Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis has hired investment management partner, Edward G. Eisert, for its New York office. Eisert was formerly a general counsel for Franklin Templeton Investments, and he also served as senior vice president and corporate secretary of Franklin Templeton subsidiary Fiduciary Trust Co. International. At K&L Gates, Eisert will handle investment management, securities regulation, mergers and acquisitions and structured finance.
Source: www.law.com
Winston & Strawn has been the victim of lateral recruitment recently, having lost three attorneys to two different firms. Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig & Wolosky snagged partner Manes Merrit to launch an employee benefits practice. Barry Salkin is also joining Olshan Grundman’s new employee benefits team as of counsel. Corporate partner Marvin Miller was hired by Seyfarth Shaw; Miller deals with complex finance transactions including structured financings.
Source: www.law.com
Atlanta-based Troutman Sanders has picked up five new corporate partners – two finance partners from King & Spalding’s New York and Atlanta offices and a partner each from Alston & Bird, Morris Manning & Martin and Hunton & Williams. Coming from King & Spalding and joining Troutman’s structured finance group are tax lawyer Philip Spector and corporate lawyer Craig Kline. Saba Ashraf joins the firm’s tax practice from Alston & Bird. Former Morris Manning & Martin attorney, Larry Schackelford, joins the securities and corporate governance group. Finally, Jeffery Banish joins Troutman’s employee benefits and compensation group from Hunton & Williams. Troutman Sanders now has 293 partners, almost 90 of which have been added just since the beginning of 2005.
Source: www.law.com
Only a few days after three big California-based firms raised their CA first-year associate salaries to $160,000, three more firms have followed suit. Latham & Watkins; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker all decided to bump up their starting pay for their CA offices. Now, all of California’s biggest and most profitable firms have matched the New York scale; smaller firms like Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Heller Ehrman have remained steady at $145,000. The explosion of pay raises has some big-firm clients worried and questioning whether these lawyers are actually worth what they are being paid.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Hogan & Hartson announced today that it is bumping up its starting salary in Washington, D.C. to $160,000. The raise comes in reponse to the rash of pay increases that California firms have implemented over the past two weeks. Though many New York and national firms already applied the NY market rate ($160,000) to their NY offices, Hogan & Hartson is the first Washington-based firm to do so. Most likely, other firms will follow its lead soon.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Bryan Cave has added four lateral attorneys to launch a private client practice in its Washington, D.C. office. The private client group counsels and represents a wide range of clients such as individuals, families, closely held businesses, and trust and charitable institutions. Partner Mary Ann Mancini, Counsels Susan Blumenthal and Tanya Harvey and Associate Jordan Ware all join Bryan Cave from the D.C. office of a national firm. Mancini deals especially with estate and business planning and taxation; she has been recognized nationally for her expertise in issues involving compensation-related benefits. Bryan has close to 800 lawyers in 13 offices around the world.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
As law firms nationwide expand, the issue of office space becomes a pressing one that requires serious attention. Some of the big deals of the past year included Winston & Strawn’s expansion to 430,000 square feet in Chicago; Ropes & Gray’s relocation to 400,000 square feet in Boston; and Jenner & Block’s relocation to 383,000 square feet in Chicago. Office space is generally the second biggest cost for law firms, behind payroll. Because of its importance, some firms are developing full time positions for individuals to manage leasing deals, rather than delegating the responsibility to firm leaders. Duane Morris, for example, has a five-person team of facilities managers who meets with leasing agents, architects, contractors and vendors. Other firms hire outside counsel to handle lease deals. Besides widespread expansion, increasing merger activity and lateral movement also require that firms have options about future space needs.
Source: www.law.com
Less than a month after Stoel Rives announced its plans to close its San Francisco office, environmental and natural resources litigator Sandi Nichols has left to join Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis. Allen Matkins has about 200 attorneys practicing in six California offices. Stoel Rives plans to relocate the 14 other lawyers from San Fran to other offices. The firm specializes in land use and real estate practices, and has nine offices on the West Coast.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Eric Feuerstein has joined Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as a partner in its New York office. He was formerly a partner with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. Feuerstein’s practice focuses on high-end real estate transactions. Specifically, he deals with acquisitions, joint ventures, leasing, development and financing. The lawyers in Gibson Dunn’s real estate practice represent a variety of clients on matters such as development, leasing, sales and acquistions, and real estate debt and equity finance. The firm has over 800 attorneys in 13 offices worldwide.
Source: www.prnewswire.com
Reed Smith Richards Butler has recruited former Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer finance partner, Rex Rosales. Rosales will join Reed Smith’s asset finance and securitization team, which consists of 19 finance partners. Rosales’ work emphasizes capital markets – something new for the practice which generally deals more with asset finance. Moreover, his work financing aircrafts, ships, and trains will complement the practice group’s work in the shipping sector.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
