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Reed Smith and Richards Butler combine operations

Reed Smith and Richards Butler tied the knot on New Year, a union that catapults the two firms to become the 15th largest U.S. law firm globally and one that would command a workforce of more than 1,300 lawyers, spanning three continents.

The merger process was as seamless as had been envisaged by both the firm’s managements. Now both firms concentrating on the post-pact impact on individual business where both the firms will take advantage of a wider reach and broadened client base to expand their business. Also adding to the mirth of the celebration is the announcement by Richard Butler upgrading its personnel to various significant positions in the combined entity.

Roger Parker, former managing partner of Richards Butler and one of the two architects behind the merger, will join the new firm’s senior management team and serve as managing partner for Europe and the Middle East. Michael Pollack, Reed Smith’s Director of Strategic Planning and a member of the senior management team was the other architect behind the smooth transition and amalgamation of the firms’ diverse practice areas and he has also relocated to London. Richards Butler’s Paul F. Johnston and Richard Swinburn will join Reed Smith’s Ian B. Fagelson on the firm’s Executive Committee for the European offices. The new firm’s deputy department head’s for Business & Regulatory Department and litigation department will be Scott Pearman and Charles Hewetson, respectively.

The individual firm’s are drawing up plans to strengthen relations between among their London offices, which will operate in two different places in London under the common moniker Reed Smith Richards Butler.

Founded in 1877, Reed Smith more than 1,300 lawyers in 20 offices across continents represent leading international businesses from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises in legal areas including financial services, life sciences, healthcare, advertising and media, shipping, international trade and commodities, real estate, and education.

01-04-2007

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Michael Gay replaces Baxa as F&L managing partner

A trial lawyer of acclaim, Michael Gay will fill Ed Baxa’s shoes to serve as the new Managing Partner of Foley & Lardner’s Orlando office. Baxa will hand over the reins to Gay on March 1, after which he will move on to head the firm's National Pro Bono Legal Services Committee. Gay plans to strengthen the firm’s client base in Orlando, and also expand its reach towards Miami.

Gay, though confident, was apprehensive of the massive responsibility handed over to him. Gay confided to the Orlando Business Journal that he intends to live up to Baxa’s ideals and build on the impetus that he created within the firm. Baxa was the main architect behind Foley & Lardner’s successful team of lawyers in its Orlando office. He is credited with having inculcated an abiding sense of commitment for service to the community through pro bono services into his team of lawyers, an accomplishment that fetched them numerous recognitions.

An electrical engineer armed with a degree in Law from Duke University, Gay joined Foley & Lardner's Orlando office in 1995. Expressing his confidence in Gay’s capabilities, Baxa said that Gay embodies the firm’s core values and ethics and has deep-rooted ties within the community.

01-03-2007

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Buckingham Doolittle swallows Kaufmann & Kaufmann

In a move to add muscle to its Trusts & Estates practice, Akron law firm Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs LLP has announced its merger with the small local firm of Kaufmann & Kaufmann by inducting its three attorneys to its Akron office. Philip S. Kaufmann, Loma L. Swett, and Steven P. Mutersbaugh, who specialize in disabled and elder law, will join Buckingham Doolittle's Trusts & Estates Practice Group.

Philip S. Kaufmann, former managing partner of the erstwhile firm, joins Buckingham as a shareholder and will specialize in estate planning, probate, guardianship, Medicaid planning, corporate law and disability trusts. Loma L. Swett joined Buckingham as a partner and will focus her practice on estate planning and trusts, estate administration, guardianships, estate planning for the disabled, and elder law. Steven P. Mutersbaugh, joining Buckingham as an associate, will practice on estate planning, probate, estate planning for the disabled, elder law, and corporate law. Joining Buckingham, renowned trusts and estates firm in the state of Ohio, the three new attorneys are happy that their practice will now reach new clients. They hope to collaborate with the firm’s other attorneys in building up the firm’s authority in the practice area.

In addition, two paralegals, a law clerk, and an administrative assistant also join the firm. Established in 1913, Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs has 167 attorneys who provide the firm’s clients full range of legal services from its offices in Akron, Cleveland, Canton, Columbus, Boca Raton, and West Palm Beach.

01-03-2007

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Dwyer & Collora gets a new managing partner

Jody Newman, a top litigator has joined Boston-based law firm Dwyer & Collora, LLP as Managing Partner. Newman heads the employment law practice group in the firm, in addition to handling a multifaceted civil litigation practice. Apart from her superior trial and appellate skills, she is renowned for her collaborative law practice, a client-centered, solution-oriented process for resolving business, and other disputes without going to court.

Newman’s experience at the firm spans more than two decades and her commitment to the firm’s core values, ideals, and work environment catapulted her to the position when she could be entrusted with the task of looking after the firm’s future growth as a managing partner. Assuming her new role, Newman’s main duties will be to the assist in the firm’s development as well as to enunciate leadership initiatives in the direction of diversity and general work atmosphere.

Dwyer & Collora represents individual and corporate clients in business disputes, white collar criminal cases, employment law, and health care matters.

In another move, the firm hired Michael B. Galvin as a partner of the firm.  Galvin will continue to represent individual and corporate clients in complex civil and criminal litigation matters, including white-collar criminal defense investigations and trials, securities matters, state criminal matters, and business disputes.

01-02-2007

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Philadelphia heavyweights locked in merger talks

Two Philadelphia heavyweights are contemplating merging their respective practices to form a formidable entity. The firms, 500-lawyer Cozen O'Connor and 300-lawyer Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen, are locked in heavy talks which centers on creating one of the biggest law firms in the area. Both firms are on the lookout for partners in a bid to expand geographically as well as in their practice areas. While Cozen’s firm is more a personal venture, Wolf Block is a standard partnership.

Though the talks are on, it is too premature for finalization, stated Stephen Cozen founder and Chairman of Cozen O'Connor and Mark Alderman, chairman of Wolf Block. The duo also said that neither partnership vote, nor any merger agreement pact, has been drawn up yet.

Wolf Block’s attorneys in its nine offices command a major presence in commercial litigation, real estate and trusts and estates and Cozen O'Connor’s attorneys in 23 offices specialize in insurance litigation practice, intellectual property, and bankruptcy. The common strengths shared by the firms are in commercial litigation and health care.

After the 2000 merger of 250-lawyer Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis with 45-lawyer Mesirov Gelman Jaffe Cramer & Jamieson, this mega merger between Cozen O'Connor and Wolf Block will result in having roughly 390 lawyers in Philadelphia and about 40 more each in Montgomery County, Pa., and Cherry Hill, N.J. The firms’ combined gross revenue will be around $365 million.

01-02-2007

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Michael Best & Friedrich entrusts networking responsibility to AT&T

Leading Midwest Law Firm Michael Best & Friedrich LLP signed a one-year networking contract with AT&T, leading worldwide providers of IP-based communications services. Though the full terms of the contract were not immediately revealed, it has been revealed that AT&T will integrate six Michael Best & Friedrich locations in Milwaukee, Madison, Waukesha, and Manitowoc, WI; Chicago, IL; and Lehigh Valley, PA through AT&T Business Network (ABN). ABN is an integrated offer that unifies multiple communications needs into a single contract with a single bill at a discounted rate.

Founded in 1848, Milwaukee-based Michael Best & Friedrich, one of the Midwest's oldest and largest full-service law firms, has had a long-standing relationship with AT&T. The firm’s more than 250 attorneys handle business and legal matters for a broad array of diverse clients. The firm's main areas of practice are intellectual property and intellectual property litigation; corporate, healthcare, labor and employment, land and resources (environmental and real estate), litigation, tax, and wealth planning.

The firm, which handles sensitive data for thousands of clients all around world, will take advantage of the ABN facilities through its eServicing capabilities to provide better service. With the help of the AT&T BusinessDirect(R) customer portal, the firm’s attorneys can increase its internal business efficiencies by using the secure online portal to manage and monitor its network, create and track trouble tickets, manage account structures, pay their bills, and implement network service orders.

12-29-2006

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Law firms begin to appreciate the HR guys

Most law firms in the U.S. have recently started paying more attention to the human resources section within the firm. Today HR managers can hope to share space at the management table with others and also actually hope to be heard. The phenomenon is new, though is fast catching up. Their importance now spans to management tables, than lurking in administrative corridors.

With the aim to fortify the firm’s human resources, law firms have also started hiring people of eminence and experience from other sectors than the legal arena to build up their own otherwise commonplace back office team. The move emerges from the firms increasing in size, both geographically as well as in practice areas. To keep parity with increased demands of the profession, as well as lawyers’ individualized needs while soliciting business, the firms are increasingly relying on the HR personnel’s expertise. The numbers in the HR team are also increasing.

The law firms’ story is often the same everywhere. Complaining new recruits, inconsiderate partners, and long working hours add up to become a formidable challenge to the HR personnel. Their challenge includes recruitment to retention, in a stage when disgruntlement leads to rapid attrition. Even partners today are no longer steadfast in their commitments towards the firm.

With the increased pace of mergers and big businesses taking place, HR people find their hands full with work that is diverse in nature and ranges from billing systems to practices and individual needs. Retention and diversity issues also prove to be major hindrances. However, people like Gary Beu, Kirkland & Ellis’ HR head, and former global managing partner of Andersen accounting firm for employee matters, make their jobs easy. They allow the firm’s lawyers to devote time to their profession, while they shoulder responsibility of these issues.

12-29-2006

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