Orrick litigator joins Ropes & Gray
Commercial and securities litigator Richard Gallagher has departed Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in order to join Ropes & Gray.
According to a statement from Ropes & Gray, Gallagher has joined the San Francisco office as a partner in the litigation practice group. The Recorder reported in 2009 that Gallagher started his legal career at the now-defunct Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, where he was part of famed litigator Tower Snow Jr.’s litigation group. He went to Clifford Chance in 2002 when the firm embarked on a west coast expansion. After many of those offices closed, he joined Orrick in 2009.
“Richard Gallagher brings meaningful securities and M&A deal litigation experience to Ropes & Gray. His accomplishments bring greater depth to an already highly-respected group of business and securities litigators,” said Ryan Murr, managing partner of Ropes & Gray’s San Francisco office, in the statement. Gallagher, for his part, said in the statement that he had worked closely with Ropes & Gray litigators in the past and had been impressed “by their sophisticated approach to resolving complex business and securities litigation matters.”
An Orrick spokesperson told the ABA Journal that they “have the highest respect for Rick and wish him the best.”
Gallagher’s hiring is the latest acquisition for Ropes & Gray. In November, The Recorder reported that the firm had added Silicon Valley-based IP litigation partner Andrew Thomases from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The next month, Ropes & Gray announced that it had hired London-based tax partner Brenda Coleman from Weil, Gotshal & Manges. According to firm chairman Brad Malt, the firm’s lateral partner hiring numbers have been consistent over the last five years. “A big part of why we’ve been hiring laterals lately is to fill out the scope and scale of the six new offices we’ve opened since 2007,” Malt told the ABA Journal.
