JD Journal » Debevoise & Plimpton

Prominent Litigation Attorney and Former DOJ Assistant AG Joins WilmerHale

rebneely — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:00:24 +0000

WilmerHale recently announced that Molly Boast, former Department of Justice Deputy Assistant Attorney General, joined the firm’s New York office as a partner in the Antitrust and Competition Practice.

Boast possesses over thirty years of litigation experience in both the public and private sectors. This includes leadership roles in the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and in private practice.

As a key member of the firm’s New York office and its global Antitrust and Competition Practice, she will manage high-profile antitrust regulatory and litigation matters for the firm.

From May 2009 to February 2011, she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division. As the senior official responsible for civil enforcement, she oversaw all merger and conduct investigations; this led numerous significant merger and civil non-merger resolutions, including the NBC/Comcast and Oracle/Sun Microsystems ventures. 150 legal professionals were under her supervision in the Antitrust Division; she was one of three division authors of the 2010 Horizontal Merger Guidelines.

Boast served first as Senior Deputy Director and then as Director of the Bureau of Competition at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 1999-2001. Many mergers occurred during this period of time; she was responsible for many significant competition investigations and enforcement actions and served as the bureau’s Capitol Hill spokesperson on energy and pharmaceutical industry matters.

Michelle Miller and Thomas Mueller, co-chairs of WilmerHale’s Antitrust and Competition Practice, expect Boast “to bring a depth of experience from her years of government service and private practice that will be of tremendous benefit to the firm’s clients.”

William Perlstein, co-managing partner at the firm was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “Molly Boast is one of the top antitrust litigators in the field. Her extensive experience at the senior levels of two government agencies and in leading complex litigation matters is a unique combination that will serve not only our antitrust and competition clients, but also our entire firm.”

Boast is well known in the New York litigation community. She served previously as a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, and before that at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP. She has handled major antitrust litigation and governmental investigation matters, including a seminal antitrust case before the US Supreme Court. At Debevoise, Boast was the chair of the antitrust group, and at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, she chaired the litigation department.

Additionally, Boast has served on the governing bodies of the litigation and antitrust sections of the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association. She was also the first woman to chair the federal courts committees of both the Federal Bar Council and the New York City Bar Association. She earned her JD from Columbia University School of Law; there she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and received the Jane Marks Murphy Prize for public interest contributions.

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP has twelve offices across the USA, Europe and Asia, with over 1,100 attorneys worldwide.

With one of the leading antitrust and competition practices in the United States and Europe, WilmerHale has decades of experience and over 70 competition lawyers in the US, Europe and China. The practice is consistently ranked in the top tiers of major legal directories such as Chambers USA, Chambers Global, Legal 500, Global Competition Review and PLC Which Lawyer.

Morning Roundup

joshua — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 16:02:19 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Tuesday, December 7. It is the 69th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Today is also release day for the latest WoW expansion so if your secretary called in sick today that may be why… For the rest of us, here’s a look back at yesterday’s news.

Arguments in the Prop 8 case are over…

Debevoise & Plimpton has a new partner…

Ruden McClosky laid off some staffers…

and Democrats met to discuss the compromise plan over the Bush tax cuts…

Morning Roundup

joshua — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:37:10 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Wednesday, September 8th. Here’s a quick recap of yesterday’s stories.

Electronic brokerage veteran Joseph C. Lombard joined Murphy & McGonigle as partner…

Veteran corporate governance attorney Heidi Lawson joined Chadbourne & Parke as partner…

Kramer Levin added two partners to its private equity practice…

Veteran Corporate Governance Attorney Joins Chadbourne & Parke as Partner

joshua — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:07:27 +0000

Chadbourne & Parke LLP today announced veteran corporate governance attorney Heidi A. Lawson has joined the firm as a partner.

Most recently, she was international counsel with Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in London.

Ms. Lawson’s practice includes advising clients on corporate governance and risk management. She also frequently guides international clients in establishing and following best practices for risk governance across jurisdictions and advises companies and directors on risk committee functions. In addition, she counsels public and private organizations on liability, indemnification and insurance issues relating to officers and boards of directors.

Ms. Lawson has 23 years of experience in the insurance and risk management industry, and is a frequent lecturer and author on management liability and insurance topics. She has worked for 14 years as a lawyer advising boards and companies on risk issues and previously spent nine years on the business side in claims and underwriting.

According to today’s press release at PR Newswire, Chadbourne Managing Partner Charles K. O’Neill was quoted as saying: “Heidi’s depth of experience and expertise in the increasingly important area of risk management make her a strong addition to the firm. Our clients will benefit greatly from her expertise in corporate governance and risk oversight, particularly as businesses become subject to more government regulation in these areas.”

Chadbourne & Parke LLP, an international law firm headquartered in New York City, provides a full range of legal services. Major geographical areas of concentration include Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.

Morning Roundup

joshua — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:16:25 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Monday, May 10. Here’s a quick look back at Friday and Saturday’s stories.

IPad Tech Under Attack By Nokia…

Beasley Allen Files Class Action Suit on Behalf of Gulf Coast Restaurant Owners…

Cozen O’Connor Owns First Place Category at Corporate Philanthropy Summit…

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP Adds 4 Partners…

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP Adds 4 Partners

joshua — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:19:29 +0000

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP announced today it has added four new partners, effective July 1.

Helen V. Cantwell will be based in the firm’s New York office as a member of the Litigation Department. Her practice focuses on white collar criminal defense, SEC investigations, complex civil litigation and internal investigations.

Sophie Lamb will be based in the firm’s London office as a member of the Litigation Department. Her practice focuses on complex litigation, commercial and investment treaty arbitration and public international law.

Paul M. Rodel will be based in the firm’s New York office as a member of the Corporate Department. His practice focuses on equity and debt capital markets transactions for issuers and underwriters in the U.S. and Latin America, particularly Brazil.

Jeffrey E. Ross will be based in the firm’s New York office as a member of the Corporate Department. His practice focuses on corporate transactions, including complex leveraged financings.

Founded in 1931, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a leading international law firm with nearly 750 lawyers, representing a wide range of clients around the world. The firm has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Frankfurt, Moscow, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Justice Department Under Attack

joshua — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:27:04 +0000

A group calling itself “Keep America Safe” has been running an ad attacking Attorney General Eric Holder for refusing to name Justice Department appointees who represented detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The ad, seen below, is charged with high octane rhetoric.

Fox News has since “outed” the DoJ lawyers who worked on detainee cases. We aren’t going to repeat the names here, but we will tell you that the lawyers worked at liberal subversive law firms like Covington & Burling, Venable, Morrison & Foerster, WilmerHale, Debevoise & Plimpton, Sidley Austin, and O’Melveny & Myers. In fact, according to ABC News, 34 out of the 50 largest US Firms have represented or filed amicus briefs on behalf of detainees.

The right of the accused to legal representation and the requirement of lawyers to zealously advocate for their clients are hallmarks of our legal system. To impugn the integrity or patriotism of lawyers who do so is repugnant to the rule of law.

“Keep America Safe”, which was formed in part by Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has no apparent problem with JAG Corps officers defending detainees or the JAG Corps officers who, sitting in judgement, released several. I’m left to believe that this is nothing more than a smear attack on the Attorney General’s office, and by extension, the President. It’s shameful that they would do so by attacking the integrity of some of America’s top lawyers.

Morning Roundup

sara — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:54:35 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Monday, March 1, and here’s a quick look back at Friday’s news…

Profits and revenue decline at Debevoise & Plimpton…

Ogletree Deakins open a new office in Orange County, California…

Donchess & Notinger claim in a court filing that a bankruptcy case is creating a financial hardship for the firm…

Seyfarth Shaw releases details about it’s merit based plan…

Revenue and profits increase at Cahill…

10 lawyers leave McDonough Holland & Allen for DLA Piper…

Revenue decreases at DLA Piper…

U.S. firms scale back London recruitment according to a new survey…

Former University of Maryland law dean Karen Rothenberg is asked to refund $60,000 to the university…

Laurence Tribe accepts a position at the Department of Justice…

Freshfields unfreezes associate lockstep…

Obama nominates 4 U.S. Attorneys…

The Citizens United decision could lead to a constitutional amendment…

Congress considers a U.S. patent overhaul…

Profits and Revenue Decline at Debevoise & Plimpton

sara — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:58:23 +0000

Debevoise & Plimpton report that gross revenue dropped 12% at the firm and profits per equity partner dropped even further due to poor economic conditions in 2009. Revenue dropped to $667.9 million and profits per partner dropped 16% to $1.87 million. These drops came on the heels of a decline in corporate work and the completion of large matters in its litigation practice, specifically the internal investigation of Siemens AG.

Founded in 1931, New York City based Debevoise & Plimpton is an international law firm and a leader in corporate litigation and large financial transactions. The firm has approximately 680 lawyers and additional offices in Paris, Washington, D.C., London, Hong Kong, Moscow, Frankfurt and Shanghai.

Cravath Confirms: No Partners to be Named in 2009

Aine Ford — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:44:41 +0000

Making partner at a big New York firm has been a possibility for only the shining stars of the legal profession. In this recession, however, the chances of becoming partner have quickly gone from bad to worse. At many prominent firms, the number of new partners has significantly dropped: four at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (six in 2008); two at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (six in 2008); two at Debevoise & Plimpton (six in 2008); and three at Weil, Gotshal & Manges (seven in 2008). Finally, and by far the most dismal of all: Cravath, Swaine & Moore has just announced that it will not be making any new partners this year.

While Cravath has always carried the reputation of being hard to break into partnership, there has yet to be a year where not one associate has made partner. There have been rumors that the firm was hit harder than other firms during the economic crisis, as Cravath did suffer a 24 percent drop in its profits per partner for 2008.

Cravath’s deputy presiding partner, Allen Parker, denies that this decision has been influenced by the economic crisis, but rather attributes it to the fact that no one has met the firm’s standards. There are reports that only a handfull of attorneys from the class of 2002 are left with the firm and that the superstars all got out several years ago.

Morning Roundup

joshua — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:30:41 +0000

Good morning one and all! It’s Friday, November 27, and now that the triptophan has hopefully worn off, here’s a look at wednesday’s headlines.

Scott Rothstein has been officialy disbarred…

Debevoise & Plimpton announced their bonus schedules…

And so did Davis Polk…

and in Switzerland, film director Roman Polanski has been granted bail…

More Bonuses

joshua — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:11:24 +0000

-Insert cookie cutter story here-

Debevoise & Plimpton announced bonuses today. Second verse, same as the first… I’m rapidly running out of new and creative ways to say this, so here it is – it’s the same bonus schedule first issued by Cravath, then followed by Cleary Gottlieb, Skadden, Wilkie Farr, Simpson Thatcher, and Davis Polk. $7500 for first year associates, seniors get $30k, and everyone else is on a sliding scale somewhere in between.

Nothing to see here, move along…

50 Best Law Firms for Women Announced

Erik Even — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:33:38 +0000

Working Mother Magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers have announced their 2009 Best Law Firms for Women.

The accolade is awarded based on attention to work-life and women’s issues, and the increased use of part-time and other family-friendly policies.

Firms with at least 50 lawyers were eligible to apply, and the application included detailed questions about issues that are important to the retention and promotion of female lawyers. The winning firms were selected based on their workforce profile, family-friendly benefits and policies, flexibility, leadership, compensation, advancement and retention of women, among other criteria utilizing 2008 data.

The 50 firms chosen are not ranked in any order, but include:

Alston & Bird
Andrews Kurth
Arent Fox
Bass Berry Sims
Chapman and Cutler
Covington & Burling
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Debevoise & Plimpton
Dorsey & Whitney
Drinker Biddle
Foley Hoag
Folger Levin & Kahn
Fox Rothschild
Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson
Frost Brown Todd
Gibbons PC
Goodwin Procter
Gray Plant Mooty
Hanson Bridgett
Hardy & Bacon
Holland and Hart
Honigman Miller Schwartz & Cohn
Ice Miller
Jenner & Block
Katten Muchin Rosenman Cornish LLP
Latham & Watkins
Lindquist & Vennum
Littler Mendelson
Lowenstein Sandler
Manatt Phelps & Phillips
McGuireWoods
Miller & Chevalier
Morrison & Foerster
Munger Tolles & Olson
Neal Gerber & Eisenberg
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
Perkins Coie
Pillsbury Winthrop
Quarles & Brady
Shook
Sidley Austin
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Smith Moore Leatherwood
Steptoe & Johnson
Sterne Kessler Goldstein & Fox
Vinson & Elkins
Weil Gotshal & Manges
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Huh. The list of firms not included might be shorter.

Debevoise & Plimpton Hires Partners from Goodwin Procter

Erik Even — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:27:18 +0000

Debevoise & Plimpton has hired two banking partners away from Goodwin Procter.

Gregory Lyons joins Debevoise & Plimpton as a partner in New York. He will be Co-Chair for the Americas of the firm’s Financial Institutions Group. He was co-chair of the Financial Services Practice at Goodwin, and chair of its banking practice in Boston.

Satish Kini joins as banking practice co-chair in Washington, DC. He was a member of Goodwin’s Financial Services Practice.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a prominent international law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Eli Whitney Debevoise and William Stevenson, the firm currently employs about 680 lawyers in eight offices throughout the world.

In-House and Law Firm Lawyers Form Diversity Council

Erik Even — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:14:02 +0000

Senior legal executives from The Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft, Wal-Mart and 11 more Fortune 500 companies, with the managing partners of O’Melveny & Myers, DLA Piper, Debevoise and other leading law firms, have announced the formation of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.

The new organization of chief legal officers and law firm managing partners is dedicated to improving diversity in the legal profession.

The LCLD evolved from the 2008 Call to Action Summit, a gathering of 125 senior legal professionals, consisting solely of general counsels from Fortune 500 companies and managing partners of the nation’s top law firms, who discussed real solutions to the substantial diversity gap within the legal profession.

Among its first orders of business, the LCLD is assessing the progress made by four working groups established during the 2008 Call to Action Summit. The groups include Law Firm Call to Action; Strategies for Law Firm and Corporate Partnerships; Goals to Measure Success; and Recruitment, Retention and Advancement.

Debevoise Reports Revenue Up

Erik Even — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:20:08 +0000

New York’s Debevoise & Plimpton announced that its 2008 gross revenue climbed 7.2%, while profits per partner fell nearly 3%.

Revenue grew to $760.8 million, but profits per partner dropped to $2.23 million.

The drop-off in profitability followed declines at other New York-based firms, such as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Sullivan & Cromwell; and Davis Polk & Wardwell. Only a few, such as Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, have posted positive results.

Debevoise’s profits per partner dropped in part because the firm had more equity partners in 2008. The firm’s overall income actually increased 1.3% last year to $318 million. But the number of equity partners also increased.

Revenue per lawyer inched up slightly by less than 1% to $1.2 million.

The firm cut associate bonuses in December, after Cravath, Swaine & Moore set the market floor at $17,500 for a first-year associate bonus.

Former Attorney General Mukasey Joins Debevoise & Plimpton

Erik Even — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:28:09 +0000

Former Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey announced this afternoon that he will join the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton as a partner.

The retired federal judge from New York will handle corporate investigations for the firm.

Mukasey left his post as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer last month after spending more than a year in Washington. Bipartisan groups of lawmakers praised him for helping to improve morale at a department that had been demoralized by hiring scandals under his predecessor, Alberto R. Gonzales.

As a federal judge, Mukasey developed expertise in terrorism, overseeing the trial of Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as the Blind Sheik.

Mukasey said that the looks forward to working with lawyers at Debevoise, where he expects to work on behalf of corporate boards and oversee companies that have run afoul of the law as an independent monitor.

Lawyers Raise $200,000 for Human Rights

Erik Even — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:00:00 +0000

An insurance company’s unusual “pyramid scheme” has raised siginificant funds for global human rights organizations.

The legal department at Swiss insurance conglomerate ACE Limited created a novel program that leveraged contributions from in-house lawyers into a $200,000 donation for three public interest groups. According to ACE general counsel Robert Cusumano, the ACE Rule of Law Fund is the first privately funded corporate legal foundation.

The idea originated with Cusumano, who joined ACE three years ago after 25 years as a litigator at Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett. He wanted to bring together his in-house lawyers and outside counsel to make a “tangible difference” in their legal communities.

Cusumano first asked the in-house lawyers to make anonymous contributions to the fund; the general counsel personally matched those contributions. The company then matched that combined amount. Finally, eight selected law firms matched that total. In the end, each in-house lawyer’s contribution was multiplied 12 times through the matching. More than 50 ACE lawyers contributed, representing more than half the in-house staff.

The participating law firms were Clyde & Co, Cozen O’Connor, Debevoise & Plimpton, Ropes & Gray, Susman Godfrey, O’Melveny & Myers, DLA Piper, and Mayer Brown.

The beneficiaries include Human Rights Defenders, a program administered by Human Rights First to protect “at-risk” lawyers from harassment and incarceration; and the International Commission of Jurists in southern Africa. Funds will also be used to provide courtroom language translators for battered women working with the New York organization Sakhi for South Asian Women.

Via Law.com and The AmLaw Daily Blog.

Obama Aides Lawyer Up for Blago Probe

Erik Even — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:30:07 +0000

Top aides to President-elect Barack Obama are lawyering up, in anticipation of questioning in the probe of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s alleged attempt to sell Obama’s vacant Senate seat.

Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, has hired W. Neil Eggleston, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton. Eggleston and Emanuel briefly served together in the Clinton administration in the early 1990s, when Eggleston was associate counsel to the president and Emanuel was a senior adviser. Eggleston specializes in securities litigation, white-collar defense and internal investigations.

Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to Obama, has hired Vincent Connelly, a partner in Mayer Brown’s Chicago office. Connelly is a former prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago.

Emanuel and Jarrett expect to be interviewed this month by the US Attorney’s Office in Chicago and by Gregory Craig, the incoming White House counsel and a partner at Williams & Connolly.

Prosecutors have not accused either Emanuel or Jarrett of wrongdoing.

Associates’ Bonuses Drop In Bad Year For Legal Biz

Erik Even — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:16:13 +0000

From The American Lawyer:

Want an early look at how law firms will end 2008? Check out their associate bonus memos.

Of the 14 firms whose memos have made it onto the blogosphere, all but one in some way refer to the economy or firm finances in explaining why bonuses are down this year….

Take Debevoise & Plimpton…. The memo its associates received Dec. 9 notes deal work in 2008 has dropped, suggesting the firm is bracing for weaker results.

…

Much of the bonus attention has focused on Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Cravath, Swaine & Moore, since they were the first two firms to pull the trigger on bonus announcements. … Skadden, diversified internationally, said of 2008, “the level of the firm’s business continues to be relatively strong, with our total workload, until very recently, being similar to 2007, our most successful year.”

“However, we have more attorneys to do this work, and therefore, our results aren’t as strong as they were last year,” the memo from executive partner Robert Sheehan said….

Cravath presiding partner Evan Chesler, in contrast, wrote that “the economic downturn has severely affected our clients,” who “are under strong pressure to cut costs dramatically.”

Link.