McDermott Will & Emery offices in Washington, D.C. Photo: Diego Radzinschi/ALM

The leaders of Hughes Hubbard & Reed's international trade and defense industry practice groups have moved to McDermott Will & Emery in Washington, D.C., as part of a seven-lawyer team, McDermott announced Friday.

Joanne Osendarp, who chaired Hughes Hubbard's international trade practice, will serve as co-chairwoman of the practice at McDermott. She's joined by Eric Parnes, who served as the chairman of Hughes Hubbard's defense industry group and co-chairman of the firm's technology committee. Also on the team is senior counsel Dean Pinkert, who joined Hughes Hubbard as partner after a decade as a commissioner on the U.S. Trade Commission.

McDermott chairman Ira Coleman said Friday that while his firm had been in conversation with Osendarp on and off for years, the opportunity to add her team only emerged once the COVID-19 crisis began.

"We're not a firm that's hunkering down," he said in an interview. "We think great firms use this time to energize, strategize and accelerate out of the crisis."

Osendarp is well known for her representation of Canada in the country's ongoing trade dispute with the United States over softwood lumber. Starting in 1994, she served as a senior counsel in the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Department of Justice, then continued to lead the Canadian legal team after joining Weil, Gotshal & Manges in 1999. She moved to Hughes Hubbard in 2011.

"We are excited to join McDermott and help expand the firm's capacity to assist its impressive range of clients to navigate today's challenging international trade landscape," she said in a statement. "As companies and countries grapple with trade uncertainty around the world, now, more than ever, is the time to provide strategic counsel."

Parnes represents clients before arbitral tribunals and administrative agencies and in complex, high-stakes litigation and investigations. He's also done significant appellate litigation.

"We have been impressed by McDermott's strategic approach to client service and the many strong practices that complement our own," Parnes added. "We are proud of the great clients who put their faith in us and look forward to the results we can achieve for them with the stellar McDermott team behind us."

The new arrivals also include counsels Tim Hruby, Lynn Kamarck and Alan Kashdan and  associate Conor Gilligan. While Osendarp was not available for an interview Friday, Coleman noted that she recognized the move as a "career accelerator" for the younger lawyers on her team.

He added that a growing international trade group helmed by two women, Osendarp and preexisting leader Carolyn Gleason, will ideally attract further talent. Demand, meanwhile, will remain brisk.

"Trade issues are not going away," Coleman said. "Whether it's Trump doubling down or it's Biden and it goes in a different direction, clients are going to need spot-on advice."

A representative for Hughes Hubbard said the firm wishes Osendarp, Parnes and the rest of the team well.

The firm acknowledged earlier in July that it had laid off an undisclosed number of staff after it had received a multimillion-dollar paycheck protection loan from the Small Business Administration. It also lost international trade partner Matthew Nicely along with a counsel and two associates to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where Nicely had served as an associate.