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In 2017, law firms looked to pick up large groups for moves that aided expansions and helped bolster specific practice areas, one of which was a new—timely—practice area: institutional responses to sexual and gender-based harassment and misconduct.

Our top 10 moves of 2017 includes name partners, large groups with a focus on life sciences corporate practices and labor and employment, as well as acquisitions of smaller firms. One pair formed their own catastrophic and whistleblower firm with an emphasis on technology and how to use it to their best advantage, while another pair—who left their firm in 2016—decided to return.

After combing through our archives from the past year and hearing from reliable sources on lateral moves in Pennsylvania, the staff at The Legal talked over which moves made the biggest impact on the legal landscape. The lawyers, groups and firms below were either major additions to their new firm, a big loss to their former firm or helped grow their new firm—in numbers and geographically.

Cozen Grabs Two Groups From Buchanan

(l-r) Thomas Giotto, Eugene Giotto, and Jeremy Garvey, of Cozen O'Connor's new Pittsburgh office. (l-r) Thomas Giotto, Eugene Giotto, and Jeremy Garvey, of Cozen O'Connor's new Pittsburgh office.

In May, Cozen O'Connor expanded into western Pennsylvania, opening an office in Pittsburgh with three partners from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

Partners Thomas Giotto, Jeremy Garvey and Gene Giotto joined the firm, with additional lawyers joining them in the new Pittsburgh office.

Fourteen other lawyers left Buchanan Ingersoll for Cozen O'Connor. They included four lawyers in Pittsburgh, nine in Philadelphia and one in Wilmington, Delaware. Most were from Buchanan Ingersoll's labor and employment practice group.

On the initial Pittsburgh hires, Cozen O'Connor CEO Michael Heller said the firm had been seeking entry to the Pittsburgh market for about three years, amid a “renaissance” driven by the city's education, medical and technology industries.

“I'm very bullish on the Pittsburgh market,” he said. “It really took until now to find the right group of folks we thought could really lead the effort to build a large, full-service office in Pittsburgh.”

All three of the Buchanan Ingersoll partners were leaders within their practice groups. Thomas Giotto was chairman of the labor and employment practice, Garvey was co-chair of the corporate practice, and Gene Giotto was co-chair of the post-acute and long-term care practice.

Thomas Giotto was tapped to lead Cozen O'Connor's labor and employment practice with Joseph Tilson, in Chicago, who joined the firm through its acquisition of Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson in 2015.

Thomas Giotto said he was attracted by the opportunity to build out a national labor and employment practice. He and Gene Giotto, his brother, became part of Buchanan Ingersoll when it merged with Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling in 2006.

Thomas Giotto noted that more firms seemed to be interested in entering the Pittsburgh market. The city, once a manufacturing and industrial center, transformed into a “technology hotbed,” he said, while the energy sector was likely to create further opportunities in the city.

The new office allowed Cozen O'Connor to continue its geographic expansion, while growing its labor and employment department, Heller said. The firm now has four offices across Pennsylvania, including its largest office in Philadelphia.

Top L-R Matthew Clyde, Lynn Brehm, John Wilson.Bottom L-R William Moorhead, Gabrielle Lee, Brian Casal

Cozen O'Connor continued  a slow-motion raid on Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, with the addition of six more lawyers in October.

The firm hired two partners and two associates in Pittsburgh, a partner in Philadelphia and a partner in Charlotte, North Carolina, bringing the tally of Buchanan defections at Cozen O'Connor to 26.

Partners John Wilson and Lynn Brehm and associate Matthew Clyde focus on employee benefits and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Wilson was the chairman of that practice at Buchanan. Partner Brian Casal is in the labor and employment practice, while partner William Moorhead and associate Gabrielle Lee are commercial litigators.

Wilson, Moorhead, Clyde and Lee moved to the firm's new Pittsburgh office, while Brehm went to Charlotte and Casal to Philadelphia.

Cozen Launches Sexual Misconduct Practice Group

Gina Maisto Smith, left, and Leslie Gomez, right, of Cozen O'Connor.

In a prescient move, Cozen O'Connor debuted a new practice group focused on institutional responses to sexual and gender-based harassment and violence, hiring five Philadelphia lawyers, including four attorneys from Pepper Hamilton in February.

Gina Maisto Smith was asked to chair the group at Cozen O'Connor and Leslie Gomez was tapped as vice chair. They made the switch from Pepper Hamilton along with partner Megan Traversari and counsel Lauren Carella. Partner Maureen Holland joined the group from Hamburg & Golden.

The five lawyers represent educational institutions as well as corporations, hospitals, religious institutions and nonprofits. Their practice included policy development, investigations, training and compliance with Title IX and other regulations.

The move gave Smith a chance to lead a separate practice group focused on “holistic” responses, she said, and to not be “pigeonholed into a traditional civil litigation practice or a traditional white-collar practice.”

Deborah Spranger Joins Pepper's Health Sciences Department

Deborah Spranger.

In October, Deborah Spranger, a leader of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr's business and finance and life sciences practices, jumped to Pepper Hamilton's Berwyn office, adding to the latter firm's recently formed health sciences department.

Spranger's arrival came as Pepper Hamilton had seen some recent departures, including health sciences partner Mark Kadzielski, who moved to Baker & Hostetler with Jee-Young Kim, who was his associate and is now counsel at the new firm. Kadzielski had previously served as the head of Pepper Hamilton's health care industry group.

Before her move to Pepper Hamilton, Spranger had chaired Saul Ewing's business and finance practice and also co-chaired the firm's life sciences practice. George Magnatta will take over her business and finance role and the new life sciences co-chair is Kathryn Doyle, a spokeswoman for Saul Ewing said.

At Pepper Hamilton, Spranger said she will not take on formal leadership roles, but is “looking forward to being a practicing partner.”

Spranger described herself as a transactional lawyer with a focus on the life sciences industry—an area where she happened to make a number of contacts in her early years as a lawyer.

Earlier in 2017, Pepper Hamilton combined lawyers from several practice areas to create a health sciences department, chaired by health effects litigator Nina Gussack. The change appeared to be a formalization of how the firm had long been integrating health effects, health care law, life sciences, intellectual property and investigations, Spranger said. And that interdisciplinary approach was something that attracted her to Pepper Hamilton, where she had several close contacts in the Berwyn office.

Blank Rome Takes Corporate, Finance and Benefits Group From Pepper

Brendan Delany, left, and James Barnes, right, of Blank Rome.

Back in February, Blank Rome announced two partner hires in two days, bolstering its corporate and securities practice in Pittsburgh and its energy and finance practices in Washington, D.C.

Partner James Barnes joined the firm's Pittsburgh office, coming from fellow Pennsylvania-based firm Pepper Hamilton, Blank Rome announced Feb. 2. Barnes had also been appointed partner of strategic development for the Pittsburgh office, and co-chair of Blank Rome's family office practice, which serves family-owned entities created for wealth management.

And Brendan Delany, formerly special counsel at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, joined Blank Rome's finance, restructuring and bankruptcy group in Washington D.C., the firm announced Feb. 3. Delany had worked with several Blank Rome partners previously, and CEO Alan Hoffman said the firm had been pursuing Delany for several months.

Delany's addition helped to continue Blank Rome's recent growth in its energy practice, while Barnes was expected to help the firm continue its Pittsburgh expansion. Blank Rome expanded into a permanent office space in the city.

Before joining Pepper Hamilton, Barnes was the managing partner of Reed Smith's Pittsburgh office. The opportunity to help grow and lead the Pittsburgh office drew him to Blank Rome, he said.

“They're a recent entrant to the Pittsburgh market but they have grown rapidly,” Barnes said. “I think it's a hot market and I think if we build it the right way … there are tremendous opportunities for future growth.”

In Washington, Delany was also a part of that energy practice growth, as about three-quarters of his work is energy-related.

Blank Rome also beefed up its tax, benefits and private client practice in Philadelphia in February, with three partners from Pepper Hamilton. The moves followed a spate of departures from Pepper Hamilton, and they extended a string of hires at Blank Rome.

The new team was expected to be helpful to the labor and employment, corporate securities, private equity and finance practices, Hoffman said.

“We need to bring this type of expertise to our corporate clients,” he said. “You're going to see a lot of regulatory change that really is going to impact benefits work.”

Kline & Specter Partners Form New Firm

David Caputo, left, and Andrew Youman, right, of Youman & Caputo.

Early in 2017, Kline & Specter partners Andy Youman and David Caputo left the firm to form their own shop, Youman & Caputo, which focused on catastrophic injury and whistleblower cases.

Youman had spent more than 17 years at Kline & Specter, and Caputo more than 13 years. They said their split with the firm was amicable.

Caputo said he and Youman were looking forward to enjoying a small-firm environment, where they planned to implement a structure based on greater use of technology.

For example, the new firm is paperless, and has a secure, online portal for client communication and document exchange, they said. The system will save costs, Youman said, while ensuring that client information, which includes medical information in many of their cases, is safe.

Youman said he and Caputo worked with Kline & Specter name partners Thomas R. Kline and Shanin Specter to determine which cases would go to the new firm, and which ones would remain.

In a statement about their departures, Kline and Specter said, “We wish Andy and Dave the best in their new practice and continued pursuit of justice on behalf of their clients.”

The new firm has a main office in Newtown Square, as well as a Philadelphia location. Youman said geographic flexibility is another benefit of being a small, technology-forward firm.

Pair Who Left Pepper for Hogan Lovells Returns

Rachael M. Bushey, left, and Jennifer L. Porter, right, of Pepper Hamilton.

Two lawyers who left Pepper Hamilton for Hogan Lovells in 2016 returned to the firm, joining a health sciences department that looked very different than it did when they left.

Rachael Bushey returned as life sciences chair and vice chair of Pepper Hamilton's health sciences department. Jennifer Porter also rejoined as a partner in that department, focusing on life sciences and mergers and acquisitions. Bushey and Porter left Pepper Hamilton for Hogan Lovells as part of a larger group just over a year-and-a-half ago.

But much has changed since then. The firm reorganized what had been its health effects litigation practice, creating a health sciences department that connects multiple practice areas, including litigation and transactional work.

“Pepper has taken a really unique, collaborative approach to serving clients in the industry,” Bushey said, adding that other firms are more siloed by comparison. She said she has separate clients from the partners she moved with last year, so she will not continue to work with them, but wishes them well.

This marked Bushey's second return to Pepper Hamilton. She joined the firm as an associate in 2005, and worked there for five years, before going in-house at West Pharmaceutical Services, which is based in Exton. She returned to Pepper Hamilton in 2014 as a partner.

Houston Harbaugh Acquires Boutique Firm

Alex Thomson, Houston Harbaugh

Two Pittsburgh law firms became one back in November. Houston Harbaugh grabbed business litigation boutique Picadio Sneath Miller & Norton, with an eye on diversifying their litigation offerings.

Houston Harbaugh and Picadio Sneath officially merged Jan. 1, creating a 43-lawyer firm. The combined law firm kept the name Houston Harbaugh, and continued to operate out of Houston Harbaugh's existing office at Three Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh.

Houston Harbaugh partner and executive committee member Alex Thomson said the two firms were in talks for about 18 months before announcing the combination. They had some mutual clients and referred work to each other, and several partners at the two firms were personal friends, he said.

“We have been always on the lookout for either good laterals or good smaller-size firms,” Thomson said. “We don't have a desire to be an office of a larger firm, so in order to remain independent we need to make sure we're capable of selectively growing.”

Houston Harbaugh works with privately owned companies with between $5 million and $200 million in annual revenue, he said.

“This merger represents growth through the addition of important new practice areas, while giving the entire firm deeper bench strength with an extremely talented group of attorneys who are a great fit for our firm and our clients,” said Samuel Simon, a member of Houston Harbaugh's executive committee, in a statement. “Clients of both firms will see the benefits in terms of the value we deliver and the expanded resources we offer.”

Pillar + Aught Spins Off From Rhoads and Sinon

Angela McGowan, left, and Steve Moniak, right.

A spinoff was born out of central Pennsylvania's Rhoads & Sinon, Pillar + Aught, which took 11 lawyers into a modern law firm with a greater emphasis on using technology. Later, in October, Pillar + Aught brought on two new lawyers and expanded its office space.

The firm added Angela McGowan, who took the lead in the firm's real estate practice and commercial litigator Steve Moniak, who joined the firm in April, adding to its financial institutions practice.

Both had been partners at Rhoads & Sinon, which was home to Pillar + Aught's nine founding partners before they left in February to start their new venture. McGowan and Moniak are classified as of counsel at their new firm, but co-founding partner Todd Shill explained that the lawyer titles mainly only designate who owns equity in the firm. Any of the firm's lawyers can make an equity investment and become a principal if they see that as mutually beneficial, he said.

Buchanan Grabs 8 From Obermayer

Left to right: Joseph Centeno, Larry Besnoff, Jacqueline Gallagher and Min Suh of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney

Eight lawyers from Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel moved to Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, rebuilding Buchanan's labor and employment practice in Philadelphia.

Partners Joseph Centeno, Larry Besnoff, Jacqueline Gallagher and Min Suh made the move along with associates Teleicia Dambreville, Gregory Eck, Charlene Barker Gedeus and Michael Truncellito. Centeno was named co-chair of Buchanan's labor and employment section along with David Laurent.

Buchanan's labor and employment section suffered a number of lateral defections in May, when a sizeable group departed for Cozen O'Connor. The departures included 11 employment lawyers from the Philadelphia office.

But Buchanan CEO Joseph Dougherty said he began to discuss a move with Centeno long before that. The two longtime friends had talked seriously about two years ago about Centeno joining Buchanan, but it wasn't the right time, Dougherty said. Then in December, they began talking seriously again, he said.

Ice Miller Opens in Philadelphia

L-r: Frederick A. Tecce, Bryon T. Wasserman and Aaron R. Ettelman of Ice Miller.

Indianapolis-based Ice Miller opened an office in Philadelphia, taking three lawyers from Panitch Schwarze Belisario & Nadel.

Ice Miller hired Frederick Tecce and Aaron Ettelman as partners and Bryon Wasserman as of counsel to launch the office. Tecce landed in the Philadelphia office as managing partner there and was named to lead the IP practice.

Chief managing partner Steve Humke said Philadelphia, the firm's eighth location, offered the opportunity to work with Tecce and his team to grow the IP practice. Tecce said Ice Miller first asked him to join the firm a year or two ago.

Tecce has a three-decade background in IP and criminal law, including work in private practice and law enforcement. Before joining Panitch Schwarze in 2012, he was a partner at McShea & Tecce, which he co-founded in 1998. Before that, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Kristie Rearick can be contacted at 215-557-2449 or [email protected].  •