Chicago. Photo: Shutterstock

White & Case, which opened a Chicago office in June with the ambitious plan of expanding it to 100 lawyers “with all due speed,” is slowly working its way toward that goal.

On Thursday, the global legal giant announced its addition of Greenberg Traurig corporate partner Raymond Bogenrief to its rapidly expanding Windy City outpost. Bogenrief officially came aboard late last week as a partner in White & Case's M&A and private equity practice.

“It's not that often that these sorts of firms open up in new, major metropolitan areas,” Bogenrief said. “And when they do, it really offers a fantastic opportunity to be on the ground floor of something really exciting.”

Bogenrief began his legal career in 2007 at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, where in 2013 he became one of that firm's annual legions of new nonequity partners. Less than a year later, Bogenrief decamped for Vedder Price, where he remained for about two years before jumping to Greenberg Traurig's Chicago office in 2016 as a member of its corporate and securities group.

At Greenberg Traurig, Bogenrief worked side-by-side on a number of projects and deals with Gary Silverman, a partner who joined White & Case two months ago along with white-collar specialist Carolyn Gurland to set up the firm's Chicago office along with longtime White & Case partner Jason Zakia, head of the firm's U.S. disputes practice and its new Chicago office leader.

Ray Bogenrief

“To have an opportunity to reconnect with [Silverman] was really fantastic,“ Bogenrief said.

Bogenrief, who social media reveals is a friend of television personality Brody Jenner, focuses his practice on complex business transactions, particularly leveraged buyouts for private equity funds and cross-border M&A deals. He also works with public and private companies and venture capital firms in negotiating and structuring acquisitions and divestitures, equity and debt financings and executive compensation, among other matters.

“We are thrilled to welcome a highly skilled M&A attorney such as [Bogenrief] to our growing Chicago office,” said a statement from White & Case global head of M&A John Reiss, who earlier this week advised seltzer maker SodaStream International Ltd. on its $3.2 billion sale to PepsiCo Inc. “He will be instrumental in supporting and building our global private equity practice from Chicago.”

White & Case entered the Chicago market as part of its five-year strategic plan to expand in the United States. In late July, the firm welcomed aboard Thomas Horenkamp from DLA Piper as a partner for its M&A and private equity practice in Chicago. White & Case, which had a record-high $1.8 billion in gross revenue last year, has also been busy expanding elsewhere.

The firm put down Houston roots in February after making lateral additions from Andrews Kurth and Vinson & Elkins. Since then, White & Case's Houston office has grown to some 20 lawyers via lateral hires from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, King & Spalding and Paul Hastings. In London, White & Case also welcomed aboard a pair of partners earlier this month from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

As for Greenberg Traurig, the international firm recently added an eight-lawyer health care team from Husch Blackwell in Denver and picked up pairs of new laterals in California, Dallas and Washington, D.C. Cesar Alvarez, a longtime leader of Greenberg Traurig, was also named a Lifetime Achiever by The American Lawyer this month.