West-coast lawyers are making lateral moves. Hank Roberts left Bingham McCutchen to join Farella Braun & Martel as a partner in the San Francisco business transactions group. In Silicon Valley, Rudy Kim has joined Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal as a partner; he was previously with Irell & Manella. Pepper Hamilton’s Orange County office welcomed Michael Meeks as a partner from Theodora Oringher Miller & Richman.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Discontented counsels at Shearman & Sterling’s London office are seeking partnership opportunities elsewhere. Positions for new partners are few and far between in this office, so as a consolation, many have been promoted to counsel. However, of the 15 associates promoted to counsel, nine have left since 2004. Those that departed did so to become partners at such firms as Simmons & Simmons, Dewey Ballantine, Sheppard & Wedderburn. Shearman has also lost partners Adrian Knight and Nigel Thompson to Skadden Arps and Baker Botts, respectively.
Source: www.thelawyer.com

DLA Piper recruited two corporate and securities partners from Reed Smith, San Francisco. Dale Freeman represents public and private companies primarily in the life sciences industry, in corporate matters such as M&A deals and IPOs. Garth Osterman represents investors and companies, especially emphasizing M&A deals, divestiture transactions, and project finance. The partners were drawn to DLA for its strong emerging companies and venture capital practice, as well as its global reach.
Source: www.law.com

Connecticut firm Pullman & Comley has launched a white-collar criminal defense group with a hire from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney, Alex Hernandez, will head the new four-attorney practice. This area of work is growing, and sources say that Hernandez will have ample opportunity to expand the practice. Corporate litigator, Thomas F. Maxwell, is one of the attorneys that will join the new group; lawyer from other disciplines will also be involved with the white-collar team.
Source: www.law.com

As starting salaries in the D.C. offices of many NY, CA, and national firms have already been bumped up to $160,000, all eyes are now on Atlanta-based firms, and many wonder whether they will make the same move. So far none have budged, but in the spirit of competition, there is a possibility of some action. Many Atlanta firms such as Alston & Bird and King & Spalding already made raises at the start of the year, bringing Atlanta pay to $130,000 and D.C. pay to $145,000. Other Atlanta firms with D.C. offices like Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, Powell Goldstein, Troutman Sanders and McKenna Long & Aldridge have not commented on the issue yet.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle has opened doors in Istanbul, Turkey. The office will operate under the name Curtis Mallet-Prevost Danismanlik Ltd., and will be headed by Ali R. Gursel. Gursel’s practice focuses on international financings and cross-border corporate transactions; he joined the firm in 1997.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Davis Wright Tremaine has acquired three-lawyer San Francisco IP boutique Parsons Hsue & de Runtz. Partners James Hsue and K. Alison de Runtz, and counsel Gerald Parsons bring copyright and trademark prosecution skills to the six-member San Fran IP litigation practice. The Parsons Hsue lawyers were encouraged to join Davis Wright by partner and former collegue Robert Gex. Hsue and de Runtz are looking forward to having the support of a large firm behind them for financial and recruiting reasons.
Source: www.law.com