Seyfarth Shaw is expanding its securities litigation team in New York with a three-partner team from Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer led by Vincent Sama, who will co-chair the firm's national commercial and securities litigation practice.

Sama joined the firm Monday with fellow partners Catherine Schumacher and Daphne Morduchowitz. The team has represented former officers of American International Group and Lehman Brothers and SFX Entertainment in multiple securities class actions and Securities and Exchange Commission investigations and enforcement actions.

Sama was introduced to Seyfarth via a shared client in the financial services industry.

"We saw we had a very similar way of looking at how to deliver legal services," he said.

Sama said he was also drawn in by the firm's commitment to growing its capabilities in complex commercial litigation, not just in New York but nationally. Seyfarth has added more than 100 lawyers to its New York office since 2005.

The three attorneys joined Arnold & Porter through its 2016 merger with Kaye Scholer. Sama and Schumacher joined that firm from Winston & Strawn, where they were previously partners, in 2011.

"Seyfarth's deep relationships with Fortune 100 clients provide an ideal platform for this group's stellar practice," James McGrath, chair of Seyfarth's litigation department, said in a statement.

Sama represented Howard Smith, the former CFO of American International Group Inc., alongside CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg in a 2016 fraud trial that was ultimately paused and led to a $9.9 million settlement with the state of New York, with Smith contributing $900,000.

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