JD Journal » expansions

Diaz Reus & Targ Launches in Shanghai

Erik Even — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:51:36 +0000

Diaz Reus & Targ has launched a new office in Shanghai, China.

Firm partners Robert Q. Lee and Adam Ehrlich will manage the office. They are joined by associates Federico Tabja, Xiaomin Hu and Xin Zhang.

Miami, Florida-based Diaz Reus & Targ LLP focuses on trade and business transactions; complex commercial, civil, and criminal litigation; and arbitration matters. It has offices in Frankfurt, Germany; Caracas, Venezuela; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Bogotá, Colombia; and São Paulo, Brazil.

Barnes & Thornburg Acquires Parsinen Law Firm

Erik Even — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:27:37 +0000

Indiana’s Barnes & Thornburg, which recently expanded into Georgia and Ohio, is now gaining an office in Minnesota through the acquisition of the 22-attorney Parsinen Law Firm.

The Minneapolis office, with 14 partners, will be Barnes & Thornburg’s 10th location. The deal has been in the works since 2008.

The Parsinen Law Firm was founded in 1981.

With 540 attorneys and other legal professionals, Barnes & Thornburg is one of the largest law firms in the country. The firm serves clients worldwide from its offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Indiana, Michigan, Minneapolis, Columbus and Washington DC.

Collas Day Lays Off 6 Staff

Erik Even — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:16:22 +0000

Guernsey’s Collas Day has made six staff redundant, three of them voluntarily.

The firm is reorganizing, and recently launched a London footprint.

Collas Day, headquartered in St. Peter Port, employs eight partners and 74 staff.

The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown Dependency in the English Channel, off the coast of Normandy.

Skadden Creates New Practice in Hong Kong

Erik Even — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:07:20 +0000

Skadden is sending three London lawyers to Hong Kong, plus bringing on a new lawyer, to handle cases related to the credit crunch.

London’s Paul Mitchard will head the practice; and the firm has brought on an attorney formerly with Hong Kong’ s Pinsent Masons. The group will work with Asian firms under investigation for financial malpractice.

Skadden now has 54 lawyers in the Special Administrative Region.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, founded in 1948, is a prominent law firm based in New York City. With over 2,000 attorneys, it is one of the largest and highest-grossing law firms in the world. Forbes magazine called Skadden “Wall Street’s most powerful law firm.”

Lewis & Daggett Expands with Third Office

Erik Even — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:22:34 +0000

Lewis & Daggett is opening a third office in Statesville, North Carolina, to be run by retiring Superior Court judge Kim Taylor.

She will handle personal injury cases. Taylor is an area native, and received her law degree from the University of North Carolina. She was a judge for over 20 years.

She was voted Judge of the Year by the Judicial Section of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys.

Lewis & Daggett is a law firm with offices in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, North Carolina.

Constangy, Brooks & Smith Expands into Boston

Erik Even — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:18:43 +0000

Atlanta’s Constangy, Brooks & Smith is expanding into Boston.

The employment law firm has hired Ellen Kearns, of counsel to the Boston office of Foley & Lardner, to run the new office. Three more attorneys will join her.

In the last 12 months, the 120-lawyer firm has opened new offices in Chicago; Milwaukee; Greenville, South Carolina; and Encino, California.

Founded in 1946, Constangy, Brooks & Smith now has 19 offices in the US.

Michelman & Robinson Expanding, Hiring

Erik Even — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:59:54 +0000

California’s Michelman & Robinson has opened an office in Manhattan, and plans to hire associates for its current offices.

Since 2004, the firm has doubled its attorney headcount to 60.

The New York office is opening with three partners who focus on corporate and securities work. The firm also plans to expand their San Francisco and Orange County offices to full-service, by bringing in new lawyers.

A number of partner candidates is being interviewed in Los Angeles, where the firm has more than 40 lawyers.

Michelman & Robinson has offices in Los Angeles, Santa Ana and San Francisco, California; and Manhattan.

Morris, Manning & Martin Expands into Beijing

Erik Even — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:37:14 +0000

Atlanta-based Morris, Manning & Martin, which last month fired incoming associates, is launching a new office in Beijing, China.

The firm just opened an office in Taiwan.

Morris’ Asian offices will deal with patent prosecution and potential litigation, as well as corporate and securities matters.

Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP, is 175-lawyer firm with offices in Atlanta, Alpharetta, Duluth and Savannah, Georgia; Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Washington DC; Beijing and Taipei.

Tipster: Staff Layoffs at Bracewell & Giuliani

Erik Even — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:18:00 +0000

Today we received a lengthy tip from a frustrated employee of Bracewell & Giuliani, reporting support staff layoffs at the firm’s Washington, DC office.

Here’s is what the tipster had to say, edited for length & clarity:

I work for the firm Bracewell & Giuliani, and would like to share the layoff process they conducted this past Monday, April 6, 2009.

Just a little over a month and a half ago, we were all told by the office administrator that B&G was one of the only firms in DC that was not going through any type of layoff. We were all assured that our jobs were secure and that if anything should arise we would be the first to know.

During this meeting we were also told about the expansion the firm was in the process of making. … They would be hiring more attorneys, associated and secretaries. We were told that the firm was growing and we were all lucky part of that team. They really pumped us [up], making us all feel extremely secure.

My suspicions [were] aroused when we were all told that they were replacing our Special Service team, with an different agency that was more affordable. Special Service folks were given the opportunity to interview with this particular agency, but if they agency did not hire them, they were out of a job.

These folks have been with B&G [as long as] 30 years.

On Monday… a secretary at our firm… was told that she was being “laid off” and needed to leave the building immediately. They called a cab and gave her a voucher. Shortly thereafter, they called another secretary and then another.

The following day the layoff rampage continued and they let IT folks go, and sent them out the door with out anytime to properly gather their items or tell people they had been working with for years good-bye.

The tipster takes issue with the way the layoffs are being handled.

The process almost seems rude, cruel and inhuman. It seemed to me that the HR bosses from Houston took great joy in walking around the hallways for the next few days, intimidating us. I also overheard a few people laughing and making jokes about the people that had been laid off.

At this point, no one cared about the stress they were causing us and how their nonchalant attitudes affected us. I felt terrible and continue to feel terrible for the people that were laid off, and feel so incredibly angry every time I see the Partners having their expensive catered lunches.

There were rumors of B&G layoffs in January.

Bracewell & Giuliani employs more than 400 lawyers at offices in Texas, New York, Washington DC, and Connecticut, as well as in Dubai, Kazakhstan, and London.

Littler Mendelson Opens Milwaukee Office

Erik Even — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:09:38 +0000

Littler Mendelson announced today the opening of an office, its 47th, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

New Milwaukee shareholder Jon Levine and his staff will represent clients in employment litigation in state and federal courts and before the National Labor Relations Board, as well as collective bargaining, labor arbitration and union avoidance.

Prior to joining Littler, Levine was a partner with Michael Best & Friedrich, where he practiced labor and employment law. He received his JD from Georgetown University.

With more than 750 attorneys and 46 offices, Littler Mendelson is the largest US law firm exclusively devoted to representing management in employment and labor law matters. Established in 1942, the firm has litigated, mediated and negotiated some of the most influential employment law cases and labor contracts on record.

Day Ketterer Expands into New Ohio Office

Erik Even — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:38:28 +0000

Ohio law firm Day Ketterer has added a Hudson office, its third in the state after Canton and Cleveland.

The 136-year-old firm has 34 attorneys and specializes in resolving litigation disputes.

Day Ketterer’s Hudson and Canton offices are linked by a technologically advanced intranet system. The office will be led by estate planning and business law attorney David G. Umbaugh.

Day Ketterer Ltd. has the distinction of being the oldest law firm in Stark County, Ohio and is one of its largest. The firm was founded in 1872 by William R. Day, personal legal adviser to President William McKinley.

SJ Berwin Expands into Asia

Erik Even — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:26:23 +0000

SJ Berwin is launching a new dedicated China and East Asia practice with an office in Hong Kong.

The firm’s first office beyond Europe will be founded by three partners and one consultant: Asia Managing Partner Daniel Liew, Peter Tse, Hans Thomas Kessler and Giovanna Kwong.

The team will focus on corporate & commercial work and dispute resolution, including private equity funds and buy-outs, M&As, projects and project finance with a focus on the infrastructure, energy, power, water, telecommunications, technology, life sciences, real estate, banking and finance, insurance, steel and natural resources sectors.

Founded in 1982, SJ Berwin is a pan-European firm with offices in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.

Bloomberg: China Law Offices Grow as US, UK Firms Shrink

Erik Even — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:28:41 +0000

Bloomberg reports that while law firms in the US and UK are shrinking, their offices in China expanding.

Twenty-eight foreign firms have opened offices in mainland China since September 2006, a 19% increase to 177 firms.

The continued expansion comes as some of the largest U.S. and U.K. law firms cut jobs at home because of the global financial crisis. While China isn’t immune — new share sales collapsed to $7.9 billion last year — lawyers said the country’s growing importance to clients makes it an essential location for global law firms, along with New York and London…

With the world’s largest foreign-currency reserves and third-largest economy “it’s now at the center of resolving global economic, financial and political crises,” [Christopher] Stephens, [Asia managing partner of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe] said. San-Francisco based Orrick cut 40 structured-finance, real estate and corporate lawyers worldwide in November.

Latham & Watkins LLP, based in Los Angeles, expanded its Hong Kong office this month into a local law practice with the addition of seven lawyers from Allen & Overy LLP, including the U.K. firm’s former Asia corporate chief, Michael Liu.

Via Bloomberg.

Adorno & Yoss Atlanta Hires 8 Partners, 5 Associates

Erik Even — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:38:02 +0000

Adorno & Yoss is expanding its Atlanta office at a time when many national firms are instituting hiring freezes or layoffs.

The firm has added 13 lawyers — eight partners and five associates — in the past three months, bringing the Atlanta head count to 45 attorneys.

Adorno & Yoss is an international law firm with over 300 professionals in 27 locations.

Reed Smith’s Revenue up 10% in 2008

Erik Even — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:44:28 +0000

Pittsburgh’s Reed Smith reports a 10% increase in gross revenue to $980 million in 2008, on the back of significant lateral expansion.

But profits per equity partner were down to $935,000, 6.5% below the $1 million milestone reached in 2007. Revenue per lawyer fell a comparatively modest 3.5 percent, to $660,000.

The presence of Reed Smith’s largest office in London, with roughly 350 lawyers, hurt revenues this year because of the weaker British pound. In the absence of currency fluctuations, the firm would have joined the “billion-dollar club.”

The surge in revenue reflects a number of noteworthy expansions. In January 2008, 110 Richards Butler lawyers in Hong Kong and Beijing joined Reed Smith, mainly in transactional specialties. That same month, 55 New York lawyers joined from Anderson Kill, predominantly in restructuring and insurance litigation. At year-end, Reed Smith also picked up a clutch of lawyers from the corpse of Thelen for its offices around the country, including its newly opened office in Silicon Valley.