Lawyers on the Move - Q1 & Q2 2000

It has been quite a year so far! In spite of unprecedented events, major law firms continued to bolster their practices in the first half of 2020. We have summarized the career changes made by many leading attorneys. We hope this will be of interest both to other attorneys and to our clients and job seekers in litigation support, forensics and investigations who cultivate relationships with law firms. We have targeted disciplines most relevant to our market - intellectual property, securities, antitrust, commercial litigation and labor and employment, among others.  

BAKERHOSTETLER was a firm of note in ramping up its litigation and white collar criminal defense practice nationally in the past year, including 17 attorneys in California alone. This stemmed in part from demand created by the firm’s engagement to represent the Official Committee of Tort Claimants in the Chapter 11 mega case of PG&E Corporation, pending in the Northern District of California. It announced five prominent hires between January and May:

• Earlier this month DAVID ARONOFF joined the firm’s Litigation Practice Group as a partner in Los Angeles. Aronoff has over 30 years handled a broad range of complex litigation matters, including financial services litigation under FINRA, securities work, business disputes and products liability. Aronoff joins from Winston & Strawn LLP.
• ROBB ADKINS joined the firm and is leading BakerHostetler’s new office in San Francisco. He is part of the firm’s White Collar, Investigations and Securities Enforcement and Litigation team. Adkins also joined from from Winston & Strawn, where he served as the managing partner of their San Francisco office, head of West Coast litigation and co-chair of their white collar practice. Adkins had been Executive Director of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and other roles as Assistant United States Attorney.
• A month earlier the firm announced that ANN O'BRIEN joined the firm as a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia offices. She was most recently assistant chief of the Competition Policy & Advocacy Section and special counsel for Criminal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division. O’Brien serves as part of the firm’s White Collar, Investigations and Securities Enforcement and Litigation team. 
• WILLIAM OXLEY and MEGHAN KELLY joined as partners in the firm’s national Litigation Practice Group. Both attorneys were previously with Dechert LLP, where Oxley was managing partner of the Los Angeles office. Oxley became head of BakerHostetler’s Litigation Practice Group in Los Angeles. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers with more than 30 years of experience trying cases to verdict throughout the United States. Kelly is a first-chair trial lawyer who has extensive experience in product liability, mass tort and environmental matters. 

MORGAN LEWIS announced several key criminal defense, biotech IP and L&E partners beginning in January:

• MATT MINER rejoined the firm’s white collar defense team in Washington, DC. Miner was most recently Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice where he tried numerous high-profile fraud enforcement and FCPA matters overseeing 180 prosecutors across the US. Miner had first joined Morgan Lewis in 2012. He had previously held several roles at the US Senate Judiciary Committee helping to enact sentencing, protection and safety legislation.
• Later in March, the firm added white collar defense attorney DANIEL TEHRANI, who most recently was Deputy Chief of the Appeals Unit, Criminal Unit, at the US Attorney’s office in New York City. He prosecuted cases involving complicated financial crimes for the U.S., such as securities fraud, insider trading and cybercrimes, the firm said.  
• Regulatory lawyer DENNIS GUCCIARDO joined in February in Washington, DC. Gucciardo counsels domestic and global medical device manufacturers on compliance with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, requirements, inspections, and enforcement matters. Gucciardo had most recently been Counsel with Hogan Lovells. 
• The same month, the firm strengthened its Labor & Employment practice with two partners, AMI WYNNE and JONATHAN LOTSOFF, both in Chicago. The team were previously partners at Sidley Austin. Wynne led Sidley’s overall global L&E practice while Lotsoff, a litigator, brought particular experience in class, trade secret and noncompetition matters. 

LATHAM & WATKINS made three key hires in the Litigation & Trial Department of the firm since the beginning of the year:

• Most recently in April, NICHOLAS J. BOYLE joined the firm in Washington, DC, to support complex commercial litigation. Boyle has deep experience litigating in federal and state courts across the US and has successfully represented clients before a variety of arbitral institutions such as the American Arbitration Association, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and JAMS. In addition to commercial disputes, Boyle handles copyright and trade secrets matters, securities suits, unfair competition cases, employment disputes, and antitrust and RICO litigation. Boyle was previously practicing at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C.  
• ADAM PERLMAN joined Latham in January as a first-chair patent trial lawyer who focuses on Hatch-Waxman trials and Federal Circuit appeals for brand-name pharmaceutical manufacturers. Perlman has served as lead counsel in major patent litigations in district courts around the country, and as lead appellate counsel before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.  
• Earlier in the year ROBERT A. HOTZ JR. joined the firm’s New York office as a member of the White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice. Hotz represents individuals and institutions in complex investigations and enforcement matters by the US Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other regulators, and in related parallel civil litigation. Hotz served as an Assistant US Attorney and member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force in the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Hotz joined Latham from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in New York.  

MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY announced in May the acquisition of five partners and two counsel in the areas of privacy and cyber, corporate and IP as the firm opened a new office in Atlanta. Among them: 

• TODD S. MCCLELLAND as Cybersecurity & Privacy Partner. He advises clients on data breach response, cyber risk assessment and management, and other information-security-related issues. McClelland was previously a partner at Jones Day. 
• JEFFREY TONEY in Intellectual Property litigation. Toney focuses his practice on technology litigation, with an emphasis on patent infringement, trade secret, cybersecurity and antitrust/unfair competition cases. Toney was previously a Partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP.

ELIZABETH PRELOGAR joined COOLEY as a litigation partner based in Washington, DC, where she focuses on appellate and white collar matters. She came from the Office of the Solicitor General at the US Department of Justice, where she was an assistant to the solicitor general. Previously, Prelogar served as assistant special counsel in the Special Counsel’s Office under Robert S. Mueller III and alongside recent Cooley addition Andrew Goldstein. Prelogar has argued seven cases before the Supreme Court involving class actions, constitutional law, government torts, takings claims and criminal procedure issues. Prelogar clerked for Judge Merrick Garland of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit; and Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan. After her clerkships, she joined Hogan Lovells in its Supreme Court and appellate practice. 

VINSON & ELKINS added two new partners in white collar investigations and commercial litigation in March and April:

• Most recently MICHAEL WARD joined the firm’s San Francisco office. Ward has been experienced in-house counsel, chief compliance officer and former federal prosecutor. Before joining V&E, Ward had a distinguished career building enterprise-wide compliance programs at top companies including Target, Adobe, Cisco, McKesson and most recently Juniper Networks, where he served as Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel. His career began in private practice as an associate at Shearman & Sterling, followed by serving nearly 16 years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the US Department of Justice in Minneapolis.  
• CHRIS DUFFY, a trial lawyer with nearly two decades of experience in complex commercial litigation matters, has joined as a partner in New York. Duffy came from Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. He focuses on securities and shareholder litigation, corporate governance, director and officer representation, commercial disputes and mergers and acquisitions, as well as external investigations by FINRA, the SEC, the New York Attorney General and other government agencies.

WILMERHALE hired two new partners in February and April of this year – securities attorney SUSAN SCHROEDER in New York; and EDWARD O'CALLAGHAN, as a senior member of the firm’s Investigations and Criminal Litigation practice and the Strategic Crisis Response Group, in Washington, DC. 

• Schroeder was most recently executive vice president for enforcement for FINRA, who rejoined the firm as a partner and Vice Chair of its Securities Department. Schroeder became the head of FINRA enforcement in 2017 and was the organization’s deputy chief of enforcement for the six years prior.
• O’Callaghan was most recently DOJ principal associate deputy Attorney General, a key advisor to the Deputy Attorney General and Attorney General. He served as acting Deputy Attorney General from 2017-2019 in charge of the National Security Division.

MORRISON & FOERSTER hired two litigators earlier this year:

• JESSICA GRANT joined the firm in its San Francisco office as a partner in its Class Action and Mass Torts group concerning commercial litigation matters. She also has extensive IP litigation experience in complex matters involving patent, copyright infringement, and trademark issues. She was previously a partner with Venable.
• DAVID FERTIG joined the firm in its New York office as a partner in its Commerial Litigation Group. Fertig has more 20 years of experience representing companies and executives in complex, high-stakes disputes, both in US, state and federal courts and in US and international arbitration proceedings. Fertig was previously with Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

QUINN EMANUEL URQHART & SULLIVAN announced in March that ANGUS CHEN joined the firm as a partner in the New York office. Chen was previously at Haug Partners, where he was Chair of Life Sciences. Chen’s practice has focused on pharma and biopharma litigation. He has a Ph.D. from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in biochemistry and a JD from Fordham University. In addition to extensive trial experience in pharma and biopharma cases, Chen has experience in PTAB proceedings, appellate work, and advising clients on patent and regulatory strategies, product lifecycle management, and complex settlement agreements. 

JOSEPH BURBY rejoined ALSTON & BIRD as a partner in Atlanta. Burby will burnish the firm’s white-collar defense and corporate investigations capabilities. Burby was most recently with Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, where he was a partner for 13 years. Burby has more than 20 years of experience, and defends companies and individuals in criminal and civil investigations by the US Department of Justice and US attorneys’ offices, by the Securities and Exchange Commission and other federal and state agencies. He was lead counsel on more than 30 trials. Burby was previously an assistant US attorney with the U.S. Attorneys’ Office in the Northern District of Georgia. 

If we can be a resource for your own professional or hiring needs, please contact me. 

 Rob Stevenson CPC, Partner

?Allen Stevenson Advisors

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