(Photo: worradirek/Shutterstock.com) (Photo: worradirek/Shutterstock.com)

Holland & Knight has recruited three partners, Todd Wozniak, Lindsey Camp and Peter Hall, to start a national ERISA litigation team handling disputes over corporate retirement and health plans. Wozniak, who joined from Greenberg Traurig, is chairing the new team at Holland. Camp also joined from Greenberg, where she'd been a senior attorney, while Hall had been a partner at Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry.

"Peter, Lindsey, and I are excited to join Holland & Knight and help strengthen the ERISA and business litigation practices for the challenges that lie ahead," Wozniak said in an announcement last week.

The economic turmoil from the coronavirus pandemic will mean increased client needs for legal help with disputes, he said. "This is an incredibly difficult time for our clients and businesses across the globe, and business needs are evolving on a daily basis."

Wozniak and Camp defend companies, fiduciaries and public institutions nationally in ERISA and employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, litigation as well as business disputes. They also handle employment cases, such as wage-and-hour and discrimination litigation, and traditional labor relations, such as plant closings, mass layoffs and collective bargaining.

Hall handles all facets of labor and employment law, with a focus on litigation.

"The current environment makes this area of law [ERISA and workplace law] more relevant than ever and we expect them to be very busy," said Christopher Kelly, who heads Holland & Knight's litigation section.

The team complements Holland & Knight's national employee benefits and executive compensation practice, which has more than 20 members, said a partner in that practice, John Martini.

Suneel Gupta has joined Norfolk Southern as an assistant deputy general counsel from Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, where he was a shareholder in the complex torts group. As a litigator, Gupta has defended trucking, transportation and other liability suits. The Fortune 500 railroad company relocated its headquarters last year from Virginia to Atlanta, where it already had more than 2,000 workers. Norfolk Southern broke ground in March 2019 on a $575 million headquarters building in Midtown's Technology Square, which is expected to be completed by the fall of 2021.

Shiver Hamilton has hired "an unusually talented trial attorney," said the personal injury firm's co-founder Jeff Shiver in an email. The new hire, Kyle Jackson, just made partner in January at litigation defense firm Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial before switching to the plaintiffs side—less than five years after earning his J.D. in 2015 from Georgia State University. In almost five years in Weinberg's Miami office, Jackson defended individuals and businesses in cases with high exposure damages from injuries or deaths, particularly for negligent security, premises liability and vehicle accidents.

Jackson, who grew up in McDonough, played football for Georgia Tech as an undergraduate and was a member of its 2009 ACC Championship team. He and his family will relocate from Miami to Atlanta in August.

Laura Johnson Bailey has joined The Mabra Law Firm as litigation director from another personal injury firm, Morgan & Morgan. Before switching to plaintiffs law, Bailey spent her first 12 years in practice defending tort and employment discrimination cases for insurance companies and state agencies. "Her litigation and corporate insurance experience will help us to serve our injured clients to get the justice they deserve," said managing attorney Ronnie Mabra in an announcement. Mabra founded the firm in 2007, which has four attorneys with Johnson and more than 20 total employees.

Natalie Ward is the new director of legal recruiting and placement for Latitude's Atlanta office. She was previously general counsel for a Florida health care company, BodyLogicMD, and has worked for Alston & Bird in Charlotte and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Washington, D.C., after earning a J.D. from Howard University. "I'm looking forward to helping lawyers find rewarding positions that fit their unique career and lifestyle goals," Ward said in an announcement.

Latitude, based in Nashville, places lawyers and paralegals, generally with big firm experience, with firms and corporate law departments on engagements that can range from a few months to several years. "[Ward's] prior Big Law and in-house experience give her great insight into the goals and challenges of our attorney candidates and clients. She's been in their shoes," said Latitude Atlanta's president, Logan Ide, adding that her focus will be "high-end attorneys … looking for highly paid permanent or flexible engagement opportunities in the Atlanta market."

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein has added corporate practitioner Alonzo Llorens as counsel from Patel Burkhalter. With Llorens, the office has expanded to 17 lawyers since the Charlotte-based firm opened it four years ago. Llorens handles finance, M&A and securities compliance law, plus minority business enterprise certification issues. He is a member of the mentoring and education nonprofit 100 Black Men of Atlanta and has served on the boards of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Atlanta Business League, which gave him its Leadership Award.

Plaintiffs firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles has hired Ken Wilson to join its team working with state Attorney General Chris Carr in Georgia's opioid litigation. Wilson joined from defense litigation firm Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, where he was an associate. He is a 2014 graduate of Mercer University Law School.

Gregory, Doyle, Calhoun & Rogers has added D. Austin Gillis as counsel to its education law team, which advises Georgia school systems on special education, discipline and other matters. Gillis, a litigator, joined as counsel from Marietta firm Moore, Ingram, Johnson & Steele. He clerked for Cobb County Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Schuster after earning a J.D. from the University of Georgia in 2004.

Hawkins Parnell & Young has added Jamie McDowell as a litigation associate from Goodman McGuffey. McDowell is primarily representing attorneys and law firms in malpractice matters, along with insurance defense cases. She is a 2018 graduate of the University of Georgia Law School.

Chamberlain Hrdlicka has hired an associate, Jasmin Severino Hernandez for its trusts and estates practice from Davis, Matthews & Quigley. Severino Hernandez earned a J.D. in 2017 from Mercer University, followed by an LL.M. in tax from the University of Florida. She is active in the Georgia Latino Law Foundation's Leadership Academy and mentors Latino students through Gwinnett County Public Schools.

The University of Florida has chosen Taylor English Duma partner Amanda Hyland as one of its "40 Gators Under 40," after the Daily Report named her to its On the Rise list in 2016. Hyland, who holds undergraduate, master's and law degrees from the University of Florida, in the past year has spent hundreds of hours pro bono assisting animal- and child-welfare organizations and scam victims on top of her media and intellectual property law practice. She serves on the Atlanta Intellectual Property Inn of Court's executive committee and the executive board of Kate's Club.