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Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, a New York-based global law firm with more than 1200 lawyers, hired seven high-profile lawyers in line with its major expansion plan. Dewey said that the extensive experience of the seven additional partners will strengthen the firm’s global presence. The seven newly-hired lawyers are previously partners from other prestigious firms such as Baker & McKenzie, Dechert, Howrey and Sullivan & Cromwell. The seven new partners at Dewey are: Henry C. Bunsow, Denise Mory and Brian Smith, former Howrey IP litigation partners who will be based at Dewey’s San Francisco office; Craig Allison, a former patent litigation partner at Dechert who will join the Silicon Valley office; Karl Hopkins and Steven Otillar, previously oil and gas partners at Baker & McKenzie who will now report to the Houston office of Dewey; and James Carter , a former Sullivan & Cromwell’s who will join in Dewey’s New York office.
Steven Davis, chairman at Dewey, said that the moves have been under negotiation for the past few months as part of the firm’s expansion. “Ever since the [Dewey Ballentine/LeBoeuf Lamb] merger, we’ve had our program in place to build up key practice areas with the highest quality people we can find” Davis noted that the seven additional partners will boost the firm’s key practice areas such as global energy practice. “The additions of Hopkins and Otillar are expected to boost Dewey’s global energy practice–Hopkins has represented Middle Eastern-based oil and gas companies, as well as the Turkish government, while Otillar has handled energy acquisition and renewable energy projects in China, Brazil, and Latin America.”
Jeffrey Kessler, chairman of the firm’s global litigation department, expressed his excitement over the latest news. He said that more and more partners are being attracted to join Dewey due to the firm’s unique qualities that set it aside from other law firms. “There are three or four things we think make us unique. We have a major presence in the largest financial sectors, we make sure we have a strategic presence in the most important jurisdictions worldwide, we have a major emphasis on technology from a global side, and we have a balance between litigation and corporate, as well as a sector emphasis on key areas like energy, green issues, and financial issues relating to insurance. There are a lot of firms that have a few of those pieces, but it’s hard to find another firm that has all those pieces.” Kessler added that Dewey is still in talks with other partners from different firms, but didn’t elaborate on the details. “I don’t think this will be the last announcement we make during this first quarter. We hope to announce comparable additions in other areas and we’re very excited about the quality of people that want to come to our firm.”
