Originally published on July 26, 2011 in our free BigLaw newsletter. Instead of reading BigLaw here after the fact, sign up now to receive future issues in realtime.
For most, June in the large law firm world means the arrival and settling in of summer associates. But for partners, it is often the culmination of a quarter taken exploring opportunities and finalizing plans to move on. Client work tends to slow down slightly, partnership distribution checks have cleared, business plans for the year are finalized (and ready to be slapped into a headhunter's marketing package), so thoughts turn to moving on. Let's see who couldn't resist the spring wanderlust.
Staying in the Family
In our view, some of the most interesting moves are those within the large firm ambit. Two of June's finest intra-moves were Michael Fitzgerald bringing about a dozen corporate and securities lawyers from Milbank to Dewey & LeBoeuf, immediately providing the firm with the Latin America presence it has lacked. Dewey is about twice as big as Milbank, but Milbank had comparable profit-per-partner and probably a broader international footprint, albeit without the depth.
Of course, these moves don't always come down to money. Personal relationships are, in part, responsible for Fitzgerald's move to Dewey. The firm's former chairman, 92-year-old Leonard Joseph, is his father-in-law. Also, Fitzgerald's son, Reid, spent three years as a college intern at Dewey, and will attend Columbia Law School in the fall.
At the end of June in a trend that continued in July, O'Melveny lost three regulatory partners in DC to Allen & Overy, which was quite a surprise because Magic Circle firms have never been known for strong DC presences. The halls of power in our nation's capitol have traditionally been trod only by the whitest of shoes, so the addition of Charles Borden, Chris Salter, and Barbara Stettner shows some groundbreaking expansion.
Feeding Frenzy
When the large firm belly can't get fed by its own denizens, it goes searching farther afield for choice fare. Boutiques are plum targets these days for two types of acquirors — large firms looking to snag talent on the cheap or to shore up an underserved market (geographic location or a practice area), and small- to mid-sized firms trying to find safety in numbers.
Cozen O'Connor gutted IP litigation boutique Cohen Pontani Lieberman & Pavane, taking 19 of the NY firm's 27 lawyers. Five former Cohen Pontani lawyers came aboard as partners: Thomas Langer, Lance Lieberman, Martin Pavane, Thomas Pontani, and Edward Weisz. No word on what happened to the eight men out, although the firm was expected to dissolve, and its Web site now redirects to Cozen O'Connor.
Saul Ewing is also in "go big or go home" mode. It acquired five partners and one associate from Boston's Dionne & Gass. Dana Lanzillo, Don Lussier, Sally Michael, Richard Gass and Joanne Robbins joined as partners. Even for a boutique, that seems unbelievably highly leveraged, so we'll keep an eye out for word of associates not included in the deal. The fate of those left behind is another trend that we'll hit next month for its tragic repercussions.
Greener Pastures
For some, a large firm is no longer the right fit. The classic move out is the Jump In(House). At partner levels it's either a top legal job or out of law entirely to the coveted investment-banking world, as Cleary's former managing partner, Mark Walker did last month, when he joined Lazard in Paris.
The newest trend shows that lawyers may not be as risk-averse as believed. Weil Gotshal IP studs Matthew Powers (despite some recent rough patches) and Steven Cherensky have decided to blaze their own path, leaving the security of the GM Building (yes, we know they didn't sit in NYC) for their own startup practice, Tensegrity Law Group. They'll focus on contingent-fee plaintiff work, although at some point they may go fully over to the dark side, a la John Desmarais, the former Kirkland & Ellis partner who last year founded his very own patent troll by buying a bloc of patents and selling covenants not to sue.
The Revolving Door of Government Work
Another macro trend to keep an eye on this quadrennium is the inflow/outflow of our brothers and sisters in public service. We're about a year out from another election cycle, so quite a few people will be leaving who don't plan to stick around for the next term. Six lawyers left government in June for partnerships at major firms, but we expect that number, and their profiles, to rise in coming months. And, of course, there are some earlybirds. Kathryn Ruemmler will join the administration from Latham & Watkins to serve as White House Counsel.
Another large firm alum who could have a significant impact on that election cycle is Anthony Herman, the Covington partner who was recently named GC of the Federal Election Commission.
Conclusion
As alluded to above, July has some alarming trends, which I'll report on soon here in BigLaw.
Written by Law Shucks, which curates and analyzes data on large law firm lateral hiring.
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