Kevin Silverang, the former managing partner of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney’s Philadelphia office, has formed his own firm. With another former Buchanan Ingersoll attorney, Kelly Anne Donohoe, Silverang has formed a real estate boutique named Silverang & Donohoe. Silverang left Buchanan Ingersoll in 2004 to join O’Neil Properties Group, where he was executive vice president and GC; Donohoe later joined him there as vice president and assistant general counsel. The new firm opened in St. Davids, PA on April 2. About half of the firm’s work will be handling the legal needs of Silverang’s real estate development company; the other work will be in representing real estate funds. The founders are the firm’s only attorneys right now, but the firm wants to grow to about 5 to 10 lawyers.
Source: www.law.com

Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels LLP has recruited professionals for its Boston government relations practice. Carole Brennan joins the firm as a principal; she previously worked as the director of external affairs for the Massachusetts Port Authority. Kevin Considine and Martin Natasia come from KMC Strategies Group, a government consulting firm. Considine joins as a partner, and Natasia will be a government relations specialist. The three attorneys will join Paul Afonso in the practice group.
Source: www.boston.bizjournals.com

Cravath, Swaine & Moore has started a bankruptcy practice with the hire of Richard Levin, a former partner with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Prior to joining Skadde, Levin served as the general counsel, chief financial officer, and chief administrative officer of Whittaker, Corp. Several other firms like Skadden Arps, Kirkland Ellis, and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft have been building their bankruptcy practice in anticipation of an increase in insolvency work.
Source: www.law.com

Needing space for expansion, McCarter & English had been looking for a new home. The firm originally planned to move into Riverfront Center, a new 14-story building that was under construction near their current office, but delays in construction and an impending lease expiration forced them to look elsewhere. Ultimately, the Newark firm decided to take another 15-year lease at its current location, where it has been since 1990. The Riverfront office would have given McCarter & English 230,000 square feet; though the firm only has 143,000 now, there is an option for additional space, and renovations will be made.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Steefel, Levitt & Weiss has lost five more attorneys from its San Francisco land use practice. Partner L. Elizabeth Strahlstrom has joined Bingham McCutchen’s land use and development practice. Associates William Fleishhacker, Miriam Montesinos, Alexis Pelosi and Elizabeth Sibbett followed their fomer Steefel Levitt bosses, partners Judy Davidoff and Arthur Friedman, to Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton. Davidoff and Friedman joined Sheppard Mullin on April 2. Steefel Levin’s San Francisco office has lost six partners in the last year, and the attorney counts stands at 40, down from 80 in 2000.
Source: www.nylawyer.com