It seems four Latham & Watkins newly recruited partners have made a New Year’s resolution to move on: M&A partner David Schwartzbaum (New York), commercial and IP litigator Kenneth Fitzgerald (San Diego), and IP litigators Emmanuel Baud and Jean-Christophe Tristant (Paris). The partner recruiting took place in New York, San Diego, and Paris.
San Diego recruitment Fitzgerald hailed his former firm as top-notch, but said that his practice will be better suited to San Diego litigation boutique Chapin Fitzgerald Sullivan (CFS). That practice includes plaintiffs work, which few large firms are able to accommodate.
However, there has been a trend of Am Law 200 IP litigation partners moving to smaller firms due to price pressure from clients.
The American Lawyer quoted Fitzgerald as saying he had once called up former Latham mentor and CFS founder Joseph “Jay” Wheeler and “hearing him scream across the office to [longtime friend] Ed [Chapin] about a conflicts check. And he [quickly] had his answer." (Latham, on the other hand, has 2100 lawyers).
Schwartzbaum will land at Greenberg Traurig’’s New York office. Revenue at the 1,730-lawyer firm in 2008 was $1.2 billion, while profits per partner increased slightly to $1.3 million.
Jones Day in Paris recruited Baud and Latham associates Aurélie Verdier and Nathalie Marchand.
And Allen & Overy recruited Baud’s former partner Jean-Christophe Tristant, an IP licensing and litigation lawyer.
According to Am Law 100 data, Latham’s profits dropped over 20 percent in 2008, and profits per partner fell from nearly $2.3 million to $1.8 million. Latham laid off 90 associates and 250 staff members early last year, but recently opened an office in Beijing.
