In connection with this development, Charles River Recruiting principal Adam S. Weiss was quoted in the leading Brazilian legal publication, Consultor Juridico:  http://www.conjur.com.br/2011-jul-13/banca-eua-arrombar-festa-escritorios-brasileiros-fusoes.

Attorney recruitment from competing international firms remains the most common method of establishing new offices in foreign jurisdictions.

So, what other choices does a law firm partner have?  Well, what about starting your own firm?  For some practices—e.g., complex corporate transactions that require multiple lawyers and practice areas, or major litigations that require teams of lawyers for discovery—this is not a realistic possibility:  large firms are where such practices naturally belong.  Yet many big-firm lawyers may reasonably ask whether the costs and benefits of staying put at a big firm outweigh the costs and benefits of going out on your own.  Depending on your practice area, client base and work style, the calculus may be surprising.

For example, if your practice is relatively compartmentalized from those of your partners—say, you’re an IP lawyer with a client base that has only occasional need of corporate, litigation or tax work—there may be distinct drawbacks to being part of a large firm.  In the first place, you may be under pressure to maintain a rate structure at which your clients (or potential clients) balk.  You may also wonder whether all the overhead of a big firm, which may be necessary for other practices, really benefits yours too.  Finally, you may find it trying to keep up with your firm’s billable hours requirements.  However, the possibility of lowering your rates, working on your own terms, avoiding conflict situations with other partners’ clients is often alluring.

Of course, starting your own firm can present enormous challenges:  from finding space, to hiring staff, to purchasing communications and technology services and equipment, to handling billing and accounts, the hassles of establishing and running your own firm can be daunting.  But it’s something to think about, and maybe worth doing the calculus for yourself.

The first thing that lateral partner candidates need to remember is that lawyer salary discussions usually happen at the end of the lateral recruiting process, once all the parties have gotten comfortable that a deal may be possible. While it may seem efficient to “cut to the chase” and discuss lawyer compensation early in the recruiting process, such haste on the part of candidates may sour the firm on further discussions. On one level, it’s a matter of tradition and taste: lawyer salary discussions happen at the end of the process; that’s simply the way it’s done. But on a deeper level, attorney compensation discussions represent the end of a process by which the lateral partner and the firm have already come to a meeting of minds on the issue of whether the lateral partner would be a good fit for the firm, and vice versa. Obviously, compensation is an important part of the equation, but it’s a variable that’s solved for relatively easily; the hard part is determining whether the lateral partner and his or her law practice belong at the firm in the first place.

The best way for a lateral partner to assure that he or she will receive a firm’s highest and best compensation offer is to create a market whereby firms compete. Doing this requires skill and finesse—one wishes to avoid seeming heavy-handed about the approach. An astute legal recruiter will therefore reveal to the firm gently, but candidly, that other firms are also in discussions with the lateral partner.

The Lateral Lawyer, a first-of-its-kind primer on the partner-level lateral recruiting process, is a resource for law partners, aspiring partners, managing partners, HR staff and professional recruiters alike. The book includes sample forms, interview questions and answers, and tips on the recruiting process.

As Weiss explains, even the most attractive lateral candidates should work with an experienced legal recruiter. “The successful lateral partner candidate maintains his or her posture as someone who, while not ‘looking’, is nevertheless amenable to engaging in a dialogue with other firms. That’s something partners simply cannot do if they approach firms on their own,” he says.

“Even the best lateral candidates make avoidable mistakes that cost them offers,” says Weiss.  Asked to name the most common faux pas, he answers unhesitatingly: “Talking about money too soon in the process—that’s a huge turn-off to firms, which are much more concerned about ‘fit’ than compensation.” Other mistakes include presuming that the only firms worth looking at are those scoring higher in the Am Law profits-per-partner rankings than one’s own, and playing hard-to-get.

“The key to receiving compelling offers,” says Weiss, “is to create a market for your practice by approaching multiple firms at once rather than one at a time.  Astute recruiters do this the same way that literary agents create a market for their clients’ manuscripts.” He therefore advises every law firm partner to cultivate relationships with the legal recruiters of their choice. “Our job is to make good matches between lawyers and firms, and our service is free to the candidate,” Weiss says.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author Adam S. Weiss is an attorney and legal recruiter based in the New York area. He is a founder and principal of Charles River Recruiting LLC, a boutique legal search firm that places partners with major national, international and regional law firms. Formerly an attorney with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, and a management consultant at McKinsey & Co., Inc., Weiss is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and is admitted to the bar in New York, New Jersey and Texas.

The Lateral Lawyer: Opportunities & Pitfalls for the Law Firm Partner

• Publisher:  Lateral Lawyer Publications LLC
• ISBN:  978-1461079088; 146107908X
• Price:  $21.95 paperback; $9.95 on Kindle and Nook
• Pages:  60 pages, paperback 5.5 x 8.5 (13.97 cm. x 21.59 cm.)
• Pub Date:  June 2011
• www.LateralLawyer.com

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A variety of factors motivated recent moves.  For example, seven lawyers left the Geneva office of Hogan & Hartson upon announcement of its merger with UK-based Lovells, and moved as laterals to Akin Gump.  And some firms are making particular investments in particular legal specializations, e.g., Bingham (which picked up Susan Merrill, former head of enforcement for FINRA) and Cadwalader (which picked up Proskauer’s litigation co-Chair Louis Solomon and antitrust co-chair Colin Underwood, DLA’s Beijing private equity head Rocky Lee, and a 9-partner energy and commodities group from McDermott).

One firm that has been particularly active in bringing on laterals is DC-based Covington & Burling.  Among other 2010 acquisitions, Covington brought on board John Dugan (former comptroller of the currency), Edward Yingling (former president and CEO of the American Bankers Association), Gerald Waldron (former staff director and chief counsel of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming), Steven Fagel (former deputy chief of staff to Assistant AG Lanny Breuer), and James Garland, deputy chief of staff to Attorney General Eric Holder).  Outside the US, Covington added such lateral partner-level attorneys as Timothy Stratford (former US Trade Representative for China Affairs—Beijing office), Peter Camesasca (former Howrey antitrust attorney—Brussels office) and Robert Amaee (formerly of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office—London office).

Dewey & LeBoeuf also showed substantial activity, recruiting such big-name partner rainmakers as Henry Bunsow (IP litigation, formerly of Howrey), and James Carter (international arbitration, formerly of Sullivan & Cromwell).

Approximately 2,000 partners switched firms in the NLJ-250 in 2010, a number which may rise in 2011, in light of steady movement and significant developments like the demise of firms like Howrey during this year.  Partners considering a lateral move are encouraged to contact Charles River Recruiting for a confidential consultation.

For example, in March, Washington, DC-based Dickstein Shapiro has expanded its West Coast intellectual IP practice with the recruiting of an office in Silicon Valley (Redwood City).  The office, which now comprises 7 attorneys, was formed by the recruitment of partners Deborah Fishman and Jeffrey Miller from Orrick, and Krista Carter from the late Howrey firm.  All are litigators.  In addition, the firm announced that it recruited Robert Dickerson in the Los Angeles office, as deputy practice leader of IP on the West Coast.  Dickerson was formerly at Orrick, where he headed the firm’s IP practice in Los Angeles.  Dickerson was formerly managing partner of the late IP boutique Lyon & Lyon.  In addition to Los Angeles and Silicon Valley, Dickstein also has a new office in Orange County (Irvine), which it opened with a lateral attorney hire from Crowell & Moring, Kimberly Chen Nobles, an IP partner.  The Orange County office’s lateral partner recruiting efforts were recently bolstered by the addition of several lawyers from Orrick:  Yasser El-Gamal and Allan Jansen (both partners), and James Geriak, senior counsel.  The firm says it is considering opening an office in San Diego too.

In other major intellectual property partner news, the chairman of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips’s intellectual property practice, Susan Hollander (Palo Alto), joined K&L Gates in January, bringing IP litigation counsel Britt Anderson, who joined the firm as a partner.  Hollander, whose practice focuses on complex litigation in such areas as copyright and trademark infringement, false advertising and unfair competition, indicated that K&L Gates’s global trademark practice impelled her to make the lateral move.

Legal Week research surveyed 62 Square Mile international firms that have foreign practices operating in London. This accounts for almost all of the foreign firms in the area. Those firms reported 93 lateral partner recruits, an increase of more than 66 hires over the previous year. Lateral partner recruiting in 2008 was also high but decreased in 2009, only to rebound in 2010.

One notable hire was Sullivan & Cromwell’s addition of Presley Warner, formerly of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The addition of Warner allows S&C to continue expanding its London finance practice. Warner, who worked at Freshfields for 16 years, will join the firm’s leveraged finance and credit practice and advise corporate and private equity funds borrowers on debt restructurings as well as acquisitions and disposals. The addition of Warner significantly strengthens S&C’s financial practice as Warner is qualified to practice in Canada, the UK, New York and Massachussets. Warner also completed a secondment at Goldman Sachs and will reportedly retain the investment firm as a major client.

In addition to Warner, David Ereira, Brian Bray and Chris Howard have also left Freshfields during the past four years. A former partner of Freshfields, Tim Emmerson, welcomes Warner to his Merger and Acquisitions department at S&C, where he now works. In his statement Emmerson notes “London is a primary centre of leveraged finance for a significant number of M&A  transactions, both in the U.K. and also across Europe. In recent years, borrowers have increasingly sought creatively structured and robust leveraged finance arrangements which will withstand the pressures of more volatile markets. Presley is one of a small number of legal advisers in London with the creativity and expertise to deliver solutions of this kind to European borrowers on major deals.”

A second lateral partner changeover that recently rocked the legal world is the four-partner move from Clifford Chance’s American practice to Weil Gotshal and Manges in London.  Nick Benson, Ed Gander, Nigel Clark and tax partner Jonathan Kandel will be joining WGM.  The departure hampers CC’s funds team operations as the move leaves Clifford Chance with only one partner, Nigel Hatfield, tending to its City funds practice. The departing attorneys, led by Ed Gander, have worked with major funds clients including Abraaj Capital, SRM and BC Partners. Their loss will be felt deeply because they played a major role in helping CCs funds practice maintain a top tier ranking even after former funds head Jason Glover announced his departure last July to Simpson Thacher.

WGM has been searching for fund formation partners in the UK for quite some time. They confirmed the hires in early June 2011 when they  completed last year’s hire of  CC partner John Fadely. Fadely will work as the WGM funds partner in Hong Kong. Another successful hire on the part of WGM is Linklaters banking partner Stephen Lucas who will strengthen the WGM finance practice in London.

The lateral partner hires that WGM have now achieved is seen by many to mark a damaging blow, perhaps one of the most serious ever inflicted by a US practice, on a leading City law firm. Insiders remember WGM’s attempt several years ago to hire Matthew Layton and James Baird who managed private equity for CC. That attempt failed after CC prevailed on the duo to remain, but the current WGM success validates the continued attempts at lateral partner hiring.

The legal world has seen U.S. law firms becoming increasingly aggressive in their recruiting practices within the European private equity market. Lawyers who work with private equity funds managements and leveraged finance are a particular target because these firms place a great deal of importance on reaching American investors. Lateral partner hires create a tense situation for the attorneys and their firms as they negotiate about current client matters, exit terms and the possibility of associate transfers.

Further lateral attorney recruiting is likely in the offing:  Legal Week’s survey confirmed that two-thirds of surveyed firms plan London office expansions, including firms that have declared that they intend to boost their City headcount by around 50 percent.  Finally, several US-based firms indicated they would consider a merger with a UK firm in the right circumstances.

According to Kasowitz, the firm’s real estate practice is being launched in response to demand from clients in the real estate industry, including developers, real estate funds, and other real estate investors, for which the firm provides litigation and restructuring services.  Kasowitz, known primarily as a litigation firm, indicates that it has established its real estate practice in response to requests from clients for transactional capabilities.

Mr. Schwartz has over 30 years of experience in real estate development, acquisitions, leasing, partnerships and joint ventures, financing, real estate funds, and public and private offerings of real estate securities.  His representations includes lenders, owners and developers in connection with loan workouts and restructurings relating to mixed-use properties, as well as banks and issuers in connection with REITs, rated securitized debt and acquisition funds.  International work has included representing U.S. and foreign clients in their acquisition and development of hotels, shopping centers, ski resorts, office buildings and residential projects in Japan, China, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and throughout the U.S. Prominent clients include Boston Properties, Tishman Speyer Properties, ING Clarion, Silverstein Properties, Forest City Ratner, Penn National Gaming and BlackRock Realty.

Mr. Endick has represented clients in commercial leasing, joint ventures, financings, acquisitions, dispositions, loan workouts and developments.

The Kasowitz firm is known for its specialization in complex litigation.  The firm has offices in New York, Houston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Miami and Newark, and indicates that it plans to open a Silicon Valley office in 2011.