GROUP PLACEMENTS

Representative Placements – Groups/Firm Mergers

The nationally recognized Affordable Housing Real Estate Transactional team from Locke Lord, led by Cynthia Bast, has joined BakerHostetler in Austin to open the firm’s third office in Texas. In addition to Ms. Bast, the team includes partners Rick Morrow, Victoria de Lisle, Chris Schrauff, Matthew Borah and Raj Bandla.  Attorneys Chris Richardson, Sam Hagerty, Kim Loesche, and Christianna Goldman Smith complete the group. This team is one of the elite groups in the Affordable Housing practice area nationally and represents clients across the spectrum including local non-profits as well as major national and international real estate investment firms. Ms. Bast will Co-Lead the firm’s new multi-disciplinary Community Development practice.

Led by John D. Martini, arguably the premier Executive Compensation & Employment Benefits attorney in the country (Chambers USA Band 1), a 30-partner, 1 counsel, and 16 associate group has joined Polsinelli to open their Philadelphia office and increase their capabilities across several other offices. The team includes Corporate M&A partners Craig Circosta, Megan Cribbs, Paul J. Jaskot, Travis P. Nelson, Michael R. Peacock; Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation partners Kerry L. Halpern-Skoglund, Ryan C. Meadows, Rachel C. Shim, Cory A. Thomas; Commercial Litigation partners Valerie E. Brown, James E. DelBello, Adria M. Lamba, Daniel Mateo, Patrick J. McCabe, Nipun J. Patel, Eric Yoon; Employment Litigation partners Sara A. Begley, Dana E. Feinstein, Tina Tellado, ESOP Transactions & Services partner Kelly L. Bley; Financial Services Litigation partner Andrew Soven; Life Sciences Product Liability partners Amy McVeigh, Sarah T. Tremer, Daniel K. Winters, Thomas Yoo; and Real Estate partner Marcy Hart. Described in the American Lawyer as a “unicorn” type deal, this was the largest, most significant entrance into a market in Polsinelli’s history.  This multi-faceted group with a number of highly recognized partners in their respective fields, brings particular strength in the Financial Services, Life Sciences, Technology, and Energy sectors.

Siegmund “Sige” Gutman, arguably the top Patent Litigation practitioner in the biosimilars and biologics sectors of the Life Sciences industry and his extremely talented and formidable team have joined Mintz Levin in what is a transformative hire for the firm. Sige has been at the forefront of this very exciting and important sector for more than 20 years, and has built one of THE destination practices for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices companies in the country. He has been consistently recognized as an elite lawyer in his field by multiple industry publications including, Chambers USA, BTI Consulting Group, Daily Journal, IAM Patent 1000, LMG Life Sciences (both as a Life Sciences Star and short-listed as General Patent Litigator of the Year multiple times), Legal 500, and Managing Intellectual Property: IP Stars.  Sige will serve as Chair of Mintz’s Life Sciences Litigation Practice Group and Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Litigation Group at the firm. David Hanna joins along with Sige as a Member.  David focuses his practice on Biologic, Drug Patent, and Hatch-Waxman Patent Litigation.

Yar Chaikovsky, one of the most prominent Intellectual Property trial lawyers in the country, and his colleague, highly recognized IP litigator, Philip Ou, have led their significant Patent Litigation team to join White & Case in the Silicon Valley. Yar will serve as the Head of the firm’s Technology Intellectual Property Litigation Group. He served as Co-Chair of his former firm’s Global Intellectual Property Litigation practice. Together, Yar and Phil will help White & Case’s buildout of the IP practice on the West Coast and globally in the high technology sectors.

Highly recognized Real Estate partner, John Simonis, who has formerly served as both Managing Partner of Paul Hastings Orange County office and Head of their Southern California Real Estate practice, has joined Reed Smith to help lead the firm’s buildout of its domestic Real Estate Transactional Practice. John has substantial expertise representing investors, developers and landowners with a wide range of complex real estate transactions including joint ventures, funds, sales and acquisitions, financings, construction and grading. John has particular experience with respect to transactions involving data centers and technology-related facilities. Along with John, Dan Hagedorn will join Reed Smith as a partner in the Real Estate practice. Dan regularly advises and represents funds, developers, and institutional/non-institutional investors on all facets of Real Estate transactions.

Cozen O’Connor continues expansion in Canada with top Corporate group in Vancouver.

Cozen O’Connor has pulled off one of the largest Corporate M&A group moves in the history of the Vancouver marketplace, giving the firm one of the strongest Transactional and Cross-Border practices in Western Canada. The group is led by partners Rory Godinho, who joins as a Member and is the former Managing Partner of a major national Canadian law firm’s Vancouver office, as well as the former Co-Chair of its National Capital Markets/Securities group; Kathy Tang, who joins as a Member and brings extensive transactional experience in Securities, Corporate Finance and Corporate/Commercial Law; Brian Fast, who joins as a Member and has an extensive practice advising public and private companies in the development and growth of their businesses, completing debt and equity financings and general commercial transactions including Venture Capital and M&A; and Lucy Schilling, who joins the firm as a Member and has almost two decades of experience in Capital Markets, Securities and General Corporate Law. This placement was done in collaboration with the top legal recruiter in Canada, Warren Smith, of Smith Legal Search.

Brown Rudnick doubles down on global technology practice with transformational ECVC group in New York and New Jersey.

Internationally recognized and highly prolific 8-lawyer ECVC Corporate team from McCarter English joins Brown Rudnick’s New York Office. The group includes partners David Sorin, who will serve as Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Technology Group, Scott Smedresman, who will serve as Co-Practice Group Leader of the firm’s U.S. Technology Group, Jared Sorin, who will serve as Co-Practice Group Leader of the Emerging Growth Companies & Venture Capital Group, Joseph Ferino, and Matthew Uretzsky. The team also includes associates Kenneth Franklin, Morgan Jones and Thomas Rezach. This group, by itself, has consistently ranked in the top 15 of venture capital- backed deal activity according to Pitchbook, bringing with them several hundred clients.

Internationally recognized IP, White Collar & Commercial Litigation team greatly bolsters Cozen O’Connor’s presence in Canada.

Shane Hardy, Brigeeta Richdale and Peter Henein join Cozen’s Toronto and Vancouver offices from Cassels, a Top 10 Canadian firm.  Shane Hardy, formerly the Firmwide Head of the Business Section and Management Committee Member at Cassels is globally recognized in Chambers as one of the top practitioners in the country in the Intellectual Property field.  He will Chair Cozen’s Canadian Intellectual Property Practice.  Brigeeta Richdale, one of the leading White Collar Defense and Investigations practitioners, formerly a high-level prosecutor in the Enforcement Department at the British Columbia Securities Commission, will join the firm’s Vancouver office and serve as Firmwide Vice Chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations Group. Peter Henein, who focuses his practice on Intellectual Property, Product Liability, and various other types of Commercial Litigation will also join the Toronto office.  He previously served as his former firm’s Chair of Product Liability Litigation. Rebecca Sim will join the firm along with the team as an associate.  This move was facilitated in collaboration with Warren Smith of Smith Legal Search.

Leading oil and gas team joins Reed Smith in Pittsburgh

Ryan Purpura, formerly Chair of McGuire Woods Energy practice, has led his team to join Reed Smith’s Pittsburgh office. Mr. Purpura is one of the most sought after dealmakers in the industry nationwide.  He represents the full spectrum of oil and gas companies in acquisitions, project finance and development, and other energy related transactions.  Mr. Purpura also counts major private equity and hedge funds, as well as financial institutions, as his clients, representing them in cross border energy and commodities deals.  Megan Haines, formerly Co-Chair of McGuire Woods Energy Disputes Practice, will join along with Mr. Purpura.  She has led numerous high-profile energy litigation and environmental regulatory matters in state and federal courts across the country.

Stroock bolsters West Coast Real Estate Practice with high powered duo in Los Angeles

Lorie Soares Lazarus, former Chair of Katten Muchin’s West Coast Real Estate Practice and her colleague Peter David Ballance, Co-Chair of the LGBTQ Coalition at his former firm, have joined Stroock’s Los Angeles office. Ms. Lazarus will take a leadership role in building out the firm’s Real Estate presence on the West Coast.

Top shelf Transactional duo from Irell joins Reed Smith in Century City

Partners Ashok Mukhey, former Co-Chair of Irell’s Transactional group, and Mitch Cohen, an M&A and Debt Finance specialist, join Reed Smith. Both partners have worked on some of the biggest and most complex deals in the marketplace over the course of their careers.  Mr. Mukhey and Mr. Cohen will help lead the growth efforts of the transactional practice in Los Angeles for the firm.

Orrick opens in Boston with Top Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Team.

Facilitated the move of the market leading, four partner Data Privacy and Cybersecurity team, led by Doug Meal and Heather Sussman, from Ropes & Gray to Orrick, opening Orrick’s Boston office. Doug Meal is recognized by Chambers Global as “Band 1” and has been named a Law360 “MVP” for the past 6 years. Mr. Meal will serve as Global Co-Chair of Orrick’s Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Enforcement Team. Ms. Sussman, also recognized in Chambers, will serve as Co-Chair of the firm’s Data Privacy and Security Advisory practice and leader of the Boston office. Also joining the firm are Partners Seth Harrington and Michelle Visser. Ms. Visser will be resident in both Boston and San Francisco offices.

Highly regarded Labor group joins Reed Smith in San Francisco.

Four-attorney Labor & Employment team, led by partners Michele Haydel Gehrke and Anne Cherry Barnett, joins Reed Smith’s San Francisco office from Polsinelli. Ms. Haydel Gehrke formerly served as Polsinelli’s National Chair of the Traditional Labor Relations Practice.  The team also includes two associates. This move was facilitated by Robert Clemons.

Reed Smith lands top-tier, 15-person Life Sciences team and opens Austin office.

A seven partner, multi-city team of elite life sciences and healthcare practitioners joins Reed Smith from Norton Rose Fulbright- Rick Robinson, former Global Head of Life Sciences and Healthcare at NRF, Lesley Reynolds, and Selina Coleman in Washington, D.C.; Jeff Layne and Ben Koplin in Austin, Texas; Cori Goldberg in New York and Sara Brinkmann in Houston. The team also includes a Counsel, six associates and one practice manager. Rick Robinson will serve as Reed Smith’s new Head of International Life Sciences Development.

Loeb & Loeb bolsters market leading national practice by adding elite Trust & Estates team from Sidley in Chicago.

Jordan Klein, formal global leader of Sidley’s private client practice, along with partners Jim Hitzeman, Kate O’Hagan Scallan, Camille Lu and Julie Olenn, move their group to Loeb & Loeb’s Chicago office.  This team gives Loeb a significant presence in the Mid-West in one of their core practice areas and will be very involved in helping the firm expand their Chicago office.

“Best in Class” Antitrust team joins Paul Weiss in Washington, D.C.

In one of the biggest deals of 2016, Doug Memel facilitated the move of a high-powered, market leading antitrust team led by partners Charles F. (Rick) Rule, Jonathan S. Kanter, Joseph J. Bial and Andrew J. Forman from Cadwalader into the Washington, D.C. office of Paul Weiss. Rick Rule will serve as Co-Chair of the firm’s antitrust group.

Loeb & Loeb bolsters its national litigation practice with high-profile group in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

A significant bi-coastal litigation team , including California Lawyer Magazine CLAY award winning partners Marc Cohen and Steven Rosenthal, along with partner Tiffany Moseley and senior counsels J.D. Taliaferro and Alicia Clough move from Kaye Scholer to the Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. offices of Loeb & Loeb.

Winston greatly expands transactional capabilities with substantial group acquisition.

* A multidisciplinary group of 40+ attorneys, including 20 partners from Pillsbury, into the London, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. offices of Winston & Strawn. As a result of this acquisition, Winston & Strawn will open its first office in the Middle East. The group includes partners Peter Alfano, Mats Carlston, Jay Gould, James Kelly, Stephen Jurgenson, Scott Landau, Bart Pisella, Anthony Schouten, James Simpson, Jr., Jeffrey Stern, Michael Wu and Christopher Zochowski.

High level Life Sciences group joins Mintz in Washington, D.C.

* A five attorney Life Sciences Intellectual Property and Transactional group from Womble Carlyle, into the Washington, D.C. office of Mintz Levin. The team is led by Member, Dr. Chris Jeffers, and includes Counsels Dr. Lawrence “Butch” Carroll and Elizabeth Parsons, as well as associates Dr. Dana Mahadeo and John Forrest. Dr. Jeffers will take a leadership role in helping build Mintz Levin’s IP Practice in Washington, D.C.

Brown Rudnick expands to the West Coast by acquiring elite litigation boutique.

* Jointly brokered Brown Rudnick’s acquisition of Rus, Miliband & Smith, a very highly regarded Commercial Litigation and Bankruptcy boutique in Orange County. With this acquisition, Brown Rudnick, a Boston-based, AMLAW Top 200 firm, opened their first California office.

Bingham significantly grows its presence in New York and Washington, D.C. with the McKee Nelson merger.

* Bingham McCutchen’s acquisition of AMLAW Top 200 firm McKee Nelson, including 120 attorneys with top-tier practice expertise in Corporate Finance and Capital Markets, Tax Planning and Controversy, Financial Services and White Collar Litigation.

Brown Rudnick lures away White Collar/Government Enforcement powerhouse in Washington, D.C.

* White Collar Litigation and Government Enforcement partner, Stephen A. Best and his team, into the Washington, D.C. and New York offices of Brown Rudnick. Prior to joining Brown Rudnick, Mr. Best served as the Chair of Brownstein Hyatt’s White Collar Criminal Defense and Investigations Group. Before his tenure at Brownstein Hyatt, Mr. Best was Co-Chair of the Global White Collar and Government Investigations Group at Dewey LeBeouf.

Reed Smith starts its California Labor and Employment Practice with highly coveted group from Thelen.

* A nine attorney Labor and Employment group from Thelen into the Los Angeles and San Francisco offices of Reed Smith. The group is led by Linda Husar, former National Chair of Thelen’s Labor and Employment Practice and Thomas Hill, former Office-of-the-Chair and Managing Partner of Thelen’s L.A. office.

Akin Gump adds leading project finance and energy transactional partners in Los Angeles.

* Brought together an energy and project finance group led by partners Dino Barajas from Morgan Lewis and Elliot Hinds from Goodwin Procter to start Akin Gump’s project finance and renewable energy transactional practice on the West Coast.

*All starred placements made prior to Miles Partner Placement.