Two sources claim that Latham & Watkins has snagged four partners from Vinson & Elkins. Three of them will be stationed in the firm’s new Houston office. Those are as follows: William Finnegan IV, Brett Braden, Charles Timothy Fenn. Partner Charles Carpenter will join the New York office. They are all to join their respective offices in March or April. Latham’s Houston office opened its doors a month ago.
Source: www.amlawdaily.typepad.com
John Woodruff rejoins Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP. Woodruff was previously with the firm from 2004 to 2008, afterwhich he joined KPMG LLP. He will be stationed in the Houston office as a partner in the tax group. Gardere is an AmLaw 200 firm with offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston and Mexico City.
Source: www.openpr.com
McKool Smith has boosted its Houston office with the hire of Basil Umari. He joins the bankruptcy practice as a principal. Umari received his juris doctorate from The University of Texas School of Law with high honors.
Source: www.earthtimes.org
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith is picking up Adams & Herald, an insurance defense boutique. Adams has 11 attorneys in two office: Houston and Beaumont, which means two new offices for the former. Lewis Brisbois has 19 offices across the nation.
Source: www.nylj.com
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP has acquired a new partner. Hoang Quan Vu joins the firm’s Banking group in Houston. Vu received his JD from Harvard Law School in 1995. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard’s undergraduate program in 1992.
Source: www.theopenpress.com
Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP appears to be going on a hiring spree by adding two more to its Houston office. Michael Cash and Wade Howard are joining the firm’s litigation practice group as partners. Senior Attorney Robert Montoya will be joining them. This is a very talented group with much legal experience. Prior to taking their new positions at Gardere, the group practice with Winstead, P.C.
Source: www.newswiretoday.com
Hunton & Williams has recruited Edward Fernandes from Akin Gump. Fernades will continue to practice in Austin, but will also work out of the Houston office. A major aim of his will be to grow Hunton’s litigation office, particularly in the Austin group. Fernades has much experience representing very large companies, such as Ernst & Young and Bank of America.
Source: www.austin.bizjournals.com
Baker Botts has added energy lawyer, Kevin Keenan, to its Global Projects group. Keenan was previously at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, in both London and Houston. At Baker Botts, he will remain in Houston as Partner. Keenan acquired his Juris Doctorate at Georgetown University Law Center.
Hunton & Williams has been busy. The firm won over 8 employment lawyers from Akin Gump and is launching an office in San Francisco. Of the 8, four are partners, and four are associates. Laura Franze, joining co-chair of the employment group, will work out of Los Angeles and Dallas. Roland Juarez will also join the Los Angeles office. The San Francisco office will be led by poached partner, Fraser McAlpine, who will also be based out of Houston. Also in San Franisco, Brett Burns joins as partner, and Anna Suh as associate. Justin Smith, Richard Cortez and Jennifer Reith, all associates, will join the Dallas office.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
The small litigation law firm of Eimer Stahl Klevorn & Solberg teams up with Houston firm of DeGuerin & Dickson to tackle white-collar criminal cases together with talks of merging in the future. Eimer Stahl’s new Houston office help strengthen the firm’s refining and petrochemical litigation business and will also help to establish their own white-collar criminal practice in Houston. With new back-up, DeGuerin & Dickson will also benefit from the collaboration and likely take on larger white-collar criminal cases.
Source: www.law.com
While other cities’ legal markets are in a slump, Houston is booming, especially in the field of energy. Why Houston? Houston has strong roots in the energy field and the city’s economy is doing fairly well because of it. Many top firms have recently launched firms in the city, including: McDermott, Will & Emery; DLA Piper; Hunton & Williams; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Sutherland Asbill & Brennan; and Greenberg. The competition for Houston Energy attorneys, particularly those with books of business, is fierce. Firms are getting into bidding wars for those seemingly priceless energy attorneys.
Source: www.law.com
Andrews Kurth has created subprime practice group consisting of associates of various disciplinary practice groups. The group will advise clients on a number of subprime issues, sich as potential claims and liabilities, regulatory inquiries and strategic plans to respond to anticipated litigation. The subprime group will be led by Arthur Felsenfeld and Peter Goodman in New York; Robert Godlewski, Chris Allen and Tom Perich in Houston; and Bill Compton, David Barbour and Pat Sargent in Dallas.
Source: www.bizjournals.com
