Post-merger conflicts have prompted four Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney lawyers to leave for a small Pittsburgh firm, Sherrard German & Kelly. Shareholders Stanley J. Lehman and Karen Y. Bonvalot and associates Samuel J. Toney IV and Erin E. Milliken will join the 30-lawyer firm next month, each retaining their respective titles. Client conflicts arose after Buchanan Ingersoll’s July 2006 merger with Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling. All four attorneys were at Klett Rooney before the merger. Lehman was the chairman of the firm’s estate and tax group and served as a practice manager for its corporate department; he and Bonvalot primarily handled insurance coverage issues. Even before the merger, Lehman had to deal with conflicts with Klett Rooney’s insured clients – the problems only got worse as the firm grew post-merger. He looked towards Sheppard German, which already has a longstanding referral network with Buchanan Ingersoll.
Source: www.law.com

Law firms are gaining wealth through hedge fund money. Nine thousand funds manage more than $1.4 trillion in assets, so firms that originally advised hedge funds and even those with more traditional corporate finance practices are reaping the benefits. Hedge fund fees account for about a third of total revenue at Schulte Roth, for example, and at Willkie Farr & Gallagher the asset management practice (which includes hedge funds) has doubled in the past few years. As a result of this growth, firms with no significant hedge funds clients are looking for attorneys with these types of practices. Recruiters and law firms are busy searching for lawyers experienced in asset management work; hedge funds themselves have also been looking to hire, especially transactional and compliance lawyers.
Source: www.nytimes.com

Fenwick & West has recruited tax partner Michael Solomon. Prior to joining Fenwick, Solomon was most recently a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop. He has over 30 years experience in tax planning and related business structuring for large U.S. and foreign multinational companies. Solomon expressed excitment to make the move because of Fenwick’s large pool of talent, international reach, and impressive list of clients. The firm is recognized as having one of the country’s leading domestic and international tax practices; this year it was named on of only seven U.S. firms in the first tier in tax.
Source: www.lawfuel.com

Addleshaw Goddard has increased its partner numbers in the UK after two lateral hires and five partner promotions this week. Real estate partner Leona Ahmed of Lawrence Graham has joined the firm. Addleshaw also hired O’Melveny & Myers Matthew Doughty to join the firm’s London real estate and corporate practices. There partner promotions were spread over three offices – two in London, two in Leeds, and one in Manchester. The firm now has a firmwide total of 187 partners.
Source: www.legalweek.com

Portland firm Stoel Rives, announced this week that it would be “downsizing” its San Francisco office and focus its energies in California on Sacramento. Some of the 14 lawyers from the San Fran office are expected to relocate to the firm’s other eight offices. The firm specializes in land use and real estate practices, and has two other CA offices in Tahoe City and San Diego. Attempts to grow the San Francisco office such as the 2001 merger with Washburn Briscoe & McCarthy did not end well, as eight partners left in 2005 and more have departed since then. Last month’s departure of Peter Mostow, the former leader of the renewable energy practice, was a especially hard felt loss for the firm. Former Stoel partners suggest that some of the firm’s problems resulted from an inability to bill enough hours, gain income, and raise compensation enough to remain competitive with other California firms.
Source: www.law.com