Sidley Austin LLP Welcomes Exodus of Weil Gotshall Lawyers

Sidley Austin LLP is orchestrating an exodus of eight lawyers from Weil, Gotshal & Manges into their own Dallas office, later this month, that will grab such hot ticket lawyers as Yvette Ostolaza and Angela Fontana, both co-chairs of the national practice groups at Weil, and also, incidentally, both among the “20 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Texas,” according to the Texas Diversity Counsel. The firm is also bringing on Penny Reid, Vance Beagles, Angela Zambrano, Kelly Dybala, Yolanda Cornejo Garcia and Michelle Hartmann.

“This highly talented group provides an exciting opportunity to expand our litigation, finance and private equity capabilities nationally,” said Larry Barden, vice-chair of Sidley’s Management Committee. “This group has a long track record of achieving outstanding results on behalf of their clients and we look forward to having them as part of the Sidley team. Given that Yvette held a senior leadership role at her prior firm, she is a natural fit to succeed Jim in leading the Dallas office and to assume a leadership role in our national complex commercial litigation practice. We thank Jim for his service and welcome this top-notch group of lawyers to Sidley.”

Yvette Ostolaza, after 21 years of practice, with cases ranging from federal to state, seems a good choice for the succession of James Bradley, who will become Senior Counsel in January 2014.

“I am delighted to be joining Sidley, and to take on leadership roles within the litigation practice and the Dallas office,” said Ms. Ostolaza. “The move to Sidley presents an excellent opportunity to expand my practice, and I am excited to collaborate with my new colleagues to provide the best possible service to our clients. In the role of office managing partner, I look forward to building on the solid foundation that Jim and the team of Sidley lawyers in Dallas have established.”

Ms. Fontana likewise brings a wealth of experience, as co-head of Weil’s U.S. Banking and Finance practice, with a focus on financing transactions and debt restructuring; and like Yvette, she has won awards, including making it as a finalist for Chambers USA “Women in Law” Awards for 2013 and 2012.

Regarding Ostolaza and Fontana and the rest of the lawyers, Carter Phillips, chair of Sidley’s Executive Committee, said “Lawyers in this group have built highly ranked practices in complex litigation, arbitrations, internal investigations and private equity finance, and will add considerable strength to our litigation experience and expertise and to our existing ability to advise clients on acquisition-related financings and debt restructurings. This expansion is a continuation of our growth strategy and follows our recent acquisition of an SEC enforcement and regulatory group, a team of international arbitration lawyers, and the addition of several other high-profile partners across our global platform, particularly in Europe and Asia. We are delighted to add these accomplished lawyers to Sidley and look forward to their many contributions.”