Washington Wrap is a weekly look at the biggest legal industry news and Big Law moves shaping the legal business in Washington, D.C. Send tips and lateral moves to Ryan Lovelace at [email protected].

Baker McKenzie global chairman Paul Rawlinson's public decision to take a hiatus from the firm due to ”exhaustion” may have caught many of the firm's lawyers by surprise, but there were no outward signs of alarm at a gathering of the firm's global leadership in Washington, D.C., this week.

As partners came together in Washington for the week-long conference, an internal message relaying news of Rawlinson's decision was blasted out on Monday before the news became public, according to Ted Murphy, managing partner of Baker's D.C. office.

Baker McKenzie, which has publicly expressed its desire to merge with another firm in the United States, had planned to host a get-together with media the following evening. Rather than change its plans, the firm welcomed reporters in and talked openly about the firm's strategy and planning.

Earlier in the day, said Baker McKenzie chief strategy officer Julia Hayhoe, the firm had drawn the blinds down on its scenic view of the nation's capital because the sunlight had grown too bright. Many of the week's events took place at the Marriott Marquis downtown near K Street, but Baker McKenzie's leadership spent much of the day Tuesday working together in a conference room in the Washington office, undeterred by the news of a temporary change in power from Rawlinson to Latin America chair Jaime Trujillo Caicedo.

“It was Baker at its best,” Hayhoe said.

When Baker McKenzie partners returned to the office in the evening to mingle with reporters as the sun set, the blinds were lifted and the balcony opened to reveal the firm's Connecticut Avenue perch overlooking the White House and Washington Memorial.

Jonathan Newton, managing partner of the firm's Houston office, described the energy Rawlinson brought to the job as unmatched. A firm spokesman estimated that Rawlinson had visited 40 of its nearly 80 offices spanning six continents in the last two years, leading to the exhaustion prompting him to press pause this week. Murphy said the estimate sounded low to him because Rawlinson was always on the move.

Murphy noted that Rawlinson's strategic leadership had made it easy for the firm to continue moving forward in his absence, where other firms might have struggled. The firm's partners spoke glowingly of Caicedo and suggested they viewed Rawlinson's temporary departure as akin to a teammate suffering an injury.

Partners' estimates of when Rawlinson would return varied, with many settling on “soon” and others suggesting it would be a matter of months.

Baker McKenzie led the way as one of the first mega-firms to format itself as a global verein in the 21st century. As the largest firm in terms of headcount in the 2018 NLJ 500 and approximately $2.9 billion in gross annual revenues last year to show as evidence for having made the right calls again and again, Baker McKenzie appears poised for continued head count and business growth all across the three geographical regions that divide the firm's profit pool—the Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) and Asia-Pacific.

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Law Firm Moves, News and Notes

Winston & Strawn recruited Tom Trimble and John David Bryant from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to join the firm's corporate practice in Washington, D.C. The emerging-markets-focused duo works on project finance and private equity matters, particularly in Africa and Latin America, with clients centered in the energy, telecommunications, mining, health care and infrastructure sectors.

Trimble, who is joining as a partner, previously led Akin Gump's Africa practice, while Bryant arrives as counsel after more than a decade together with Trimble at Akin Gump.

Norton Rose Fulbright added Jeffrey Cottle as a partner in its Washington and London offices this week. Cottle is a compliance, regulatory, investigations and white-collar lawyer, who will divide his time as a partner between the U.S. and Europe.

Cottle, who is both a registered foreign lawyer in England and Wales and qualified to practice in the U.S., is joining Norton Rose from Steptoe & Johnson, where he was partner.

Loren Ponds, previously tax counsel to the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, is joining Miller & Chevalier as a member in the firm's tax department next week.

She helped craft the international tax provisions included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act advanced by House Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump. Ponds' practice involves all sorts of tax policy matters, particularly involving implementation of the new tax provisions and assisting clients on transfer pricing and international taxation issues.

Bodhala, a legal spend analytics platform, lured John Maloney to its ranks as senior vice president and “head of client success” to build a team aimed at maximizing the utility of the company's AI-backed platform, data and analytics.

Before joining Bodhala, the company said Maloney served five years in the Commerce Department after practicing law as an associate in Washington, D.C., at O'Melveny & Myers and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.

Morrison & Foerster's national security group has grown again, with the addition of Joseph Benkert, a former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for global security affairs.

Before joining Morrison & Foerster, Benkert worked at The Cohen Group, a consultant firm run by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Benkert is not a lawyer but is an expert on matters involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. He led the Defense Department's handling of matters before CFIUS from 2003 to 2009.

Lowenstein Sandler is developing a new global trade and policy practice built by attorneys arriving in its Washington office.

Doreen Edelman, previously co-leader of Baker Donelson's global business team, is joining Lowenstein and bringing a pair of attorneys with her to get the new team moving.

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