Biglaw, Lateral Moves

Winston & Strawn Pillages Pillsbury In Massive Lateral Raid

Winston reached out and took what it wanted from Pillsbury: a bevy of heavy hitters, including some department heads.

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UPDATE (3/11/15 2:53 p.m.): An update to this story is included below.

Poaching three or four partners at once is considered a substantial raid. Taking 11 (and counting) in a coordinated strike is epic. And snagging a bunch of heavy hitters, including multiple department heads, can only be characterized as… well, what word could you give that? I guess, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Last week, Winston & Strawn issued an announcement that Pillsbury partner Jeffrey Stern had joined the firm’s structured finance practice in its New York office. Stern, who previously worked at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and Thacher Proffitt & Wood boasts more than 20 years of experience in structured finance and derivatives. Huge get. Little did we realize at the time that it was just the tip of the iceberg.

James Simpson, who was Pillsbury’s co-head of energy, infrastructure, and projects, is joining Winston’s London office. Simpson was only with Pillsbury for three years, having jumped over from the flaming hulk that was Dewey. And Pillsbury’s Abu Dhabi managing partner Stephen Jurgenson is also joining Winston, marking Winston’s expansion into the Middle East.

But there’s more! Sources say that corporate and securities lawyers Anthony Schouten, Michael Wu, Chris Zochowski, James Kelly, Peter Alfano, Jay Gould (leader of Pillsbury’s Investment Funds & Investment Management Practice), and Executive Compensation partner Scott Landau are all making the leap to Winston as well, though Winston has yet to officially announce as some partners are still in the process of resigning. And some sources think this may not be the end, and that another wave of laterals is just around the corner. Stay tuned.

Reached for comment, Pillsbury replied:

While Pillsbury has had excellent partner retention in recent years, it is nevertheless a fact of life that partners come and go at all firms. We are very sorry to see any partner leave us. We wish these partners nothing but the best in their new endeavor.

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An internal memo sent by Pillsbury managing partner Jim Rishwain (which we have heard described but not seen) tried to put the moves in perspective, noting that many of those leaving for Winston had only relatively recently joined Pillsbury and were trying to start new practices there, but ultimately decided to leave for a firm that offered a more established platform. He concludes this memo with a note of reassurance:

When experiencing a setback, it can be easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. I would not be doing my job to remind you our firm is in position of real strength. Our performance in 2014 was strong, and we have begun 2015 above last year in revenues, profits, PPP, with higher AR and WIP, and with higher capital and more cash, we are attracting and advancing talent, and working together we will continue to move our firm forward.

That all sounds like good news. But I can’t help but remember that Pillsbury was shopping itself around a little over a year ago and generated big interest, but couldn’t find a suitor willing to pull the trigger. The conventional wisdom was that Pillsbury had great assets, but something about its internal partnership structure prevented a suitor from taking on the firm lock, stock, and barrel. Maybe Pillsbury isn’t on the block any more, but Pillsbury still has assets that the rest of Biglaw wants.

Though a bunch of them are moving to Winston.

UPDATE (3/11/15 2:53 p.m.): Winston has issued two press releases regarding the addition of 8 of the above-named partners. Check them out here and here.

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Earlier: Jeffrey Stern Joins Winston & Strawn in New York
Orrick And Pillsbury Call The Whole Thing Off

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