Musical Chairs: Fried Frank Loses A Former Leader To Freshfields
What's going on at Fried Frank, which has seen significant lateral losses lately?
In case you haven’t noticed, Freshfields has been on a U.S. hiring spree lately. The Magic Circle firm has been making partners disappear from other firms left and right. It recently lured Peter Lyons away from Shearman & Sterling, his longtime professional home. That came on the heels of Freshfields picking up former Wachtell Lipton partner Mitchell Presser and former Skadden Arps partner James Douglas.
Today brings word of more high-profile hires. We’ve learned that three Fried Frank partners — former co-chair Valerie Ford Jacob and two other capital-markets partners, Paul Tropp and Michael Levitt — are decamping for Freshfields. Their bios are all gone from the Fried Frank website. One source of ours called it “a major loss for the firm.”
Is something going on at Fried Frank? It seems the firm has lost a lot of partners lately….
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(Please note the UPDATES added to this post, including comment from Fried Frank.)
Earlier this month, one tipster told us: “Rumor is that a lot of resumes from both partners and associates have been coming out of Fried Frank.”
It’s not just rumor. Back in January, for example, two co-heads of Fried Frank’s white-collar and securities enforcement group, Dixie Johnson and Bill Johnson (not related), left FFHSJ for King & Spalding. The third co-head, Carmen J. Lawrence, joined them in March. Earlier this month, Fried Frank lost two IP partners, James W. Dabney and Stephen S. Rabinowitz, to Hughes Hubbard.
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And now we get today’s news about Valerie Ford Jacob, Paul Tropp, and Michael Levitt. Interestingly enough, Jacob stepped down early as Fried Frank’s co-chair to focus on building her practice back up. From her March announcement:
For my part, after 11 years as Chairperson or Co-Chair — an honor for which I shall always be grateful — I am eager to devote my time and energy to continuing to serve our clients as Head of the Capital Markets Practice, leading the Firm’s business development efforts and serving the Firm as its Senior Partner in promoting the overall interests of the Firm both internally and externally and in continuing to work on certain Firm initiatives. I will also continue to build upon our practices in the London and European markets.
I could not be more proud of how our Firm is positioned today in a challenging legal market. We just finished our fiscal year with the highest profits per partner in the Firm’s history.
Fried Frank enjoyed strong financial performance in 2013: it grew revenue by 3 percent and profits per partner by a whopping 24 percent, according to the American Lawyer. If FFHSJ is doing well, what could explain these high-level defections?
We reached out to both firms but have not yet heard back from them; if and when we do, we will update this story. If you have information to share about either Fried Frank or Freshfields, feel free to email us or text us (646-820-8477). It seems that interesting things are afoot at both firms right now.
UPDATE (11:34 a.m.): David Greenwald, chairman of Fried Frank, issued this statement about the departing partners: “We wish them well in their future endeavors. We thank Valerie for her years of service to the firm and her leadership as Chair for 11 years.”
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UPDATE (11:39 a.m.): The American Lawyer has coverage of the moves here. Per Am Law, “Fried Frank and Freshfields both have lockstep compensation systems, although while Freshfields has emerged as a global legal giant, Fried Frank has struggled financially over the past decade as it coped with an exodus of partners.”
Freshfields Bags M&A Bigwig From Shearman & Sterling [American Lawyer]
Two Veteran White-Collar Defense Lawyers Move Over to King & Spalding [WSJ Law Blog]
King & Spalding Nabs Ex-SEC Director From Fried Frank [Law360]
Hughes Hubbard Snags 2 Fried Frank Patent Partners In NY [Law360]
Fried Frank’s Valerie Ford Jacob Steps Down Early [WSJ Law Blog]
