Back in May, Quinn Emanuel lost Sheila Birnbaum, who is known as the “Queen of Toxic Torts,” to Dechert, largely due to ongoing conflicts between her practice and the rest of the general litigation practice. Now, as reported by Law360, comes news that more attorneys are following Birnbaum’s lead.
All in, 18 attorneys and eight staff members are leaving Quinn. Hayden Coleman, Douglas Dunham, and Bert Wolff are the three partners heading to Dechert where they’ll be joined by nine counsel, six associates, three project attorneys, and five paralegals. They join Birnbaum, as well as partners Mark Cheffo and Douglas Fleming III (who left Quinn for Dechert in May), and account for a 7 percent increase in the size of Dechert’s global litigation practice.
Dechert is appropriately thrilled with the pickup:
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“We are thrilled to have this marquee team join Dechert’s group of experienced product liability and mass tort litigators,” Dechert chair Andrew Levander said in a statement. “A prestige lateral acquisition of this magnitude cements our firm’s position among the best in the market.”
Quinn just pointed to their statement on Birnbaum’s departure, with no specific comment on the 18 who are now leaving:
Quinn Emanuel declined to comment on the move beyond its May statement, in which managing partner John Quinn said that “over time, our broad and diverse practice has created many conflicts for particular clients we have represented in product liability litigation.”
That may seem cold, but it’s better than an angry firmwide email and litigation.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).