Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Düsseldorf office has lost corporate partner André Kowalski to German boutique Franz Rechtsanwälte. The firm’s Frankfurt office has also suffered the loss of a three-lawyer IP team to SJ Berwin, as well as partner Lutz Kramer to White & Case’s Frankfurt equity capital martkets practice.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
Heller Ehrman will soon open a new London office with the arrival of a senior associate from Slaughter and May. Douglas Lahnborg will join the firm as partner in the competition practice. Heller expects to hire a team of associates to work in London, and the firm has already also hired a three-partner corporate technology team from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr’s London office. The office is expected to open in mid-March.
Source: www.legalweek.com
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges is expanding its NY office, adding 11,292 square feet to its previous holding of 56,261 square feet. Growing from 50 to 77 attorneys over the past year, the firm needed the extra space to accomodate its new hires. Other tenants at 51 Madison Ave. include Addison Wesley Longman, Accretive Technology Partners, and the Henry Luce Foundation.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Last week King & Spaulding moved its real estate capital markets practice to New York from Atlanta, and also added Andrew H. Charles as a partner from Cravath, Swaine & Moore. At least six Atlanta attorneys will relocate to NY; while 30 or more real estate lawyers will remain in Atlanta and Houston, the firm expects to have up to 25 NY lawyers in this practice. As the NY office sees growth, the Washington office lost three corporate partners to Hogan & Hartson. The firm will be active in lateral recruiting efforts to fill those spots.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
When Troutman Sanders’ managaing partner Robert W. Webb Jr. took the reins in 1993, the firm only had one office, their Atlanta headquarters. Today, 14 years later, the firm has 11 offices in New York, Washington, Virginia, North Carolina, Hong Kong, and London. Webb has also been working on opening an office in China for the past couple years. His next move is the West Coast; because of a need to have offices in several cities, a merger is a strong possibility.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Three more firms have bumped up pay in their Atlanta branches. Atlanta-based Smith, Gambrell & Russell and Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs and Philadelphia-based Duane Morris announced today that their firms were raising first-year associates’ salaries to $130,000 per year. This increase matches the market salary in Atlanta, though a few firms decided to start at $135 thousand.
Source: www.dailyreportonline.com
New York firm Debevoise & Plimpton reports a profitable 2006. Turnover and profit per partner both rose by about 7 per cent, and the firm’s net profit rose by over 11 per cent. Sources report that the firm’s success could be due to a very strong year in London.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
Troutman Sanders has raised salaries yet again. The Atlanta firm was the city’s first to raise pay, but only to $125,000. Other firms quickly followed suit, but instead bumped their salaries up to $130,000 or even $135,000. In response, Troutman has matched the starting salary of $130,000; Rogers & Hardin joined Troutman at that level. Troutman has also increased its NY and Washington offices to the market rates of $160,000 and $145,000, respectively.
Source: www.law.com
San Francisco bankruptcy boutique McNutt & Litteneker has been hit hard by the downturn in bankruptcy business over the past couple years. Around the same time the firm started to lose its lawyers; it shrank from 10 full-time lawyers to only two – the two name partners. Three of the former associates moved to the San Francisco office of Philadelphia-based Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. The associates cited various reasons for their departures, from little opportunity for professional development to being underchallenged. Others saw a lack of mentoring as a problem.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Pepper Hamilton experienced a good year in 2006, increasing its gross revenue, equity partner tier, revenue per lawyer (RPL), and profits per equity partner (PPP). The gross revenue increased by 12 percent from $231 million in 2005 to $259 million in 2006. Though the other measures experienced less growth, the firm claims to not be especially concerned about its PPP, focusing instead on its RPL. Pepper Hamilton has its sights set on expansion – there have been 15 lateral hires over the past 3 months. The firm is looking for attorneys for its Boston and NY offices, especially those with a specialty in intellectual property, tax, commercial litigation, or corporate law.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
