After a short break, Cozen O'Connor is at it again, hiring lawyers from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

The Philadelphia-based Am Law 100 firm has added four more Buchanan Ingersoll lawyers to its one-year-old Pittsburgh office, including two partners.

Labor and employment lawyers Mariah Passarelli and Bethany Salvatore, who had been counsel at Buchanan Ingersoll, have joined Cozen O'Connor as partners, along with associates Abigail Green and Tiffany Jenca. They bring Cozen O'Connor's Pittsburgh office, which opened in May 2017 with three partners from Buchanan Ingersoll, to 27 attorneys. Since May 2017, Cozen O'Connor has hired more than 30 lawyers away from Buchanan Ingersoll, many of whom are in the labor and employment practice or the Pittsburgh office.

Salvatore said rejoining her former colleagues from Buchanan Ingersoll was a motivator behind the move. She said the timing wasn't right last year, when the bulk of the group made its move.

“We were all [four] exploring different paths, and to have the opportunity where we all found ourselves at the same place again is very exciting,” she said. “After looking at Cozen's strategic plans moving forward and where they are headed, it was exciting to see my practice overlaid with Cozen's objectives and goals.”

Thomas Giotto, co-chair of Cozen O'Connor's labor and employment department, said the new lawyers will be “ substantial contributors” to the Pittsburgh office. He noted that the office is continuing to grow, and will likely take on a second floor of office space in the near future.

Salvatore represents employers on a range of labor and employment issues, including restrictive covenant enforcement and wage-and-hour cases. Her clients include Pittsburgh-headquartered businesses with employees all over the country, she said. Cozen O'Connor's geographic footprint was an important consideration in her decision, she noted.

Passarelli, also a former state prosecutor, handles employment litigation and counsels clients on litigation avoidance. A major part of her practice is representing and counseling institutions on Title IX matters.

Salvatore said she and Passarelli expect “a number of” their clients to join them at Cozen O'Connor. That includes some familiar names, Giotto noted, given their common background at Buchanan Ingersoll.

“We have many overlapping clients, and [their practices] complement our client base really well,” Giotto said. “We have a lot of labor lawyers in Pittsburgh. We now will have lawyers who have serviced those clients in the employment litigation space.”

In a statement Monday, Buchanan Ingersoll CEO Joseph Dougherty said his firm has made 20 hires in its labor and employment practice in the past year, in seven offices including Pittsburgh. And those hires included 13 women, he said.

“We're executing a growth strategy aligned with the needs and values of our clients, and have built a highly capable and diverse team able to mitigate risk and resolve workforce issues across a broad platform,” Dougherty said. “Our labor and employment group is a premier practice that continues to expand along with demand from our clients.”

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