Latham offices in Washington, D.C. Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / NLJ

Williams & Connolly partner Nicholas Boyle has become the second practice leader to leave the firm for Latham & Watkins in less than three months, following the departure of Adam Perlman in January.

Boyle, based in Washington, D.C., co-chaired the unfair competition and trade secrets practice and the arbitration practice at Williams & Connolly, handling trial, appellate and arbitration matters for clients ranging from HSBC and UBS to NBA Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown. Last year, he won a record-setting $500 million copyright judgment on behalf of longtime client CoStar Group,

"Nick is one of D.C.'s strongest and most strategic commercial litigators, and we couldn't be happier to have him join our team," said Michael Egge, Latham's D.C. managing partner.

"In addition to Nick's vast experience litigating matters in federal, state, and arbitral venues around the country, his years spent as a corporate attorney are an invaluable asset in developing case strategies and resolving complex litigation matters that achieve our clients' business objectives," added Sean Berkowitz, the global head of Latham's complex commercial litigation practice.

Boyle began his career at Debevoise & Plimpton, where he practiced for four and a half years in New York and London before joining Williams & Connolly in 2001.

Boyle said his move to Latham was partly motivated by the array of practices at his new firm. WIlliams & Connolly could only address whatever litigation issues a client such as CoStar might have; at Latham, Boyle said he can keep the work in-house.

"I have a private equity client where I am doing disputes work for one of their main portfolio companies," Boyle said. "The Latham relationship allows me to talk to them about their other legal needs."

Ditto with Latham's international footprint. Williams & Connolly has only one office. Boyle said he would sometimes have to team up with local counsel in order to work on an international case. Given Latham's presence in 14 countries, Boyle is again hoping to keep the work in-house.

The difference in scale between Boyle's old and new firms is substantial. Williams & Connolly, an elite litigation-focused firm with fewer than 350 lawyers, has purposefully confined its footprint to the nation's capital. Latham, which posted global revenue of $3.76 billion last year, has 2,600 lawyers and 29 offices around the world.

Boyle said he believes both his complex commercial litigation practice and his new firm are well-situated to prosper in an economic downturn caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He noted that one of the cases he just wrapped up for HSBC last year stemmed from the Great Recession of 2007-09.

"For better or worse, people litigate. When the pie shrinks, there's sometimes an uptick because people are scrambling to fight over a smaller pie," Boyle said.

Like Winston & Strawn's Daniel Blouin and the rest of the U.S. legal industry, Boyle worked from home on his first day at Latham.

"I'm hoping that picking April Fools' Day was not going to come back to haunt me," Boyle said.

While lateral partner departures from Williams & Connolly are historically rare, there have been several since the start of 2019. Early last year star appellate litigator Kannon Shanmugam left the firm for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Another longtime partner, Paul Dueffert, left earlier this year to start his own boutique.

Perlman, who left for Latham in mid-January, had been co-chairman of Williams & Connolly's patent litigation practice for the past five years, representing drugmakers such as Bayer and Eli Lilly in Hatch-Waxman Act litigation.

Williams & Connolly acknowledged Boyle's departure in a brief statement Wednesday morning: "We thank Nick for his years of dedicated service to our firm and our clients and wish him all the best."

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