Biglaw, Kronish Lieb, Law Firm Mergers, Musical Chairs, White House Counsel

Musical Chairs: 11.30.06

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At the White House:
Positions in the White House Counsel’s office are some of the most prestigious and interesting jobs in the entire legal profession. And now two new lawyers are coming on board as associate counsels to the president:
* Christopher Oprison, formerly of Skadden Arps (Washington, DC); and Cheryl Stanton, a former law clerk to then-Judge Alito, and most recently of Olgetree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart (Morristown, NJ).
The arrival of Oprison and Stanton will mean that the lawyers in the office will reshuffle their portfolios for judicial nominations. We hear that Stanton will be in charge of Fifth Circuit nominations — a subject of great interest to us.
* Also, a third lawyer — Alan Swendiman, previously general counsel of the GSA, everybody’s favorite government agency — is joining the White House staff. He’ll serve as special assistant to the President and director, Office of Administration.
At Google (which is arguably more powerful than the White House these days):
* John Kent Walker Jr., formerly deputy GC of eBay, joins the search engine giant as general counsel.
Unusual structure: Walker will report to David Drummond, Google’s senior vice president of corporate development, who will take on the title of “chief legal officer.” But hey, Google is an unusual company.
Biglaw moves, after the jump.


New Partners:
* Gibson Dunn & Crutcher: Eleven new partners. Names here.
One of the new partners is corporate lawyer Rashida La Lande, recently featured in Legal Eagle Wedding Watch. The GDC announcement answers the question of this commenter.
* Cooley Godward Kronish: Thirteen new partners. Names here.
The firm is the product of the recent merger of Cooley Godward and Kronish Lieb. Of the new partners, all but one came from the Cooley Godward side of the famiily. Ouch.
* Reed Smith: Eighteen new partners. Names here.
This is significantly fewer new partners than the firm named last year.
White House Lawyers Up [WSJ Law Blog]
NY Lawyers Making Partner [NYLawyer.com]
Gibson Dunn Promotes 11 Lawyers to Partner [Gibson Dunn]
Cooley Godward Kronish Elects 13 New Partners [Cooley Godward Kronish]
After Merger, Almost All of the New Partner Class Were With Larger Firm [NYLawyer.com]
Reed Smith Names 18 New Partners Across Nine Offices [ReedSmith]
Firm Promotes Fewer to Partnership [NYLawyer.com]
Google Hires New GC [NYLawyer.com]

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