Squire Patton Boggs global managing partner relocates to London to take over leadership of City base
London chief succeeded by senior US partner amid unprecedented media focus on firm
April 16, 2018 at 07:29 AM
4 minute read
Squire Patton Boggs London managing partner Robert Weekes is stepping down as head of the City base, with the firm's global managing partner Stephen Mahon relocating to London to take over leadership of the office.
Mahon, who is moving from Cincinnati to take up the role, will retain his position as global managing partner for clients and strategy while assuming Weekes' responsibilities at the helm of the London base.
Weekes, who has been London managing partner for 10 years, will remain with the firm as a fraud partner in London.
Mahon, who is also a member of Squire Patton Boggs' executive leadership group, has held other senior management roles at the firm, including global business practice leader and chair of the firm's private equity practice group.
Squire Patton Boggs chairman and global CEO Mark Ruehlmann commented: "I could not be more grateful to Robert for his leadership of one of our firm's largest and most important offices. Steve is respected among our partners across our 47 offices and, as our global managing partner, will continue to build on the success the London office has achieved."
In 2016, Squire Patton Boggs saw revenues grow 6% to $983m, while profits per partner jumped 15% to $975,000. The US-based firm – which has a significant UK presence due to its 2011 takeover of Hammonds – is yet to post its financial results for 2017.
The firm has recently made headlines for its work for under-fire political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, which it is advising on the Information Commissioner's Office investigation into the company's use of Facebook data for US President Donald Trump's election campaign.
It is also currently attracting much media attention for its links to Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen, whose office in New York's Rockefeller Center – which he had shared with Squire Patton Boggs – was raided by the FBI last week.
Cohen, who is under investigation by Manhattan federal prosecutors, was given the office as part of an alliance with Squire Patton Boggs, which was formed in April last year. He was paid a $500,000 (£350,000) annual "strategic alliance fee", by the firm and would also receive a percentage of the fees charged by Squire Patton Boggs for clients introduced to it by Cohen under certain circumstances, according to prosecutors.
In court papers, prosecutors said Cohen's claim that he has confidential communications with multiple clients is exaggerated, as Cohen has told at least one witness that he has only one client – President Donald Trump.
Cohen has also claimed to have privileged communications though Squire Patton Boggs. At the time of the alliance, the US firm announced that Cohen would help "advance the interests" of the firm's clients and work with its lineup of lobbyists. Squire Patton Boggs is unnamed in prosecutors' briefs, but the firm announced on 9 April – the same day as Cohen's office was raided – that their alliance had been terminated.
The alliance agreement also spelled out other aspects of the relationship between Cohen and Squire Patton Boggs, including that Cohen would be given an office at the firm; Cohen would maintain his own computer server system not connected to the firm's computer server system; and the firm would not have a key to Cohen's office.
For the duration of the agreement, Cohen introduced five clients to Squire Patton Boggs, prosecutors said. Cohen did not maintain timesheets at the firm and Cohen did not bill any clients through the firm, prosecutors said, adding that Squire Patton Boggs is not aware one way or another whether Cohen billed any of the clients for services of any kind.
A spokesman for Squire Patton Boggs declined to comment on the total amount of money that the firm paid to Cohen during the course of its alliance. The spokesman said Squire Patton Boggs could confirm what prosecutors said in their Friday brief: "That Michael Cohen was never an employee or partner of our firm."
Additional reporting by Christine Simmons.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllHSF Hires Trio for Luxembourg Launch, Builds Private Capital Practice
To Thrive in Central and Eastern Europe, Law Firms Need to 'Know the Rules of the Game'
7 minute readWhat About the Old Partners Who Have No Interest in AI?
Netflix Offices Raided by Authorities in Paris and Amsterdam
Trending Stories
- 1The Lawyers Picked by Trump For Key Roles in His Second Term
- 2Pa. High Court to Weigh Parent Company's Liability for Dissolved Subsidiary's Conduct
- 3Depo-Provera MDL Could Be Headed to California
- 4Judge Holds New York City in Contempt Over Conditions at City Jails
- 5FTC Lauds Withdrawal of Proposed Indiana Hospitals Merger After Leaning on State Regulators
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250