William Hill Jr. (from left), Nancy Refuse, James Swartz Jr. and Stan Hill of Seyfarth Shaw. (Courtesy photos)

Seyfarth Shaw has scooped up a high-profile team of four litigation partners from Polsinelli in Atlanta, and others are expected to follow.

The team, led by Nancy Rafuse, includes well-known trial lawyer William "Hill" Hill Jr., James Swartz Jr. and Stan Hill. They joined Seyfarth on Monday.

In an interview, William Hill said that he expected five other lawyers on their team at Polsinelli to join them at Seyfarth.

He said Seyfarth offered a "great skill match for me, Nancy, Jim and Stan. They've got great talent, and it's a great client match for us."

"It was just an opportunity we had to say yes to," Hill said.

The four new partners give Seyfarth 98 lawyers in Atlanta, according to its website. The firm started the Atlanta office in 1996. Meanwhile, the four partner departures leave the local Polsinelli office with 26 lawyers.

"We thank Nancy and William for their dedicated service to Polsinelli," said Polsinelli's Atlanta managing partner, Brian McEvoy in an email. "We wish them well in their future endeavors."

Rafuse and William Hill started Polsinelli's Atlanta office in January 2014 when they merged their 11-lawyer labor and employment boutique, Rafuse Hill & Hodges, with the national shop. (The other name partner, Ken Hodges, subsequently started a solo practice and is now a Georgia Court of Appeals judge.)

Rafuse went on to chair Polsinelli's labor and employment department. Swartz and Stan Hill are also labor and employment litigators.

Seyfarth has a strong emphasis on labor and employment law. About half of its roughly 850 lawyers practice in that area.

William Hill said his team shares some clients with Seyfarth. "There were some that with Polsinelli we'd have to do conflict checks. With Seyfarth we don't have that problem," he said.

Hill declined to name his clients, because they are still transitioning, but he said they include national and multinational companies as well as individual business owners and a couple of individuals he's representing in breach of contract claims in business break-ups.

Hill and Rafuse have practiced together since 1995, when Hill left the Fulton County Superior Court bench and joined Paul Hastings, where Rafuse was then practicing.

He has tried a wide range of high-profile criminal defense and civil cases over his career. The Daily Report recognized him last year with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hill is representing Waffle House chairman Joe Rogers in a ongoing suit against his former housekeeper's former lawyers alleging racketeering. That suit was spawned from initial suits that the housekeeper, Mye Brindle, filed against Rogers claiming sexual harrassment and that Rogers filed against Brindle for invasion of privacy and extortion over her use of a hidden camera to record a sexual encounter. Robert Ingram of Moore Ingram Johnson & Steele represented Rogers in the disputes with Brindle, which settled earlier in August. 

"In the legal and business community, Hill is well-known for his powerful courtroom presence and his resulting victories in high-value litigation disputes," said Seyfarth's litigation department chair, James McGrath, in a statement.

Seyfarth's labor and employment department chair, Laura Maechtlen, said in a statement that the other new partners, for their part, "bring an unparalleled acumen in wage and hour class actions, labor employee relations, internal executive suite investigations and trial work."

In his own statement, Steven Kennedy, Seyfarth's Atlanta managing partner, said every lawyer in the incoming group "is a dynamic talent and well-respected" by clients and colleagues in the city and across the country.

This story has been corrected to reflect that Robert Ingram, not William Hill, handled the disputes between Waffle House chairman Joe Rogers and his former housekeeper, Mye Brindle.