JD Journal » White & Case LLP

White & Case Expands White Collar and Litigation Practices

joshua — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:20:57 +0000

Global law firm White & Case LLP has added partner Kenneth Caruso in New York and a seven-lawyer team, including partners Michel Beaussier and Isabelle Fenayrou-Degas, from the French specialist white collar firm Beaussier & Associés in Paris. The move expands the firm’s cutting edge white collar and litigation capabilities.

According to the press release at the firm’s site, George Terwilliger, head of White & Case’s Global White Collar Practice and former Deputy Attorney General of the United States was quoted as saying: “We are delighted to welcome Ken, Michel and Isabelle, as well as the entire Beaussier & Associés team. These lawyers are a great addition for our clients who increasingly need the benefit of experienced judgment to address global investigations, enforcement actions and related civil claims.”

Caruso has over 30 years of private and public legal experience. He joins White & Case from Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, where he was a partner in the firm’s litigation and international business practice in New York. Caruso’s practice focuses on civil and criminal litigation and investigations involving international and transnational matters, primarily for financial institutions both in the United States and worldwide.

In Paris, partners Michel Beaussier and Isabelle Fenayrou-Degas join White & Case and bring with them five additional lawyers comprising the white collar and litigation boutique Beaussier & Associés. With their arrival, the Paris dispute resolution team now stands at 10 partners, six counsel and more than 30 associates.

“Michel and Isabelle and their team command a high reputation in the French legal market as leading practitioners in the white collar, criminal law and contentious regulatory fields, advising leading French and international banks,” said John Willems, head of White & Case’s Disputes Practice in Western Europe, Middle East and Africa. “We could see immediately the parallels between their business and our own: we share many of the same clients and their arrival brings specialist expertise in this increasingly important area for multinational businesses.”

Beaussier is a senior white collar lawyer, with more than 30 years of experience. He has a leading reputation in the French legal market for criminal and bank regulatory matters.

Fenayrou-Degas is a highly respected white collar lawyer who represents banks and corporations in criminal and regulatory proceedings.

White & Case LLP is a leading global law firm with lawyers in 36 offices in 25 countries. The firm provides counsel and representation in virtually every area of law that affects cross-border business.

Chadbourne & Parke Adds Veteran Capital Markets Attorney to Moscow Office

joshua — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:33:08 +0000

Chadbourne & Parke LLP announced today that veteran banking and finance attorney Simon H.P. Morgan has joined its Moscow office as partner. His addition will expand the firm’s capital markets practice in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe.

Most recently, Mr. Morgan was a partner with White & Case, where he served as head of the Central and Eastern European capital markets practice, head of the Moscow bank finance and capital markets groups and co-head of the Central and Eastern European banking and finance practice.

Mr. Morgan has nearly twenty years of experience counseling clients in the structured finance, securitization, restructuring and capital markets sectors. He has worked on some of the most innovative public securitizations by commercial bank originators in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Turkey.

According to today’s press release at the firm’s website, Chadbourne Managing Partner Charles K. O’Neill was quoted as saying: “With offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Kyiv and Almaty, we will take full advantage of Simon’s deep experience in capital markets throughout the region, as well as his enthusiasm for and dedication to client service. This hiring demonstrates Chadbourne’s ongoing commitment to the growth of this practice and continues our long tradition of providing clients in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe with top-notch transactional advice.”

Founded in 1902, Chadbourne & Parke LLP, is an international law firm headquartered in New York City with 425 attorneys worldwide, providing a full range of legal services, including mergers and acquisitions, securities, project finance, private funds, corporate finance, venture capital and emerging companies, trusts and estates and government contract matters.

White & Case Nabs Two From Alston & Bird

joshua — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:53:30 +0000

A pair of former partners at Alston & Bird has left the firm to join the intellectual property practice of White & Case in Washington.

The Blog of the Legal Times reports Trevor Nagel, who was chairman of Alston & Bird’s global sourcing practice, and Lee Van Blerkom joined White & Case on Tuesday. They will serve the firm’s global sourcing and technology transactions group.

In explaining the move, Nagel told BLT the pair do a lot of work in the Asia-Pacific region and White & Case’s global presence provided a better opportunity. Among the clients they’ll be bringing to White & Case are Coca-Cola Enterprises and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The BLT also reported two IP counsels have joined White & Case from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr’s New York office. They are Dyan Finguerra-DuCharme and Claudia Smith.

White & Case is a global law firm with lawyers in 36 offices in 25 countries.

Latham & Watkins Makes Move Into Saudi Arabia

joshua — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:52:36 +0000

Latham & Watkins has established a presence in Saudi Arabia through an association with the Law Office of Mohammed Al-Sheikh, a former affiliate of White & Case.

Al-Sheikh’s relationship with White & Case ended when he was among a group of partners to leave White & Case for Latham & Watkins in a series of moves earlier this year. According to LegalWeek, Latham now has around 50 lawyers at its four offices in the Middle East. The firm entered the region in January 2008 with new offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.

Latham chairman Robert Dell commented on the move.

“The Middle East is one of the most dynamic regions in the world economy and we remain committed to developing our presence in the region as a key focus of our global growth strategy,” Dell told LegalWeek. “We expect to see continued inbound and outbound activity that demands sophisticated legal counsel and our presence in Riyadh will significantly bolster our regional capability.”

According to LegalWeek, Latham & Watkins joins Lovells and Eversheds as firms that have entered Saudi Arabia in the last year.

Latham & Watkins is based in Los Angeles, Calif. and has 2,100 attorneys in offices throughout the world.

White & Case Promotes Five to Partner

joshua — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:14:45 +0000

White & Case, which has been tagged with numerous departures during the past few months, announced it has added five new partners this week.

Promoted to partner in the firm’s global banking practice were Jeremy Duffy in London; Moscow-based Irina Nesvetova; and Jonathan Weinberg in Prague.

The firm has also bolstered its global mergers and acquisitions practice in Abu Dhabi with the additions of Zeeshan Ahmedani and Philip J. Power.

“These new partners are among the emerging generation of leaders cultivated within White & Case, reflecting our future as a truly global law firm,” Chairman Hugh Verrier said in a press release. “Their election to partner underscores our commitment to serving our clients and further strengthening our global banking and Middle East practices.”

White & Case is looking to rebound after a tough first 2 1/2 months of 2010 that has seen more than 20 partners leave the firm. It has been especially hard hit by rival Latham & Watkins, which got the ball rolling on the White & Case raid earlier this year with the addition of 13 partners from the firm.

White & Case is a global law firm with lawyers in 36 offices in 25 countries.

Kaye Scholer Opens in Silicon Valley

joshua — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:35:17 +0000

Kaye Scholer is opening a new office in Silicon Valley, with the help of a veteran patent litigator from White & Case. William Coats was the manager of White & Case’s Palo Alto office prior to last year and brings some heavy clients with him to Kaye Scholer. Among his book of business, estimated at being worth between $4 million and $5 million, are LucasFilm and Pioneer Electronics.

The firm has not yet found a location for the new office, its second in California.

Founded in 1917 in New York City, Kaye Scholer is a global law firm with 450 attorneys in offices in Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Washington, D.C., West Palm Beach and now Silicon Valley.

White & Case Suffers Yet Another Departure

joshua — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:49:02 +0000

Multiple reports indicate White & Case has been tagged with yet another defection, as Steve Betensky has apparently resigned as chair of the firm’s global information technology practice. The move follows news last week that Elaine Johnston left White & Case to join Allen & Overy’s antitrust practice; and earlier this week, Tanneke Heersche left the firm’s mining and metals practice in Johannesburg to join Canadian-based Fasken Martineau’s Johannesburg office.

Betensky worked in White & Case’s offices in Palo Alto and Prague.

Earlier this year White & Case had 13 partners leave for Latham & Watkins’s London office. In all, White & Case has had 23 partners leave since October.

White & Case is an international law firm founded in 1901 with a presence in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Allen & Overy Adds Partner from White & Case

joshua — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:11:23 +0000

White & Case, which has already had 13 partners depart for Latham & Watkins this year, has lost an additional partner in its New York office, this time to Allen & Overy. According to a statement from the firm, Elaine Johnston has left for A&O after 16 years at the firm.

Johnston will lead A&O’s antitrust practice. Allen & Overy is based in London and has over 2,000 attorneys with 450 partners. It has offices in 33 locations around the world.

More Debate Over NALP Recruitment Plan

joshua — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:53:23 +0000

Jones Day has been the most vociferous opponent of the NALP recruitment plan, as we originally reported here, but several other firms have come out against it.

Weil Gotshal and Lowenstein Sandler have spoken out against it, saying that it would create a five month gap between on campus interviews and the extension of offers – a gap that would be expensive for firms that feel compelled to spend larger amounts of money wining and dining top recruits.

Jones Day has asserted that a predetermined “offer day” raises anti-trust issues and benefits weaker firms that are less able to predict their own internal needs to the detriment of better run firms.

Cleary Gottlieb is also opposed to the plan.

Taking NALP’s corner are firms like White & Case and Wilkie Farr.

This raises some interesting questions about law firm recruitment and the NALP plan. There are three constituent groups affected by the plan: Law firms, students, and law schools. Which group, if any, should the NALP plan seek to benefit and which group benefits from the current plan?

Certainly a longer recruitment period benefits law students, who will have more time to meet with and learn about the various firms while also receiving increased perks. Some firms may benefit as well by having more information about their own internal numbers before issuing final offers, and Jones Day’s objection not withstanding even the best run firms will be able to capitalize on this information. The longer recruitment period will, however, cut down on the advantage enjoyed by some firms. But what about the schools themselves, who certainly have a vested interest in seeing their students receive offers from top ranked firms? Will the NALP plan benefit them all equally or will some schools fare better than others as a result of the plan, and should that factor into the decision?

The discussions thus far have focused almost entirely on the firms and the students. I’m eager to hear your comments on the impact to the schools.

13th Partner Quits White & Case for Latham

sara — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:34:54 +0000

White & Case lost its 13th partner to Latham & Watkins with M&A specialist Andrew Macklin becoming the latest to make the switch. Macklin made partner at White & Case in January 2009. He joined the firm in 2005 and relocated last year to the firm’s new Doha, Qatar office. Macklin’s departure leaves White & Case’s Doha office with only one associate. Macklin’s hiring will further boost Latham’s Middle East practice after the additions of corporate partner Villiers Terblanche, energy and infrastructure partner Nick Collins, project partner Christopher Langdon and project partner Mohammed Al-Sheikh.

Latham & Watkins LLP is an international law firm based in Los Angeles, California. The firm has 2,100 attorneys in offices around the world including Abu Dhabi, London, Hong Kong, Brussels, Moscow, Milan, Newark, New York City, Paris and San Francisco.

Eight More Partners Quit White & Case for Latham

joshua — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:52:55 +0000

An additional eight partners have left White & Case to join Latham & Watkins. The moves come just three days after the bulk of White & Case’s London banking practice left for Latham & Watkins.

Craig Nethercott and Glen Ireland will join Latham’s London office, where they will be reunited with Chris Kandel, Sam Hamilton, Brian Conway and Javanthi Sadanandan; Villiers Terblanche and Nick Collins will join Latham’s Abu Dhabi office; Christopher Langdon and Mohammed Al-Sheikh will boost Latham’s Middle East presence in Riyahdl; and Christopher Cross and Clement Fondufe will be based out of the New York office, according to Legal Week.

The additions are expected to significantly boost Latham’s presence in the bank finance sector in London and the Middle East.

Latham and Watkins LLP is one of the largest law firms in the world, with a staff of around 2,000 attorneys. It has offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. While they were founded in Los Angeles in 1934, their largest office is currently located in New York City.

Latham Picks up 4 from White & Case

joshua — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:46:36 +0000

There’s been a major move in London as the bulk of White & Case’s banking practice has jumped to Latham & Watkins. Christopher Kandel, co-head of White & Case’s London banking practice, along with Sam Hamilton have already moved, while Brian Conway and Jayanthi Sadanandan are expected to join Latham in the coming weeks.

Latham and Watkins LLP is one of the largest law firms in the world, with a staff of around 2,000 attorneys, it has offices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. While they were founded in Los Angeles in 1934, their largest office is currently located in New York City.

Reed Smith Adds Two

joshua — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:22:37 +0000

Reed Smith has added two partners to its corporate and securities group in New York. Michael Smith, whose practice focuses on corporate and securities law with regards to international financing moved from Patton Boggs. Kenneth Regensburg, who moved from White & Case, has a practice focused on M&A, public capital markets, private equity, and venture capital.

Founded in 1877, Reed Smith LLP employs 1500 attorneys in 23 cities worldwide. The firm counsels 28 of the top 30 US banks, and 10 of the world’s 12 largest pharmaceutical companies. In addition to the United States, Reed Smith has offices in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Ropes & Gray Opening London Office

joshua — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:15:34 +0000

Ropes & Gray is launching a new office in London, slated to open in January of next year. The office will be led by Maurice Allen and Michael Goetz who are moving over from White & Case. Two senior partners from the US, Newcomb Stillwell and David Chapin, will also join the London office.

Ropes & Gray LLP is an international law firm with offices located in Boston, New York City, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, Hong Kong,Tokyo and soon in London. The firm has over 1,000 lawyers worldwide.

AmLaw: Cadwalader Still #1 for Layoffs

Erik Even — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:20:22 +0000

The American Lawyer has updated its list of AmLaw 200 law firms by percentage layoffs since January, 2008. More than 3,067 attorney jobs have been cut, or 2.75%.

Here are the top five, as of today:

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft: 36.3%
Dechert LLP: 14.6%
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe: 14.3%
McKee Nelson: 13.3%
White & Case: 13.0%

Freshfields Loses Top Partners

Erik Even — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:41:47 +0000

Freshfields has lost two top partners, both of whom joined the firm from White & Case less than two years ago.

Maurice Allen is one of the UK’s top banking lawyers, having worked at Clifford Chance and Weil Gotshal. He and Mike Goetz joined Freshfields in March 2008.

The firm describes the split as amicable — but Allen has a reputation for problems with management, including publicized friction at White & Case.

London’s Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP is an international law firm with offices in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the US. In 2006 it was the world’s fourth largest law firm by revenues.

White & Case Lays Off 400

Erik Even — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:27:39 +0000

White & Case announced today it will lay off 200 associates and 200 staffers.

From the official announcement:

Following a thorough, strategic review of its business, White & Case LLP announced today a number of measures that will allow the Firm to respond to changing demand in the market for legal services.

These actions include an evaluation of its partnership, which will result in a reduction in the number of partners, commensurate with current and anticipated business needs.

The Firm is also implementing a global workforce reduction of about 200 associates and 200 administrative and business support staff. These reductions will vary by region and practice, based upon the needs of the business. In accordance with local labor laws, the Firm will follow a consultative process in some offices. Those affected will be offered a competitive severance package, as well as other support services to assist them through this transition.

In addition, the Firm is deferring the start date of approximately 60% of this year’s incoming associate class in the US until 2010. Incoming associates who are not deferred will join the Firm on November 2, 2009.

White & Case LLP is a leading global law firm with 2,300 lawyers in 38 offices in 25 countries, and a total staff of more than 4,800. It was founded in New York in 1901.

The American Lawyer ranked the firm sixth by revenue in the US in its annual Am Law 100 financial survey for 2007.

White & Case Will Not Merge With Singapore Firm

Erik Even — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:03:22 +0000

White & Case, one of six international firms granted a license to practice Singapore law, has canceled plans to merge with local alliance partner Venture Law.

The firm declined to comment further, though a source briefed on the matter confirmed that White & Case’s plans no longer included a merger with the 10-lawyer Venture Law.

The two firms had been in a formal alliance since 2003. Until December, such alliances and joint ventures were the only means through which international firms could practice Singapore law. Prior to its arrangement with 10-lawyer Venture Law, White & Case had participated in a short-lived joint venture with another local firm, Colin Ng & Partners.

Other foreign firms, including Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Shearman & Sterling and Freshfields, also pulled out of Singapore joint ventures, and the Singapore government last year introduced its liberalized Qualified Foreign Law Practice regime partly in response to their complaints.

Along with White & Case, the other foreign firms who received QFLP licenses were Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy, Herbert Smith, Latham & Watkins and Norton Rose.