THE CHURN: Lateral Moves and Promotions in The Am Law 200

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The Churn

January 6, 2009 6:04 PM

THE CHURN: Lateral Moves and Promotions in The Am Law 200

Posted by Dimitra Kessenides

Bankruptcy bar meet the plaintiffs bar. Plaintiffs bar meet the bankruptcy bar.

Plaintiffs firm Milberg has hired Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher restructuring partner Jonathan Landers to head up the firm's new bankruptcy practice."We've always been on the lookout for ways to diversify our practice," says Sanford Dumain, chair of Milberg's executive committee. "Given the current economic climate, bankruptcy is one place that makes sense to explore." (That, and Madoff litigation.)

Landers' resume includes turns as lead debtors' counsel for Hoop Holdings, the company that operated Disney Stores, and financial services company The Finova Group, Inc., among others. He also represented Merrill Lynch in the Enron and Adelphia bankruptcies. And, in cases near and dear to The Churn, he's advised Citibank in law firm dissolutions, notably those of Heller Ehrman, Thelen, and Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.

Referring to some of his new Milberg partners as "closet bankruptcy lawyers," Landers says bankruptcy litigation is a natural extension of work that the firm has done in cases like Enron. "What we're talking about is representing debtors, trustees in creditors committees...and others who in essence think that they have been wronged by somebody else," he says. "Those kinds of lawsuits are becoming much more common in bankruptcy."

--Ross Todd

In other Churn news...

Real estate attorney Shai N. Halbe has joined Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a partner in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Halbe led the real estate practice at Heller Ehrman prior to joining Brownstein. He advises clients on a range of corporate and real estate matters, including acquisitions, dispositions, financings, and restructurings, and represents several hotel companies and investors in domestic and international holdings, including Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, and Jumeirah Group.

Cooley Godward Kronish is boosting its business practice with the addition of Mark L. Johnson as a partner in the firm’s Boston office. Johnson, formerly chair of the underwriting group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, focuses on corporate and securities law. His practice also consists of counseling public and private clients on ongoing corporate and securities matters, including transactional and corporate governance issues.

Greenberg Traurig has hired Jane Preston, former chief of staff to New York state senator Kemp Hannon, and Kristina Baldwin, former counsel to New York state senator James Seward. Preston, who joins as senior director, and Baldwin, joining as of counsel, will be based in the firm’s Albany office working with the firm’s government affairs, health and insurance regulatory and transactional practices. Preston served as executive director of the New York State Senate Health Committee for the past 14 years and was the principal negotiator for Senator Hannon on health care legislation and related health budget issues. Baldwin has ten years of insurance-related experience as well as 15 years of legislative experience.

Litigator Frederick J. Ufkes has joined Hinshaw & Culbertson as a partner in the Los Angeles office. Ufkes, who joins Hinshaw from the Los Angeles office of K&L Gates, focuses on complex litigation, toxic torts, mass torts, and products liability defense. At Hinshaw, Ufkes will be rejoining former colleagues and current Hinshaw partners John Sheller and DJ Hinds; the three once worked together at Haight, Dickson, Brown & Bonesteel.

New year, new leadership at several firms, including Denver-based Holland & Hart. The firm has named energy lawyer Thomas O’Donnell managing partner, responsible for the day-to-day operations of the firm. O'Donnell previously chaired the firm's associate and partnership admissions committees. His practice focuses on representations of natural gas and electric-related matters before various state public utility commissions, including the Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Wyoming commissions, as well as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Morgan Lewis is boosting its Washington, D.C., office with the addition of two senior government attorneys and an in-house lawyer. Thomas J. Lang, a senior trial counsel for the Federal Trade Commission who led the government’s trial teams in recent merger cases, is now a partner in the antitrust practice; Jonathan L. Snare, the deputy solicitor of labor at the Department of Labor, will be a partner in Morgan Lewis’s labor employment practice, effective February 23. Charles “Chuck” O’Connor, the former general counsel for the container shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, joined the firm as senior counsel, effective Monday. As reported by sibling publication Legal Times, O’Connor is a former Morgan Lewis partner. He’d spent 35 years at the firm, then left in 2003 with a plan to retire. Instead, at a firm client’s request, he accepted the general counsel job at Maersk.

Ottawa law firm Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall is launching its international arbitration practice with the addition of Andrew de Lotbinière McDougall as a partner. McDougall, an Ottawa native, has experience on a broad range of cross-border disputes. He previously was a partner in the Paris office of White & Case.

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal has added Steven J. Stein as counsel in the firm's corporate practice. Stein will divide his time between the firm's New York and Zurich, Switzerland, offices. Stein serves as outside general counsel to several companies, including Dimensional Associates LLC, the private equity arm of JDS Capital LLC, where he focuses on media and music-related businesses. He also is an experienced arbitrator, having handled cases administered by the American Arbitration Association's International Center for Dispute Resolution, the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, and the Geneva Chamber of Commerce. Stein practiced at Reed Smith prior to joining Sonnenschein.

The Churn is constant. Our reports are twice weekly. Send your news to amlawdaily@alm.com.

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