Various news from Law Firms

12/05/06

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP, hires new partner
Brian Pass has joined the Century City office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP, as a partner in its entertainment, media, and communications and intellectual property groups. Senior Associate Kevin Straw will be joining Pass as he moves to Sheppard Mullin. Both attorneys most recently practiced with Brown Raysman in Los Angeles, where Pass led the firm's West Coast technology, media, and communications practice. Pass focuses his practice on high-technology and corporate law. He represents technology, entertainment, and media clients in matters related to licensing, development, and distribution of computer software, web-based services and applications, hardware development and OEM relationships, new media and website licensing, development and marketing, intellectual property and trade secret protection, broadband communications, interactive television, and e-commerce.

Sills, Cummis, Epstein & Gross, PC, welcomes seven first-year associates
Seven first-year associates have recently joined New Jersey-based Sills, Cummis, Epstein & Gross, PC. The new hires are Megan Clark, Monique Cofer, Laura Grosshans, Alexandra Miller Khorover, Margo Katz Rosenberg, David Rubenstein, and Helen Aertker Schultz. Clark returns to Sills Cummis following her summer clerkship at the firm last year. Cofer also joins Sills Cummis following her summer clerkship with the firm last year. Grosshans clerked with Sills Cummis last year and now returns as an associate in the employment and labor practice group. Khorover returns to Sills Cummis after clerking with the firm last spring in its health and hospital law practice group. Rosenberg also spent the summer of 2005 with the firm as a law clerk and now returns as a full-time associate in the real estate practice group. Rubenstein joins the firm as a litigation associate following his judicial clerkship with Judge Garry S. Rothstadt in Passaic County. Schultz joins the real estate practice group following her summer clerkship with Sills Cummis last year.

Sheppard Mullin's Del Mar Heights office moves to accommodate influx of new attorneys
The Del Mar Heights office of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP, has moved, after spending five years at its previous Del Mar Heights address, to a new location at 12275 El Camino Real, Suite 200, San Diego, CA, 92130. The move will enhance the firm's ability to serve the needs of its Northern San Diego County clients. The full-service office is home to more than 45 attorneys and has room for further growth and expansion. Additions to the office's intellectual property practice include Mauricio Flores from McDermott, Will & Emery in Orange County, David Heisey from Luce Forward in San Diego, Daniel Yannuzzi from Morrison & Foerster in San Diego, and Michael Eisenberg from Fulwider Patton in Los Angeles. Tony Eppert joined the Del Mar office last month as head of the firm-wide executive compensation practice. Eppert came to the firm from Morrison & Foerster in San Diego.

Allen & Overy bolsters U.S. litigation practice
In a move to consolidate operations in the U.S., international firm Allen & Overy, LLP, bolstered its litigation practice group by hiring leading arbitration attorney Louis B. "Benno" Kimmelman. With experience in arbitration and litigation related to a range of complex commercial and construction disputes, Kimmelman, a former partner with O'Melveny & Myers, LLP, has represented U.S. and foreign parties, as well as sovereign entities, in international disputes before arbitral tribunals and state and federal courts. The firm considers the addition of Kimmelman to the U.S. office a crucial development in view of the fact that its number of international arbitration proceedings, including investment treaty claims, has grown dramatically, as has the complexity and value of those proceedings. Kimmelman's expertise will help to strengthen the firm's network of attorneys who can bridge the legal and cultural divides of international arbitrations and investment treaty claims.

Gibson Dunn strengthens corporate transactions group in Europe
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, has strengthened its corporate transactions practice group by hiring Capital Markets Partner Dorothee Fischer-Appelt at its London office. Formerly, as an employee in Allen & Overy's London office, Fischer-Appelt focused on capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and restructurings. She has represented issuers, sellers, and underwriters in several high-profile equity and debt financings, including matters involving IPOs and rights offerings, in a number of European countries. The London corporate practice group of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher offers UK and U.S. legal expertise regarding all aspects of public and private mergers and acquisitions, financings, and joint venture transactions; the firm also represents clients seeking access to the U.S. and European capital markets.

Prominent federal fraud prosecutor named Partner at Baker & McKenzie
Robert W. Kent, Jr., has been appointed Partner in the North American Litigation Practice Group at the Chicago office of Baker & McKenzie, LLP. Kent comes from the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, where he served as Chief of the Complex Fraud Section. He brings to the firm experience in investigating and prosecuting high-profile fraud cases, which will help the firm to expand its white-collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation, internal investigation, and compliance practices. A leading global law firm, Baker & McKenzie has more than 3,000 attorneys working in offices in 38 countries.