Partners

Allen & Overy Plants Office in Australia, Snags 14 Partners From Local Firm

Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy has announced it will open offices in Sydney and Perth next month, with 17 new partners who will focus on mining and natural resources merger work. “Our decision to launch in Australia underlines the increasing importance of Australia in the global and Asia-Pacific economies,”…

Feb 8, 2010 12:24 PM CST

Alston & Bird Clean Energy Group Chief Flies Coop, Lands at Cooley Godward

The clean energy practice chief at Alston & Bird has left for Cooley Godward Kronish, along with another firm energy partner. An another 10 to 12 attorneys from the Atlanta-based law firm are expected to follow R. Thomas Amis and Nik Patel to Cooley in upcoming months, reports the Blog…

Feb 5, 2010 9:10 PM CST

Prefering to Represent Individuals, Jones Day Partner Goes Solo

A San Francisco-based partner at Jones Day, well known for his white-collar criminal defense work, has decided to strike out on his own. John Cline decided last year that he was ready to leave BigLaw behind and start a firm from scratch on a practice focused solely on representing individuals…

Feb 5, 2010 6:22 PM CST

Record Profits in ‘09 For Biggest Boston Firms

Despite economic woes and layoffs in Boston’s legal sector, senior lawyers from three of the city’s largest firms are reporting they had their most profitable year ever in 2009. Bingham McCutchen, Fish & Richardson, and WilmerHale told the Boston Globe that they recorded their highest average profits per partner last…

Feb 5, 2010 4:50 PM CST

Barnes & Thornburg Is New Home for Group from Dissolving Energy Boutique

Led by a former name partner, a team of lawyers from the dissolving Marshall & Lueder energy boutique in Atlanta has found a new home at Barnes & Thornburg’s growing Atlanta office. William Ewing and Michael Lueder are joining as partners in the business practice group and Steven Whitehead will…

Feb 3, 2010 9:45 PM CST

Greenberg Traurig Enters San Francisco; Other Firms Grow in Chicago & Florida

Greenberg Traurig has opened a San Francisco office headed by two well-known litigators and expects to have a 12- to 15-attorney group practicing there within a few weeks. Joining the new office initially as co-managing shareholders are Kenneth Steinthal, a former Weil Gotshal & Manges partner of nearly 25 years…

Feb 3, 2010 8:33 PM CST

Lateral Trend Is ‘Rise of the Lone Wolves’

There is a trend emerging in last year’s record number of lateral partner moves: the rise of the lone wolves. According to the American Lawyer, 2,775 partners left or joined the largest 200 firms in the country last year. Of that number, 114 left to form their own firms. Some…

Feb 3, 2010 12:00 PM CST

Tips for ‘The Terminator’: Don’t Hesitate, Don’t Criticize & Don’t Feel Bad

Once a happy hiring partner, many a lawyer has become jaded about an associate’s prospects, over time, as the young lawyer fails to meet expectations about work quality, deadlines and skill development. At that point, “the Terminator” needs to take swift and decisive action, says the Institute of Management &…

Feb 3, 2010 1:25 AM CST

Top-Paid Partner at Freshfields Made About $5.27M Last Year, Filing Shows

Despite a dip in average profit per equity partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the firm’s top-earning lawyer made about $5.27 million last year, a filing by the London-based firm’s limited liability partnership shows. That compares to earnings of about $4.31 million for the firm’s highest-paid partner the previous year, according…

Feb 2, 2010 7:39 PM CST

Economic Meltdown Spurred Record Number of Partner Lateral Moves

The number of partners moving to or from the nation’s top 200 law firms jumped 10.6 percent last year, reaching an all-time high. The American Lawyer tallied the numbers for the year ending Sept. 30, 2009. The publication found that 2,775 partners left or joined the biggest firms in the…

Feb 2, 2010 2:30 PM CST

6 Paul Hastings Real Estate Partners Join Growing Haynes and Boone

A six-partner real estate group has left Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker and joined Haynes and Boone in what their new firm trumpets in a press release today as a major expansion of its East Coast real estate practice. The new Haynes and Boone partners are: Kenneth Friedman, Robert Grados,…

Feb 1, 2010 7:46 PM CST

Eight More White & Case Partners Jump to Latham

Eight more partners at White & Case are moving to Latham & Watkins offices in New York City; London; Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Two of the lawyers who are going to Latham’s London office will join four others who already made the move there from…

Feb 1, 2010 4:00 PM CST

Haynes & Boone Partner Donates Kidney to Staffer’s Son

A 39-year-old partner at Haynes & Boone in Houston is donating a kidney to the son of a longtime staffer at the law firm. Labor and employment partner Matthew Deffebach was scheduled to donate his kidney in a surgery on Thursday, according to Texas Lawyer’s Tex Parte blog. He was…

Jan 29, 2010 4:46 PM CST

Reed Smith Partners Hit $1M Profit Mark Despite Revenue Dip

Another BigLaw firm has reported increased partner profits last year even though its income decreased. Reed Smith says profit per equity partner in 2009 hit the $1 million mark, reports the Am Law Daily. But the firm fell a bit short of the $1 billion mark in its overall revenue,…

Jan 29, 2010 4:39 AM CST

K&L Gates Cut Bill from $806K to $574K in $1.2M Matter, But Court OK Is Elusive

A K&L Gates bill for $710,322 in legal fees and $95,868 in costs for defending a contested $1.2 million estate sparked objections from lawyers for family members arguing over a 91-year-old man’s will. But even after a Massachusetts Probate & Family Court negotiated a $574,322 compromise, attorney Thomas Maffei of…

Jan 29, 2010 3:16 AM CST