Eric Creizman and Melissa Madrigal

Two white-collar defense partners at Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht who have been representing Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine-related investigations are planning to leave the firm for Armstrong Teasdale, Law.com has learned.

Eric Creizman and Melissa Madrigal, who joined Pierce Bainbridge in August 2018 from Creizman's small white-collar defense practice, have advised clients on a variety of federal investigations and cases, including counseling Giuliani, who has faced allegations he helped President Donald Trump manipulate U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine.

Creizman and Madrigal are moving to Armstrong Teasdale's New York office Feb. 10 and leaving Pierce Bainbridge on Jan. 31, Creizman said in an email to Law.com. "I like my people at Pierce Bainbridge, but I'm moving on to Armstrong Teasdale," he said. "It's the right platform. It's got a very strong white-collar and national presence."

In emails Monday, Pierce initially expressed hope that Creizman and Madrigal could be convinced to stay. But by late Monday afternoon, he said he looked "forward to welcoming them back with open arms someday soon. Between now and then, we wish them the very best and will be their biggest fans and supporters."

He added, "We fully anticipate that Pierce Bainbridge will continue to represent Mayor Giuliani in the current matters we have for him, in addition to anything that arises down the road."

Creizman confirmed that the Giuliani case would probably stay with Pierce Bainbridge. Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor and a lawyer at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron who has known Giuliani for decades, has also been part of the legal team representing Giuliani.

Creizman and Madrigal's anticipated move follows other partner exits from Pierce Bainbridge in recent months. From August to October of last year, six other partners left Pierce Bainbridge. Three of them were in New York, and others were in Boston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Last fall, Pierce said he respected the lawyers who left, but those who stay have to have "not only thick skin but skin made of kevlar combined with titanium."

Pierce Bainbridge continues to litigate against one of its former partners, Donald Lewis, who has accused Pierce of illegally terminating him after he blew the whistle on financial misconduct. Lewis also accuses partners at the firm of turning a blind eye to Pierce's bad decision-making. Pierce Bainbridge has said Lewis was removed after an accusation of sexual assault and denies his allegations.

But despite the publicity surrounding the partner dispute, the firm continues to grab prominent cases. The firm has represented Tulsi Gabbard in litigation against Google and Hillary Clinton; advised Michael Avenatti in efforts to avoid disbarment in California; and is representing some startups against Facebook who accuse the tech giant of anticompetitive behavior and are seeking an order for it to be broken up.

East Coast Expansion

Creizman and Madrigal's move to St. Louis-based Armstrong Teasdale would add white-collar talent to a firm that has been growing on the East Coast since it launched in Philadelphia with the hire of Richard Scheff and others from Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads in 2018.

Most of the 16 New York partners currently on Armstrong Teasdale's website are in its real estate or intellectual property practices.

Creizman said he was "very excited" to be making the move. He said he's worked with Scheff on one or two nonpublic cases in the past and had kept in touch with him over the years.

Creizman and Madrigal's public representations have included Stefan Lumiere, a portfolio manager at Visium Asset Management who was convicted in 2017; David Bengis, a fisherman accused by federal authorities of overfishing lobsters; and the civil litigation defense of Tara Lenich, a former assistant district attorney in Brooklyn who admitted to wiretapping her lover and others based on fake court orders.

Before starting his own firm in 2011, Creizman worked at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and before that, at Heller Ehrman, a national firm that filed for bankruptcy in 2008. Madrigal joined Creizman's firm in 2014 and made partner there after working for a criminal defense boutique in Florida, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Scheff, at Armstrong Teasdale, didn't immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment. Madrigal declined to comment.

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