| Who Moved |
Old Firm |
New Firm |
Why It Matters |
| Richard Cieri, 47(April 2003) |
Chair of Jones Day’s business restructuring and reorganization practice |
The New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher |
Cieri led Jones Day’s representation of Chapter 11 debtors, including Federated Department Stores, Inc., LTV Steel Company, Inc., and Laidlaw International, Inc. His departure moves the center of gravity of Jones Day’s bankruptcy practice to New York, where former Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner Corinne Ball now cochairs the practice. Joining Cieri in the move was John Rapisardi, 46, making a round-trip back to Weil. |
| Kevin Arquit, 49(January 2003) |
Global antitrust cohead in New York for Clifford Chance |
New York’s Simpson Thacher & Bartlett |
A Rogers & Wells veteran who was one of the big catches for Clifford Chance in its U.S. merger, Arquit became one of CC’s highest-paid partners, drawing at least $3 million annually. But his book was worth it: estimated upwards of $30 million. Subsequent blows to CC’s U.S. arm included Arquit’s twin, Steven Newborn, 57, who bolted in October for Weil’s D.C. office; and Federal Trade Commission antitrust chief Joseph Simons, 45, whose return to the practice in August blessed the D.C. office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison rather than CC. |
| Tim Emmerson, 49(May 2003) |
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer |
The London office of New York’s Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy |
When building a brand name in Euro-equities, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have Emmerson, the legal captain of two of the largest IPOs in Europe: Telecom Italia S.p.A. and Orange SA. |
| Robert Mittelstaedt, 56(May 2003) |
Pillsbury Winthrop |
Jones Day’s new San Francisco office |
ChevronTexaco Corporation has long been an anchor client for Pillsbury, and Mittelstaedt was a key partner overseeing the account. Trailed by eight other Pillsbury lawyers, Mittelstaedt took at least two major Chevron cases, including one involving human rights abuses in Nigeria. After he landed at Jones Day, he also scored a big case representing SBC Communications Inc., another long-standing Pillsbury client. |
| Stephen Fraidin, 64(April 2003) |
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson |
The transactional practice in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis |
Some big-name dealmakers from the 1980s still matter. Fraidin, a veteran of the RJR Nabisco battle, has represented Forstmann Little & Co. since the creation of its leverage buyout funds. Fraidin was said to be unhappy with Fried, Frank’s diversification into areas such as antitrust, private equity, capital markets, and white-collar defense. |
| Lewis Liman, 43(July 2003) |
Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering |
New York’s Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton |
The son of Paul, Weiss legend Arthur Liman has taken a prominent role in the fallout and cleanup from recent corporate scandals. |
| Carmen Chang, 56(July 2003) |
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati |
The capital markets practice in the Menlo Park, California, office of New York’s Shearman & Sterling |
Nothing’s hotter than China at the moment, and a China-centric corporate practice requires a firm with offices there. At least 30 of Chang’s clients followed her, including UTStarcom, Inc., Fortinet, Inc., and Google, Inc., which moved its China work to Shearman. |
| Steven Zager, 45(February 2003) |
Chair of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison’s national litigation practice |
The Houston office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld |
The lateral straw that broke Brobeck’s back. At the San Francisco—based firm, Zager handled major litigation for clients like Nokia Corporation and Bank of America Corporation. Once he backed out of a proposed merger with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Brobeck was toast. |
| Peter Alexiadis, 44(September 2003) |
The Brussels office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey |
Los Angeles—based Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s new Brussels office |
Alexiadis led a team representing MCI WorldCom before the European Commission. |
| Edward DeSear, 57(May 2003) |
Chair of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe’s structured finance group |
The New York office of Washington, D.C.’s McKee Nelson |
A top player in securitizations, DeSear lends finance cachet to the upstart McKee. |
(The American Lawyer, March 2004) |
