After more than 20 years at Crowell & Moring, prominent antitrust litigator Shari Ross Lahlou is swapping firms.

Lahlou was a partner at Crowell for the last 11 years, rising to become co-chairwoman of the firm's antitrust group. She left Crowell last Thursday, and joined Dechert first thing the next morning.

“I thought Dechert offered a really good combination of factors and opportunities,” Lahlou said. She called Dechert an “on the rise global firm” and found it particularly attractive for her practice, which has involved handling complex litigation and antitrust matters for major clients such as AT&T, DuPont, and Humana. She was part of the team that represented AT&T in its successful trial against the U.S. Justice Department in AT&T's purchase of Time Warner.

She said she did not feel an urgent need to change firms but decided the time for any change was ripe. She said she considered other options but declined to identify the other firms she considered.

Shari Ross Lahlou of Dechert/courtesy photo

“We are very lucky to have Shari on board,” said Steven Bizar, co-leader of Dechert's antitrust and competition group, in a statement. “Her combined antitrust and trial experience adds to the capabilities of our antitrust group and our global litigation platform.” Lahlou is the 12th woman partner to join Dechert within the last year, the firm said, including nine who have joined the litigation practice.

“Shari is a talented litigator and we wish her well in her new role,” said Jason Murray, co-chairman of Crowell's antitrust group in a statement.

Crowell saw a 4.2% dip in gross revenues in 2018—with partner profits dropping nearly 9%—while Dechert's gross revenues ticked up 4.5% to $1.02 billion and partner profits are more than double Crowell.

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