Blank Rome offices/photo by Diego Radzinschi

Morrison & Foerster continued to see departures from its state and local tax practice, as five lawyers in the group left to join Blank Rome in New York.

Irwin Slomka joined Blank Rome as senior counsel; Matthew Cammarata, Eugene Gibilaro and Kara Kraman became counsel; and Michael Pearl joined as a senior attorney in the firm's New York office. They came to Blank Rome over the course of this past week, following four partners who made the same move last month.

Craig Fields, who led Morrison & Foerster's SALT group, and Nicole Johnson, Mitchell Newmark and Holly Hyans joined Blank Rome in February as partners.

In an interview on Tuesday, Newmark and Fields said Blank Rome's culture and its U.S. focus, rather than the work for multinationals that was common at Morrison & Foerster, were draws for them. Newmark added that he "personally was feeling some rate pressure" from clients.

"I feel we're going to have more—and I'm seeing it—rate flexibility at Blank Rome," said Newmark, who said such rate flexibility was key to giving younger attorneys the chance to build a thriving practice.

Fields said the group offered clients transactional advice and represented them in tax controversies. They don't focus on any particular industry or type of client, with Fields, Slomka and Newmark saying their clients included public companies and other businesses in financial services, banking, real estate, retail and manufacturing, as well as high net-worth individuals.

The new Blank Rome lawyers have guided clients through audits, administrative tribunals and courts in New York and other states, the firm said, in areas including income and franchise taxes, sales and use taxes, bank and financial institution taxes, insurance taxes, real estate transfer taxes, unclaimed property and fraud.

Slomka said the decision to join Blank Rome a couple of weeks after Fields and the other three partners was simply a matter of logistics. He said they were invited to join Blank Rome after the partners moved.

Asked whether the team would grow further, Fields said, "I think we've got a solid group now and I expect the group to expand in the future."

According to Morrison & Foerster's website, its state and local tax group has five remaining lawyers. A representative for Morrison & Foerster referred a reporter to a statement it had previously made wishing the partners well at their new firm and highlighting its lateral partner additions in New York.