In one of the most important lateral institution departures from Kasowitz Benson Torres, 15 actual property transactional attorneys leave the litigation company to join Vinson & Elkins, a first-rate growth for the Texas-based firm’s footprint in New York.
The statement, made by Vinson & Elkins on Monday morning, comes just over per week after ALM said that New York-based companions Wallace Schwartz, Adam Endick, and Julia Sanabria were poised to make the circulate. Instead, their new company said they’d be joined via nine buddies, three suggest, and 3 paralegals.
A V&E consultant said the recommend joining the firm from Kasowitz: Sander Ash, Marlene Guzzino, and Francesca Venezia. The associates becoming a member of V&E consist of Stephanie Felix, Shane Goodhue, Elisha Lerner, Christy Mazzola, Jason Robinson, Abram Seaman-Baldaro, Steven Shafer, Michael Svetich and Tyler Vinal.
Schwartz stated in an interview that he had nothing, however properly things to mention about his time at the Kasowitz firm. But Vinson & Elkins gave his crew a possibility to paintings with other transactional businesses that honestly didn’t exist at the Kasowitz firm. He said, and a possibility to go-sell services to vintage and new clients.
“It became by no means a part of their plan [at Kasowitz] to enlarge into other transactional groups,” Schwartz said. “At this factor in our practice, we actually need a guide from groups like tax and [real estate investment trusts] and personal fairness, environmental, hard work-employment — I ought to go on and on. So that’s what Vinson & Elkins has to provide us.”
For Vinson & Elkins, the addition of the Kasowitz organization amounts to the extensive growth of its New York workplace, which indexed sixty-five lawyers online as of Monday morning. Cliff Thau, who co-leads V&E’s New York workplace, said in a declaration that he was “devoted to strategically increasing here and across the firm.”
Schwartz, who was a co-coping with an accomplice at the Kasowitz company, said V&E had about 20 legal professionals, maximum of them in Texas, who did similar work to what his team from Kasowitz did.
The declaration by way of Vinson & Elkins comes in the wake of closing year’s announcement utilizing the company that it was eyeing New York, among other markets, for expansion. Firm chairman Mark Kelly said the company was hiring legal professionals for its non-public equity, finance, leveraged finance, company, and capital markets practices.
Meanwhile, the movements mark any other organization’s exit at Kasowitz in the latest years, after the departures of key people from coverage restoration and matrimonial law businesses. From 2013 to 2018, the company’s headcount has fallen from 372 to 258.
It’s unclear what the total repercussions of the circulate can be for the Kasowitz firm, which recounted the accomplice departures after they have been first pronounced but stated they could have no impact on its litigation recognition.
Schwartz declined to say what amount of revenue his group becomes accountable for.
“We have usually been targeted on being the preeminent litigation firm inside the country, and the departure of this transactional group has no impact on that core electricity or our usual practice,” said managing companion Marc Kasowitz in a declaration on March 29.
The Kasowitz company has made some prominent lateral hires within the closing year, including bringing on Kevin Arquit, a former Federal Trade Commission authentic who joined the company earlier this 12 months as an associate from Weil, Gotshal & Manges. In addition, last 12 months, Kasowitz Benson Torres opened a workplace in Aspen, Colorado, led through litigation companion David Bovino.
The company did now not at once reply to a message seeking comment Monday on the 15-lawyer institution flow to Vinson & Elkins.
The Kasowitz company has touted the success of its actual property practice, noting on its internet site that it ranked many of the top 10 firms in real estate transaction extent in New York City for every of the beyond two years. From July 2017 to June 2018, the group worked on offers valued at almost $500 million, the firm’s internet site said.
And while Schwartz and Endick joined from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in 2011, Marc Kasowitz was quoted in a press launch announcing the company had acquired “repeated requests … from our present litigation clients” to provide real property transactions offerings.
