Two new faces at Dewey Ballantine, Italian connections hang

03/13/07

Two new faces at Dewey Ballantine, Italian connections hang
International law firm Dewey Ballantine LLP, hired two partners to its Structured Finance Group in its New York City headquarters. Vastly experienced in private equity practice, both John J. Altorelli and Jeffrey A. Potash joined the firm from Reed Smith's New York office. Altorelli practices in mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations, private placements, and public offerings of securities. Potash has vast experience in corporate practice and as an in-house counsel. He also held several executive positions with public and private companies.

Welcoming the duo, James A. FitzPatrick, Dewey Ballantine's Global Corporate Department head said, the firm will leverage on their expertise to offer its clients the most complex corporate transactions.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that Dewey Ballantine's proposed eastward move hit roadblocks. The firm's plans for an alliance and possible merger with Italian boutique Galgano soured. The Bologna, Italy-based law firm, Galgano, is headed by Francesco Galgano, a leading banking and corporate attorney. The firm's tax group head at Milan, Paolo Troiano, decided to abandon ship before the probable tie-up.

Troiano is planning to set up his own firm with two other partner-colleagues, Alfredo Malgeri and Massimiliano Mancusi. The firm is expected to open shop at the year's end. Few other fee-earners from the Italian firm are also expected to follow them. Troiano is reportedly not comfortable with the possibility of conflicts of interests arising from the merger with the "Anglo-Saxon firm."

Covington strengthens litigation arm
Washington, DC-based Covington & Burling hired two lateral partners to strengthen its litigation practice group. David Bayless, who is joining the firm as securities litigation partner, comes from Morrison & Foerster. Michael Schlanger, who also joins as a litigation partner, earlier served Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. Covington's San Francisco office's head count is escalating with Bayless' joining as the 11th partner. The firm has almost 500 attorneys. Bayless served MoFo's large securities litigation practice for seven years. Schlanger, who was with Covington 30 years ago, said that now it seems almost a home coming for him. Covington's securities litigation and enforcement practice group is based mainly in Washington, DC, and New York.

FUN NEWS

A woman cannot what a man can
Largo City manager, Steve Stanton lost his job after declaring that he was a transgender. He expressed his desire to undergo sex-change in order to become Susan Stanton. His declaration was immediately followed by reactions of bigots who denounced Stanton as a deviant. Stanton had an excellent record as a City Manager and served the city of Largo, Florida, for the past 14 years. He maintained and increased the city's prosperity, as admitted both by the public and by the City officials. However, the city council met on 27 March to decide on Stanton's fate. They found him untrustworthy in a 5-2 vote. Seems the idea is that the same person as a woman can't do what that person did as a man. The trustworthiness and capacity is lost, you see.