Greenberg Traurig has poached Latham & Watkins' former mergers and acquisitions co-chair, Adel Aslani-Far, as it caps off a year of "record growth."

Preliminary numbers shared by the firm show that the Am Law 100 firm's gross revenue grew to about $1.65 billion while profits per equity partner climbed to more than $1.8 million in 2019, the firm said. Both figures are up from the previous year, making it Greenberg Traurig's strongest financial performance to date.

Executive chairman Richard Rosenbaum attributed the firm's growth to several factors, starting with a strong overall global economy that pushed revenues up across the firm. In particular, the firm's core practices of real estate, litigation and corporate—which account for about 75% of firm revenues—performed phenomenally, he said.

Greenberg's Asian offices also posted a revenue increase, doubling from $28 million to $58 million. The firm has three offices in Asia: Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul, South Korea.

Rosenbaum also stressed the way the firm grew—through individual and small group lateral hires. According to the firm, Greenberg's U.S. head count was 1,800 at the end of 2019, and its global head count was about 2,200.

"The fact that we basically run one unified model with consistent leadership and consistent strategy has made us attractive to people who have been confused with all of the vereins and consolidations and confusion in the market," Rosenbaum said.

But Rosenbaum does not believe the market will be able to fuel firm growth forever. While he is unsure of the precise timing, he foresees the global market weakening—a prediction that has required a "re-balancing" of the firm.

Hiring in traditionally counter-cyclical practices such as restructuring and litigation is one way to shore up the firm. Another way is through the hiring of corporate attorneys such as Aslani-Far.

While the other top firms are primarily chasing private equity deals, Rosenbaum said Greenberg has worked to build out what he calls the firm's global "strategic M&A" practice, which he describes as transactional work that focuses on repeat business from clients who, flush with cash, will look to acquire assets cheaply in the event of a recession.

The firm hired several "strategic M&A" attorneys across the globe in recent years, including Germany office corporate chair Peter Schorling, Amsterdam-based partners Bas Vletter and Herald Jongen and Eiji Kobayashi in Tokyo.

Given Aslani-Far's background in representing corporate clients instead of private equity, Rosenbaum sees him as the New York linchpin for the firm's global strategy.

At Latham, Aslani-Far worked on Amazon's $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market in 2017. He represented Safeway in the grocery chain's $9 billion acquisition in 2014. He also advised Siemens AG in several acquisitions, including the German conglomerate's $7.6 billion purchase of U.S. oil-field equipment giant Dresser-Rand.

"Adel is the right person at the right time in the right city to adjoin with corporate lawyers in other American and international cities to form what will be a group that focuses on cross border strategic M&A," Rosenbaum said.

At 51, Aslani-Far said that he is ready for the next stage in his career, and helping build out the firm's global M&A practice was the perfect next step.

"When somebody asks you to build a rocket ship you don't say no," he said.

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