(Photo: Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

McDermott Will & Emery is taking talent from a pair of global juggernauts to break further into international employment law, bringing on five lawyers from Dentons and one from Baker McKenzie to build up that practice group.

The additions—Brian Cousin, Neil Capobianco, Lindsay Ditlow, Richard Scharlat and Mark Meredith from Dentons and Carole Spink from Baker McKenzie—come a year and half after another key arrival. Michael Sheehan, the former co-chairman of DLA Piper's global employment practice and chairman of its U.S. employment practice, joined McDermott in March 2018, launching the firm's employment practice group as a stand-alone group.

Sheehan, the global head of McDermott's employment practice group, described the firm's new hires, especially Cousin and Spink, as being a springboard for McDermott into international employment law. Cousin led Dentons' global employment and labor practice.

"It's not enough to have a strong, first-in-class domestic employment practice," Sheehan said. "There are a handful of firms who actually have a truly global employment practice. We now have two of the experts from two of those firms."

Cousin will lead McDermott's international employment team from New York. He will also become a co-chairman of the firm's ERISA litigation group. Scharlat, Capobianco and Ditlow will be partners in McDermott's New York office, while Spink will be a partner in Chicago. Meredith is joining McDermott as a New York-based counsel.

"Carole, that is almost her entire practice. Brian, he has a strong domestic practice, but he's got an international practice and international clients in his role at Dentons. He's got the experience to bring it all together so that we're able to deliver on cross-border work for our clients," Sheehan said.

With Cousin in place, the firm will begin recruiting employment lawyers who are based overseas, Sheehan said. At the end of April 2018, Sheehan's employment practice group had 24 lawyers. It now has 64 lawyers.

Cousin will also become a co-chairman of the firm's ERISA litigation group.

Sheehan indicated that Cousin and others might be bringing their clients with them, saying those firms have expressed an interest in continuing with the five now that they're at McDermott. They also reacted positively to the move.

Sheehan was one of 21 former DLA Piper partners who joined McDermott last spring. The American Lawyer obtained an internal memo from McDermott chairman Ira Coleman, saying the firm anticipated a $100 million increase to its to-line revenue as a result of those hires.