State Senator Farnese Joins Zarwin Baum

State Senator Lawrence Farnese, D-Philadelphia, has left Haddonfield, N.J.-based Archer & Greiner, where he was of counsel, to join Philadelphia-based Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy as of counsel.

State Senator Farnese Joins Zarwin Baum

State Senator Lawrence Farnese, D-Philadelphia, has left Haddonfield, N.J.-based Archer & Greiner, where he was of counsel, to join Philadelphia-based Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy as of counsel.

State Senator Farnese Joins Zarwin Baum

State Senator Lawrence Farnese, D-Philadelphia, has left Haddonfield, N.J.-based Archer & Greiner, where he was of counsel, to join Philadelphia-based Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy as of counsel.

Big Business Joins Obama Effort to Aid Long-Term Unemployed

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DealBook: Former C.E.O. of Willis Group Joins K.K.R. as Senior Adviser

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State Senator Farnese Joins Zarwin Baum

State Senator Lawrence Farnese, D-Philadelphia, has left Haddonfield, N.J.-based Archer & Greiner, where he was of counsel, to join Philadelphia-based Zarwin Baum DeVito Kaplan Schaer Toddy as of counsel.

DealBook: Wesley Clark, Retired General, Joins Blackstone as an Adviser

Lucy Nicholson/ReutersWesley K. Clark will focus on deals in the energy sector.

Wesley K. Clark, a retired Army general and onetime supreme allied commander in Europe for NATO, has joined the Blackstone Group as a deal adviser in the energy sector.

General Clark will also serve as a director of Fisterra Energy, a company formed by Blackstone and a management team led by Pedro Barriuso, a former executive chairman of Element Power. Fisterra focuses on developing and running power projects in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.

Lars Thunell, a former head of the World Bank‘s financing arm, will also join Blackstone as an adviser and Fisterra as a director.

General Clark is the second former Army general to join a private equity firm in as many months. Last month, David H. Petraeus, a retired four-star general and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was hired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to lead its KKR Global Institute.

Since retiring from the Army and briefly running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, General Clark has turned to business matters. He founded a consulting firm, Wesley K. Clark & Associates, that advises clients in a number of areas, including energy.

He is also a co-chairman of Growth Energy, a group representing the American ethanol industry, and a director of BNK Petroleum, an independent oil exploration company.

“Helping countries overcome their energy challenges and develop energy security is critical to economic growth and sustainable development,” General Clark said in a statement. “I am pleased to join Fisterra’s board of directors and look forward to supporting the team as they work to accomplish their goals.”

Andrew Chirls Joins Fineman Krekstein

Andrew C. Chirls has left Philadelphia-based litigation boutique Haines & Associates to join Philadelphia-based general practice firm Fineman Krekstein & Harris.

Retired Philadelphia Judge Gene Cohen Joins Cohen Seglias

Retired Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Gene D. Cohen has joined Philadelphia-based Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman as a partner in its commercial litigation group.

Ex-Banker Joins Corrs Chambers as Partner in Melbourne

By Tom Brennan All Articles 

The Asian Lawyer

February 27, 2013

Corrs Chambers Westgarth has recruited a former investment banker as a partner for its Melbourne office.

Jonathan Farrer will join Corrs Chambers March 1 from Greenhill Caliburn Pty Ltd., the Sydney-based Australian subsidiary of New York boutique investment bank Greenhill & Co. He joined Australian predecessor firm the Caliburn Partnership in 2006.

As a banker, Farrer advised on a number of transactions, including Rio Tinto Group and Mitsubishi Corp.'s $10.8 billion acquisition of Coal & Allied Ltd. in 2011, Newcrest Mining Ltd.'s $9.5 billion purchase of Lihir Gold Ltd. in 2010, and Oxiana Ltd. on its $12 billion merger with Zinifex Ltd. to form OZ Minerals Ltd. in 2008.

Prior to joining Caliburn, Farrer worked in the investment banking division of Macquarie Group for seven years. He worked at the former Allens Arthur Robinson for two years before that.

Corrs Chambers is also boosting its Brisbane office with the addition of partner James Minchinton. An energy and resources specialist, he most recently worked as of counsel at Clayton Utz.

Minchinton's work has focused on project development, exploration activities, and mergers and acquisitions, among other issues, in the energy and resources space. He began his legal career at Clayton Utz in 1998.

Corrs Chambers has around 550 lawyers in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane offices.

Construction Law Group Joins Lewis Brisbois

By Christine Simmons All Articles 

New York Law Journal

January 9, 2013

Ten construction attorneys have left Lester Schwab Katz & Dwyer to join Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith. The group includes senior partner Darrell Whiteley, who will be vice chair of Lewis Brisbois' construction practice, and partners Clare Cunningham and Joshua Jemal. Cunningham was an associate and Jemal was of counsel at Lester Schwab. The other seven are associates.

Whiteley said the group defends construction companies and developers. Their clients have included Tishman Construction Corp., Hunter Roberts Construction Group, Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, he said.

Los Angeles-based Lewis Brisbois has about 850 attorneys in 25 offices, including about 90 lawyers in New York. Whiteley, who practiced at 60-attorney Lester Schwab for 19 years, said he wanted the opportunity to practice at a firm with a larger footprint. He said some construction companies no longer operate regionally. "The scope of this firm is one that suits the construction industry," he said, adding that the departure from Lester Schwab was amicable. "They've been very gracious," he said.

Michael McDonagh, managing partner of Lester Schwab, said many of the firm's partners represent construction companies in accident and labor law cases. "We did not lose any capability to defend those type of matters on behalf of our clients" and the group's departure will "have no effect on the viability" of the firm, he said. Lester Schwab hired two attorneys this week and is looking to fill other positions, he said.

Retired Philadelphia Judge Gene Cohen Joins Cohen Seglias

Retired Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Gene D. Cohen has joined Philadelphia-based Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman as a partner in its commercial litigation group.

Baker & McKenzie Joins Korea Rush

By Tom Brennan All Articles 

The Asian Lawyer

November 21, 2012

Baker & McKenzie has added its name to the list of firms looking to enter Korea.

The Chicago-based firm announced Tuesday it had applied to the Korean Ministry of Justice for approval to open an office in Seoul. Baker & McKenzie joins almost 20 other international firms that have also applied or stated their intention to do so.

Several, including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Ropes & Gray, and Clifford Chance, have already been approved and have officially opened their offices in Seoul.

Baker & McKenzie said Nam Hung Paik will lead the office once the application is granted. Paik's current position at the firm is unclear. Though once a Chicago partner at the firm, Paik was described in the firm's announcement only as a "veteran lawyer" and has no profile on the Baker & McKenzie website.

Neither a firm spokesperson nor Hong Kong-based Korea practice head Won Lee responded to requests for comment.

In a statement, the firm said its Seoul office would be focusing primarily on cross-border matters for Korean companies, including mergers and acquisitions, antitrust and intellectual property litigation.

The office will be Baker & McKenzie's 73rd worldwide, and its 15th in the Asia-Pacific region.

Another Former Googler Joins the Twitter Flock

Nicole Wong, Twitter legal director
courtesy photo

Nicole Wong, former VP and deputy general counsel at Google, announced her new job Monday via Twitter.

It was more than social networking, considering Twitter is also her new employer.

"New nest. Excited to #jointheflock," Wong tweeted.

Twitter Inc. GC Alexander Macgillivray, another ex-Googler, also tweeted his official comment: "So excited to be working with Nicole again!"

The micro-blogging company based in San Francisco has been beefing up its legal functions recently by raiding Google Inc.'s in-house department.

Wong's arrival comes on the heels of Amy Keating, an associate litigation counsel for Google, also defecting to Twitter.

Wong, who worked at Google from 2004 to 2011, joins Twitter as a director in the legal department. She was previously a partner at Perkins Coie.

The UC-Berkeley School of Law grad has a background in First Amendment issues and was featured in a 2008 New York Times article for her role helping Google decide what YouTube and other content would be accessible in foreign countries.

A Twitter spokesman said Wong was not available for an interview.

Linklaters Amsterdam Partner Joins DLA Piper in Sydney

By Jessica Seah All Articles 

The Asian Lawyer

November 19, 2012

Linklaters Amsterdam partner Onno Bakker is leaving the Magic Circle firm to join the Sydney office of DLA Piper early next year.

Bakker, who heads the Netherlands finance practice at Linklaters, specializes in syndicated lending and acquisition finance. He primarily advises international investment banks and sponsors on complex cross-border transactions.

Last year, Bakker led a team of lawyers advising Dutch financial services group ING Groep N.V. as coordinator and banks ABN Amro Group N.V. and Rabobank N.V. as agents on a $798 million refinancing facility for construction company Koninklijke BAM Groep N.V.

Bakker is qualified in both the U.K. and Australia, and previously worked for a year as an associate at Clayton Utz before joining Linklaters in 2002. He was first based in Linklaters' London office and later moved to Amsterdam with the firm in 2004. Bakker became a partner in 2007.

Longtime Willkie Farr Attorney Joins Morrison Cohen

By Leigh Jones All Articles 

New York Law Journal

November 9, 2012

Ninety-attorney Morrison Cohen has brought aboard a longtime Willkie Farr & Gallagher attorney to its litigation department.

Terence McLaughlin, 42, joined New York's Morrison Cohen as a partner on November 1. He had worked at Willkie Farr for 17 years, first as a summer associate and, starting in 2005, as a partner.

McLaughlin, who represents financial institutions, hedge funds, corporations and business executives in litigation, said he liked that Morrison Cohen focuses on middle-market clients, a concentration better aligned with his practice.

"As a relatively young person, I was looking at how to go about building a business at a $900-plus billable rate," he said. "I felt that [Morrison Cohen] was a more interesting platform."

A spokesman for Willkie Farr did not respond to a request for comment.

Morrison Cohen's practices include corporate law, bankruptcy, employment law, litigation, real estate, tax and intellectual property.

David Scherl, managing partner of Morrison Cohen, said that McLaughlin would play a "significant role" in servicing the firm's existing clients. "We also expect that institutional clients that have worked with Terry prior to joining us will welcome our dramatically more rational billing rates," Scherl said.

Pietragallo Gordon's Corporate Co-Chair Joins Eckert Seamans

Corporate attorney David P. Franklin has joined Pittsburgh-based Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott as a member from Pittsburgh-based Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, where he was a partner and co-chair of the business/corporate practice.

Qatar Airways Joins Oneworld Alliance

The global airline alliances are moving into the Middle East.

American Airlines and British Airways said Monday that Qatar Airways would join their Oneworld alliance, giving them access to one of the world’s fastest-growing airlines and a modern hub in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The announcement came just hours after Air France-KLM revealed a commercial partnership with Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. And last month, Emirates of Dubai, the biggest of the Persian Gulf’s vibrant carriers, announced a wide-ranging combination with Qantas Airlines of Australia.

“It’s a recognition they are taking Gulf carriers seriously after writing them off,” said Akbar Al Baker, the chief executive of Qatar Airways. “When you cannot defeat someone, you’ve got to join them.”

These deals are just the latest in a flurry of global partnerships in recent months. The three big airline coalitions — Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld — have been busy courting new members in China, Latin America and the Middle East as air travel becomes more global and major business markets expand well beyond the traditional routes between the United States and Europe.

The alliances offer passengers — particularly frequent fliers and business travelers — more destinations, easier connections and the ability to transfer frequent-flier miles among airlines. It also gives them access to business lounges at more airports across the world as well as speedier check-in and boarding.

Formed in the mid-1990s to make connections between flights easier and to offer more destinations than airlines could offer on their own, over time alliances have created deeper bonds among some of their members.

SkyTeam, whose members include Delta Air Lines, Air France-KLM and China Southern, has expanded its partnerships in China, signing on China Eastern and Xiamen Airlines. It added Taiwan’s China Airlines recently. It also brought in Saudi Airlines and Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines. For its part, Star Alliance, the biggest of the three alliances, is adding Shenzhen Airlines of China and EVA Airlines of Taiwan, and also signed big Latin American carriers in June — Copa Airlines and the merged AviancaTaca airline.

The deals with the Middle East carriers signify a major turning point for traditional airlines, which have unsuccessfully tried to fend them off and sought to block their expansion in Europe. Global alliances have filled in big chunks of the world in recent years, but there are still significant white spots on the map, particularly in India and Latin America.

“It’s like the opening phase of Monopoly, where you’re busy buying up property across the board,” said Dominique Patry, the vice president for international affairs and alliances at Air France-KLM. “That work is not entirely over yet.”

But even as the alliances grow, some airlines are still seeking partnerships outside them. Qantas, for instance, is a member of Oneworld, and its deal with Emirates effectively put an end to its longstanding relationship with British Airways, another Oneworld member.

Michael Wisbrun, the managing director of SkyTeam, said the carriers had focused so far on expanding their global footprint. “The focus now,” he added, “will be more on enhancing the customer experience.”

The alliance, he said, recently introduced a service called SkyPriority that will expand to over 1,000 airports by the end of the year. Elite passengers from any alliance airline will get the same priority lanes for checking-in and for boarding, allowing travelers to navigate airports faster, whether in Moscow, Atlanta or Nairobi, Kenya.

Charlie Pappas, the head of alliances at Delta, said: “If you fly to Beijing and then connect to a flight with China Eastern, we seek to replicate Atlanta’s best practices. The same if you fly with Air France to Seoul or with Aeromexico to Amsterdam.”

Some airlines are seeking deeper ties still. Delta, Air France-KLM and Alitalia, for instance, have pooled their trans-Atlantic flights through a joint venture that allows them to coordinate ticket prices, schedules and routes on all their flights between the United States and Europe. They split revenue and costs, and share the profit from the venture, which obtained antitrust immunity from competition regulators in the United States and Europe. The venture generates about $10 billion to $12 billion in revenue a year.

Other airlines have established similar partnerships. United Airlines, Lufthansa and Air Canada operate their trans-Atlantic flights along a similar model, as do American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia. American and JAL also have a joint venture on their United States-Japan routes.

All these new businesses have been helped by open skies agreements that have allowed unrestricted access to airports between the United States and other countries, particularly in Europe. Because of restrictions on foreign ownership, these joint ventures are the closest the airlines can cooperate without merging. In fact, a joint study by the European Commission and the Department of Transportation in November 2010 said these alliances were “effectively a close substitute to a merger.”

Mr. Patry, of Air France, said: “The airline industry remains very fragmented. But, eventually, alliances may be a vehicle for the consolidation of the airline industry. There would be the logical thing.”