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Another in-house lawyer from the financial industry has transitioned back into private practice. Joseph Tuso has departed Stabilis Capital Management to return to familiar surroundings at Reed Smith, where he worked for a decade earlier in his career. 

Tuso joins Adam Solowsky, who on Tuesday became a member of Reed Smith's financial industry group after leaving his position as managing director and managing counsel at Bank of New York Mellon. Also this week, former Deutsche Bank general counsel Joseph Longo joined Herbert Smith Freehills' financial services regulatory practice in Australia. 

At Stabilis, Tuso served as general counsel, chief operating officer and chief compliance officer. He oversaw all legal, compliance, operational and regulatory matters for the private investment firm while managing its asset management team. His successor is Dave Ray, formerly a partner and general counsel for White Oak Global Advisors in New York.

Joseph Tuso.

Tuso said Friday he helped Stabilis grow from $50 million in assets under management when he first joined the company in 2011 to more than $1.7 billion.

“With nearly two decades of commercial and creditor's rights litigation experience, as well as fund and investment structuring, transactional, and monetizing those investment transactions, I think that the combination of my business experience and legal expertise will serve our clients well, both with their legal needs and with advising on business and operational matters, particularly clients that are seeking practical advice or do not yet have a full C-Suite to rely upon,” he added.

Tuso began his career at Reed Smith in 2001 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He focused primarily on commercial litigation, creditor's rights litigation, workouts and risk management for banks and other commercial financial institutions. He made partner in 2010 and left for Stabilis the following year. 

“When combined with the breadth and depth of expertise that the firm has in advising funds and institutional lenders—on both the transactional and litigation side—it became very apparent to me that returning to Reed Smith would be very beneficial to all parties involved—our clients, the firm and myself,” Tuso said in a written statement. He's working out of Reed Smith's offices in New York and Philadelphia. 

Ed Estrada, global chair of Reed Smith's financial services group, noted that Tuso “kept close ties with the firm while serving as in-house counsel and valued those relationships enough to retain us as primary outside counsel. 

“His unparalleled experience in the funds space, combined with his energy, ambition and focus will be highly valued by clients and colleagues alike,” he added. 

Wayne Stansfield, managing partner of Reed Smith's Philadelphia office, said Tuso “has built a reputation as one of the finest attorneys in asset-backed lending and distressed debt space in the region and we know his experience as in-house counsel will pay immediate dividends for our clients.”

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