Fred Reinke
Dentons has nabbed a pair of former Dewey & LeBoeuf partners from Mayer Brown to bolster its insurance litigation and dispute resolution group in Washington, D.C.
The ever-expanding global legal giant announced last week that Fred Reinke and G. Richard Dodge Jr. had joined the firm as partners in Washington, D.C., where Reinke will serve as U.S. leader of Dentons’ global litigation and dispute resolution practice.
Reinke, who served as U.S. head of insurance litigation for Mayer Brown’s global insurance industry group, said his move to Dentons was because of his new firm’s ability and agility to adapt to a changing legal marketplace. In November, Dentons debuted its latest venture, a consulting service for in-house counsel staffed by more than 50 former general counsel working at the 7,445-lawyer firm.
“The legal profession is going through some significant structural changes as clients begin to evaluate their legal spend and look for ways to reduce [it],” Reinke said. “[Clients] are looking for law firms that are trying to be ahead of the curve [and] watching Dentons over the last few years, it’s clear that they’ve done a great job in being a leader in a lot of these changes that are going on.”
Reinke specializes in complex international commercial and class action litigation, particularly surrounding European insurance and reinsurance companies and financial institutions. He also advises clients in investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Labor and other government entities.
Reinke joined Mayer Brown in 2009 from now-defunct Dewey & LeBoeuf, whose collapse in 2012 resulted in two criminal trials and the felony conviction earlier this year of Joel Sanders, the firm’s former chief financial officer. Reinke was one of several former Dewey & LeBoeuf partners called to testify by New York prosecutors. (Sanders, who avoided jail time, was ordered in October to pay a $1 million fine and perform 750 hours of community service; A civil case involving Sanders and executive director Stephen DiCarmine is also nearing resolution.)
Richard Dodge Jr.
Like Reinke, Dodge also made the move to Mayer Brown from Dewey & LeBoeuf, having left the latter in 2011, a year before its descent into bankruptcy. Dodge’s practice covers civil litigation, arbitration, government investigations and internal reviews, particularly within the insurance industry, and he defends major insurers and financial services clients on a variety of matters.
“Fred and Rich are well-known for litigation in the insurance and financial sectors and will undoubtedly enhance our global practice and relationships,” said a statement by Dentons U.S. CEO Mike McNamara, who since 2011 has led the firm’s operations in the United States. “The addition of both Fred and Rich helps ensure that our insurance and reinsurance clients continue to receive the exceptional counsel to which they have grown accustomed.”
The two lawyers are the latest lateral departures from Mayer Brown’s insurance group.
Earlier this week, London-based Kennedys picked up three insurance lawyers from Mayer Brown’s office in the city, including partners Ingrid Hobbs and Andrew Westlake. The trio join Mayer Brown’s former London insurance head David Chadwick and insurance partner Andrew McGahey, both of whom left the firm for Kennedys in October.
Lindsay McQuillian, another insurance partner at Mayer Brown in London, is also leaving the firm to become general counsel at underwriting syndicate Probitas 1492.
