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Epstein Becker Recruits Seven for Real Estate Practice |
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Wednesday, 28 March 2007 |
Epstein, Becker & Green has recruited seven real estate lawyers from the New York office of Roseland, N.J.'s Lowenstein Sandler. Adrian Zuckerman, the former head of Lowenstein Sandler's New York real estate practice and a former deputy general counsel of real estate management company Helmsley Spear Inc., heads the group. He also will become co-head of Epstein Becker's national real estate practice. Ralph Berman and Linda Bielik are also joining Epstein Becker as partners while Brian L. Ullman, Andrew R. Tulloch and Steven M. Ziolkowski will become counsels. One associate is also joining the firm. Epstein Becker has 380 attorneys in 11 offices throughout the country.
Source: www.law.com
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IP Firms Stay Competitive with Pay |
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Wednesday, 28 March 2007 |
January's pay raises increased first year associate pay essentially across the board for large firms. Despite the pay increases, smaller intellectual property specialty firms are still managing to compete in the salary race. For example, New York's 70-lawyer IP firm Frommer Lawrence & Haug has been paying its first-year associates $150,000 since July, when most large national general practice firms were still paying their first years $135,000. Chicago's McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff also pays above the market rate for associates, raising its first year annual salary to $145,000 in early 2006, and raising it again this January to $150,000. The two largest IP firms, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner and Fish & Richardson have actually not only matched New York rates, but they have also made those rates effective nationwide. IP firms have always been ahead of the curve in terms of compensation because of their strong and steady income and low overhead pay.
Source: www.law.com |
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NY Firms Prepare for Boom in Restructuring Work |
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Wednesday, 28 March 2007 |
In preparation for an economic downturn NY firms are looking to expand their restructuring practices. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, Cravath Swaine & Moore and Dewey Ballantine are just a few of the firms that will most likely refigure their practices to keep up with an increase in that type of work. Some firms will be encouraging corporate lawyers to move into restructuring work, while others will be looking outside to recruit. Cadwalader has actually already hired a team of four bankruptcy lawyers from Weil Gotshal & Manges earlier this month.
Source: www.legalweek.com |
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Seattle Firm's San Francisco Office Opens with New Hires |
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Tuesday, 27 March 2007 |
Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro has opened an office in San Francisco to better serve their clients, local tech companies. The firm is known for its plaintiffs work managing multistate national class actions in securities, antitrust and consumer fraud cases. Specifically in the Bay area, Hagens Berman is involved in the DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and SRAM antitrust cases. To head the new office, the 38-lawyer firm recruited former Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins partner Reed Kathrein; he will also be in charge of the LA branch. Joining Kathrein in San Francisco are two associates and an of counsel from the Lerach firm.
Source: www.law.com |
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Weil's Austin Founder Leaves for Houston Boutique |
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Tuesday, 27 March 2007 |
Greg Coleman of Weil Gotshal & Manges has left for Houston firm Yetter & Warden. Coleman founded Weil's Austin office in 2003 and was the head of its Supreme Court and appellate litigation group. At Yetter, Weil will start that litigation boutique’s first appellate team. After Coleman's departure, Weil is left with twelve lawyers in Austin, including only one partner.
Source: www.thelawyer.com |
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New Hires at Pittsburgh Firm |
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Tuesday, 27 March 2007 |
Cohen & Grigsby has hired two new attorneys for its Pittsburgh headquarters. Donald M. Lund joins the firm as a director in the Litigation Group. His practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and product defect claims. Curt Vazquez joins the firm as a director in the Litigation Group. An expert in commercial litigation matters, Vazquez specializes in insurance coverage and counselling, consumer class action defense, and accounting malpractice. Both men were formerly with Jones Day in Pittsburgh. Cohen & Grigsby also has offices in Naples, Florida and Bonita Springs, Florida.
Source: www.home.businesswire.com |
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Littler Mendelson Merges with Small Portland Firm |
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Monday, 26 March 2007 |
San Francisco based firm, Littler Mendelson, announced today its merger with five-lawyer Portland firm Amburgey & Rubin PC. Just two months ago Littler finalized its largest merger ever with a 46-attorney labor and employment boutique in Cleveland. Littler has grown by 120 attorneys over the past year, mostly gaining small groups from other labor and employment firms. Currently, the firm has over 600 lawyers in 42 offices nationwide.
Source: www.sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com
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Fisher & Phillips Hires Six from Saul Ewing and Opens in Philly |
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Monday, 26 March 2007 |
With the addition of six Saul Ewing attorneys, Atlanta-based labor and employment firm Fisher & Phillips is moving into the Philadelphia area. The firm opened an office in Exton, PA today, making itself the second Atlanta-based labor and employment firm to open up in Philadelphia this year. Partners Christopher P. Stief, David W. Erb and Michael R. Greco; of counsels Susan M. Guerette and Risa B. Boerner; and associate Heather Zalar Steele are making the move. This group has a strong litigation practice, but also counsels clients on employee defection and recruitment matters involving statutory issues under the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act, the Espionage Act, and various state trade secrets and unfair competition statutes. Fisher & Phillips only represents management in labor and employment matters; the firm has 18 offices and 190 attorneys throughout the country.
Source: www.nylawyer.com |
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Merged Firm Moves to New NYC Office |
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Monday, 26 March 2007 |
Day Pitney, a law firm resulting from a January merger of Florham Park, NJ's Pitney Hardin and Hartford, CT-based Day, Berry & Howard, joined its New York offices at 7 Times Square last week. The joint firm occupies 53,000 square feet of the building's 19th through 21st floors. There are about 50 lawyers and 50 support staff in the new office. The firms' goal in merging was to establish a presence in New York and broaden their services to reach other northeastern cities between Boston and Washington, D.C. They also aimed to expand their practice in the areas of intellectual property, commercial litigation and energy and corporate investigations.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
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Howrey Snags IP Partner from Taylor Wessing |
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Monday, 26 March 2007 |
Howrey has recruited Mark Hodgson from Taylor Wessing for its European IP team. Hodgson was a partner at Taylor Wessing for nine years and was the head of its life sciences practice. He is leaving the firm because of the potential for conflicts between one of his key clients and his current firm’s wider IP practice. Hodgson will join Howrey on April 30, reuniting with former Simmons & Simmons colleague Richard Willoughby.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
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Morgan Lewis Plans to Expand in London |
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Monday, 26 March 2007 |
Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis & Bockius has its sights set on growth for its 32-lawyer London office. The firm aims to increase numbers there by 40 percent, to 45 lawyers, in 2007. The office is on its way, as it has already hired outsourcing partner Rory Graham and associate Simon White from Brown Rudnick. Two associates are also scheduled to join in April. Morgan Lewis also plans to relocate the London office in July. The growth seen in this office comes after increases in both turnover and average profit per equity partner (PEP) in 2006.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
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Corporate Counsel Joins Kilpatrick Stockton |
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Sunday, 25 March 2007 |
Tom Steed has joined Kilpatrick Stockton's Investment Company/Investment Manager practice; he joins the firm as Counsel in the Raleigh office. Steed has experience in mutual and hedge fund administration, public and private offerings and compliance matters. His expertise covers the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Securities Act of 1933, The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and regulations of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. Prior to joining Kilpatrick Stockton, Steed worked for five years with a mutual fund administrator, where he served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Kilpatrick Stockton is an international law firm with 500 attorneys in nine offices.
Source: www.lawfuel.com |
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DLA Piper Venture Capital Team Thrives in Atlanta |
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Friday, 23 March 2007 |
In only ten months, DLA Piper has built up a thriving venture capital practice out of its Atlanta, GA office. Since its opening in Atlanta, the firm has recruited Jeffrey M. Leavitt of Arnall Golden Gregory; Douglas R. Spear, who was with Morris, Manning & Martin, and, in October, Joseph G. Silver from Kilpatrick Stockton. In just the last quarter of 2006, this team worked eleven venture capital deals raising $68.7 million for their clients. DLA Piper's international presence is a real strength for the practice, as local clients are able to connect with capitalist around the world. The firm also has a separate website www.venturepipeline.com which allows startups to link up with investors.
Source: www.law.com |
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Nixon Peabody Acquires 17 IP Lawyers from Jenkens |
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Friday, 23 March 2007 |
Nixon Peabody has acquired 17 intellectual property lawyers from Jenkens Gilchrist. All but one of the attorneys will be joining the Chicago office; the other will work in Los Angeles. These IP lawyers specialize in patent litigation, a particularly profitable area. This group departure is just one of many faced by Jenkens over the past months.
Source: www.bizjournals.com |
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Eckert Seamans Hires Nine from PA Bankruptcy Boutique |
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Friday, 23 March 2007 |
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott has hired nine attorneys from bankruptcy boutique Adelman Lavine Gold Schildhorn & Kleban, effectively closing the nearly 60-year-old boutique. The group will start at Eckert's Philadelphia office on April 2. Lewis H. Gold, Gary M. Schildhorn, Barry D. Kleban, Gary D. Bressler, Alan I. Moldoff and Kathleen E. Torbit will join Eckert Seamans as partners, and Mark Pfeiffer, Alexander Moretsky and Marie C. Dooley will join as associates. Gold reported that the deal was largely due to his firm's desire to provide the services and have access to the resources of a larger, full-service law firm. Eckert now has about 18 lawyers in its bankruptcy practice. Four attorneys chose not to move to Eckert and instead are joining other firms.
Source: www.law.com
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Willkie Recruits Five from Clifford Chance for Frankfurt |
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Friday, 23 March 2007 |
Willkie Farr & Gallagher has hired five lawyers from Clifford Chance's Frankfurt office. The private equity group consists of counsels Andreas Hautkappe and Rolf Hünermann, who join Willkie as salaried partners, and associates Stefan Joergens, Ole Oldenburg and Ingo Bednarz, who also join as partners. Other recent hires in Germany for the firm include private equity partner Mario Schmidt last December and former PricewaterhouseCoopers tax partner Patrick Meiisel, who joined Willkie last month.
Source: www.legalweek.com
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Foley Group Defects to Local San Diego Firm |
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Thursday, 22 March 2007 |
A group of nine health care lawyers recently left Foley and Lardner for local San Diego firm Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves and Savitch. According to George Root Jr., the head of the moving group, the departure is mostly due to rising rates at Foley. Those increasing rates were making it hard to retain clients and recruit new ones. Though in recent years small local firms have been facing increasing pressure from larger international firms, other attorneys have made similar moves, especially those with price-sensitive clients. For the group from Foley, Procopio's option for a flexible work schedule was also a draw. Procopio has 110 lawyers in its downtown San Diego office, along with a second office in Carlsbad.
Source: www.signonsandiego.com |
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Willkie Farr Has New Partner in Milan |
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Thursday, 22 March 2007 |
Willkie Farr & Gallagher has hired Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Cesare Vecchio for its Milan office. Vecchio, who helped launch Freshfields’ Milan office, focuses on corporate and M&A, securities offerings, structured financial products and tax issues. Joining Willkie Farr on May 1, Vecchio will become the fourth full equity partner in Italy. The new addition comes after the firm posted strong 2006 financial figures; revenues were up 14 percent, reaching a new mark of $502m, and profits per partner rose by 13 percent to break past the $2m barrier for the first time.
Source: www.legalweek.com
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Sidley Austin Gains Real Estate Partner |
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Thursday, 22 March 2007 |
Real estate lawyer, Farid Maluf, has joined Sidley Austin's New York office as a partner. He has experience in capital markets real estate lending and finance, as well as acquisitions and sales. Maluf advises investment banks, private equity funds, pension fund advisors, and other domestic and foreign financial institutions in complex real estate and real estate finance transactions, such as fixed and floating rate financings, construction and renovation financings for large office buildings, residential facilities, luxury hotels, condominiums, shopping center developments and mixed-use projects, leasehold and sale-leaseback financing, and mezzanine loans. Sidley's 100 plus real estate lawyer are skilled in commercial real estate transactions. The firm has 1,700 attorneys practicing in 15 offices worldwide.
Source: www.sev.prnewswire.com |
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London Firm Working on Flexible Work Schedule |
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Thursday, 22 March 2007 |
London firm SJ Berwin is considering introducing a standard flexible work schedule system. The firm wants to employ a system that would apply to all practice areas as well as non-fee-earning staff. One option would be to let people work less hours in quiet periods in return for working longer when they are working on a deal. Currently, some people work fewer days a week and others sometimes work from home. Other London firms like Simmons & Simmons and White & Case are introducing or already have implemented their own flexible working schemes.
Source: www.legalweek.com |
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