K&L Gates Opens New Office in Nashville
Global law firm K&L Gates LLP has launched a new office in Nashville, Tennessee. The new office will be the firm’s 24th office nationally and 45th globally. The firm has hired more than 25 attorneys for its new location to offer services across a range of practice areas including litigation, healthcare, corporate, intellectual property, finance, and construction.
The Nashville region serves as a major corporate hub for many public companies across the healthcare, automobile, and retail sectors and has also witnessed increased venture capital investment in recent years. The region has also seen increased business activity in recent years and companies from the technology, financial and many other industries have relocated to or expanded their presence in the area. Taking note of the same, the firm said that their new office will provide the firm and its clients access to one of the nation’s fastest-growing markets.
K&L Gates LLP has hired 18 partners to join its new Nashville office. These partners come from different law firms including Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP; Butler Snow LLP; Dickinson Wright PLLC; and Bass, Berry & Sims PLC.
Four partners, who have joined the firm from Waller, focus their practice on the healthcare industry. Ken Marlow, who joins the firm as a partner served as the chair for Waller’s healthcare practice consisting of more than 200 attorneys across the nation. Kim Looney, another partner joining the firm, advises hospitals and physician organizations, outpatient service and long-term care providers, and home and hospice organizations. Stephen Page, who also joins the firm as a partner has two and a half decades of combined in-house and private practice experience. His practice focuses on federal and state anti-kickback laws, patient privacy and data security issues, Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse, and physician self-referral prohibitions. Wells Beckett, the fourth attorney from Waller to join as a partner, advises healthcare companies on the structuring and negotiation of a variety of transactions and business matters including mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures.
Nine other attorneys have joined the firm as partners after parting ways with Butler Snow LLP. These include Adam Smith, Joseph Welborn III, Charles Malone, Jason Callen, Lauren Patten, Erin Palmer Polly, Robert Walker, Beau Creson, and David Bartz.
Four attorneys who have joined the firm as partners after leaving Dickinson Wright PLLC include Jack R. (Rob) Dodson III, Slade Sevier, Emma Wolfe, and Ryan Lee. R. Gregory Parker, another attorney to join as a partner has moved to the firm from Bass, Berry & Sims PLC.
Craig Budner, K&L Gates’ Global Strategic Growth Partner said, “This is truly an exciting day and development for K&L Gates, Our firm has observed Nashville’s growth with keen interest in recent years. Not only does the region present many opportunities in areas including health care and related investment, but our ability to recruit such a prominent and varied group of partners for the Nashville office’s launch clearly demonstrates the enthusiasm of lawyers and clients in the region for the presence of a fully integrated global law firm with the breadth of practice area capabilities, industry insights and knowledge, and geographic reach that K&L Gates offers.”