Ropes Raids Continue

A month of partner defections at Ropes & Gray continues with two more Boston laterals.

Ropes & Gray is reeling from partner defections galore and the big winner might be Kirkland & Ellis.

In March, Ropes announced that it was spinning off around 100 lawyers into a new firm handling its patent prosecution work. While wrapped in the usual vagaries, the move was likely brought on by the fact that patent prosecution doesn’t bring in the margins needed to support Biglaw overhead.

Since then, there’s been something of a feeding frenzy on poor Ropes & Gray. The London office lost two partners this month. Last week, another in New York left for Foley & Lardner. And now, Am Law Daily reports that Goodwin Procter and Kirkland & Ellis nabbed a partner each from Ropes this week:

Jason Serlenga, a private equity expert who made partner at Ropes & Gray on Nov. 1, 2015, is poised to join Kirkland’s new office in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Marc Lazar, co-head of Ropes & Gray’s real estate investments and transactions group, has joined Goodwin Procter’s real estate industry group as a partner in the city.

The loss of Serlenga may be another blow in the battle between Ropes and Kirkland for Bain Capital’s big bucks. While Bain’s long been a Ropes client, Kirkland has muscled in on some high-profile deals already this year and adding a partner who worked on Bain deals for Ropes is another shot in the arm for Kirkland.

While all these defections right in a row certainly aren’t welcome news for Ropes & Gray, let’s not jump to conclusions about the long-term health of the firm. It’s way too early to… ugh… throw them a rope.

Two Big Firms Raid Ropes & Gray’s Partnership Ranks [Am Law Daily]

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Earlier: Ropes & Gray Splitting With Around 100 Lawyers And Staffers


HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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