Kong – Asia – China – HK / China – Moscow

In my discussions with bankers about innovation, I often hear them tell me that perhaps in other industries innovation could be achieved, but due to…

For the past seven months, we’ve been inundated by what can only be described as mixed economic news. This phenomenon started when the news began moving away from the truly awful of a year ago to the less bad of a few months ago and now, in some arenas at least, to the fairly good, something to hang some hope on. GDP is clearly on the mend, we’re on the cusp of positive job growth, the number of hours worked is stabilizing, manufacturing is rising along with consumer demand, and so forth.

There remain, however, all kinds of caveats. Residential foreclosures shadow the housing market, the commercial real estate market teeters on the precipice, China has cut back on its purchase of U.S. Treasury bonds, regional banks are still going under, etc. And nearly 18 months since the behavior of the giant banks nearly took us all down with them, that very risky behavior is still unregulated and still earning its authors gargantuan bonuses, in some cases, taxpayer-provided bonuses.

As for the structural issues that have plagued us far longer than the current crisis, we still have no industrial policy, or rather, we have a chaotic one made worse by a self-immolating trade policy, and we’re still stuck fighting with a bunch of guys who think the New Deal should have been stillborn and that corporadoes are heroes. So, both short term and long term, the outlook is, let us say, murky.

Just why the short term future is difficult to discern was illustrated Thursday at the Augusta, Ga., chamber of commerce by Dennis P. Lockhart, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. It was another example of that mixed economic news we’ve grown accustomed to. Here he is:

My team of Atlanta Fed economists and I … are forecasting a lower-growth, more gradual recovery with slow progress on unemployment. …

I see two competing narratives about how this recovery will play out. Growth in the fourth quarter of 2009 was quite strong and raises hope for a robust recovery. In this, the first narrative — that of a traditional sharp bounce-back following a deep recession — growth exceeds the underlying long-term potential of the economy and unemployment declines at an accelerating pace.

In this narrative, businesses rebuild inventory levels and resume capital expenditures in anticipation of growing sales. Consumers regain confidence, and retail spending grows briskly. You can add positive export growth as the economies of our major trading partners — especially in Asia — also show better growth.

Finally, in this narrative the banking system successfully navigates a weak commercial real estate sector and starts expanding credit to both business and consumers.

The alternative narrative entails some fundamental changes in business practices and consumer habits. In this scenario, businesses have learned from the recession that they can operate permanently at leaner inventory levels and flat or lower employee head counts. And the impressive worker productivity gains measured in recent data continue to accumulate.

Consumers, in this narrative, have assumed a quite different mind-set compared to the precrisis, prerecession “normal.” Chastened by the recession and high unemployment — consumers are simply more frugal and more inclined to save. And even if consumers wanted to resume prerecession spending habits, the consumer finance industry, in this narrative, will not accommodate previous levels of consumption.

In this narrative, growth continues, but at a very modest pace, and unemployment is very slow to recede. The first narrative is a return to something resembling normal as we knew it; the second narrative describes a somewhat new and different world. …

My team of Atlanta Fed economists and I are forecasting the second narrative.

For the millions of Americans out of work, nearly 6 million of them for more than six months, with 1.2 million losing their unemployment benefits in nine days, this fresh forecast of a tepid recovery is, once again, not happy news. They can only hope that Lockhart and his team have missed the mark. On the bright side, the team did not predict what a minority of analysts still believe is a possibility, a false dawn that darkens into a double-dip recession like the one that British economists are now so worried about.

So what it’s all mean? A little bit of hope. A little bit of gloom. A whole lot of uncertainty.

Certainly this recession, the Great Recession, has its unique characteristics beyond being the deepest and steepest downturn since the Great Depression. But more and more experts are coming to believe – as many of us amateur observers have believed for a long time – that this recession will apparently not be unique in the speed with which jobs return to “normal.” Instead, it appears we are on a path of continuing the trend of the previous two recessions. That means a relatively rapid return of previous levels of gross domestic product and, by the standards of post-World War II recessions prior to 1990, an abnormally slow return to previous levels of employment.

The Obama administration inherited this economic mess, and 13 months are in no way time enough to repair all the cumulative damage caused by economic policies dating back to the Reagan administration. Unfortunately, at a time when more government effort is desperately needed to put Americans back to work, the Senate is talking about an inadequate – no scratch that – a laughable $15 billion jobs bill.

Gizmodo has received a tip from an anonymous Apple insider suggesting that in 1996, when Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he was a man with a plan.

According to the source who reportedly worked with Jobs on Apple’s Newton team in 1996, the now-…

We’ve written before about the tragic murder of Robert Wone, a promising young Asian-American attorney in Washington. At the time of his death, Wone, 32, was the general counsel of Radio Free Asia; prior to that, he was an associate at Covington & Burling.

We would have written more about the Wone murder, but one problem is that there hasn’t been much to write about. Years after the August 2006 murder, the case remains unsolved.

But now, with trial looming — a trial on charges of conspiracy, obstruction, and tampering, but not murder — there are some new developments to report. And some of them are deeply disturbing.

There’s a fair amount of background to this case. Let’s review it, briefly. From the most comprehensive site about the case, Who Murdered Robert Wone:

On August 2nd, 2006, Washington attorney Robert E. Wone was murdered at 1509 Swann Street. Over two years passed before any criminal charges were filed – and then only conspiracy, obstruction of justice and tampering charges were brought against Swann Street housemates Joe Price, Victor Zaborsky and Dylan Ward.

Two and a half years later, very little seems clear about what happened that night, and who murdered Robert Wone. A cloud of suspicion also hangs over the Swann Street defendants. A speedy trial is in their best interests as well.

As we noted before, this case has a number of legal-world linkages (in addition to Wone’s time at Covington):

Former Covington partner Eric Holder, now the U.S. Attorney General, previously represented Wone’s widow, Kathy — who has filed a wrongful death suit against the three housemates. One of the trio [of Swann Street defendants], Joseph Price — who along with his housemates now faces obstruction of justice (but not murder) charges — was a partner at Arent Fox, until [he resigned] from the firm (after a lengthy leave of absence). Price was also active in the marriage equality movement, as former general counsel of Equality Virginia.

On to the latest developments (which happened earlier this week; we would have covered them earlier, if not for our recent technical difficulties, which surely you’ve noticed — and for which we apologize). As first reported by the BLT, a government filing (PDF) spells possible trouble for the defendants:

The government’s filing gives notice to the defense attorneys that the prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn Kirschner, may try to prove uncharged crimes beyond what is alleged in the indictment. The government has alleged Wone was restrained and sexually assaulted, but has not charged anyone with those acts. Prosecutors say argument and evidence regarding the restraint, assault and murder of Wone is admissible.

Craig Brownstein — one of the bloggers behind Who Murdered Robert Wone, which you should visit for gavel-to-gavel coverage — described the filing more colorfully to ATL:

In the 13-page doc, AUSA Glenn Kirschner totally unloaded and indicated he’s going to go balls to the wall in the trial, not shying away at all from his initial theories that Robert Wone was injected with a paralytic agent, restrained and sexually assaulted before he was stabbed to death. He contends the conspiracy and obstruction was orchestrated to cover up for and protect the killer — who he says is known to the defendants.

Also: To buttress his injection accusation, Kirschner points to Defendant Joe Price’s troubled younger brother Michael, who as a phlebotomy student may have had ready access to the both the equipment and drugs.

The only blood-drawing class that Michael missed happened to be on the night of the murder, August 2, 2006. Yet another odd and quirky wrinkle among many in the case.

For more “odd and quirky” detail, check out Gawker, which provides a laundry list of some of the S&M equipment that the defendants possessed — and allegedly may have used on the night of the murder. The highlight of this cornucopia of sadomasochistic paraphernalia: an electro-ejaculation device called the “EROSTEK ET302R electrical shockwave generator” (featuring “variable current settings,” according to the government filing).

John Cook of Gawker describes the equipment as “avant garde sex toys.” But that might be too tame a reference to “metal anal probes” and “assorted anal probes with conducting surfaces to be used with Erostek unit to administer shocks.”

“To generally classify them as ’sex toys’ doesn’t do them justice,” one tipster told ATL. “The best part of all is that the government had to write, with a straight face, that the evidence should be admitted due to its ‘probative value.’ You can’t make this stuff up.”

Setting aside the salacious details, we hope that justice will be done in this case — and that the murderer will be discovered, after all these years.

Black And Blueprint [Who Murdered Robert Wone]
Prosecutors press on with obstruction case in Wone killing [Washington Post]
Prosecutors Outline Evidence, Murder Theory in Wone Case [The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times]
The Weird Weirdos Accused of Murdering Robert Wone [Gawker]
With Trial Approaching, Robert Wone Murder Case Heats Up [WSJ Law Blog]

Earlier: The Mysterious Murder of Robert Wone: An Update

Murder – Crime – Murder of Robert Eric Wone – Robert Wone – Injustice

The #1 argument by corporations and politicians who oppose reducing pollution, fighting climate change and moving America to a cleaner, greener, more sustainable future is…

Is it desirable to trade America’s dependence on foreign oil for dependence on renewables and nuclear energy manufacturing abroad? Worse yet, should we allow our tax dollars to make this possible?

Is Biglaw getting over the gloom of the recession? Back in October, Morrison & Foerster was feeling pessimistic about attorney salaries. It decided to cut salaries for first-year associates from $160,000 to $145,000. Only associates in pricey New York and Asia — MoFo has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo, all expensive cities — were spared the cut.

The firm said at the time:

Note, however, that the market for first year salaries among national firms is undetermined at this time. Given that, we will continue to assess starting salaries, in light of market trends, and may elect to adjust as required based on larger market developments.

Well, MoFo has assessed, and MoFo has decided to beef up its salaries. Associates got news this week that first year salaries are back up to $160k. And the raise is retroactive to January 1st. From the firm email that went out on Tuesday, available in full after the jump:

Although a great deal of uncertainty continues regarding how the economy will perform in 2010, we, like our most successful competitors, remain in demand. We are planning conservatively for 2010. However, if 2009 is a predictor, 2010 will provide opportunity despite its challenges.

MoFo is known for being a little quirky. In keeping with its individualistic streak, it’s decided to buck the Cravath scale for its 2009 bonuses. Bonuses range as high as $65,000, but only if you clocked the requisite number of hours.

Additional good news: Pro bono hours count…

According to the firm-wide email, bonuses for associates in non-NYC offices range from $7,500 to $65,000 and are discretionary based on “three factors: performance, Efficient Legal Service Hours, and seniority.” Here are the ranges:

Non-New York U.S. Structure
2009 Bonuses by Salary Class

Salary Class Bonus (range per class)
2008 $7,500 -$35,000
2007 $7,500 – $40,000
2006 $7,500 – $45,000
2005 $10,000 – $55,000
2004 $10,000 – $55,000
2003 $10,000 – $65,000
2002 $10,000 – $65,000

MoFo associates we’ve heard from are pleased, even though senior associates may end up with smaller bonuses than they would get on the lockstep Cravath scale (a guaranteed $25k or $30k).

According to Sara Randazzo at the Daily Journal, the hours benchmark was 1950, and it includes pro bono work:

Chair Keith Wetmore said the bonus range does not include a few dozen associates who received higher bonuses for billing more than 2,300 hours. The standard for most associates to be bonus-eligible was 1,950 hours, including pro bono work.

Meanwhile, the firm is setting up a two-tier track for 2010 salaries, with a more lucrative track for those who hit minimum hours:

1st 2009 $160,000 $160,000
2nd 2008 $170,000 $165,000
3rd 2007 $185,000 $170,000
4th 2006 $210,000 $185,000
5th 2005 $230,000 $210,000
6th 2004 $250,000 $230,000
7th 2003 $265,000 $250,000
8th 2002 $280,000 $265,000
9th 2001 $290,000 $280,000

MoFoers, enjoy the moola.

MORRISON & FOERSTER FIRMWIDE EMAIL

From: Wetmore, Keith C.
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 9:01 AM
Subject: 2009 Associate Bonuses/2010 Associate Compensation (U.S. Comp Structure)
To: All Associates and Of Counsel on the U.S. Compensation Structure

Following up on my January memo to you announcing that the firm had exceeded its net income budget, I want now to confirm the bonuses to be paid with respect to 2009, and to announce 2010 base compensation and 2010 bonus structure for all associates on the U.S. compensation structure.

All bonus amounts will be paid in the February 26 payroll; base salary increases will be retroactive to January 1 and will also be paid in the February 26 payroll. In the interest of being concise I have not included eligibility requirements and other important details applicable to bonuses and base compensation that can be found in the Compensation and Evaluation Brochure.

Although a great deal of uncertainty continues regarding how the economy will perform in 2010, we, like our most successful competitors, remain in demand. We are planning conservatively for 2010. However, if 2009 is a predictor, 2010 will provide opportunity despite its challenges. I thank each of you at every level of seniority for your contributions and excellent work on behalf of our clients.

2009 Bonuses

The New York discretionary bonus amounts were previously announced, and the New York 2009 step increase for each class will be paid as a contribution bonus to eligible associates as previously announced. Bonus amounts for associates in U.S. offices other than New York, and for associates based in international offices and paid in accordance with the non-New York U.S. structure, were informed by taking into account the step increases paid in 2009 by some, but not all firms, and the bonuses already announced for 2009 in various markets. Individual bonus amounts reflect three factors: performance, Efficient Legal Service Hours, and seniority, and will be paid in the following ranges:

Non-New York U.S. Structure 2009 Bonuses by Salary Class
Salary Class Bonus (range per class)
2008 $7,500 -$35,000
2007 $7,500 – $40,000
2006 $7,500 – $45,000
2005 $10,000 – $55,000
2004 $10,000 – $55,000
2003 $10,000 – $65,000
2002 $10,000 – $65,000

Bonus amounts vary by class year and were increased for those associates who met 2100 or 2300 Efficient Legal Service Hours (1900 and 2300 hours for patent associates) in 2009. In addition, bonus amounts at the various hours levels were increased for those associates who were evaluated as performing at an Enhanced or High level by their Evaluation Committee during the fall annual evaluation process. Approximately 10% of evaluated non-New York associates were given a High designation and a further approximately 25% were given an Enhanced designation. Lateral associates who joined the firm after June 1, 2009 and other associates not included in the 2009 annual evaluation process were not eligible for Enhanced or High designations. An additional amount was paid (in some cases in excess of amounts shown in the chart above), on a discretionary basis, to certain associates significantly in excess of 2300 Efficient Legal Service Hours.

Associates outside of New York who are receiving bonuses will be notified today or tomorrow of their bonus amounts and, as applicable, Enhanced or High designations. Of Counsel bonuses are individualized, and eligible Of Counsel will be notified of their bonus amount today or tomorrow.

2010 U.S. Structure Base Compensation and Bonuses

Starting salaries for the Class of 2009 will be increased to $160,000 effective as of January 1, 2010, to be consistent with developments in the market.

Salaries for associates who progressed with their class based on their 2009 evaluation, and met the annual minimum Efficient Legal Service Hours expectation for 2009, will increase two steps. Associates who progressed with their class but did not meet the minimum Efficient Legal Service Hours expectation for 2009 will receive a single step increase, and be eligible for the additional step increase as a contribution bonus payable in 2011, assuming progression with one’s class and meeting the Efficient Legal Services Hours expectation in 2010. Lateral associates who joined the firm after June 1, 2009 will receive step increases solely on the basis of 2009 hours, prorated as appropriate. Associates in salary class 2008 and earlier who joined the firm on or after September 1, 2009 will receive two step increases.

2010 Associate Base Compensation
(U.S. Offices, U.S. Practice Attorneys)

2010 Calendar Year 2010 Salary Class 2010 Base Compensation for Associates Who Progressed with Class At least minimum for 2009 Below minimum for 2009

1st 2009 $160,000 $160,000
2nd 2008 $170,000 $165,000
3rd 2007 $185,000 $170,000
4th 2006 $210,000 $185,000
5th 2005 $230,000 $210,000
6th 2004 $250,000 $230,000
7th 2003 $265,000 $250,000
8th 2002 $280,000 $265,000
9th 2001 $290,000 $280,000

With respect to 2010 bonuses, if the firm achieves its net income budget approved by the partners for 2010, the 2010 discretionary annual bonus in New York will be determined at year end or in early 2011, taking into consideration comparable annual bonuses in the New York market, and outside New York, we anticipate paying bonuses based on a combination of performance, as determined through the associate evaluation process, and hours.

Of Counsel compensation is individualized and 2010 arrangements generally will be finalized by March 15, 2010.

QUESTIONS

If you have any questions about the 2009 bonuses or 2010 base compensation, please direct them to your Associate Representative who will add them to agenda for the next Associate Representative call with members of firm management, scheduled for February 24. We will prepare and distribute a Q&A following that meeting. Contact Cheryl Moser, Managing Director of Practice Administration, if you have a question about your individual bonus or base compensation.

Earlier: Nationwide Salary Cut Watch: MoFo Cuts in California, Spares NYC
Nationwide Bonus Watch: MoFo Giveth, Then Taketh Away

New York – United States – Business – Metro Areas – Human Resources

Bumping along in a Land Rover an hour’s drive outside Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Regassa Feyissa, former director of Ethiopia’s national genebank, waved his arm towards…