Courtesy of Lowenstein Sandler

A month after New Jersey's McManimon, Scotland & Baumann and Trenk DiPasquale Della Fera & Sodono agreed to combine into a 51-lawyer firm, Lowenstein Sandler has picked up a partner peeling away from that union.

Joseph DiPasquale, who said he became a name partner at Trenk DiPasquale at the time of its formation about 15 years ago, has left the firm to join Lowenstein's bankruptcy, financial reorganization and creditors' rights practice in Roseland, New Jersey. DiPasquale said he was drawn to Lowenstein by Kenneth Rosen, the high-powered chairman of the firm's bankruptcy group, with whom he has worked on a number of matters over the years.

“This was just about finding a different platform,” said DiPasquale, who praised his former colleagues at Trenk DiPasquale, almost all of whom have moved to McManimon Scotland.

Around the time of that merger's completion on Oct. 1, McManimon Scotland chairman Joseph Baumann Jr. told the New Jersey Law Journal that DiPasquale would not be taking his bankruptcy and corporate practice to the combined firm. Asked about his decision to jump to Lowenstein, a roughly 270-lawyer firm that saw gross revenue rise 5.5 percent last year, to $270.6 million, DiPasquale said his practice simply required a larger firm.

Joseph DiPasquale

“At [Trenk DiPasquale], we had a reputation as a well-respected litigation and bankruptcy firm,” said DiPasquale about his former shop, which was based in West Orange, New Jersey.

McManimon Scotland has offices in Newark, Roseland and Trenton, but unlike Lowenstein, it does not have an office in New York. Being in Manhattan is crucial for DiPasquale, who often finds himself appearing in bankruptcy courts in the city and New Jersey. Over the years he has had both debtor and creditor-side roles in bankruptcy proceedings for East Orange General Hospital, the Hoboken University Medical Center, Mountain Creek Resort Inc. and Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, the so-called taxi king of New York and a former business associate of President Donald Trump's ex-personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

DiPasquale said that he did not use the services of a legal recruiter in making the move to Lowenstein, which recently watched former bankruptcy partner David Banker leave its ranks to join CKR Law in New York. Earlier this year, Dentons hired former Lowenstein partner Gerald Bender in New York.

Lowenstein's restructuring practice has been busy in recent months, having picked up a lead role as counsel to the official committee of unsecured creditors in the Chapter 11 case of Nashville-based guitar maker Gibson Brands Inc., as well as serving as conflicts counsel to gun maker Remington Outdoor Co. Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in March.

Gibson Brands emerged earlier this month from Chapter 11 proceedings in Delaware, where bankruptcy court filings show that Lowenstein billed for nearly $2.1 million in attorney fees and expenses between May 9 and Sept. 30 of this year. In the Remington case, also in Delaware until it concluded in May, the firm incurred $80,596.02 in legal fees and expenses between March 25 and May 15, according to court records. A declaration filed by Lowenstein partner Paul Kizel in the Remington case stated that the firm had received $318,855 in payments from its high-profile client in the year before its bankruptcy.

DiPasquale's hire by Lowenstein comes two months after the firm recruited white-collar partner Paul Matey, a former deputy chief counsel to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Matey's move reunited him with Lowenstein litigation chairman Christopher Porrino, a former New Jersey attorney general under Christie who returned to the firm in January, the same month that Lowenstein added a new COO in Joseph Palermo from K&L Gates.

Lowenstein has also brought back former counsel and ex-federal prosecutor Ryan Wilson as a partner for its white-collar group in New York and hired diversity and inclusion manager A. Faith English, a former associate director of enforcement at the National Collegiate Athletic Association in Indianapolis.