Photo Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
New York lawmakers ushered in an interim attorney general this week, one in which a former deputy attorney general in the state found a new Big Law home.
Avi Schick, a one-time top prosecutor under former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer who went on to serve as president and COO of Empire State Development Corp., has joined Troutman Sanders as head of its government investigations, compliance and enforcement practice in New York.
Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon at his new office at Troutman Sanders in New York, Schick declined to discuss his move to the firm, which is poised to make a formal announcement about his hire. Schick was most recently a litigation and dispute resolution partner at Dentons.
Avi Schick.
The fast-growing global legal giant, which earlier this week announced plans to absorb a leading Hawaiian firm, tapped Schick in 2011 to help launch its state attorneys general practice group. Schick joined predecessor firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in September 2009, having left his leadership role at Empire State Development almost a year earlier.
Schick spent nearly two years in the $213,000-per-year position, having been named head of the state’s economic development agency by Spitzer in late 2006. Before that Schick served as a deputy attorney general under Spitzer, prosecuting several significant matters, including tobacco litigation that led to a $200 billion master settlement and an ultimately scuttled compensation case against former New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard Grasso.
In 2010, Schick joined a 71-member transition committee put together by newly elected New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who abruptly resigned earlier this month after being accused of sexually assaulting at least four women with whom he had romantic relationships. On Tuesday, lawmakers in Albany voted to keep Barbara Underwood in her role as acting attorney general.
As for Troutman Sanders, the 672-lawyer firm saw gross revenue and partner profits rise in 2017, to $508.7 million and nearly $1.06 million, respectively. Troutman Sanders recently moved into a new headquarters in Atlanta, while announcing plans in January to close three offices in Asia.
