Leaps and Bounds: Notable Firm News

By Abigail Rubenstein

Law360, New York (November 21, 2008) -- Thelen's lawyers are still in demand as the firm dissolves. Nixon Peabody scored an environmental and energy group. Winston & Strawn scooped up 19 attorneys, and Foley & Lardner nabbed five Thelen expats.

The Buzz: Office Openings, Mergers, New Practice Groups and Leadership Changes

Continuing its European expansion, WilmerHale LLP set up shop in Frankfurt, Germany. The new office's five partners include recent partner hires Rüdiger Herrmann, Reinhart Lange, Christofer Eggers and Hans-Georg Kamann from Mayer Brown LLP. They will be joined by Christian Crones, a corporate partner in WilmerHale’s Berlin office.

Workplace law firm Jackson Lewis LLP has opened a San Diego office. Partner Paul F. Sorrentino will head up the new office.

Krieg DeVault LLP announced its plans to open an office in Atlanta. The new office seeks to expand the firm's employee stock ownership plan practice in the Southeast.

Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP has established a national climate change practice team to advise clients in responding to the diverse legal and economic impacts of global climate change. The multidisciplinary team consists of attorneys from the firm’s corporate, energy, environmental, government relations, insurance, intellectual property, litigation, real estate, tax and technology practices.

In response to the global economic downturn, DLA Piper has set up a financial crisis response team. The team will advise clients on the problems and the opportunities that the financial turmoil affords them.

Hiscock & Barclay LLP has also stepped up to the plate, forming a financial recovery and asset management group. The group consists of 39 attorneys from the firm's various practice areas.

The class action law firm formerly known as Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler LLP has changed its name to Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check LLP. The firm has added Joseph H. Meltzer and Darren J. Check as named partners.

The Jump: Notable Hires

Corporate and General Litigation

Foley & Lardner LLP snagged Barry Felder, former co-chair of the commercial litigation practice at failed firm Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP, for its New York office. Felder, a name partner at Brown Raysman prior to its merger with Thelen, will continue to be involved in complex commercial litigation.

Winston & Strawn LLP scooped up 19 Thelen attorneys, 8 of them partners, for various practice groups in its San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles offices. The group of new Winston attorneys in San Francisco includes partners Paul Griffin, Jonathan Howden, Richard Lapping, Kit Choy Loke, Dirk Mueller, Robert Nelson, Jr. and Robert Pringle. Partners Jarrett Fugh and Jonathan Bristol will work from Los Angeles and New York, respectively.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement returns to King & Spalding LLP's Washington, D.C., office. Clement, the second-youngest SG in U.S. history, returns to his old stomping grounds to establish an expanded national appellate practice and a strategic counseling practice.

Latham & Watkins LLP lured a three-partner fund formation team from Mayer Brown LLP. Kathleen Walsh and Andrea Schwartzman will join the corporate department in the firm's New York office, and Alan Van Dyke will join its tax department in Chicago. All three will be part of the firm's investment & strategic funds practice group.

Joseph A. Adams, formerly a partner at Jones Day LLP, has joined the ranks at Crowell & Moring LLP's New York office. Adams advises domestic and international clients on mergers and acquisitions, asset sales, leveraged buyouts, private equity investments, joint ventures and corporate finance transactions.

Partner John A. Chandler leaped from Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP to King & Spalding LLP's Atlanta office. Chandler brings his nearly four decades of trial experience to the firm's business litigation practice.

Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy Gregory F. Jenner has left private practice to join Stoel Rives LLP's Minneapolis office as a partner. Jenner will focus his practice on planning and implementing complex tax-related transactions, partnerships and joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions.

Employment

Duane Morris LLP snagged partner Julie Vogelzang from Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps LLP as a partner in the employment and immigration practice group in its San Diego office. Vogelzang defends employers in labor and employment cases.

Jennifer Zinn, former in-house counsel at Ford Motor Co., has joined Kienbaum Opperwall Hardy & Pelton PLC's Detroit office. Zinn focuses her practice on labor and employment relations.

Energy

Thompson & Knight LLP expanded its Sao Paolo, Brazil, office with partner Eduardo Soares. Soares focuses his practice on power, structured finance, project finance, the offer and distribution of securities, corporate and regulatory law.

Environmental

Nixon Peabody LLP scored nearly a dozen Thelen attorneys, seven of them partners, for its environmental and energy practice group. Partners Kathleen Balderston, Ellen Friedman, David Graybeal and William O’Brien join the New York office; Lisa Cole and Gregory O’Hara will join up in Silicon Valley, while Deborah DeMasi and Lee Goodwin head to Washington.

Health

Akerman Senterfitt wooed J. Everett Wilson as a shareholder to its Miami office from Shutts & Bowen LLP where he was chair of the health law practice group. Wilson represents health care professionals and other providers in licensing and reimbursement disputes, and negotiates managed care, noncompete, employment and many other types of agreements specific to the health care industry.

Intellectual Property

Three Thelen partners jumped ship to Foley & Lardner. Steven J. Rizzi and Catherine McGrath have joined its New York office and Robert Camors has joined in Silicon Valley. Rizzi focuses his practice on IP litigation involving electrical, mechanical and computer-related disciplines, while McGrath focuses hers on matters involving high technology, and computer software development projects. Camors is also involved in IP litigation.

Duane Morris LLP nabbed partner Vincent Capuano from Sterne Kessler Goldstein Fox PLLC for its Boston office. Capuano, a Ph.D in organic chemistry, focuses his practice on the chemical and pharmaceutical arenas, with an emphasis on opinions and litigation related to abbreviated new drug application matters.

Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley's San Francisco office wooed partner Curtis E. Smolar from Bay Capital Legal PC. Smolar has experience representing Internet companies and start-ups in intellectual property disputes.

James J. Bindseil has joined the Washington office of Arent Fox LLP as partner from the Alexandria, Va., offices of two IP boutique firms. Bindseil focuses on patent prosecution, technology transfers and strategic IP management.

Author of the Chicago IP Litigation law blog R. David Donoghue has joined the Chicago office of Holland & Knight LLP as a partner from DLA Piper. Donoghue focuses his practice on patent litigation in a variety of technology areas.

Brown Rudnick LLP added Heller Ehrman LLP expat Richard Penfold to its ranks in London. Penfold represents clients across diverse industries including emerging technologies, software, cleantech, e-commerce, gaming, publishing, entertainment and digital media and marketing.

Securities

Matthew Close has rejoined O'Melveny & Myers LLP's Los Angeles office as a partner after a stint in his own independent practice. Close represents corporations and executives in securities and corporate governance matters as well as in competition, class action and consumer litigation matters.

Greenberg Traurig LLP snatched James Yong Wang from Kirkland & Ellis LLP as a shareholder in the corporate and securities practice and the Asia practice group in its New York office. Wang will work toward expanding the firm’s private investment funds practice with a particular focus on China and elsewhere in Asia.