Thompson Coburn LLP is pleased to announce that Robert E. Wallace Jr., former general counsel and executive vice president of the St. Louis Rams, is joining the firm as a partner. Wallace will start at the firm Jan. 2. He will pursue a business law practice and lead the firm’s Sports Law Group.

Littler Mendelson, P.C. (Littler), the nation’s largest employment and labor law firm representing management, has added Joni L. Andrioff to its expanding Employee Benefits practice as a shareholder in the firm’s Chicago office.  Andrioff joins Littler from Deloitte Tax, LLP where she was a principal and served as Midwest Regional Leader in its Compensation and Benefits group. A skillful lawyer in the area of employee benefits and executive compensation, Andrioff brings more than 20 years of experience to Littler’s Employee Benefits practice and increases the firm’s attorney ranks in Chicago.

DLA Piper today announces the appointment of Tom Kerr Williams as a partner within its Employment, Pensions & Benefits practice in London. Tom joins the firm from Baker & McKenzie, where he was a senior associate in the Employment team.

DLA Piper announced today that Nina Momtazee Sitzer has joined the Real Estate practice as a partner in the Chicago office. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Sitzer was a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.

The international law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP announced that Wendy Johnson Lario, Kristine J. Feher, Micala Campbell Robinson and Kristy L. Grazioso have joined the firm’s New Jersey office in the Labor & Employment Practice. Lario and Feher join Greenberg Traurig as shareholders; Robinson and Grazioso join as of counsel. Most recently, all four were attorneys at Day Pitney LLP.

Hogan Lovells represented Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR), the largest publicly traded U.S. apartment owner, in its agreement to purchase a 26.5 percent stake in apartment owner Archstone for $1.325 billion from Bank of America Corp and Barclays.

Allen & Overy today announces the launch of an office in Istanbul to capitalise on the increasing flow of work it is undertaking in Turkey. 

Banking partner Charles Lindsay will move to Istanbul from London to head up A&O’s Turkey practice. The office will focus on English law project finance, capital markets, general lending and M&A work.

Ballard Spahr has created a Mortgage Banking Group, with the arrival of a team of four attorneys whose skill and depth of experience put them at the forefront of evolving regulatory developments in the industry, firm Chair Mark Stewart announced today.