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
Willkie Farr Has New Partner in Milan
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
Sidley Austin Gains Real Estate Partner
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
London Firm Working on Flexible Work Schedule
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
More New Partners at Large Texas Firms
The legal business has been growing over the past few years, and correspondingly, there has been an increase in new partners at large Texas firms. According to the Texas Lawyer’s “The Texas 100” poster, twenty-three of the 25 largest firms in the state report promoting 146 attorneys to partnership in their Texas offices for 2007. That’s 6.5 percent more than the 137 attorneys promoted to partnership by the same firms in 2006. The majority of the new partners recieved their JD between 1994 and 2000, and 40 percent of them are litigators. Women partners comprise 32 percent of the new partners, while minorities make up only 9 percent. This is a change for both groups compared to 2006 when women made up 28.5 percent of new partners and minorities made up 16 percent.
Source: www.law.com
San Fran Boutique Merges with Large NY Firm
San Francisco boutique, Topel & Goodman, is set to merge with New York firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman on April 1. The seven-lawyer boutique has made a name for itself in white-collar criminal defense, but the firm’s two partners feel that Kasowitz’s 230 lawyers will help to provide the backup needed to take on larger criminal cases and ancillary civil cases. For Kasowitz, the deal provides criminal defense capabilities and a West Coast presence. Kasowitz Benson focuses on general litigation, creditors’ rights and bankruptcy, employment, intellectual property and family law. The two firms hope to double the number of lawyers in the San Francisco office in the next year.
Source: www.law.com
Paul Hastings Adds Two Real Estate Partners
Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker has added two new partners to its real esatat practice. Brad Ritter and Gregory Spitzer joined Paul Hastings’ Chicago office last month from Kirkland & Ellis. These additions are just a part of the number of real estate hires the firm has recently made; with 190 lawyers in 18 offices, Paul Hastings’ real estate practice is one of the largest among US firms. The Chicago office now has 20 attorneys and continues to seek more.
Source: www.legalweek.com
Bracewell & Giuliani Doubles Size of NY Office
New York’s Bracewell & Giuliani is expanding its NYC headquarters. The firm is taking over the 18th floor of 1177 Sixth Avenue in addition to its 19th floor offices, doubling its space to 49,000 square feet. The firm has 40 attorneys in New York now, but plans to add 20 to 30 more over the next year. Bracewell’s corporate and litigation practices especially have been growing.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Nine New Partners at Gardere
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP announced the promotion of nine new partners in the firm’s Dallas and Houston offices, effective April 1, 2007. R. Craig Baker, Steven S. Camp, Michael P. Cooley, John A. Eliason, Brett D. Lamb, Colin Martin, Robert T. Slovak, and Jeannette Vloitos practice in the Dallas office, and John T. Woodruff works out of Houston. With offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston and Mexico City, Gardere is one of the Southwest’s largest full-service law firms. The firm specializes in the areas of corporate, banking, real estate, bankruptcy, legislative and regulatory affairs, tax, labor, environmental, and intellectual property.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
Pepper Hamilton Hires Tax Partner in D.C.
Pepper Hamilton has hired Ellen McElroy, a tax lawyer with experience in the IRS Chief Counsel Office, as a partner in the Washington, DC office. Formerly of Ernst & Young, McElroy specializes in accounting methods and inventories, in particular capitalization issues. She has also worked for the IRS, where she served as a legislation counsel and as a senior attorney with the Income Tax and Accounting division. Pepper Hamilton’s tax practice helps clients with proactive tax planning and is involved in the structure and formation of partnerships. The tax attorneys also have experience in private equity funds, hedge funds, corporate spin-offs, accounting method changes and IRS controversy matters.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
