Burr & Forman added regulatory specialist Ricky Benjamin this week in Atlanta as part of the firm’s effort to grow and diversify the skill set of its health care practice group in the Southeast.

Benjamin joined the firm from Carlton Fields and will lead Burr & Forman’s FDA & life sciences industry practice, the firm announced.

His practice includes advising and defending on regulatory matters ranging from U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory, compliance and enforcement matters to safety requirements for products under the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Federal Trade Commission.

Chet Hosch, the Atlanta-based leader of the firm's national health care practice group, said in an interview Benjamin will add to “our established regulatory compliance experience and to our emergent life sciences skills.”

Benjamin also will enhance what the practice group can offer clients after Burr added a four-lawyer health care and commercial litigation team in Charleston, South Carolina, in late October, Hosch said.

Erich Durlacher, managing partner of the firm's Atlanta office, said in a statement Benjamin’s regulatory and litigation experience “will broaden our reach in the health care and life sciences practices.”

“Our health care team will be able to support Ricky’s growing practice while at the same time benefiting from Ricky’s niche skill set,” Durlacher said.

A spokesperson for Carlton Fields said, "We appreciate Ricky’s contributions to the firm and wish him the best in his new endeavor."

Hosch said increasing the numbers in its overall health care practice has been an initiative of the Alabama-founded firm for years.

The firm’s health care practice “enjoys a certain amount of eminence in Alabama” where it is “very well-positioned,” Hosch said. It lists 24 health care lawyers in its Birmingham office on its website.

He said the firm now is working to grow the practice in Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia and is actively recruiting for health care law specialists. The addition of an experienced regulatory lawyer like Benjamin allows Burr & Forman to concentrate efforts on recent changes to Georgia health care laws—such as those earlier this year that loosened a certificate of need law to allow construction of some new ambulatory surgical centers and existing hospitals’ operating rooms and procedure rooms, Hosch said.

Hosch said the firm's Atlanta office also is “well-positioned to grow” in all practice areas after moving to a more upscale working space in the Midtown area in 2023.

South Carolina also has “always been a strong base” for the Am Law 200 firm and Burr & Forman “really made a commitment” to the client base in such ways as expanding the health care practice, Hosch said.

The firm added partners and litigators Laura J. Evans, J. Bennett Crites III and Nicholas C.C. Stewart to the health care practice group in the firm's Charleston office Oct. 29 from Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick.
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In Other Moves

Morris, Manning & Martin said Wednesday it added Jeff Witt as a partner in Washington, D.C., to lead the firm’s employee benefits & executive compensation (EBEC) practice.

Witt joined the Atlanta-founded firm from the boutique employment law firm Groom Law Group and will strengthen Morris Manning’s “position as a national leader in employee benefits and executive compensation,” the firm said in announcing the hiring.

Witt’s practice has included advising plan sponsor clients on retirement issues related to 401(k), qualified and pension plans, executive compensation and other areas.

Morris Manning managing partner Simon Malko said in a statement Witt’s “leadership will further enhance our EBEC practice, which is already regarded as one of the best in the country.”

Witt’s career also included work as in-house counsel for national retailer Target, where he had legal responsibility for retirement programs and executive compensation, the firm said.

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart announced Tuesday it added Stesha A. Emmanuel to the firm’s Boston office as a shareholder from a partner position with McCarter & English.

Emmanuel’s practice includes work in employment litigation representing employers against claims of discrimination and retaliation and matters involving noncompete agreements.

She also has conducted internal investigations related to allegations of misconduct and compliance violations for large corporations, and investigations under Titles VI, VII, and IX for colleges and universities, according to the firm.

Lisa Burton, office managing shareholder in Boston, said Emmanuel “strengthens our employment litigation capabilities and broadens our higher education practice with a presence in New England.”

Ogletree is an Atlanta-founded labor and employment firm representing management. It ranked No. 76 in the U.S. in revenue in the Am Law 100 with $650.6 million in 2023, an 8.3% increase from the previous year.

The addition of Emmanuel followed the Am Law 100 firm’s hiring of Sandra Ramos White as a shareholder earlier this month in San Antonio, Texas, from Am Law 100 firm Steptoe and Johnson.

White has worked in labor and employment law for more than two decades, including with Steptoe since 2022 and, previously, Branscomb Law and Bracewell & Giuliani. Her practice includes representation of management in cases involving discrimination, wrongful termination, wage and hour disputes and workplace investigations.

Womble Bond Dickinson announced earlier this month that Daniel L. Fitzgerald has joined the global firm’s corporate and securities group as a partner in Baltimore from Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough.

Fitzgerald concentrates his practice on corporate transactions, including buy-side and sell-side mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investments, liquidation and exit strategies and general corporate governance matters.

Newt Fowler, managing partner of the Baltimore office, said Fitzgerald’s “growth-oriented mindset will be incredibly valuable as we continue to build out our full-service capabilities” in the Baltimore market.

The firm has added 25 lawyers in its corporate & securities group in the past year, including partners Jim Andros (Atlanta), David Beckstead (Boston), Benjamin Busboom (Denver), Phyllis Guillory (Houston), Carl King (Charlotte), Jon Levin (Huntsville, Alabama) and Rajan Singh (Tysons, Virginia).

Pierson Ferdinand announced this month it bolstered its intellectual property and patent expertise in recent weeks with the addition of Daniel Rose as a partner in Boston from Volpe Koenig.

Rose moved to the fully distributed firm after two years with Volpe and over a decade at Foley & Lardner, where he was a partner. His practice has included work in niche areas such as media processing and delivery, telecommunications and cybersecurity; and in emerging technologies including AI, machine learning and blockchain algorithms.

Rose said in a statement his new firm is “spearheading the modern, tech-driven solutions which I am deeply passionate about.”

Christopher R. Kinkade, who co-chairs the firm’s IP department with Naira Simmons, said Rose’s “unique expertise in innovative technologies will be invaluable as AI, blockchain and other emerging technologies continue to create challenges and opportunities for IP practitioners globally.”

Tyson & Mendes has opened an Atlanta office in a “strategic” move in a city where firm officials said “massive jury awards” are being given in its courts.

The San Diego-based insurance defense firm focuses on defending against “outsized and unjust jury awards,” and includes 250 lawyers in 26 offices nationwide, it said in a release.

E. Holland “Holly” Howanitz, the Southeast regional managing partner for the firm’s four Florida offices, leads the new Atlanta office, along with senior counsels Marcus Wisehart and Kristy Vancore.

Robert Tyson, strategic managing partner for the firm, said its entry into Georgia was based on reasons which led the American Tort Reform Association to designate Georgia a “Judicial hellhole,” which the Association said is due to the “Georgia Supreme Court’s never-ending quest to expand liability and hand out massive jury awards.”

Howanitz said the firm has handled cases in Georgia for years but the new office’s “boots-on-the-ground presence and physical location in the state better positions us to deliver quality service to our clients, and to win.”

Friend Hudak & Harris has added agricultural law specialist Joel L. McKie to the Atlanta-based business law firm as a partner from Hall Booth Smith.

Previously at Hall Booth for 16 years, McKie will lead Friend Hudak’s agribusiness and food practice group. His practice has included representing farms and agribusiness in a variety of transactional, farmland, regulatory and dispute-related matters, with a special focus on the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, the Packers and Stockyards Act, farmland transactions, and providing outside general counsel services to small and mid-size agribusinesses.

In addition to his work in agriculture, McKie has advised in the solar, energy and health care sectors.