The Dallas office of Bracewell & Giuliani has added two new partners. Bruce A. Cheatham and Brice E. Tarzwell have joined the firm’s corporate and securities practice. Connie S. Stamets has also joined the firm as counsel. All three of the new hires came from the Dallas office of Winstead P.C., where Cheatham was the head of the corporate and securities group. Bracewell & Giuliani has 400 lawyers in New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., Kazakhstan and London.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
Sutherland Asbill Recruits High-Profile Blank Rome Litigator
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan has hired high-profile litigator William R. Martin to head its white-collar criminal defense practice. Martin comes from the Washington office of Blank Rome, and has represented a number of athletes, politicians, celebrities and corporate executives. His clients have included NBA players Jayson Williams and Allen Iverson, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and the parents of murdered federal government intern Chandra Levy. Martin listed Sutherland’s tax practice, as well as its securities, litigation, and financial services practices as reasons for his move.
Source: www.law.com
Heller Adds Five More in London
Two weeks after its acquisition of three corporate partners from WilmerHale, Heller Ehrman has gone back for more. Tax partner Christopher Prout and senior corporate associate Scott Leonard-Morgan will join Heller as partners, along with three more corporate associates. Only a little over a month since its opening in London, the West Coast firm is rapidly building its UK outpost. Heller is in the process of extending its corporate, real estate, and competition practices into Europe.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
Jones Day Gains Two in San Diego
Jones Day’s San Diego office announced the addition of two new lateral hires. Nicola Pisano joins as an IP partner from Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps; Lin Yu, Ph.D., joins the firm as a patent agent from Gordon Rees. The firm’s San Diego office relocated last month to a space three times as large as its previous location; it has 22 lawyers. Jones Day has 30 locations worldwide and over 2,200 attorneys.
Source: www.home.businesswire.com
Cahill Partner Leaves for DLA Piper
Former Cahill Gordon & Reindell partner, Roger Meltzer, joined DLA Piper as the head of corporate finance. Taking with him a $20 million book of business, his presence will be missed at Cahill, where he worked for 29 years. Meltzer assured that he moved seeking new challenges, not because of any problems with his previous employer. DLA Chairman Frank Burch commented that the hire will help to expand the firm’s M&A and capital finance practices; Meltzer will also work to recruit new corporate attorneys.
Source: www.law.com
Jenkens Continues Shrinking with Loss in L.A.
Dallas-based firm Jenkens & Gilchrist has shrunk from 600 lawyers in 2001 to less than 200. Over the past few years the firm was sued by former clients over improper tax shelter advice and has been strategically downsizing in response. Its most recent move was the handing over of its entire 19-lawyer L.A. office to Baker Hostetler. Jenkens also moved most of its Chicago office, about 15 IP lawyers, to Nixon Peabody this week. It is also rumored that some of Jenkens’ Dallas lawyers might join Hunton & Williams.
Source: www.law.com
Troutman Sanders Opens in Shanghai
Troutman Sanders will be the first Atlanta-based firm to open in mainland China. The new office will be in Shanghai, China’s financial and commercial center. Troutman has had an office in Hong Kong for 10 years; it was this office’s success and amount of business dealing with Shanghai that led to the move to open on the mainland. Edward J. Epstein, a partner in Hong Kong, will be the new office’s managing partner; Hong Kong and Richmond partner, Coburn R. Beck, will also be a key player. Eleven attorneys from other firms’ China offices have already been recruited, and more are expected to join later.
Source: www.law.com
Mintz Levin Acquires Real Estate Expert in San Diego
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. recently gained a new Member to its Real Estate practice. Scott Biel joins the firm’s San Diego office from Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP. His work deals with the representation of owners, developers, tenants and lenders in a variety of real estate transactions; he specializes in the financing, development and leasing of offices, research and manufacturing facilities for corporate users in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and telecommunication industries. Mintz Levin is a 480-attorney AmLaw 100 firm with offices in the U.S. and U.K. The firm is especially known for its expertise in industry.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
Structural Changes for Finnegan
Intellectual property firm, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, has been slowly making changes over the last decade. The Washington-based firm is considered a first-generation firm, with most of its business tied to the top partners. It is one of few such firms today, having named its first nonequity partner only in 1998. Realizing that in order to expand, changes must be made, the firm reported 25 nonequity partners in 2006. The shift is not easy, however, for a firm who is used to seeing all partners as equal.
Source: www.law.com
Reed Smith Nabs Four from Dechert
Four partners from Dechert have joined Reed Smith’s Philadelphia office. Led by Lee Zoeller, the group (which includes Kyle Sollie, David Kraus and Frank Gallo) expands the firm’s tax controversy practice, and specializes in state tax controversy issues. In 2005, Reed Smith acquired a similar group from Preston Gates & Ellis for its West Coast office.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
