More Notable Hires: The 2020 Runners-Up
The top 10 list included several important hires across the state. But those weren't the only moves worth noting. There were 11 more jumps that took place over the course of 2020 that deserve a second look.
March 11, 2021 at 11:25 AM
10 minute read
The top 10 list included several important hires across the state. But those weren't the only moves worth noting. There were 11 more jumps that took place over the course of 2020 that deserve a second look. The runners-up list includes practice leaders making moves, a Cosby lawyer heading over to the plaintiff's side, along with a few firms bulking up specific practice groups. One move—Terry Mutchler jumping to Dilworth Paxson—brought an entire practice to another firm, and another helped bolster a firm's insurance recovery group. Many of these attorneys made these moves to help extend the reach of their practices. Some of those practice areas included corporate law, securities, insurance, government and regulatory, and transparency law. Former Am Law 200 Firm Leader Goes Midsize A former managing partner of Am Law 200 firm Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr left in Novemeber 2020, after more than four decades with the firm, moving his practice to Conshohocken-based midsize firm Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld. David Antzis had been at Saul Ewing for his entire career, since 1978 when the firm had about 60 lawyers. He was the firm's managing partner from 2006 to 2013, during which time the firm expanded into Washington, D.C., Boston and Pittsburgh. While the bulk of his practice remains counseling large companies in transactions, a number of his longtime clients are individuals that did well in big companies and launched their own startups, or became involved in new ventures as angel investors. For startup-minded clients in particular, he said, being part of a midsize firm is an asset for rate flexibility. "I'm not saying Saul Ewing didn't have some fee flexibility, but certainly I think Royer Cooper, I find, is a lot more nimble and agile" with pricing arrangements, he said. Cosby Prosecutor Joins Saltz Mongeluzzi One of the lawyers who led the successful prosecution of Bill Cosby headed over to the plaintiff's side, joining Philadelphia's Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky in April 2020. Kristen Gibbons Feden transitioned to private practice before Cosby's second trial wrapped up, joining Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young in August 2017. She joined the firm under a special arrangement that would allow her to take time away from the practice to finish prosecuting and trying the Cosby case, which ended in a guilty verdict in April 2018. Feden said she had spoken with a friend and former law school classmate, Saltz Mongeluzzi partner Jeffrey Goodman, about her passion for representing victims, and "he paved the way" for her to explore joining his firm. Robert Mongeluzzi, founder of the firm, said he was already familiar with Feden from her "integral role" on the Cosby case. "There was an immediate connection in that we share a passion for representing victims. It was just evident in meeting her," Mongeluzzi said. "She has investigated and prosecuted sexual assault cases and has that deep knowledge of the field." Philadelphia City Solicitor Joins Ballard Spahr Philadelphia's chief legal officer left city government in November for private practice, returning to Am Law 100 firm Ballard Spahr and filling a longtime vacancy in the firm's office managing partner position for its hometown of Philadelphia. Throughout his two-year tenure, City Solicitor Marcel S. Pratt, spent much of his time advocating for historically marginalized populations and challenging the Trump administration in immigration-related litigation. Upon joining Ballard Spahr, Pratt took on the role as managing partner of the firm's Philadelphia office and as a partner in the litigation department. Ballard Spahr chair Mark Stewart said the position of managing officer for the Philadelphia office has been vacant for about 10 years, and it wasn't until the pandemic that firm leadership began to see a need to fill the position. Marshall Dennehey Department Head Jumps to Goldberg Segalla After two decades at Philadelphia-based Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, where he was a member of firm leadership, insurance coverage shareholder Eric Fitzgerald took his practice to another go-to firm for clients in the insurance sector, Goldberg Segalla. Fitzgerald was a senior vice president on Marshall Dennehey's board of directors and assistant director of the firm's professional liability department, which has 150 lawyers in 16 practice groups. He also served as the firm's risk manager, practicing out of its Philadelphia headquarters. In an interview in January 2020, Fitzgerald, who remains based in Philadelphia, said he had long known Goldberg Segalla, and his insurance carrier clients were attracted to his new firm's national platform. Marshall Dennehey has a more regional footprint, he said. Lamb McErlane Absorbs 5-Lawyer Delco Boutique Two suburban Philadelphia law firms agreed to combine in May, at a time when several small law firms have been acquired by larger practices, even as merger activity overall is down. Lamb McErlane, a full-service regional law firm based in West Chester, and Imperatrice, Amarant & Bell, a boutique litigation and corporate law firm in Newtown Square, merged in June. The merger combined Lamb McErlane's 36 attorneys with IAB's five, including its three name partners. The new firm, operating as Lamb McErlane, now has 41 attorneys in West Chester, Newtown Square and Philadelphia. The merger strengthened Lamb McErlane's regional footprint and expanded the firm's litigation, education and employment practices, Lamb McErlane chairman Joel Frank said in an interview. "Our firms were co-counsel on a matter in Delaware County, and we had a symbiotic relationship in terms of firm culture and values," Frank said. Saltz Mongeluzzi Adds Anapol Weiss Partner Philadelphia's Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky hired a shareholder at Anapol Weiss as the firm moved to expand its toxic tort practice. The law firm announced it hired Larry Cohan, a longtime Anapol Weiss shareholder, who focuses on asbestos and vaccine-related claims. According to the firm, Cohan began working at Saltz Mongeluzzi in October, along with his son, Josh Cohan, who had been an associate at Anapol Weiss. Saltz Mongeluzzi founder Robert Mongeluzzi said adding the father-son team was a great opportunity for the firm, especially as the use of vaccines is likely going to expand across the country as a means of combating the COVID-19 pandemic. "We think Larry particularly has a tremendous wealth of experience in areas that really fit us well, such as mass torts, toxic torts, asbestos and vaccines," Mongeluzzi said. "And considering that in the years ahead we may have several hundred million Americans vaccinated, we certainly think that will be a significant area of practice." Schnader Securities Litigation Vice-Chair Moves to Hogan Lovells In December, the vice chair of local midsize firm Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis' securities litigation practice headed to Hogan Lovells, in another example of large out-of-state firms taking on talent from Pennsylvania-founded firms. Global law firm Hogan Lovells announced that it had added Courtney Devon Taylor to its litigation, arbitration and employment practice group. The corporate litigator splits her time between Philadelphia and New York at the 2,642-lawyer firm. Hogan Lovells, which has had lawyers in Philadelphia for around two decades, is one of several national or international firms that were founded outside Pennsylvania, and has grown a sizeable presence in the state by taking lawyers from other firms established here. Others that have made hires in recent years include Greenberg Traurig, Holland & Knight, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith and Armstrong Teasdale. Taylor said her clients—who include multinational financial institutions, insurance companies, technology companies and entities in the sports sector—will follow her to Hogan Lovells, contributing to some of the firm's most vital sectors. "I'm bringing a number of major institutions to the firm, and I expect to be able to grow a lot of Hogan's existing relationships," Taylor said in an interview. Ex-White House Lawyer Jumps to Holland & Knight Florida-born Holland & Knight continued to build its Philadelphia presence by picking up known partners from locally based Big Law firms, taking a well-known government lawyer from Cozen O'Connor in September. Three years after rejoining Cozen O'Connor from a stint in the White House, James Schultz joined Holland & Knight's 2-year-old Philadelphia office as a partner in the firm's public policy and regulation practice. He also was set to lead the firm's Northeast government advocacy team. At Cozen O'Connor, Schultz was chair of the government and regulatory practice group. Prior to his most recent run at the firm, he spent just under a year as associate White House counsel and special assistant to President Donald Trump. When he rejoined Cozen O'Connor in 2017, he said he had only planned to work in the White House for a year. Open Records Office Founder Takes Practice to Dilworth A leader in Pennsylvania open records law is took her practice back into a larger law firm setting after building a firm of her own. Terry Mutchler joined Philadelphia-based midsize firm Dilworth Paxson as a partner. Mutchler created Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records, after she was appointed by former Gov. Ed Rendell in 2008 to serve as its first executive director. After leaving the OOR in 2015, she joined Pepper Hamilton and started a transparency law practice there. In 2017, she left Pepper and later started a new law firm, Mutchler Lyons, with Charlie Lyons. She also joined Lyons' communications firm Shelly Lyons. In her latest move, Mutchler took the entirety of Mutchler Lyons' legal practice to Dilworth Paxson. Her clients include media companies that need help with records requests and other transparency issues, as well as companies in other industries that do business with the government, and therefore find themselves subject to public records laws. Over the past two years she has represented 47 different clients, she said, including defense contractors, pharmaceutical companies, colleges and universities, and health care providers. Midsize Litigation Firm Kaufman Dolowich Adds 4 Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck, a midsize law firm with a national presence, brought on a group of four lawyers from a small Philadelphia law firm, including a partner who was hired to chair the firm's new consumer financial services practice group. Richard Perr, who practiced at Philadelphia firm Fineman Krekstein & Harris for more than two decades, made the move to Kaufman Dolowich along with three associates—Monica Littman, Graeme Hogan and Matthew Selmasska. In addition to running the new practice group, he was asked to serve as a co-managing partner of the firm's Philadelphia office. According to the firm, the addition doubled the size of its Philadelphia office and brought its presence in the region to 14 lawyers—it also has an office in Blue Bell. Firmwide, Kaufman Dolowich has 179 lawyers in 11 locations. Perr said his practice is national, and Kaufman Dolowich's locations across the country were a draw, as well as its stable of lawyers who work with regulatory bodies and who handle financial services matters. He said the increased geographic footprint will simplify litigation in other jurisdictions, including California, New York, Florida and Chicago. Flaster Greenberg Adds 3 to Insurance Recovery Practice Flaster Greenberg welcomed back Lee Epstein and John Koch, along with new addition Matthew Goldstein, to bolster their insurance recovery practice in Philadelphia in August. All three joined as shareholders, making the move together from Weisbrod Matteis & Copley, also in Philadelphia. The group, which brought a national practice to the firm, will be based in the Philadelphia office of the Cherry Hill, New Jersey-based firm—but will primarily serve clients remotely, as the rest of the firm has been doing, during the COVID-19 pandemic. "We wanted to expand our insurance coverage capabilities across the firm, since the group has clients they serve nationally," said Alan Zuckerman, managing shareholder of Flaster Greenberg. "Our strategic plan is to continue to grow this practice group. Especially now, due to the pandemic, there will be an even greater need for insurance recovery lawyers," he said. There are now five attorneys in Flaster Greenberg's insurance recovery practice, including the new group.
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Law Firms Mentioned
- Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr
- Holland & Knight LLP
- Dilworth Paxson
- Ballard Spahr
- Arnstein Lehr
- Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, P.C.
- Pepper Hamilton
- Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young
- Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis
- Hogan Lovells
- Cozen O'Connor
- Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith
- Goldberg Segalla
- Fineman Krekstein & Harris, P.C.
- Lamb McErlane PC
- Flaster Greenberg
- Greenberg Traurig
- Armstrong Teasdale LLP
- Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck, LLP
- Gibbons PC
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