The Philadelphia office of Reed Smith has lost 12 attorneys — 11 partners and one of counsel — all of who are heading to the warm embrace of Holland & Knight. The team of lawyers will be opening a Philadelphia office for Holland & Knight and have practices in the areas of executive compensation and employee benefits, banking and financial services, environmental law, employee stock ownership plans, intellectual property, and commercial litigation.
As reported by Philadelphia Business Journal, Reed Smith is losing its office managing partner in Leonard Bernstein as well as partners John Martini, Kelly Bley, James DelBello, Robert Frank, Kerry Halpern, Daniel Mateo, David Pardys, Nipun Patel, Tracy Quinn, Matthew Siembieda, and counsel Robert Jaworski.
Martini will become the executive partner of Holland & Knight’s Philadelphia office. He said the lawyers weren’t looking to make a move, but, in the end lateraling just made too much sense:
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“The conversation became more substantial over time,” Martini said. “They had an interest in Philadelphia and we became more interested over time as we realized the synergies that existed with clients and practices.”
For their part, Holland & Knight is pleased with the acquisition. Steven Sonberg, Holland & Knight’s managing partner, noted this is part of the firm’s strategy:
“We try not to set specific targets numbers for lawyers when we open offices,” Sonberg said. “We rely on the local lawyers in those offices to formulate plans. They know best what makes sense. We have had a lot of success in starting offices with teams of lawyers [rather than with one or two lateral additions].”
Congrats to Holland & Knight as they expand to the city of brotherly love.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).