JD Journal » corporate lawyers

Haitian Law Firm Reopens Amid Uncertainty

joshua — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:38:19 +0000

Nearly two weeks after the massive earthquake that killed an estimated 100,000 pepole, Jean-Frédéric Salès reopened his law office, Cabinet Salès, located outside Port–au-Prince, Haiti. Salès counts himself lucky, as both his house and the law office, located in the suburb of Pétion-Ville, escaped major damage. The firm’s eight attorneys and its staff also survived.

“The impact of the earthquake on law firms in the near future will depend on their type of practice. Litigation will certainly be difficult, given the destruction of buildings housing services of the judiciary in Port-au-Prince, Léogane, Jacmel and Petit-Goave,” Salès wrote, referring to cities west of Port-au-Prince. “Corporate lawyers should also be impacted given the reduced demand for some of their services.”

Founded in 1907 to perform patent and trademark work, the firm now operates a broad base of practices including corporate law and general litigation.

New Leadership at Skadden Arps Chicago Office

joshua — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:39:10 +0000

Wayne Whalen has stepped down as head of Skadden‘s Chicago office. Whalen has been with Skadden since leaving Mayer Brown in 1984 to help set up the Chicago office, which quickly became the busiest office in the Skadden network. His hand picked successor, Brian Duwe, was still three year away from his degree at the University of Chicago Law School when Whalen joined Skadden.

Whalen plans to maintain his existing corporate practice but said the time was right to pass the torch after 25 years.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, LLP is a global firm headquartered in New York City with offices in twenty-four cities around the world. Core areas of practice include mergers and acquisitions, litigation, bankruptcy, tax, and securities law.

New Partners at Proskauer Rose

joshua — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:18:12 +0000

Proskauer Rose has elected four new partners. The four new partners are Sarah Cherry, a corporate lawyer in Boston, Baldassare Vinti and James Gregory in New York and Amy Covert in Newark. Lisa Herrnson and Lisa Stern have been named senior counself for the firm.

Founded in 1875, Proskauer Rose, formerly known as Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn, is one of the United States’ largest law firms, with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Boston, Boca Raton, Chicago, Newark, New Orleans, São Paulo, London, Hong Kong, and Paris.

Carlton Fields Picks up Four Lawyers from Morris, Manning & Martin

joshua — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:02:50 +0000

Three shareholders, Susan Spencer, Terresa Tarpley and James Walker IV and one associate, Shellie Hammock, have made the move from Morris, Manning & Martin to Carlton Fields in Atlanta. The four are corporate lawyers and were attracted by Carlton Fields’ larger size and broader array of practice areas.

Carlton Fields, which is based in Tampa, opened its Atlanta office in 2005. With the addition of these four attorneys, they now have 33 lawyers in Atlanta and plan to expand further, with a target of 50.

Kirkland to Layoff More than 20

joshua — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:50:12 +0000

Kirkland & Ellis piled on the bad news today with layoffs in their New York and Washington DC offices. More than 20 were let go in New York, and an unspecified number in DC. First and second year corporate lawyers were hit particularly hard. These layoffs come at the end of the associate review process and at least one person has said that lawyers not on track to become partners or non equity partners were asked to go. Does it strike anyone else as odd that Kirkland is ready to make that kind of decision based on one or two years of associate level work? Certainly no company wants to admit they are struggling but is it a crime in a weak economy to acknowledge that some layoffs are for purely financial reasons? It is worth noting that Kirkland hasn’t laid anyone off since this time last year and that a significant percentage of summer associates were given offers.

Kirkland & Ellis has 9 offices total, with 6 in the United States. They are best known for their litigation, bankruptcy, and intellectual property departments. They have a track record of high revenues and profits, topping $1.3 billion in revenues in 2007.

Fish and Richardon – Update

joshua — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:11:13 +0000

UPDATED

On Friday we reported that Fish & Richardson is closing up shop in Austin. In an update to this story, the firm has announced that they are discontinuing their corporate group as a seperate practice group, effective at the end of this year. The corporate group has 14 lawyers firm wide, some of which will remain with the firm in the northeast.

Fish & Richardson is a global IP and technology firm with 11 other offices world wide. Founded in the latter part of the 19th century, F&R handled many early patent matters including the telephone, the automobile and the radio. Some of their early clients included the Wright brothers and Alexander Graham Bell.