Weekly Update - 20th November 2023
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Moves:
UK & Ireland
Pinsent Masons has enlisted Intellectual property and technology partner Maureen Daly to their Dublin office to lead their intellectual property team and expand its pan-European Technology practice.
Not long after being raided by Paul Weiss, Kirkland & Ellis have hired a senior tax partner in their London office from Linklaters. James Morgan is set to join as a Senior Tax Partner.
After 20 years at Norton Rose Ffion Flockhart has been appointed Global head of Security at Allen & Overy, she is joined with partner Charlie Weston- Simons.
EMEA
Gibson Dunn have raided various White & Case offices to acquire a 7-Partner team for its new office in Riyadh.
This is the second Ashurst move specifically from their Munich office in the last month.
Axel Schulz joins McDermott’s competition team in Brussels, he has been hailed as a veteran, having represented many high-profile clients in antitrust cases, such as the likes of GlaxoSmithKline and Toshiba.
Pinsent Masons is expanding its Johannesburg office with the hire of 17 lawyers from local boutique firm Tabacks, effective December 1.
APAC
After recently losing 3 partners from UK firm Hill Dickinson, the independent Hong Kong practice Ince & Co, have had their shipping disputes team raided by Squire Patton Boggs.
IP Partner Mitsuhiro Imamura has left K&L Gates to run the MIM Intellectual Property Office, which is also located in Tokyo.
Kent Phillips, who has been a partner at Hogan Lovells since 2016 has joined Global firm, Norton Rose in Singapore. Phillips’ arrival represents the growing demand for Disputes and International Arbitration services in Southeast Asia.
Local boutique Gall has lost a team of five to Hong Kong firm Hugill & Ip. The move is set to boost Hugill’s contentious practice capabilities.
Two Australian partners have left PWC for MolinoCahill a boutique construction firm.
Global law firm HFW has nabbed five partners from fellow BigLaw practice MinterEllison, as well as a team of 15 lawyers, as it moves to bolster its regional offerings in corporate, projects, regulatory, and restructuring. Partners Adam Handley, Matthew Knox, David Suttner, Bryn Davis, and Bi Chen have all left Minters for HFW. The group will be based across Perth and Sydney.
A partner and a director have left PwC Law as part of five-lawyer hire by growing Australian firm Hamilton Locke. Finance partner Andrew Vincent and director Kath Booth are the latest lawyers to leave PwC in the wake of the accounting giant's tax advice scandal.
Eric Yoon was succeeded by Tyler Won, a partner in the firm's intellectual property, international trade and antitrust practice groups, as South Korea head earlier this year.
The Americas
Micah Jacobs has left Bullivant to join Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo as a partner in its Marin office, and IP lawyer Xiaoying Zhang has been hired by Saxton & Stump to fulfil the role of Senior Counsel.
Andrew D. Kinsey is the latest addition to Benesch who have been growing their ranks. He is welcomed to their Wilmington office where he will be working in their litigation practice group.
Kirkland have lost private funds partner Christopher Scully to Weil’s office in Washington DC. Scully is excited about working at Weil claiming that their funds client base allows for opportunity.
Bank Regulatory lawyer Jarryd Anderson has left O’Melveny to help further grow Paul Weiss’ financial services regulatory group, he will be working out of their New York and Washington DC offices.
Stroock have suffered another loss. This time in the form of Tom Firestone, the former co-chair of their government investigations and white-collar practice. He is not the only one and he will be accompanied in his move by partners Chris Griner and Shannon Reaves.
Dean Jennifer Johnson is said to be stepping down after 10 years with Lewis Clark’s law school. She states that she is “very proud of the achievements of our faculty, students and staff." And considers her time spent as dean to have been an honour.
Mayer Brown have announced that they will be taking on a 4-person Public Policy Team from Dentons. The team will be led by John Merrigan and Matthew Bernstein, and they will be joined by advisors, Stephanie Jebeyli and Jessica Woolley. The team will be based in Washington DC.
Mayer Brown have added Huntsman Corp’s associate general counsel Peter Jordan as a partner in their Houston office.
Rebekah Donaleski has been hired by Cooley to their New York office. Donaleski has nearly a decade’s worth of experience in the Manhattan U.S Attorney’s Office and led their Anti-corruption unit for three years. She is looking forward to applying this high-stakes experience to the tackling of new clients for Cooley.
Dan Malasky has left his position overseeing legal proceedings with the Tampa Bay Bucs after five years to join Florida based athletics school Bradenton as their Chief of Legal proceedings.
Jillian B. Saputelli has joined Goldberg Segalla’s Global insurance team in Philadelphia.
Marcus Jones and Michael J. Reilly have been welcomed to Sweeny & Sheehan. They will be joining as associates.
Gregory Gulia and Vanessa Hew have been recruited by Womble Bond Dicksinson from Cozen O’Conner to their New York office. The pair are respected trademark partners and have been brought in with the hopes that they will bolster Wombles IP capabilities.
Jenner & Block have lost restructuring partner Robert Gordon, who has accumulated over 30 years’ worth of experience representing clients in Bankruptcy proceedings. ?
In-House
Food-waste company Divert have appointed Kathleen Patton as their first General Counsel in Massachusetts, she joins from Jobcase Inc where she was also General Counsel.
Patrick Stewart who has been Manchester United’s General Counsel since 2006 is set to take on the role of interim chief executive as the club expand efforts to appoint a long-term successor.
David Brill who was Deputy General Counsel for Voyager, a known cryptocurrency lender who were struggling with bankruptcy last year, has been hired by FTI Consulting as managing director.
Amber Hall has been appointed as the company's first chief compliance and privacy officer. Prior to this appointment she has spent her entire in-house career at Cox Enterprises save for a three-year sojourn to Wells Fargo.
Fox Corporation has hired Adam Ciongoli as its new chief legal and policy officer, replacing Viet Dinh, who Fox announced was stepping down from the role back in August.
Promotions & Appointments:
Aaron Nielson has replaced Judd Stone as Solicitor General for Texas. Sources claim that "His talent and expertise are virtually unmatched".
Former William Fry Managing Partner Myra Garrett has been appointed to the board of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA). She is set to hold this role for a five-year term.
Aileen Gittens has been announced as head of the new Immigration practice at Poe Kiely Hogan Lanigan Solicitors.
领英推è
White & Case have elected 42 new partners for 2024 across 11 practices, 18 offices and 13 different countries. 14 in the Americas, 24 in EMEA and 4 in APAC.
Dominique Hussey, along with John Mercury, will take over leadership of the firm from Hugh MacKinnon, who steps down after 18 years at the helm.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is the latest U.S. firm to announce its partner promotions for 2023, with 32 lawyers making the cut. The new partners hail from the firm's U.S. and London offices, with a majority of 18 being made at the firm's New York headquarters.
Top 20 US firm Mayer Brown has promoted 42 lawyers to its partnership, with a further 23 being promoted to counsel.
Mergers & Alliances:
RatnerPrestia will bring two patent agents to Buchanan as well as an addition of twenty-two lawyers to strengthen Buchanan’s IP services.
After a staff vote, Addleshaw Goddard (AG) has announced Jigsaw to be their Irish charity partner for the next three years.
The U.K. law firm has announced the end of its seven-year arrangement with Italy's SASPI, citing its strategic objectives no longer being closely aligned.
Office Openings & Closing:
Top 10 Swedish firm, Wistrand is the next firm to be added as part of CMS’ global growth initiative. In the last couple of months CMS have also established exclusive relationship with firms In Brazil, Mozambique and Mexico.
Han Kun Law Offices and Shu Jin Law have both also recently opened in Wuhan.
McKees has opened a new office in Enniskillen.
Kee Solicitors has unveiled its new Glasgow office.
The office slated for the industrial city of Monterrey will open in early 2024 with an eye on serving clients who are looking to relocate production to North America.
Dominic Emmett establishes Sydney-based Emmett Law.
Financials:
The firm was able to fundraise this amount despite the wider private equity market facing challenges.
Some GCs are voicing concerns about further rate hikes after associate pay raises. But Milbank's chair said the salary raises wouldn't have a material effect on its billing rate decisions in the future.
"It's a bit telling of how the overall market is kind of feeling at the moment. There's going to be a lot of variability in how firms perform this year," noted New York legal recruiter Scott Yaccarino.
The hike now puts the firm in line with other elite UK firms.
Technology & Innovation:
According to a new survey, which has been produced by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner on arbitration practices, approximately 3% of legal professionals have already had the integrity of their evidence compromised as a result of the use misuse of AI tools.
An effect of the proposed guidelines will result in attorneys who don't fully understand the generative AI technology being at risk of possible professional discipline.
In recent times there has been a wave of conjecture about generative artificial intelligence, and many companies have begun utilizing AI throughout their business practices. However, as the technology becomes interwoven throughout commercial operations, AI could potentially risk in antitrust.
Legal analysts have stated that the legal industry has been disrupted by technology in the past but not in such a quick rate as it has with AI. There are also claims that it has disrupted the Law firm-legal department relationship.
Many are becoming worried about the possibility of legal tech displacing personnel as it becomes more essential and expensive.
Ryan Clarkson, Tim Giordano and Tracey Cowan from Clarkson Law Firm have spoken to The Recorder. They discuss OpenAI’s newest features, including a Copyright Shield, and the potential AI-related litigation they envision materialising in the near future.
Legal professionals can be empowered to improve workflows and performance by the process of strategically implementing generative AI.
Diversity & Inclusion:
My 30 years of experience have shown me that any robust business strategy should include investing in female leadership. As the Head of Intellectual Property at a rapidly growing MedTech startup, I recognize the value of mentoring other women in the workplace.
Atlanta Georgia county has been fighting a ruling regarding the surgery of their transgender deputy.
This article discusses how flexibility can provide law firms with competitive advantages and contribute to the growth and success of modern law firms.
This article discusses how, diversity initiatives have been under scrutiny after 'Students for Fair Admissions', it is causing some to wonder whether affirmative recruiting remains permissible under Title VII.
Hugh Mackinnon is stepping down from his CEO position at Bennet Jones Heralds and is being replaced by Dominique Hussey who will be co-chair along with John Mercury and is the companies first black female managing partner.
With the topic of diversity and inclusion being circulated more and more within legal spheres and in society at large, this article provides an opportunity to delve into a slightly different aspect of the conversation.
Market Commentary:
Interviews with Am Law 100 partners and messages seen by Law.com International reveal partners fearing for their careers for disagreeing with their leaders, the policing of social media activity, and lawyers from rival firms getting involved.
This article discusses the importance of effective governance and how general counsels are responsible for the effectiveness of board activities.
Former General Counsel Can Sun has partnered with Armani Ferrante a known crypto company found to start a new exchange. This news has been released not long after Can Sun testified against Sam Bankman-Freid.
Citi's Gretta Rusanow has been reported as stating "This could be a decent year if firms are able to speed up collections from now through year-end. So, that's the big 'if',".
History suggests that acquiring a "falling knife firm" can be accretive for the acquiring firm but that it requires something of the order of a 30% reduction in the equity partner ranks at the acquired firm, Hugh Simons writes.
This article discusses what makes a good litigant. Law Finance Group's Brendan Dyer spoke to Goodwin's Keith Zullow and Yoko Bian on this topic.
The first solicitor ever to have been prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for ‘tipping off’ a client about a money laundering investigation has been convicted in recent news.
Domestic firms on the continent say 'we need to create a level playing field to allow African firms to also grow'.