Today’s big move is from the government to the private sector:
* Renowned Enron prosecutor Sean Berkowitz, to the Chicago office of Latham & Watkins. The much-anticipated move took place after the young legal superstar was wooed by many other top firms. Berkowitz will be an equity partner at Latham, where profits per partner clock in at $1.6 million — at least ten times what he earned as an AUSA.
(Berkowitz, you may recall, was dating financial reporter Bethany McLean, who covered the Enron trial for Fortune magazine. Anyone know whether they are still an item — and if so, how serious? Partner profits are great for buying engagement rings.)
The boom in white-collar criminal prosecutions has created lots of job opportunities for government lawyers. Another notable move: former SEC lawyer David Mittelman, headed for the San Francisco office of Reed Smith.
New Partners:
* Cleary Gottlieb, aka Clearly Goatlips — we hadn’t heard that one before, it’s a good one — names eight new partners and six new counsel. No word on whether a swimming test was required.
Here’s the firm’s press release. See if you know any of these soon-to-be millionaires.
Lateral Moves:
* Patent prosecutrix Margaret Brivanlou, to King & Spalding (NY), from Jones Day. (She joined Jones Day when it gobbled up much of what had been IP boutique Pennie & Edmonds.)
* Litigator Daniel Murdock, to Fulbright & Jaworski (NY), from Winston & Strawn (where he formerly chaired the New York litigation practice).
New Firm:
* Charles Ross, former head of the white-collar practice at Herrick Feinstein, has left to start his own firm. Charles A. Ross & Associates will handle criminal defense and some civil cases. Ross is also a former law partner of the Diddy-defending Benjmain Brafman, go-to guy for celebrities with legal problems.
Cleary Gottlieb Announces 14 New Partners and Counsel Worldwide [Cleary Gottlieb]
Enron Prosecutor Berkowitz Joins Latham & Watkins [WSJ Law Blog]
Firm Nabs SEC Attorney [NYLawyer.com]
Latham & Watkins
- Benjamin Brafman, Biglaw, Boutique Law Firms, Cleary Gottlieb, Jones Day, King & Spalding, Latham & Watkins, Musical Chairs, Partner Profits, Winston & Strawn
Musical Chairs: 11.02.06
By David Lat- Georgetown Law School, Harvard Law School, Latham & Watkins, Michael Boudin, Nixon Peabody, Schulte Roth & Zabel, Weddings
Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: October 29, 2006
By David LatOn the heels of the robust lawyer wedding market over October 21-22, last weekend delivered another bumper crop of attorney nuptials. We picked three couples to write about, per our standard procedure. But there were many others that would have been equally suitable for review.
Three of the wedding announcements that we almost wrote about illustrate an interesting trend: mentioning past employment positions. Typically this is done only if the former post is a big deal — e.g., a Supreme Court clerkship, an ambassadorship, etc. But in three announcements — Lucy Fowler and Travis Glasson, Liora Powers and Steven Spiess, and Robyn Sorid and Joshua Ufberg — past jobs of the bride were mentioned, despite not being exceptionally notable.
(Fowler, Powers, and Sorid were, respectively, former associates at Foley Hoag, Schulte Roth & Zabel, and Paul Weiss. These are all prestigious gigs; but none is on the level of a SCOTUS clerkship or an ambassadorship.)
Sorry for the digression; on to the business at hand. Here are the couples in contention this week:
1. Leanne Abrams, Brandon Bortner
Ratings and reviews appear after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: October 29, 2006″
- Allen & Overy, Biglaw, Clifford Chance, Holland & Knight, Latham & Watkins, Magic Circle, Milbank Tweed, Musical Chairs, O'Melveny & Myers, S.D.N.Y., Skadden Arps, U.S. Attorneys Offices, Willkie Farr
Musical Chairs: 10.31.06
By David LatTons of moves to report today — and these are just the highlights:
New Partners:
* Latham & Watkins — which, as discussed yesterday, is very popular with Supreme Court clerks — has elected 26 new partners, in offices around the country. That’s enough lawyers to start a whole new law firm.
You can check out their names here. If you graduated from law school around 1998, you probably know some of them.
“Magic Circle” Hiring Spree:
The top British law firms — aka the “Magic Circle” firms — continue to cast spells over U.S. practitioners, who have been flocking to their American offices in droves.
* Louis Kimmelman, former co-chair of O’Melveny & Myers’s international arbitration practice, is heading to Allen & Overy’s rapidly growing New York office. Kimmelman regularly appears before the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, the American Arbitration Association, and other tribunals.
* Finance lawyers Zarrar Sehgal and Anthony Lopez III, to Clifford Chance (NY), from Milbank Tweed and Cahill Gordon, respectively.
Lateral Moves:
* Corporate and securities lawyer Michael Student, to Brown Rudnick, from Holland & Knight.
* Tax lawyer James Tander, corporate lawyer Patrick de Carbuccia, and real estate lawyer Michael Pollack, to Reed Smith (NY). They come from, respectively, Skadden Arps, Willkie Farr, and Withers Bergman of (New Haven, CT).
Government to Private Sector:
* Sharon McCarthy, a former deputy chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District, to litigation and tax boutique Kostelanetz & Fink, as a partner.
Internal Promotions:
* Paul Tvetenstrand, a partner in the structured finance practice group, has been elected chairman and managing partner of Thacher Proffitt & Wood.
Latham & Watkins Elects 26 New Partners [Latham & Watkins]
NY Partners Switching Firms, NY Lawyers On the Move [NYLawyer.com]
More NY Partners Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
Firm Promotes 26 to Partnership [NYLawyer.com]
NY Practice Leader Switches Firms [NYLawyer.com]
- Biglaw, Bonuses, Latham & Watkins, Lori Alvino, Money, SCOTUS, SCOTUS Clerks Are Fair Game, Supreme Court, Supreme Court Clerks
Last Year’s Supreme Court Clerks: Where Are They Now?
By David LatIf you’re wondering where your favorite October Term 2005 Supreme Court clerk wound up — like, for example, this Kathryn Judge groupie — the National Law Journal has the answers. Check out this juicy article (free access):
Latham & Watkins is the “in” spot this year for recent U.S. Supreme Court clerks leaving the rarified atmosphere of the highest court in the land for the hands-on practice of law.
The firm, home to more than 1,900 attorneys in 22 offices in the United States and abroad, hired six clerks from the October 2005 term — the largest number of hires from a single term by a single law firm in recent years.
Here are the six Lathamites:
Three of the six clerks hired by Latham are going to Washington: Lori Alvino (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), Dan Kearney (Roberts) and Jeff Pojanowski (Anthony M. Kennedy). Two are going to San Francisco: [Benjamin] Horwich (O’Connor / Alito) and Kathryn Judge (Stephen G. Breyer). And Dan Lenerz (John Paul Stevens) is going to San Diego.
As any owner of an NBA team can tell you, talent doesn’t come cheap. You could buy a nice house with the bonus money bestowed upon those six clerks:
[Latham partner] Richard Bress said that his firm paid the market-level hiring bonus for U.S. Supreme Court clerks — about $200,000 [per clerk] — and considers the money well spent. “We’ve found they can come in and immediately operate at a very high level,” said Bress.
High enough to earn out that bonus, plus the standard six-figure salary paid to an associate of the relevant seniority level? We have our doubts.
But let’s not look at this through an economic lens. The ability to boast of having a SCOTUS clerk at your firm — plus, of course, the ability to boss around said SCOTUS clerk — is priceless.*
(We recommend the full NLJ article to you. It also reports on clerks who have gone to other firms, legal academia, and government posts.)
* Of course, you can’t really abuse that power too much. If you force Supreme Court clerks to sully their hands with, say, document review, they may spread the word among the Elect that you’re a horrible place to work — and you’ll never bag another SCOTUS clerk again.
Latham is the ‘in’ spot for high court clerks [National Law Journal]
- Biglaw, Holland & Knight, Jones Day, Latham & Watkins, Linklaters, Magic Circle, Musical Chairs, White & Case
Musical Chairs: 10.24.06
By David LatLateral Moves:
* Four litigation partners, and possibly a dozen associates, are leaving White & Case to join the New York office of Linklaters — a “Magic Circle” firm (insert squeal of delight here). The group’s practice focuses on white-collar criminal, antitrust, and other regulatory matters.
The four partners are Lawrence Byrne, a former assistant U.S. attorney (S.D.N.Y.) and deputy chief of the DOJ’s organized crime section; Joseph Armao, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan; Lance Croffoot-Suede, who was hired by Linklaters based solely on his fabulous, British-sounding name; and Paul Alfieri, who was not.
* Corporate lawyer Michael Student and bankruptcy lawyer Neil Pigott, to Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels, from Holland & Knight and Mandel Katz, respectively.
* Private equity lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, to Jones Day, from Latham & Watkins.
From the New York Law Journal: “Mr. Kennedy is not related to the former U.S. attorney general and New York senator whose son is a well-known environmental lawyer and political activist.”
RFK. Jeez, poor guy. And it doesn’t even help him get restaurant reservations.
NY Firm Loses Four Partners, and 12 Associates May Follow [NYLawyer.com]
NY Partners Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
Firm Adds NY Private Equity Partner [NYLawyer.com]
We’re almost caught up here at Legal Eagle Wedding Watch. Today we discuss and score couples featured in the New York Times weddings page of October 8, 2006.
Again, a bit of a slow weekend for weddings involving lawyers. Here are the three couples under review:
1. Amanda Biles, Lee Reeves II
Numerical scores and commentary for each couple, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: October 8, 2006″
A few job changes that didn’t make it into our earlier round-up:
Lateral Moves:
* Litigator Walter Loughlin, to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, from Latham & Watkins.
* Tax lawyer Robert Miller, to Greenberg Traurig, from Intel.
New Partners:
* Fried Frank: Tax lawyer Brian Kniesly and corporate lawyer David Shaw.
Anyone have any good tidbits about these folks? Something cute, amusing, and preferably non-libelous? If so, please email us (subject line: “Musical Chairs”).
NY Attorneys on the Move [NYLawyer.com]
- Biglaw, Cleary Gottlieb, Cravath, Davis Polk, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher, Skadden Arps, Sullivan & Cromwell, Vault rankings, Wachtell Lipton, Weil Gotshal
Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Most Prestigious of All?
By David Lat
Each year, just in time for fall on-campus recruiting season, Vault releases its prestige rankings of the nation’s biggest law firms. Here’s a report on the results of the latest survey, from The Recorder:
In big law, prestige is important. And an annual survey from career-oriented Web site Vault attempts to gauge just how impressive it is to work at the country’s top firms by asking more than 15,000 associates to rank their prestige factor.
The top ten firms were: Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Cravath, Swaine & Moore; Sullivan & Cromwell; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Davis Polk & Wardwell, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton; Latham & Watkins; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Executive summary: New York firms rule the roost. Nothing new there.
But lawyers at Latham & Watkins, based out in La-la-land, were happy with their top 10 finish:
“It’s certainly important and it is impressive that Latham has the reputation it has,” said Kimberly Posin, a fourth-year associate in Latham’s Los Angeles office. “Clients look to and appreciate the prestige factor.”
It’s also a key factor for law students who are interviewing at various firms and scouring the rankings to help make decisions, she said.
Within the firm itself, it was fun to get the e-mail detailing the results.
“It’s something that’s nice to talk about,” Posin said, “[to] call our friends at competing firms and say ‘Look at this.’”
Calling your friends to brag about how your firm is more prestigious than their firm? Isn’t that a tad obnoxious, Kimberly?
Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]
Associate Survey Finds NY Firms Win Bragging Rights [The Recorder]
- Biglaw, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, Latham & Watkins, Michael Mukasey, Musical Chairs, Patterson Belknap, Paul Hastings, White & Case
Musical Chairs: 8.8.06
By David LatOur summary of the most important or interesting moves within the profession. If you have any good gossip about these job changes and the players involved, or forthcoming announcements, please drop us a line (subject line: “Musical Chairs”).
Lateral Moves:
* Former federal prosecutor and white-collar criminal defense lawyer Walter Loughlin, to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, from Latham & Watkins.
* Real estate lawyers Raymond Sanseverino, Richard Nardi, and Kenneth Sold, to Loeb & Loeb, from Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner.
* Litigator Keith Miller, to Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, from Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham.
* Corporate lawyer David Dedyo, to Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, from White & Case.
New Partners:
* Alston & Bird: Real estate lawyer William Stefko (from CWCapital LLC).
* Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler: Judge Michael Mukasey, returning to the firm after serving as a federal judge (S.D.N.Y.).
NY Litigation Partner Switches Firms [NYLawyer.com]
More NY Partners Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
Our summary of the most important or interesting moves within the profession. If you have any good gossip about these job changes and the players involved, or forthcoming announcements, please drop us a line (subject line: “Musical Chairs”).
Lateral Partner Moves:
* Private equity lawyer Jane Gryef, to Nixon Peabody, from Latham & Watkins
* Corporate partner Angela M. Santoro Dowd, to Loeb & Loeb, from Golenbock, Eiseman, Assor, Bell & Peskoe.
* Litigator Keith Miller, to Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, from Kirkpatrick & Lockhart.
* Tax partner Dan Kusnetz, to Schulte Roth & Zabel, from Jones Day.
* Employment lawyers Maria Anastas and Aaron Roblan, to Davis Wright Tremaine, from Jackson Lewis.
* Corporate lawyer Lawrence Low, to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, from Preston Gates & Ellis.
New Partners:
* Loeb & Loeb: David P. Ansel and Po Yi.
NY Lawyers Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
Left Coast Lawyers Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
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