Tom Steed has joined Kilpatrick Stockton’s Investment Company/Investment Manager practice; he joins the firm as Counsel in the Raleigh office. Steed has experience in mutual and hedge fund administration, public and private offerings and compliance matters. His expertise covers the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Securities Act of 1933, The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and regulations of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. Prior to joining Kilpatrick Stockton, Steed worked for five years with a mutual fund administrator, where he served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Kilpatrick Stockton is an international law firm with 500 attorneys in nine offices.
Source: www.lawfuel.com

In only ten months, DLA Piper has built up a thriving venture capital practice out of its Atlanta, GA office. Since its opening in Atlanta, the firm has recruited Jeffrey M. Leavitt of Arnall Golden Gregory; Douglas R. Spear, who was with Morris, Manning & Martin, and, in October, Joseph G. Silver from Kilpatrick Stockton. In just the last quarter of 2006, this team worked eleven venture capital deals raising $68.7 million for their clients. DLA Piper’s international presence is a real strength for the practice, as local clients are able to connect with capitalist around the world. The firm also has a separate website www.venturepipeline.com which allows startups to link up with investors.
Source: www.law.com

Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott has hired nine attorneys from bankruptcy boutique Adelman Lavine Gold Schildhorn & Kleban, effectively closing the nearly 60-year-old boutique. The group will start at Eckert’s Philadelphia office on April 2. Lewis H. Gold, Gary M. Schildhorn, Barry D. Kleban, Gary D. Bressler, Alan I. Moldoff and Kathleen E. Torbit will join Eckert Seamans as partners, and Mark Pfeiffer, Alexander Moretsky and Marie C. Dooley will join as associates. Gold reported that the deal was largely due to his firm’s desire to provide the services and have access to the resources of a larger, full-service law firm. Eckert now has about 18 lawyers in its bankruptcy practice. Four attorneys chose not to move to Eckert and instead are joining other firms.
Source: www.law.com

A group of nine health care lawyers recently left Foley and Lardner for local San Diego firm Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves and Savitch. According to George Root Jr., the head of the moving group, the departure is mostly due to rising rates at Foley. Those increasing rates were making it hard to retain clients and recruit new ones. Though in recent years small local firms have been facing increasing pressure from larger international firms, other attorneys have made similar moves, especially those with price-sensitive clients. For the group from Foley, Procopio’s option for a flexible work schedule was also a draw. Procopio has 110 lawyers in its downtown San Diego office, along with a second office in Carlsbad.
Source: www.signonsandiego.com

Willkie Farr & Gallagher has hired Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Cesare Vecchio for its Milan office. Vecchio, who helped launch Freshfields’ Milan office, focuses on corporate and M&A, securities offerings, structured financial products and tax issues. Joining Willkie Farr on May 1, Vecchio will become the fourth full equity partner in Italy. The new addition comes after the firm posted strong 2006 financial figures; revenues were up 14 percent, reaching a new mark of $502m, and profits per partner rose by 13 percent to break past the $2m barrier for the first time.
Source: www.legalweek.com

London firm SJ Berwin is considering introducing a standard flexible work schedule system. The firm wants to employ a system that would apply to all practice areas as well as non-fee-earning staff. One option would be to let people work less hours in quiet periods in return for working longer when they are working on a deal. Currently, some people work fewer days a week and others sometimes work from home. Other London firms like Simmons & Simmons and White & Case are introducing or already have implemented their own flexible working schemes.
Source: www.legalweek.com

The legal business has been growing over the past few years, and correspondingly, there has been an increase in new partners at large Texas firms. According to the Texas Lawyer’s “The Texas 100” poster, twenty-three of the 25 largest firms in the state report promoting 146 attorneys to partnership in their Texas offices for 2007. That’s 6.5 percent more than the 137 attorneys promoted to partnership by the same firms in 2006. The majority of the new partners recieved their JD between 1994 and 2000, and 40 percent of them are litigators. Women partners comprise 32 percent of the new partners, while minorities make up only 9 percent. This is a change for both groups compared to 2006 when women made up 28.5 percent of new partners and minorities made up 16 percent.
Source: www.law.com