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Biglaw watchers are probably exhausted from hearing about the intense lateral market. It’s a recurrent theme that has ripple effects throughout the industry. Given that backdrop, it probably isn’t surprising that we now have on our hands the largest lateral move in 20 years (outside of a firm merger context).
A whopping 43 attorneys are moving from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan to Paul Hastings — essentially transplanting the entire restructuring team from one firm to another. Involved in the move are 18 partners and 25 associates and counsel who will arrive at Paul Hastings over the course of April. Law.com has the details:
Kristopher Hansen leads the team moving from Stroock to Paul Hastings, and heads up the advance group arriving next week. Also arriving ahead of the full team are Alex Cota, Daniel Fliman, Brett Lawrence, Jayme Goldstein, Jon Canfield, Matt Schwartz, Erez Gilad, Frank Merola, Allison Miller and Sayan Bhattacharyya.
All the new arrivals will be based in New York except Merola, who is located in Los Angeles.
Hansen, who was Stroock’s financial restructuring group practice leader, will be co-chair of Paul Hastings’ restructuring practice, serving aside existing chair Luc Despins. Cota led Stroock’s specialty finance business unit, Fliman led its impact litigation unit, and Lawrence led distressed M&A.
Paul Hastings chair-elect Frank Lopez pointed to the unique nature of the move, saying it’s “one of those unicorn situations that happens once in a decade in the legal market.”
“It is an elite team of restructuring special situations lawyers coming together with the great foundation we already have in restructuring,” said Lopez, noting that while the combination of the teams would be “incredible in any market,” the timing seemed particularly good as macroeconomic indicators—such as rising interest rates, inflation and geopolitical turmoil—point to a climate that could lead to “distress.”
And the new co-chair seems pretty pleased with his new Biglaw home:
“What was so attractive for us about Paul Hastings was their absolute powerhouse reputation in areas such as specialty lending, structured products, private equity and other important financial services areas. From a marketplace perspective, being able to link up with a team with their level of eliteness is really exciting—and we think it will be groundbreaking,” said Hansen, noting that Paul Hastings already had a “robust” restructuring practice with a significant presence in key restricting areas like official committees and debtor-side clients, as well as a global footprint reaching the U.K., France, Germany and Latin and South America. “From day one, we are going to be literally the number one or two practice in the creditor side of the restructuring market, and then grow from there.”
Not that he’s willing to badtalk his old firm:
Hansen called Stroock a “wonderful firm” with “amazing practices” in real estate, litigation, insurance- and financial-related services, and intellectual property.
“The sky’s the limit for them because those practices are growing and thriving at the firm,” he said. “They’ve also got a great and growing footprint in LA, Miami, D.C. and New York, and they have been an absolutely wonderful firm to work for and be part of for the last 28 years.”
And Stroock has been busy capitalizing on the hot lateral market themselves — adding 20 lateral partners over the last year and a half. Stroock co-chair Jeff Keitelman said the firm is pursuing its “midsize approach” saying, “Obviously we’re personally sad to see the group go. They are a talented and accomplished team who’ve made solid contributions to our firm over many year. We understand that they want a larger platform and all that goes with it. This is simply an instance of interests diverging. It’s a respectful and congenial parting of the ways, and we wish them well.”
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
