U.K.- and Germany-based Taylor Wessing has filed suit against Nixon Peabody, accusing the Manhattan law firm of colluding with the former managing partner of Taylor’s Paris office to “raid” its partner ranks after merger talks between the two firms fell through.
Taylor’s legal team at Dreier, including name partner Marc Dreier, says Nixon’s alleged attempts to poach 12 of Taylor’s 15 nonequity French partners violated a July 2007 agreement in which the two firms promised not to recruit from each other for two years if merger talks collapsed.
