BCG Attorney Search Law Firm News

3/15/04

Skadden loses three partners to Latham in New York
Latham & Watkins added three partners to its New York City finance team last week, courtesy of a raid on the Manhattan office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom. The three partners - Marc Hanrahan, Ronan Wicks and Marcus Dougherty - focus their practice on lending transactions for financial institutions and will serve to augment the firm's leveraged finance capabilities. Both Wicks and Dougherty are admitted to practice in the UK as well as the US, and Dougherty is admitted to practice in Hong Kong, allowing the three attorneys to add to the firm's impressive global practice. Latham currently has more than 50 leveraged finance partners in nine offices in the US and Europe. Firm Press Release, 3/9/04

Duane Morris bolsters Miami, Detroit offices
Duane Morris announced the hiring of three attorney hires in Miami and one in Detroit last week, continuing its pattern of national growth. Former Pepper Hamilton partner David Wunder joins the firm's tax practice in Detroit and will help serve the office's automotive clients, in addition to the several Fortune 100 clients for which he serves as outside tax counsel. The Miami office gains two health care attorneys and one litigator, all from Broad and Cassel . Joanne Erde joins as the former co-chair of the health care practice at Broad and Cassel along with D. Michael Bitz, who will be a health care associate with the firm. Dan Small, who was named litigation chair of Broad & Cassel's Miami office the previous week, will bring his high-profile litigation practice to Duane Morris, as well. Miami Daily Business Review, 3/10/04, Firm Press Releases, 3/9/04

Four new attorneys boost Mintz Levin's IP practice
The New York office of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo received a large boost in the form of three partners and one associate, all of whom will practice in the firm's intellectual property practice. Partner Daniel Coughlin is coming to the firm from Edwards & Angell, where he mainly worked with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The remaining attorneys - partners Marvin Gittes and Richard Lehrer, as well as associate Margaret Gwiazda - hail from Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione in New Jersey. Mintz Levin counts more than 80 attorneys, scientists and other professionals in its intellectual property practice. New York Lawyer, 3/15/04

Dykema Gossett acquires small DC firm for its Corporate Finance Practice Group
Dykema Gossett PLLC — will join the firm's Washington, DC office as members, along with one of counsel attorney and one associate. Jones and Blouch focused its practice on federal securities law as it related to financial institutions and the firm's addition will allow Dykema the chance to better serve its core clients through the acquired firm's federal ties and national policy and regulatory abilities. This is the second firm to join Dykema Gossett in the last month, along with Rooks Pitts. Firm Press Release, 3/1/04

Clifford Chance to vote on simplifying the partner-elimination process
In response to the difficulty the firm faced when trying to oust the managing partner in Bangkok, Clifford Chance has decided to put the process by which it dismisses partners to a vote. The new system will allow the partnership council to hold hearings on the fate of its partners if it so chooses without being subject to a firm-wide vote. An ousted partner would get to appeal the decision, however, which would lead to a firm-wide vote among partners. The old rules required that 85% of the firm's partners vote for dismissal, but the firm is contemplating a change that would not even require a voting majority to eliminate the partner in question. Legal Week, 3/11/04

Austin firm lays off five partners, four associates
Bickerstaff Heath Smiley Pollan Kever LLP, Austin's 11th largest firm, cited the effects of the economy last week when it laid off nine of its attorneys, including five partners. The nine attorneys represent more than 20% of the firm's total attorney staff, which last year included 43 attorneys and 24 partners. The affected areas were the firm's utility and transactional practices. The firm hopes to shift its focus to its more financially healthy practices, which include municipal law and water law. Austin Business Journal, 3/12/04

Thelen Reid & Priest gains two Dewey Ballantine partners
New York partner movement was rampant last week, and Thelen Reid & Priest was another firm that reaped the benefits. E. Ann Gill, who specializes in private corporate finance, and Richard Stenberg, a private equity transaction specialist, ended their twenty-year affiliation with Dewey Ballantine last week to join Thelen Reid as partners in the firm's private equity practice. The hires are the latest indication that Thelen Reid would like to continually grow its New York office, which has hired five other corporate partners in recent months. The firm's corporate finance practice has 135 attorneys, 70 of which are in New York. Firm Press Release, 3/10/04

Hinshaw & Culbertson hires two Edwards & Angell partners in NYC
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP and Richard Supple, both from Edwards & Angell, will be joining the "Law of Lawyering" group, comprising 40 attorneys focused on representing lawyers and law firms in malpractice and disciplinary matters. Both have extensive experience dealing with ethical issues involved in the practice of law, including working with the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division. Hinshaw maintains one of the largest and most esteemed legal responsibility practices in the country. Firm Press Release, 3/8/04

Leboeuf Lamb IP partners defect to Mayer, Brown
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae lost the co-chair of its intellectual property litigation practice when Wayne Matus left the firm to head to Mayer Brown Rowe and Maw last week. With him went A. John Mancini, who, like Matus, will become a partner at Mayer Brown. The new attorneys specialize in Internet and data security intellectual property work. Both Mancini and Matus will work in the firm's New York office, which has approximately 220 attorneys. New York Lawyer, 3/11/04