DLA Piper has hired Patrice Marceau for its tax advisory practice. Marceau joins the Hong Kong office as a partner. Before joining DLA Piper, he was a part of HSBC’s wealth and tax advisory group. Marceau has experience advising on local, regional and international tax issues for corporations and banks, tax planning for individuals and representing clients in tax litigation matters.
Source: www.asianinvestor.net
Crowell & Moring announced last week the addition of Arif Hyder Ali as partner and associate Baiju Simal Vasani. The former Fulbright & Jaworski attorneys are joining the firm’s International Arbitration Practice in the Washington, DC office. Arif Hyder Ali has represented parties in international commercial and public investment arbitrations involving thermal, nuclear and hydro power plants, oil and gas pipeline construction and concession-related matters, project finance and development agreements, patents and trademarks, and foreign investment. Vasani has worked on arbitrations in Angola, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Nigeria.
Source: www.prnewswire.co.uk.com
Los Angeles has become a center of recruiting activity over the past nine months, as at least seven mid-sized East Coast firms have opened or expanded offices in LA. Duane Morris; Dreier; Goodwin Procter; Hunton & Williams; McGuireWoods; Steptoe & Johnson LLP; and Venable are some of the firms that have made a move on the West Coast. The new offices tend to be in Century City, a pricier area, where clients are often involved in new media, entertainment, and technology. Several of the firms have gained large groups of lawyers from local firms; Goodwin Proctor, for example, recruited a group of real estate lawyers from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
Source: www.law.com
Bill Robinson has left Greenebaum Doll & McDonald to join Frost Brown Todd LLC. Robinson was the member-in-charge of Greenebaum’s Cincinnati and Covington, KY offices, and had worked for the firm for 16 years. At Frost Brown Todd, Robinson will chair the strategic planning and expansion committee, where he will develop a plan to expand the firm’s presence in the region. The firm currently has offices in Louisville and Lexington, KY; Cincinnati, Columbus and Middletown, Ohio; New Albany, IN; and Nashville, TN; Robinson will be based out of Cincinnati and a new office to open in Covington.
Source: www.bizjournals.com
Chicago firm Winston & Strawn has recruited four more attorneys from Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner. Just last month Winston gained former Thelen Reid vice-chairman and litigation chief Michael Elkin, who led an eight-lawyer group to the firm. This time, Winston has added a partner, an of counsel, and an associate to its NY office, as well as one associate to its LA office. Firmwide, Winston has about 900 attorneys.
Tags: Winston & Strawn LLP
David Bayless has joined Covington & Burling’s San Francisco office from Morrison & Foerster. Bayless comes to the Washington-based firm as a partner after more than seven years with MoFo’s securities litigation practice. Sources from MoFo’s San Francisco office speculate that in moving, Bayless is seeking to pursue his regulatory practice. Covington’s securities and enforcement practice is based mainly in Washington and New York, and is known for its former government lawyers.
Source: www.law.com
Chicago-based firm, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, has de-equitizated 45 of its partners, or around 10 percent of its total. Sources report that most of the terminated partners were in the U.S., but the firm is remaining quiet on the details. The restructuring comes despite a strong financial year in 2006; according to the firm, the changes were made to “enhance the firm’s position among the world’s leading law firms.” Rival Chicago firm Sidley Austin’s decision to de-equitize 32 partners in 2000 is currently under scrutiny by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which claims the termination was a result of age-discrimination. Firms that downsize in this manner usually do so to increase profits per partner and attract and keep money-making partners.
Source: www.law.com
Baker & McKenzie named ten new partners in its Chicago office, bringing its total number of partners in the office to 109. Narendra Acharya and Tom Hurka are partners in the Employment and Compensation group; Michael DeFranco, Tomas Man, and Helen Mantel are Corporate and Securities attorneys; Erin Maus and Shima Roy are partners in the Litigation practice; Michael Donovan and Erika Schechter made partner in the firm’s Tax group; and Doug Sanders is a part of the Environmental team.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
Smith Moore has opened a new office in Charlotte, NC. As a leader in the Southeast, opening an office in North Carolina’s biggest city was of strategic importance to the firm. Attorneys from the firm’s Greensboro office will comprise the litigation practice, and two corporate lawyers from Morris Manning & Martin were laterally hired; there will be a total of eight lawyers for the office’s opening. Smith Moore has over 115 attorneys in four NC offices and one in Atlanta.
Source: www.carolinanewswire.com
Though there has been a booming market for corporate lawyers, a recent stock market fall provided a reality check for some. Memories of the lay-offs that occured after the demise of the dot-com have forced firms to consider their hiring practices more carefully. Firms are hiring with much more selectivity, and focusing on diversifying their corporate practices. For some this means adding new practices, for others it means adding firms or merging.
Source: www.law.com
