Carolyn Short

Holland & Knight has added to its Philadelphia roster again, taking a group of lawyers from Reed Smith for the third time this summer.

Partner Carolyn Short has rejoined her longtime colleagues and will head Holland & Knight's litigation team in the Philadelphia region. She had been a co-leader of the business and corporate disputes group at Reed Smith, a firm she joined nearly three decades ago.

“I don't think I would have done this on my own, but to come to a place where you have worked with people for a long time, and to start something new, is a very exciting proposition,” Short said.

A dozen of her Reed Smith colleagues launched Holland & Knight's Philadelphia office last month, including John Martini, who had chaired the global executive compensation and employee benefits practice at Reed Smith, and Leonard Bernstein, who had been Reed Smith's Philadelphia managing partner. That group was closely followed by 12 more lawyers in late July, all but one from Reed Smith.

Also joining Holland & Knight's new office in the latest wave are senior counsel Jonathan Korman, and corporate associates Kristin Antario, Megan Cribbs and Samantha Peruto.

Short works on commercial and employment disputes and advises clients on litigation matters, including class action, corporate governance, executive investigations and management issues. Some of her recent clients have included Dechert, in a case alleging age and gender discrimination, and Unilife Corp., in a whistleblower case that was eventually withdrawn.

According to federal court records, other recent clients have included Novartis Corp., United HealthCare Services Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc.

There is little overlap between Short's clients and those of her colleagues in Holland & Knight's Philadelphia office, she said. “It's a different group of clients, but given that I've been around for a long time and they have too, they know these lawyers as well,” Short said.

Short was appointed in 2005 as general counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary for Chief Justice John Roberts' and Associate Justice Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination hearings. She started her career as a homicide prosecutor in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

“Carolyn is one of the best known and most highly regarded litigators in the state and we are delighted that she has joined us,” Martini, the executive partner of Holland & Knight's Philadelphia office, said in a statement. “As a highly skilled trial lawyer and master strategist who works closely with in-house counsel on their most important matters, she is the perfect choice to lead our new office's litigation team.”

Asked about the state of her former firm's Philadelphia office, Short simply said, “I think Reed Smith is going to be just fine.”

In a statement Tuesday, Reed Smith global head of legal personnel Casey Ryan noted that the firm has been in the Philadelphia market for 40 years and has a critical mass in multiple key practice areas in the city.

“Naturally, we do not like to see lawyers leave the firm, but these departures will have no material impact on our local or global business success,” Ryan said. “Philadelphia is seen in the industry as an important market where firms want to have a presence, which is why we have been here and why our commitment to the market and to our office is steadfast. We will continue to invest in the market, in talent and in our office.”

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