Stroock & Stroock & Lavan announced the opening of a new Washington, D.C., office this week. Sibling publication The National Law Journal reported that the firm launched the office with the addition of partners Chris Griner and Robert Plaze, who arrive from Kaye Scholer and the Securities and Exchange Commission, respectively.
Griner, who will lead the new office as Stroock’s D.C. managing partner, was a special counsel at Kaye Scholer and served as cochair of the firm’s national security, government contracts, and regulatory compliance department. He specializes in matters related to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Plaze—a corporate partner whose clients will include mutual funds and business development companies—previously served as deputy director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management.
The NLJ reports that Stroock previously had an office in the nation’s capital, but closed the location more than a decade ago.
Stroock wasn’t the only Am Law firm to expand to D.C. this week, as the NLJ also reported that Milwaukee-based Michael Best & Friedrich will officially open its own location in the city on June 3 with three lawyers and a patent scientist.
In other Churn news . . .
Tax partner JEREMY NAYLOR has joined Cooley’s New York office from White & Case. Naylor works with private equity, real estate, venture capital, and hedge fund sponsors on tax aspects of structuring investment funds.
Former U.S. Department of Justice official DANIEL SULEIMAN heads back to Covington & Burling as a special counsel in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Suleiman spent the past three years serving as deputy chief of staff to the assistant attorney general in the Justice’s criminal division. Prior to that, he was an attorney at Covington. Suleiman will return to the firm July 1, at which point he will defend clients facing white-collar criminal charges while also handling investigations related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and congressional inquiries.
Dentons has hired corporate partner STEPHEN FIELDS, formerly a partner at McCarter & English. Fields advises fund managers and investment companies on transactions.
Holland & Knight has added MARK DELEGAL as a partner in the firm’s Florida government advocacy team. Formerly with the firm Pennington P.A., Delegal will be based in Holland & Knight’s Tallahassee office, where he will advise Florida-based clients on government affairs issues. Delegal also serves as general counsel to the Safety Net Hospital Alliance of Florida. Holland & Knight also announced the arrival of corporate litigator ROBERT KALER, who is now a partner in the firm’s Boston office. Kaler, who comes from McCarter & English, handles complex commercial litigation.
The former associate general counsel for Midwestern energy utility Aquila Merchant Services Inc., SARAH DOTSON MATHEWS, has left that post to become a senior counsel in the Kansas City office of Husch Blackwell. Mathews, who will work with the firm’s energy group, once worked at Blackwell Sanders, a Husch Blackwell predecessor.
Jones Day’s Chicago office welcomes banking and finance partners LOREN WEIL and MATTHEW O’MEARA, who join the firm from Winston & Strawn. Both partners handle a variety of corporate finance transactions, and O’Meara specializes in leveraged buyouts.
Three lawyers have moved to K&L Gates, with corporate partner VIRGINIA TAM and litigation counsel SACHA CHEONG joining the firm’s Hong Kong office, and IP counsel SOHEUI CHOE is working in Seoul. Most recently with White & Case, Tam focuses on cross-border transactions and a range of other corporate matters. Meanwhile, Cheong comes from Clifford Chance and specializes in complex commercial cases, white-collar crime, employment, construction, and infrastructure matters. Choe, who was previously an attorney at Samsung Electronics, counsels on IP issues in such areas as nanotechnology, chemistry, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals.
Real estate counsel MOUSTAFA SAID has left Clyde & Co for the Abu Dhabi office of King & Spalding, following in the footsteps of real estate partner Stephen Kelly, who made the same move in March. Said specializes in the development, tourism, and leisure sectors of the real estate industry.
Lane Powell is adding shareholders in two offices, with PATRICK FRANKE joining in Seattle and A. JEFFERY BIRD going to the firm’s Portland, Oregon, office. Formerly with Graham & Dunn, Franke has a corporate and transactional practice. Bird, meanwhile, advises clients on, among other things, M&A matters, securities offerings, and proxy contests. He previously practiced at Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt.
SIMONE WILSON-BRITO has rejoined McCarter & English as a real estate partner in the firm’s Newark office. Wilson-Brito was an associate with the firm before leaving to join real estate developer the Rockefeller Group Development Corporation as real estate counsel in 2008. She will work on complex commercial real estate transactions, specifically the financing, leasing, and acquisition of property.
DAVID KATZ is now a partner in the Atlanta office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, where he will advise clients on the development, management, and oversight of privacy and compliance programs. Katz, who will be a part of the Nelson Mullins information management practice, most recently served as a senior legal counsel with lease-to-own retailer Aaron’s Inc.
Reed Smith has added corporate and securities partner JAMES MERCADANTE to its New York office. Mercadante—who arrives from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe—will advise private equity and corporate clients on a variety of fund formation matters.
Seyfarth Shaw is expanding its New York office with three partners arriving from different Am Law firms: corporate partner RAJIV KHANNA, from K&L Gates; litigation partner EDWARD MALUF, from Bingham McCutchen; and, litigation partner PHILIP SMITH, from Patton Boggs. Smith focuses his practice on securities litigation, while Maluf is an intellectual property litigator and Khanna advises on a variety of transactional and finance work.
The Churn is compiled from law firm releases and announcements. Moves based on our own reporting will note this. Please send all announcements and news releases to [email protected].
