Legal Industry Hiring News: October 2021 (Part 1)

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Legal Industry Hiring News: October 06, 2021 (Part 1)

Not even a week has passed by that October started and the legal industry is already seeing a lot of activity on the hiring front. The month started with the news of 151 partner promotions at Kirkland & Ellis. With respect to lateral hiring, prominent government lawyers returned to private practice.

Kirkland & Ellis announced these 151 promotions across the firm’s Austin, Bay Area, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, New York, Washington D.C., Paris, Hong Kong, London, and Munich offices. In the United States, the maximum number of promotions were made in the firm’s New York and Chicago Offices. Other highlights of the past few days include:

  

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• Paul Ney, former General Counsel of the United States Department of Defense has joined Momentus Inc. as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary.
• Adam L. Braverman, former U.S. Attorney and Associate Deputy Attorney General joined Morrison & Foerster’s San Diego office as a partner.
• David Kornblau, a prominent SEC and CFTC enforcement practitioner, joined Dentons’ New York office from Covington.

Adam L. Braverman Joins Morrison & Foerster in San Diego

Morrison & Foerster has announced that Adam L. Braverman, who most recently served in senior leadership roles at the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), has joined the firm in its San Diego office. Braverman joins the firm as a partner in its Investigations+White Collar Defense Group. Previously, Braverman has served in multiple administrations as an Associate Deputy Attorney General and he has more than 20 years of experience in internal investigations, white-collar matters, and litigation.

His experience also includes working with different law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Marshals Service, INTERPOL, Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, and other state and local law enforcement agencies. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, he was tasked with the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting frauds relating to Covid-19 and CARES Act relief funds. While serving as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, he supervised a group of more than 300 professionals and prosecuted many significant domestic and international cases.

Braverman is the ninth former senior government official who has joined the firm this year. In the Investigations+White Collar Defense Group alone, the firm has added four former government lawyers this year including Brian K. Kidd, Brandon Van Grack, Katherine (Kate) Driscoll, and Nathan Reilly.

Bradley Wine, Morrison & Foerster’s Global Litigation Department Co-Chair, said, “Throughout his career at the DOJ, Adam has built a stellar reputation. His early career experience clerking in trial and appellate courts, and working in private practice adds to his impressive DOJ credentials and courtroom experience. Adam’s joining further solidifies the firm’s strength across investigations, white-collar defense, and crisis management, at a time when our clients see increasing government enforcement. His experience prosecuting COVID-19 relief fraud will also enable us to offer unmatched insider enforcement perspectives to our clients in this novel area.”

Commenting on his latest move, Braverman said, “I am excited to join a firm of Morrison & Foerster’s caliber, whose strong global reputation, significant investment white-collar practice, and deep roots in California set it apart. I am impressed by the firm’s ability to successfully integrate former government officials, by its culture and its commitment to our communities and diversity in the profession.”

Braverman is also a recipient of many coveted awards including an award for exceptional service from the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division (2019), a DOJ honor for superior performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney (2017), and the J. Michael Bradford Award from the National Association of Former United States Attorneys for most outstanding performance by an Assistant U.S. Attorney (2016).

David Kornblau Joins Dentons From Covington

David Kornblau, former Chair of the Securities Enforcement Practice at Covington & Burling LLP has joined Dentons as a partner in the firm’s New York office. He is a leading Securities Enforcement Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) lawyer and defends clients in complex and sensitive internal investigations, regulatory investigations, and securities litigations, both nationally and internationally.

Kornblau joins Dentons after a 12-year stint at Covington. Before joining Covington, he worked at Merrill Lynch as the Managing Director and Head of Global Regulatory affairs and handled the firm’s 10-member legal team. Before that, he worked at the SEC for over 10 years, where he also served as the Chief Litigation Counsel between 2000 and 2005. He has been consistently ranked as a top legal practitioner for securities enforcement by leading legal publications.

His clients include securities firms, stock exchanges, public companies, asset management companies, senior executives, traders, and portfolio managers. Kornblau started his legal career as a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. He received his JD from Harvard Law School. He also involves himself in pro bono matters and recently, he secured a favorable ruling from the New York Appellate Division that establishes the defendant’s right to an evidentiary hearing on applications for temporary orders of protection in the New York State Criminal Courts.

Sandra Hauser, head of Dentons’ Commercial Litigation Practice, said, “We are thrilled to welcome David to our growing team, and to build upon the Firm’s demonstrated strength in the financial services sector. David’s addition will particularly benefit our securities and commodities regulatory practice, and our clients around the world who may be facing scrutiny from the SEC or other US government agencies. Helping clients navigate serious Government investigations is where David excels.”

Paul Ney, Former General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense Joins Momentus Inc.

Paul Ney, former General Counsel of the United States Department of Defense, has joined Momentus Inc., a commercial space company as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. The company plans to offer in-space infrastructure services Ney brings with him nearly forty years of private practice and public service experience.

During his most recent role as the General Counsel of the Department of Defense, he headed a team of more than 12,000 lawyers serving the Department’s over 2.8 million military and security personnel. The U.S. Space Force and the U.S. Space command were established during his tenure at the Department. He also served the Department’s Standards of Conduct Office as the Designated Agency Ethics Official.

His previous government roles include working as the Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Tennessee, the Director of the Nashville Davidson County Mayor’s Office of Economic and Community Development, and the Principal Deputy and the acting General Counsel of the United States Department of the Navy.

Ney is a registered patent attorney and his private practice experience includes working at Patterson Intellectual Property Law, P.C and Trauger, Ney & Tuke. He has more than two decades of experience in litigating intellectual property matters.

John Rood, CEO of Momentus Inc., said, “Paul and I collaborated on the most critical national security and defense challenges during our time at the Pentagon and I look forward to his partnership at Momentus Inc. His leadership is crucial to our team as we navigate the opportunities of a developing space economy, grow the Company, and implement our National Security Agreement. Paul will also play a key role in protecting our critical technology and intellectual property.”

Speaking about his new role, Ney said, “I admire John’s vision and share his values, and I’m excited to join him and the Momentus team. It’s a compelling time for the space industry, and I look forward to contributing to the Company’s work on creating and providing in-space infrastructure services that can enable people, industries, and companies to use space in new ways.”