Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP has just announced its plan to launch a Silicon Valley office. This office will make the firm’s eleventh office and the eighth one in California. Partner Marc A. Sockol, who will manage this Palo Alto office, joins the firm’s Intellectual Property practice group. Sockol was prevoiusly a partner at Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP.
Source: www.bizjournals.com
King & Spalding has announced that two trial lawyers have just joined its national product liability and toxic tort practice. Jeff Furr and Ursula Henninger are made partners. Furr joins King & Spalding from his private defense practice, and was previously a partner at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice LLP. Henninger, who joins from Womble, worked with Furr as a co-trial counsel on a few cases. The addition of these two lawyers, brings King & Spalding’s Charlotte’s office to a total to 20 lawyers,with 8 partners.
Source:http://www.earthtimes.org
The second prominent East Coast law firm to launch an office in Chicago is that of Proskauer Rose. The firm has hired Steve Gilford to lead the office. Gilford joins from Mayer Brown. The announcement of Proskauer Rose’s entry into Chicago comes weeks after the firm of Ropes & Gray announced the same.
Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Dewey & LeBoeuf has announced the addition of Michel Quéré to its Paris office. Quéré joins as partner and will head the banking and finance practice. Prior to joining Dewey, Quéré worked at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, from 2000 to 2006.
Source: www.chicagotribune.com
U.S. law firms are behind United Kingdom in terms of environmental policies. The nation’s firms are being confronted on their environmental impact and what steps they are taking to minimize their effects on this planet. For instance, are being asked to provide manufacturing recycling programs and business environmental programs. Firms are taking action by developing programs with the focus of energy saving, recycling, car-pooling, and recycled/reducing paper usage. There are a number of certifications/known programs sought such as: ABA-EPA Law Office Climate Challenge Waste Wise, Green Power Partnership, and Energy Star Programs, and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). It appears as if west coast firms are the leading firms to concentrate efforts on these major environmental issues. Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean was the first law firm in the U.S. to obtain certification as a green business. Farella Braun & Martel was the first firm to be Green Certified by the city of San Francisco and the second to track air emissions with California’s Climate Action Registry. Nixon Peabody was the first law firm to appoint a chief sustainability officer. There are even more firms making grand changes to help reduce their ecological footprints.
Source: www.law.com
This is the best year for female partner promotions. 27.5 per cent of the promotion announced this year so far, are female. This is a record year; it has finally surpassed the 25 per cent mark. At Olswang, which has 77 partners, four of the firm’s 10 promoted partners are female. A third of its new partners, six out of 18 new partners are women at the firm of Herbert Smith. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is promoting five women among its 25 new partners. At Bristol’s Burges Salmon, two out of its six new partners are female. At Forsters, all the new partners are female (2). Macfarlanes is the only firm out of the ten that have announced its promotions for the year, that has not promoted any female associates.
Source. www.thelawyer.com
