Mark P. Schnapp, Special Counsel with Baker Donelson in Fort Lauderdale. Courtesy photo

Mark Schnapp, Greenberg Traurig's former white-collar practice co-chair and an ex-federal prosecutor, joined Baker Donelson as special counsel Monday as the firm beefed up its 30-member government enforcement and investigations group.

Schnapp spent 30 years at Greenberg after rising to become chief of the criminal division and the public corruption section in seven years with the U.S. attorney's office in Miami.

In Baker's Fort Lauderdale office, he will primarily represent companies, advising boards, audit committees and special committees on fraud, abuse and compliance issues.

Schnapp joins a group led by Joe Whitley in Atlanta, former U.S. attorney in the Northern and Middle districts of Georgia. The group expanded with the hiring of another former federal prosecutor this month and now has 14 attorneys who served as U.S. attorneys or assistant U.S. attorneys.

The group's growth in the last two years has come in Tallahassee, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Knoxville and Memphis, Tennessee.

“They made the transition really easy,” said Schnapp, who considered setting up a solo practice before committing to Baker and Whitley, who is a friend.

In a telephone interview, Whitley said, “We are so delighted to have someone with his background and pedigree join us.” A news release from the firm called his group “a deep bench of skilled government enforcement and investigations attorneys across our markets.”

Asked if the firm was considering opening a Miami office, Whitley said, “I'm not a decision maker on that particular issue, but certainly Mark's contacts and relationships are very strong in the Miami market, so we're going to be looking to Mark to give us some guidance on how we might approach that decision.” 

Schnapp is “part of the mosaic we're putting together, and his connections not only in Florida but elsewhere are quite valuable to us at the firm, and we plan to take advantage of those relationships in growing our practice,” Whitley said.

While Baker Donelson's white-collar group has been in expansion mode, Greenberg's Miami litigation team has been losing high-profile trial attorneys this year.

Greenberg Traurig litigation partners Timothy Kolaya, Ian Ross and former Miami litigation chairman Adam Foslid left its Miami office in March to join the renamed litigation boutique Stumphauzer, Foslid, Sloman, Ross & Kolaya.

Litigator Hilarie Bass left the firm at the end of last year as co-president after spending eight years as the chair of its 600-member litigation department and part of her final year as president of the American Bar Association.

Greenberg's Miami corporate practice also took some hits this year. Nine left to open Morrison Foerster's Miami office in June and two to Jones Day in March.

Greenberg's labor and employment co-chairman Peter Zinober in Tampa also jumped to Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart earlier this year.

Greenberg Traurig ranks 14th and Baker Donelson 97st on the Am Law 100 list of largest U.S. law firms by revenue.

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