New York City. (Photo: Shutterstock.com)

Two partners have exited Kasowitz, Benson Torres for Brown Rudnick in New York, including a former member of President Donald Trump's legal team.

Michael Bowe, who represented Trump along with Marc Kasowitz as the president faced Robert Mueller's widening special counsel probe in 2017, joined Brown Rudnick along with Lauren Tabaksblat. Both will be partners in their new firm's commercial litigation group, which Brown Rudnick said is positioned for "significant expansion" with their arrival.

"The big selling point here was the firm's devotion to building out the New York office dramatically over the next five years," Bowe said of Boston-based Brown Rudnick. He also highlighted  the firm's embrace of third-party litigation funding as a key draw.

"Third-party funding is just starting to transform the litigation landscape in the U.S., and firms that are nimble and smart enough to be in front of this transformation are going to be the most successful," he said in a statement.

The moves come less than a year after a 15-lawyer group took a chunk of Kasowitz' New York-based real estate practice to Vinson & Elkins.

The firm has also faced recent claims that it has failed to keep up with its financial obligations to partners. In a lawsuit filed last month, a partner in Houston said the firm promised to pay him $550,000 per year, didn't pay and then fired him when he raised the issue.

Less than a week later, another partner, this time in California, sued the firm for $190,000 in back pay, saying the firm underpaid due to cash flow issues.

The firm has rejected both partners' allegations, and Bowe declined to comment on the suits.

At Brown Rudnick, Bowe and Tabaksblat said they were eager to continue working with their existing clients while expanding their practices. "I don't think there are going to be any clients that I'm not taking with me," Bowe said. "In terms of building the practice, that was a huge part of coming here. To build something over the course of the next decade or two of my career."

In addition to representing the president, Bowe has represented former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer in the congressional probe that paralleled Mueller's investigation. His practice has revolved around complex white collar and corporate enforcement matters and high stakes disputes, including securities and civil racketeering claims, criminal defense and real estate litigation. Some of his prominent corporate clients have included AIG, Bank of New York, Brookfield Asset Management, Fairfax Financial, Harbinger Capital, chip-maker Altera,  chemicals giant Celanese and MBIA.

"We are playing on the largest field, and strategic additions who share our tenacity and creativity are crucial to expanding our position in the New York market and globally," Bill Baldiga, Brown Rudnick's CEO, said in a statement.

Prior to joining Brown & Rudnick, Bowe spent 20 years at Kasowitz. Before that, he was at Sullivan & Cromwell. Tabaksblat joined Kasowitz out of law school more than a decade ago.

A spokesperson for Kasowitz said "We wish Michael and Lauren all the best in their future endeavors at their new firm."

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