Two pairs of NY lawyers have launched their own firms. Barbaros Karaahmetoglu and Thomas J. Luz have left their firms to form Karaahmetoglu & Luz, which focuses on international commercial and litigation matters. Carole C. Lamson and David A. Cutner have joined forces forming Lamson & Cutner, which specializes in the legal needs of the elderly and disabled and their families, focusing on Medicaid planning and asset protection.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
New Employee Benefits Partner at Jones Day Dallas
Gary Short has joined Jones Day as a partner in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice. Working out of the Dallas office, Short will focus on the treatment of employee benefit plans and executive compensation in business transactions. He also has done work designing, implementing, and administering benefit plans; he has handled governmental plans as well. Short was formerly a partner with Vinson & Elkins. Jones Day is one of the world’s largest law firms, with over 2,200 laywers practicing in 30 offices around the world.
Source: www.home.businesswire.com
Snell & Wilmer Looks Westward for Expansion
Phoenix-based firm Snell & Wilmer has its sights set on the West Coast for further expansion. The plans for growth come with the firm’s significant increases in annual revenues and lateral hires. The firm has been particularly successful with its litigation, especially products liability, consumer class actions and intellectual property; the other focus is transactional work. The firm’s first priority in its California expansion is Los Angeles; after that, there is consideration of opening offices in San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Seattle, and Portland. However, the firm chairman emphasizes that expansion must first be proceeded by acquiring the right group of lawyers or firms.
Source: www.law.com
Stoel Rives Closes Door to San Fran Office
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
Thelen Reid Hires in Shanghai
Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner has hired IP Partner Aaron Wininger in its Shanghai office. Wininger comes from Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, and has significant experience in patent prosecution, client counseling, and patent litigation for Asia-based companies and Silicon Valley start-ups. He expects to expand his client base with Thelen Reid doing work in non-IP, corporate financing, and M&A. Thelen Reid’s Shanghai office has been growing recently – since January, the firm has added seven attorneys, pushing its numbers to twelve.
Source: www.mondaq.com
Another Antitrust Partner Leaves Fried Frank
Only a day after losing the head of its antitrust practice, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has lost another top antitrust partner. Deborah Garza has been named deputy assistant attorney general for regulatory matters for the U.S. Department of Justice. With the DOJ she will oversee transportation, energy, agriculture, telecommunications and other regulated sectors. Garza’s departure along with that of Charles Rule, Fried Frank’s former antitrust chair, leaves the firm without a strong-DC based antitrust practice, though it still has some competition law expertise in New York and Europe.
Source: www.law.com
Paul Hastings Recruits White-Collar Crime Partner from Fulbright
Kenneth M. Breen has left Fulbright & Jaworski for Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in New York. Breen is a white-collar criminal defense partner whose clients include former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who is the target of a federal investigation of a range of alleged misconduct. Prior to Fulbright, Breen was an Eastern District assistant U.S. attorney.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Lone Star Lawyers Make Lateral Moves
Several Texas lawyers have made lateral moves to new firms recently. Bruce A. Cheatham and Brice E. Tarzwell have joined Bracewell & Giuliani in Dallas as partners in the corporate and securities practice. Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold’s Austin office has hired partner Mike Shaunessy, associate Deborah Loomis and special counsel Taline Manassian in the commercial law practice. Additionally, Sean C. Urich has joined Winstead’s Dallas office as a labor and employment associate, while William R. Rohrlich II joined the firm in The Woodlands as a corporate associate.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Lateral Hires for Reed Smith Chicago
Just a month after Reed Smith combined with Sachnoff & Weaver and opened its doors in Chicago, the new office welcomes its first lateral recruits. The three-lawyer team from DLA Piper includes Alexander Terras and Jason Kaplan, who will join as partners, and Timothy Harris, who will join as counsel. Terras and Harris will join the Commercial Restructuring and Bankruptcy Group, while Kaplan will work in the Financial Services Group. The lateral hires will be beneficial to the firm in handling the region’s rise in bankruptcy filings. Reed Smith’s Restructuring & Bankruptcy Group has more than 50 professionals in 17 offices in the U.S. and Europe.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
Defense Lawyer Lowell Joins McDermott Will
Respected Washington, DC defense lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has left Chadbourne & Parke for McDermott Will & Emery. This is Lowell’s third firm in four years, working at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips before joining Chadbourne. Lowell attributes the move to not being able to find the right kind of litigation work at Chadbourne due to the firm’s size and practice areas. At McDermott Will, Lowell will head the white-collar criminal defense practice in DC. Throughout his career, he has represented many politicians under scrutiny including Gary Condit and Jack Abramoff. So far this year, McDermott Will has hired five lateral partners and lost one. The firm has about 1,000 lawyers in 14 offices around the world.
Source: www.law.com
