Stinson Morrison combined with St. Louis firm Blumenfeld Kaplan & Sandweiss over the weekend. After the combination, Stinson’s St. Louis office will have over 65 lawyers, 13 paralegals, and 47 staff members. Stinson is the second largest firm in Kansas City, with 193 attorneys there. The firm will have about 360 lawyers with the addition of those from Blumenfeld.
Source: www.news.moneycentral.msn.com

Five lawyers from Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker’s London office have left to set up their own firm with offices in Munich and London. Former Paul Hastings of counsel, Geza Toth-Feher, and three associates set up Toth-Feher & Partner LLP. The new firm will specialize in private equity advice, and will continue to work closely with Paul Hastings and its clients.
Source: www.thelawyer.com

Pietragallo Bosick & Gordon, Pittsburgh’s eight-largest firm, has launched an office in Philadelphia. The firm recruited Joseph Mancano from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney and Joseph Vaughn from Vaughn Law Offices to be partners in the new office. They will be joined by associates Mary March and Divya Wallace. Pietragallo also has offices in Mechanicsburg and Sharon, PA; Steubenville, OH; and Weirton, WV.
Source: www.pittsburgh.bizjournals.com

Two new litigation partners have joined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, D.C. Robert Huffman and Peter Hutt specialize in representing defense contractors, health care systems, technology companies, and construction companies on a wide variety of government contract issues. Both attorneys have extensive experience in representing contractors in Civil False Claims Act lawsuits and other procurement fraud matters.
Source: www.lawfuel.com

Howrey has announced that starting next year they will be changing from a lockstep compensation system to a merit-based system for its associates. In making the change, the firm aims to compensate associates for what they are worth, no matter how what their seniority level. Firm leaders also see it as fairer to their clients, who will no longer be forced to pay an associate more just because he or she has one more year under the belt. First years will still start at the market rate of $160,000, but all other associates advance according to personal evaluations. Their performance and experience could, for instance, shorten or lengthen the partnership track.
Source: www.law.com

Greenberg Traurig welcomed civil litigator Richard Welsh to its Santa Monica office. Welsh joins as a shareholder in the litigation practice. Formerly, Welsh was a partner with Kirkland & Ellis in downtown L.A. His specialties include real estate, commercial law, and class action suits. He has represented companies such as Home Depot and DirecTV, and also has experience in appellate representation and alternative dispute forums.
Source: www.metnews.com

Six government investigations and white-collar criminal defense lawyers from Holland & Knight have joined Nixon Peabody in its Boston office. Mark D. Seltzer and Brian French join Nixon as partners. Four associates, Lisa Lent, Averi Price, Sean Riley and Shannon Schultz, also made the move.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Patent attorneys are in strong demand across the country. With patent applications having more than tripled over the past two decades (reaching over 440,000 last year), and patent lawyers making up only about 3 percent of the nation’s 1.1 million active attorneys, the competition between firms to recruit them is fierce. The field is especially demanding because it requires scientific or technical expertise along with a law degree, making the patent lawyers out there hot commodities. First-year associates at large firms can expect a 10 percent to 15 percent premium over base pay of about $160,000. An IP partner at a top firm typically is hired at $700,000 or $800,000, even $1 million a year, even with a small book of business.
Source: www.baltimoresun.com