Dewey Ballantine has lost four more partners in the past two weeks. The firm has seen almost 20 partners leave over the past few months, during which it announced, and then cancelled its plans to merge with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Former litigation partners David J. Grais and Kathryn C. Ellsworth have started Grais & Ellsworth. The two partners, who specialize in insurance and reinsurance litigation, aim to boost efficiency and productivity for clients; they currently have one associate from Dewey, but hope to recruit more from elsewhere. Tax specialist Robert H. Frastai, also departed last week to Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Dewey’s D.C. intellectual property litigation co-chair, Cono A. Carrano, has left for Howrey.
Source: www.law.com
Stoel Rives Renewable Energy Partner Leaves for Wilson Sonsini
Peter Mostow, the head of the renewable energy practice at Stoel Rives, has left for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, along with John Pierce, another partner in the practice. Mostow will work in Wilson Sonsini’s San Francisco office, while Pierce will be based in Seattle. The partners’ departure was a sound choice considering that Wilson Sonsini has close ties to the venture capital community and a tendency to jump into up-and-coming practice areas; moreover, San Francisco is ideal for Mostow since California boasts a booming renewable energy field. Last month five other partners left Stoel Rives’ San Francisco office; the firm now has 14 lawyers there.
Source: www.law.com
Taylor Wessing Starts French Finance Group with Jones Day Recruit
Taylor Wessing has recruited real estate finance lawyer, Antonia Raccat, from Jones Day for its Paris office. Becoming the firm’s nineteenth partner in Paris, Raccat will head the French finance practice. The firm hopes the French practice group will follow the example of its UK equivalent.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
Loeb & Loeb Builds IP Group
Loeb & Loeb has hired Thomas Guida for its Intellectual Property and Entertainment group. Coming from Baker & Hostetler, Guida joins the New York office as a partner. His practice focuses on the development, licensing, financing and protection of intellectual property assets, with a particular emphasis on digital and interactive media, branded entertainment, entertainment technology and complex licensing transactions. Guida is the fourth lateral partner hire in the past two months for Loeb & Loeb’s IP group; the firm has plans to add two more soon. Loeb & Loeb is a national firm with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Nashville.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
Shearman & Sterling Extends Retirement Age
Shearman & Sterling has enacted a new policy which will allow partners to stay on after the traditional retirement age of 65. In order to take advantage of the new policy, partners will have to apply to the policy committee; so far only heavyweight German managing partner Georg Thoma has signed up. The plan is not for all partners to stay on; rather it is for those exceptional cases who have a strong drive to continue working. Moreover, the firm’s generous pension plan that kicks in at 60 will most likely be enough for most so that they don’t need to work past 65.
Source: www.legalweek.com
Weil Gotshal Closes Brussels Office; Sets Sights on Asian Expansion
New York firm Weil Gotshal & Manges plans to close its Brussels office in a move to focus its attention on an Asian expansion. The business out of the two-lawyer office will then be handled by the other European offices. Weil Gotshal has already applied for a licence to practice in Beijing, and hopes to open by summer with a combination of local and transferred attorneys. The firm also hopes to open in Hong Kong sometime in the near future. Currently only with an office in Shanghai, the firm’s ultimate goal is to have a quarter of its lawyers in Asia, as it does already in Europe.
Source: www.legalweek.com
Baker Botts Opens in Beijing
Baker Botts announced the opening of its new office in Beijing today. With an office in Hong Kong, this is the firm’s second location in China. John Kuzmik, the head of the firm’s China practice, commented that “For infrastructure and energy projects, as well as for cross-border debt and equity transactions, a strong Beijing presence can be critical.” Baker Botts is largely focused on the energy industry in China, having represented many of the world’s leading energy companies on major projects in Asia. Baker Botts now has 11 offices worldwide and approximately 750 lawyers.
Source: www.prnewswire.com
NY Personal Injury/Medical Malpractice Boutiques Merge
Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks & Zarin of Springfield, NJ, will acquire Sinins and Bross of Newark, NJ, and be renamed as Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins. These two personal injury, medical-malpractice firms are joining forces to form a more competitive 15-lawyer firm. The merger gives Javerbaum the ideal Newark location, as some of their clients didn’t like traveling to Springfield; for Sinins, the merger provides some much needed man-power to the shrinking firm. Javerbaum has been growing over the past year, and is looking to expand further. Last summer, they took over the Freehold, NJ, practice of personal injury practitioner Paul Newell, and around the same time, they acquired a satellite office in Harrison: the workers’ compensation practice of former associate John Pinho.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Thelen Reid Adds Four in LA
Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP has added three partners and an associate to its growing downtown Los Angeles office. To accomodate this expanding office, the firm recently opened an additional floor at 333 South Hope Street. The four new hires were needed to handle real estate finance deals and class action litigation. Real estate finance specialist David Fong joins Thelen from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and will be the contact person for the firm’s real estate finance practice in Southern California. Class action expert and appellate law specialist Steven Katz joins the Labor and Employment Department from Jones Day. Real Estate partner Jarrett Fugh will split his time between the firm’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices, and Real Estate associate Martha Bringas will also move to the downtown Los Angeles office from Century City to assist on real estate finance deals. Since Thelen’s December merger, the firm has increased the number of deals it is doing on the West Coast; the firm has already handled more than $1 billion in West Coast deals for major investment banking clients.
Source: www.prnewswire.com
Seeger Weiss Opens in Philly
Plaintiffs firm Seeger Weiss has opened a Philadelphia office with three class action attorneys from Philadelphia plaintiffs firm Sheller P.C. Jonathan Shub will be resident partner of the Philadelphia office along with two associates, TerriAnne Benedetto and Scott Alan George. Shub’s decision to move was due to a change in Sheller’s class action focus; his work focuses primarily on consumer class actions, but he also has a subspecialty in computer-defect cases. Seeger Weiss has offices in New York City, Newark, NJ, and Tulsa, OK; though the firm was not looking to open in Philly, the decision was easy when the opportunity arose. Already some of the firm’s lawyers spend time there, and it is one of few U.S. cities prominent in class action work.
Source: www.law.com
