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Fisher & Phillips goes to Philadelphia with six new recruits

National law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP spread its reach to Philadelphia with the induction of six new attorneys. They comprise three new partners, two of counsels, and one associate.

The three partners from Saul Ewing are Christopher P. Stief, David W. Erb, and Michael R. Greco. The trio's practice spans across 50 states in the U.S. including Washington, DC. Their practice also spreads to Puerto Rico, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. They have helped more than 800 employees in litigation of defection and recruitment issues. Besides them, the two of counsels and an associate are Susan M. Guerette, Risa B. Boerner, and Heather Zalar Steele, respectively.

Stief will serve the firm's Philadelphia office as the Regional Managing Partner. Fisher & Phillips Chairman Roger Quillen said that the firm hopes to tap the expanding areas of non-competition and protection of trade secrets with the help of the new hiring. The move is also a part of the firm's strategies to help clients protect their companies' intellectual assets. It will also help the firm consolidate its presence in the Northeast. One of the nation's largest labor and employment law firms, Fisher & Phillips has 190 lawyers in 18 cities across the country.

03-28-2007

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Oyer takes reins at Wolf Greenfield

Well-known lawyer and scientist Timothy J. Oyer Wolf has taken over as President and Managing Partner of Greenfield & Sacks, P.C. Oyer Wolf succeeds Jason Honeyman to the top post in the prominent Boston intellectual property law firm. Oyer Wolf was named one among "Super Lawyers" in IP by Boston Magazine. In his new capacity too, Oyer Wolf will continue to chair the firm's chemical and nanotechnology practice groups. He is also a member of the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and IP transactions groups.

Oyer Wolf's practice involves global counseling in vast intellectual property issues ranging from patent prosecution to IP due diligence and related transactions. A Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Oyer Wolf is an expert in organic and polymer chemistry, nanotechnology, among others. A large law firm in New England, Wolf Greenfield concentrates firmly on intellectual property law.

03-28-2007

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Nixon Peabody's IP team opens shop in Chicago

National law firm Nixon Peabody raided Jenkens & Gilchrist to add 17 attorneys to its Intellectual Property practice group and open an office in Chicago. Of these, 16 attorneys will reside in the firm's Chicago office and one in the Los Angeles office. The group will particularly enhance the firm's national patent litigation team. The new group of attorneys brings their outstanding track record in patent litigation and trademark practice to the firm. They also have expertise in electrical, mechanical, and chemical technologies.

With 16 attorneys in Chicago, the firm will now have 90 attorneys in its technology and intellectual property practice across the country. The team includes more than 50 registered patent attorneys. With this lateral hiring, Nixon Peabody Chairman Harry P. Trueheart expects the firm to be placed in the top nationally ranked TIP legal practices in the country. The expansion into Chicago signifies the firm's strategic plans to "offer full-service, national capabilities in technology and intellectual property law, especially in key markets," says Richard D. Rochford, partner and leader of the Technology and Intellectual Property practice.

The group will have eight partners - Daniel Burnham, Janet Garetto, John Gatz, Russell Genet, Paul Kitch, Edward McCormack, Justin Swindells, and Jodi Rosen Wine; apart from one senior counsel Stephen Rudisill and one counsel Wayne Tang. The group will have six associates, including Elizabeth Baio, Mark Anderson, Sorinel Cimpoes, William Pegg, Peter Prommer, Josh Reed, and also Amy Sierocki who joins Peabody's Los Angeles office. Nixon Peabody's patent, trademark, and intellectual property litigation practice is counted among top-tier practices in the country.

03-27-2007

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New associates at corporate law firms reap rich

Plump pay checks for new lawyers at large corporate law firms have made the legal profession very attractive of late. It all began in New York, followed by other larger cities like California, Miami, Chicago, Houston, and Atlanta. Troutman & Sanders started a virtual blitzkrieg in January in Atlanta by bumping first-year attorney salaries to $130,000 and since there has been no end to the war with new heavyweight firms joining the brigade here.

In Atlanta, as elsewhere in the country, the hiring scenario in the legal arena slackened pace during 2002 to 2004. Law firms too did not pump up their pay scales, then. They remained fairly sluggish till the end of 2005. However, there was a storm in the pay-packets this year and nearly all of them got filled up by $15,000. The total stands at around $130,000 now. But, Hunton & Williams stirred the troubled waters muddier when it declared $145,000 for the new recruits.

Elsewhere, some of the top-notch corporate law firms are also awarding $200,000 as signing bonuses for those who have clerked for the U.S. Supreme Court. This will be even more for those who have experience as practicing lawyers. That is in addition to starting salaries of $145,000 to $160,000. Thus clerkship bonuses have seen a whopping increase by 3,000 percent in the past two decades.

For lawyers like John Plauche, a fourth-year associate at a top New York City law firm, who got a $20,000 raise last year, received another $20,000 when the firm announced salary hikes across the board in January. He draws $210,000 a year now. He owes it all to the "Wall Street and Wall Street bonuses." Most big law firms' attorneys work for investment banks and hedge funds, he said. Sometimes, as a result of this, the firms fall prey to defection by lawyers to work for the more lucrative in-house counsel at those companies. This pressurizes the firms to raise ceiling. This also has a "knock-on effect at elite firms across the country," he confided, on marketplace.publicradio.org.

Like him, other corporate law firms too acknowledge the soaring attrition rates. According to the most recent NALP figures, while 37 percent of associates leave large firms within the first three years, 77 percent do so within five years. New lawyers are more demanding - less billable hours, more freedom, less time period to partnership levels. The ratio between demand of lawyers and supply from top law schools have widened gap. Therefore, to avert all of this, law firms find money to be the best bait.

Attorneys too put in more gross hours now, which make up their increased productivity. John Plauche, agreeing to it, says that the demands of office can be overpowering. However, he added a huge salary legitimates access to personal time, "because that's what they pay for."

Bill Urquhart a senior partner at Los Angeles-based Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver and Hedges law firm said that law firms "don't have a choice but to pay what the market is demanding." Attrition, he opined is not a big problem if only the road to partner is short.

03-27-2007

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Crowell & Moring expands arbitration practice, IP group gets ranked

Crowell & Moring hired Arif Hyder Ali as partner to the firm's International Arbitration Practice. Ali will co-chair the group with partner Stuart H. Newberger. Ali has nearly two decades of experience in international dispute resolution and investment risk management counseling. His network spreads around more than 30 countries and five continents. Apart from Ali, Baiju Simal Vasani joins the firm as associate. They will be based in Crowell & Moring's Washington, DC, office.

Welcoming the duo, Crowell & Moring chairman Kent A. Gardiner said that their joining the firm enhances the firm's established credentials as a leader in resolving global complex international disputes. The duo earlier served Fulbright & Jaworski LLP. The firm aims to leverage the expertise of these two world class practitioners. This, the firm hopes, will help its team to serve global corporations and government clients in some of their most complex disputes.

Meanwhile, the firm's Intellectual Property Group has been ranked by The Legal 500 U.S.-Volume II (Intellectual Property, Media, Technology, and Telecoms). The group bagged the ranks in the following IP categories: non-contentious/transactional - Patent Re-examination and IP; non-contentious/transactional - Patent Prosecution: International Clients. The firm's two outstanding IP lawyers Jeffrey D. Sanok and Kimberley Chen Nobles were recognized by the Legal 500 U.S. for their outstanding practices. Earlier, the firm's Corporate Group, too, was ranked for its mergers and acquisitions work in the 2007 Legal 500 U.S.-Volume I (Corporate and Finance) book.

The Legal 500 has been providing independent commentary on law firms for more than two decades in more than 90 different countries/jurisdictions. The Legal 500 U.S. Intellectual Property, Media, Technology, and Telecoms book is the second of four guides covering the U.S. legal market.

The firm's IP group has considerably grown over the last few years. It includes Janet M. MacLeod, Bruce D. DeRenzi, Dickerson M. Downing, Andrew M. Riddles, and Kathryn L. Clune among others. In addition to that, the firm has 56 lawyers in Washington, DC, California, New York, and Brussels offices.

03-26-2007

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Steed, new corporate counsel in Kilpatrick Stockton

Tom Steed joined Kilpatrick Stockton's corporate department as Counsel in the Raleigh office. Steed has vast knowledge in the Investment, Securities, and Securities Exchange Act of 1934. He has also assisted in the establishment of a number of registered mutual funds and non-registered hedge funds. The firm hopes to build up its Investment Company/Investment Manager practice with the help of Steed's experience and his knowledge of mutual and hedge fund administration, public and private offerings, and compliance matters. A full-service international law firm, Kilpatrick has more than 500 attorneys in its nine offices spread across the globe.

03-26-2007

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Law Firm Gardere Names Nine New Partners

Gardere Wynne Sewell lawyers have of late become newsmakers. Nine climbed the ranks to partner-level, while 11 could make it to the 2007 listing of Texas Rising Stars.

The firm promoted nine new partners in the firm's Dallas and Houston offices. They include R. Craig Baker, Steven S. Camp, Michael P. Cooley, John A. Eliason, Brett D. Lamb, Colin Martin, Robert T. Slovak, Jeannette Vloitos, and John T. Woodruff.

Baker joins the firm's Real Estate Group; Camp - Banking Group; Cooley - Bankruptcy Group; Martin, Slovak, Vloitos, and Lamb - Litigation Group. Eliason will partner the firm's Tax Group in Dallas and Woodruff will partner the Houston Group.

Established in 1909 and one of Southwest's largest full-service law firm, Gardere Wynne provides business and litigation services to private, individual, and public companies.

Meanwhile, 11 of the firm's attorneys made it to the ranks of the 2007 listing of Texas Rising Stars. They are partners Alan Buckner of Houston; Barry Golden, Matthew Schroeder, John Slates, and Celeste Winford of Dallas; and associates Peter Scaff of Houston and Christopher Converse, Michael Cooley, Marcus Helt, Michele Spillman, and Paula Tucker of Dallas.

The firm's Managing Partner Steve Good states that the firm is proud to host such talented upcoming lawyers who could find a place among the 2.5% of Texas attorneys chosen for the honor. The Rising Stars list, brought out by Law & Politics Media Inc., appears in both the April 2007 issue of Texas Monthly and in Texas Rising Stars 2007.

03-23-2007

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