Partners at the Morvillo LLP boutique, founded five years ago by a family of white-collar defense lawyers, will move on Jan. 1 to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe as part of an effort to take on larger cases while helping their new firm cement its investigations and securities experience on the East Coast.

In all, 15 lawyers from Morvillo will join Orrick's offices in New York and Washington, D.C., including seven partners, three counsel and five associates. For Orrick, the hires burnish its government investigations expertise and represent the firm's largest addition of litigators in the last nine years.

All lawyers from Morvillo are making the move to Orrick, except one counsel who will practice on his own, as well as nearly all of the boutique's staff. After the mass lateral move, the Morvillo firm's partnership will wind down and dissolve.

The boutique itself was founded in 2012, shortly after the death of veteran white-collar defense attorney Robert Morvillo, a founder of Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello. (Morvillo Abramowitz, which dates back to 1973 and has 36 attorneys, remains an independent litigation firm.)

Two sons of Morvillo who were practicing at that firm, Gregory and E. Scott Morvillo, left to become founding partners of the boutique. They were joined by their uncle, Richard Morvillo, previously at Schulte Roth & Zabel and a former branch chief at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Morvillo firm's partners also include former federal prosecutors Amy Walsh and Andrew Morris; Daniel Nathan, formerly an enforcement official with the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, as well as longtime litigator Ellen Murphy. All four will now be partners at Orrick, along with the three other Morvillo lawyers.

In its five years, the Morvillo firm grew from five to 16 lawyers to take on SEC and white-collar criminal investigations, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters and trials, appeals and compliance issues, with a particular focus in market abuse, securities and bank fraud cases involving the financial sector.

In a landmark insider trading case, Gregory Morvillo represented Anthony Chiasson in United States v. Newman, a case that resulted in the exoneration of his client before the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Second Circuit.

The boutique's experience also includes a three-year monitorship for JPMorgan Chase & Co. over the bank's mortgage servicing practice; representing individuals in the FIFA corruption cases; representing senior executives in an FCPA investigation of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC; and representing top Gov. Andrew Cuomo aide-turned-lobbyist Todd Howe in a sprawling public corruption probe in New York. The Morvillo firm also handled government inquiries on behalf of Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. in an investigation over the safety of its flooring products.

“We anticipate that all of the clients and cases that we currently have will come with us to Orrick,” Gregory Morvillo said.

The Morvillo lawyers said they didn't seek out an acquisition. The group anticipated practicing at their boutique for the rest of their career and growing the firm further, they said, adding that the Morvillo firm had its strongest revenue year in 2017.

“This was not born from necessity,” Gregory Morvillo said about his group's move.

The exodus to Orrick transpired as a result of conversations with the firm, including partner Robert Stern, for recommendations on new hires. Orrick “turned the tables” and asked if they would like to join the firm, Richard Morvillo said. The more the partners heard about Orrick, the more they became interested in the possibility, he added.

Richard Morvillo

At Morvillo, the boutique naturally had limits on what kind of “bet-the-ranch” cases it could take on. At Orrick, Richard Morvillo said his colleagues will have more resources and an international platform to take on more cases representing corporations.

While the Morvillo partners said they would like to continue representing individuals, the partners “also want to make sure we have the opportunity to pursue the largest and most challenging cases,” Richard Morvillo said. “The additional expertise and resources they have will inure to our clients' advantage.”

Richard Morvillo said he was also impressed with Orrick's culture and integration of laterals, noting that his soon-to-be-new firm's management committee is composed of lateral partners. That “gives comfort they know how to integrate people,” he said.

Upon founding their boutique in 2012, the Morvillo lawyers said the new firm would honor the legacy of Robert Morvillo.

Joining Orrick, said Gregory Morvillo, “is both an opportunity to develop our own brand and reputation and careers and at the same time continuing to honor our father's legacy.” The 51-year-old added, “We practice in the mold he taught us.”

For Richard Morvillo, 69, the move for him was partly succession planning. While he doesn't have any plans to retire soon, “it just seemed like the right time to transition,” he said.

The Morvillo firm had been approached before by several larger legal outfits looking for combinations, but Orrick was the only other firm that it engaged in talks with, Richard Morvillo said.

'Strength on Strength'

Orrick, meanwhile, was searching for more strength in white-collar investigations on the East Coast. The firm currently doesn't have any former SEC enforcement lawyers in the region, said Walter Brown Jr., leader of Orrick's white-collar, investigations, securities litigation and compliance group.

Morvillo's Washington, D.C. partners joining Orrick, above from left, Andrew Morris and Daniel Nathan, as well as Richard Morvillo.

Brown said while the firm has substantially grown its practice on the West Coast in the last 15 years, Orrick had prioritized strengthening its East Coast operations in the last few years by bringing on individual lateral partners in New York and Washington, D.C.

“We view this as adding strength on strength in an area where we're experiencing a very significant demand,” Brown said.

Despite the slow ramp-up in the Trump administration's government staffing and its efforts to cancel many Obama-era regulations, Brown said Orrick's white-collar and securities practice has had one of its strongest years ever in 2017.

For instance, the firm has represented former Wells Fargo & Co. general counsel James Strother in the wake of its fake accounts scandal, advised medical device company Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. in an FCPA matter and counseled a defendant in the criminal case involving former Volkswagen AG executives caught up in an emissions fraud scandal.

Brown declined to discuss the value of the Morvillo boutique's business, but said its billing rate structures were compatible with Orrick, which earlier this month expanded its white-collar expertise in Houston by hiring local litigator Chris Flood from his own firm.

“We happen to be very bullish on the white-collar and securities practice. We have seen a continuous and, in some respects, an unprecedented level of demand,” he said. “We don't really see that demand curve changing for what we do, and we think this addition really enhances our market presence and our bench.”