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North Carolina firms to merge operations

Raleigh-based Maupin Taylor, a premier firm in North Carolina, is nurturing plans to merge with Richmond-based firm, Williams Mullen, Virginia's third-largest law firm. The combined firm, which hopes to close the deal in March, will have offices all over the country and abroad with a workforce of more than 1000 employees, of which 300 will be lawyers. Poised to become the largest in the Southeast, the combined firm will be named Williams Mullen and will have its headquarters in Richmond. For an intermediary period, the North Carolina offices will assume the name Williams Mullen Maupin Taylor. Though the financial aspects of the deal are still under wraps, chairman and CEO of Williams Mullen, Joey Smith is set to assume office as the chairman and CEO of the merged firm.

Raleigh lost its position to Richmond as the firm’s new headquarter. However, as per Keith Kapp, Maupin Taylor's managing partner, despite this the merger will be prove to be a boon to North Carolina owing to the broad array of practice the new firm will be able to offer its clients here. A win-win situation for both firms, Maupin Taylor will not suffer from any adverse side-effects like layoffs, closed offices, or cutbacks as a result of the merger, Kapp added.

Both the firms complement each other’s strengths in few practice areas. While Williams Mullen commands expertise in air quality, Maupin Taylor’s stronghold is in water quality issues in the environmental law practice area. While Maupin Taylor hopes to gain immensely from the Washington strategies group as a result of the alliance, Williams Mullen will benefit from its new expanded reach on the North Carolina client base. Maupin Taylor’s 130 employees and 30 partners focus on corporate law, litigation, and employment and labor law.

01-09-2007

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Hutchinson returns to Venable as partner

A former Republican’s dream run for the Arkansas’ governor’s position ends in his return to the old chair he once enjoyed at the Washington law firm, Venable LLP. Hutchinson rejoined Venable as a partner in the firm's litigation division. He will work on Venable's new Congressional Investigation Group advising clients on Congressional committees responsible for oversight and investigations.

Credited with the prosecution of the impeachment case against President Clinton, Hutchinson, who earlier served the firm as chairman of the firm's homeland security practice, will devote attention to both Washington and the Hutchinson Group, a Little Rock homeland security consulting company that he founded and heads in Arkansas.

A veteran lawyer with more than 100 jury trials to his credit, Hutchinson’s experience in Arkansas spans for more than two decades. He has also served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas for four years.

01-09-2007

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Another Dream Crashed

With Dewey Ballantine and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe calling off their engagement, the greatest fairytale merger crashed. Yet another merger was sacrificed when both firms were fine-tuning the details.

The courtship, which began with a bang at the end of October, last year, raised eyebrows in the legal arena when the pace of progress slackened considerably in mid-December. Though those at the helm of affairs in both the firms put up a brave face at that time, it couldn’t get past individual hitches which culminated in the announcement by the respective firms on Thursday, calling off the merger.

Earlier from choosing a name and allocation of new positions, to declaring its combined strength, both firms, Dewey and Orrick, were quite confident on becoming one of the nation’s largest legal advisers based in New York and San Francisco. However, the partners to be weren’t as upbeat and voting to this effect were being continuously pushed backwards.

The attrition of valuable partners from Dewey was one of the most significant starters in the initial hiccups. Since the merger talks began and till date, 10 partners have bowed out of the firm. The other intractable issues that may have added to the weight include loss of identity, un-demarcated authority, and unfunded pensions, where the old partners have to undergo foreseeable pay cuts to help their new colleagues retire happily. The attrition, opines pundits and observers, might have been a result of this hackneyed debate on pensions. Orrick had considerably greater advantage from the merger’s finer details than would have Dewey, they add.

For Orrick, this is nothing new, as the firm had developed many merger plans including Coudert Brothers in 2005 and Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine in the late nineties which never reached fruition. However, the firm chiefs are united in their stand to be separate. Ralph Baxter, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe’s captain stated that though mergers are advantageous for law firms’ growth, it needn’t be the only method to grow, an opinion shared by Morton A. Pierce, Chairman of Dewey, who added that to part ways was the best option for the firms and their individual interests.

Established in 1863, Orrick, one of San Francisco’s oldest law firms, has more than 950 lawyers could amass $666 million for the 2006 fiscal year, a sum drawn mostly from its debt financing and capital market transactions and restructurings practices. On its front, Dewey with its strength of 550 lawyers, specialized in M&As and accrued $408 million in gross revenue within the same time period.

01-08-2007

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Stone Pigman goes to Baton Rouge

New Orleans-based corporate law firm Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC has acquired six-and-a-half year-old young law firm McKay, Lutgring and Cochran in Baton Rouge.

The 52-attorney strong Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann, an eight decade old corporate litigator consolidated its Baton Rouge operations with the addition of the McKay Lutgring and Cochran. However the financial terms of the deal are awaited. Two of its employees based at the State National Life building moved to the same house with the new partners Michael McKay, Michael Lutgring and Douglas Cochran to continue practice along with six more people.

Stating that Baton Rouge’s evolving economy and the progress of general business in the entire region creates market for legal firms to grow in the area, Phil Wittmann, managing partner at Stone Pigman said that the firm is familiar with the market for more than 30 years through its acquisition, construction, and financing of the Mall of Louisiana and liaison with developer Bob Dean, All Star Automotive and Acadian Ambulance.

The firm which also serves as counsel to the Louisiana Public Service Commission on utility rate reviews and recovery matters will concentrate on corporate litigation and commercial law, including transactions, mergers and acquisitions in the new firm.

01-08-2007

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Morgan Lewis’ second office in Texas opens

International law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius opened its second office in Houston and added Brady Edwards and Sandra Thourot Krider from Edwards, Burns & Krider LLP, a litigation boutique, as partners to its new office. After the Dallas office, which was opened in 2004, the firm expanded to Houston. Morgan Lewis has more than 1,300 lawyers in 22 offices spread all over the globe.

Francis M. Milone, Morgan Lewis’ chairman, said that the Houston office will greatly benefit in litigation and other practice areas from the duo’s collective experiences and expertise. Morgan, Lewis also expanded its product liability practice with the addition of Steven Luxton in its Washington, D.C. office, who earlier practiced with Edwards, Burns & Krider. Edwards and Krider will be joined by three more lawyers from their earlier firm.

Edwards, whose practice covers both Texas and the rest of the country, concentrates on the full range of product liability and toxic tort matters. He specializes in the defense of serial mass tort litigation. He is one of the founding figures behind the firm Edwards, Burns & Krider, highly regarded for its legal expertise in product liability, toxic tort and commercial litigation in the Houston area. Krider, another name partner in the earlier firm, practices in commercial litigation, product liability, and insurance recovery, and specializes in complex briefing and appeals.

01-05-2007

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Day Pitney takes over reins

A new 400-attorney strong full-service law emerged from the merger agreement between Day, Berry & Howard LLP and Pitney Hardin LLP. The new firm with the moniker Day Pitney will set up shop all over the country, particularly in the Northeast. The newer firm’s wider reach will enable its lawyers to offer increased depth of experience to its clients.

Day Pitney will now offer its clients services in litigation and corporate law, government investigations, labor, employment, employee benefits, intellectual property, energy law, and individual client matters. Both the firms’ clients are happy with the merger and the firms too hope to service respective clients in vast practice areas with the help of their expanded capabilities, which had also been a long standing demand of the clientele.

The new firm will operate from nine locations under the guidance of Dennis LaFiura, Pitney Hardin’s former managing partner and Jim Sicilian, Day, Berry & Howard's executive committee chairman. Both will now co-chair the new firm’s executive committee, in addition to three members each from the two firms. Corporate law practice partner Ronald H. Janis, litigation partner Anthony J. Marchetta,; and Gregory C. Parliman, a partner in the firm's labor and employment practice will join LaFiura and Sicilian from Pitney Hardin. While from Day, Berry & Howard, Elizabeth C. Barton, environmental and land use law practice partner; Gerald Garfield, energy and utility law practice partner; and Stanley A. Twardy, Jr., white collar defense and internal investigations practice partner will join the group.

01-05-2007

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Steptoe & Johnson’s Chicago venture

Top litigation powerhouse Steptoe & Johnson entered the Chicago legal market with a bang. Announcing the opening of its new office in Chicago, the firm also listed the names of nine partners who will join the new office in various practice areas.

Steptoe raided rival firm Gardner Carton & Douglas’ Chicago office to add to nearly 20 personnel, both attorneys and staff. Steven Davidson and Paul Mickey, Steptoe partners in its DC-based office will synchronize the commencement of operations of the Chicago office. The nine partners whose practices will concentrate on commercial, insurance, and reinsurance litigation will enable the firm to better serve its clients conducting their business in Chicago and in the Mid-West. Christopher Barber and Stephen O’Donnell, two trial pundits in the financial services and insurance industries, will lead the Chicago group. The other seven partners are Richard Agin, Gary Garner, Nancy Hendrickson, Elissa Isaacs, Peter Meyer, Daryl Schumacher, and Jonathan Silverman.

Earlier the firm also strengthened its teams in the DC office as well as in Century City with more additions. Steptoe has designs to build up a national plan based on the new attorneys’ prowess in the commercial and insurance litigation practices. The new attorneys already command a huge presence in the practice area within the region and are looking for opportunities to widen their scope and range of operation.

The Chicago office is the eighth office for Steptoe and the second one to be opened during a span of seven months. Steptoe’s more than 450 attorneys counsel and represent clients on a wide variety of legal fields both nationally as well as globally.

01-04-2007

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