A pair of practice-leading cybersecurity partners from Reed Smith, the leader of the firm's women's initiative and two other labor and employment partners have made a jump to Holland & Knight, on the heels of more than two dozen of their colleagues.

The five partners are spread across Holland & Knight's New York and Los Angeles offices, as well as its new office in Philadelphia.

Mark Melodia is now a partner at Holland & Knight in New York, joining the firm along with partner Paul Bond in Philadelphia. Melodia was co-chair of Reed Smith's intellectual property, technology and data group, co-chair of the financial industry group and Reed Smith's office managing partner in Princeton, New Jersey. Bond was a co-chair of Reed Smith's information technology, privacy and data security group, which Melodia founded.

Also joining Holland & Knight in Philadelphia is partner Sara Begley, who had been part of Reed Smith's labor and employment practice for more than 22 years. She chaired that practice globally from 2012 to 2017, and until her departure she served as global chair of Reed Smith's Women's Initiative Network.

In labor and employment, Begley is joined by Thomas Hill and Christina Tellado, both of whom have joined Holland & Knight in Los Angeles. Begley, noting that she recruited Tellado, referred to the pair as a “national wage-and-hour powerhouse team.” She worked closely with the two Los Angeles partners and their clients, she said.

Begley said she learned in July that two of her close colleagues, Nipun Patel and John Martini, were leaving Reed Smith to launch a Philadelphia office for Holland & Knight. She referred to Patel as “my right arm,” having worked with him closely since his first year as an associate. Begley and Martini shared many client relationships, she said.

Holland & Knight took its first large group from Reed Smith in mid-July, when 11 partners and one of counsel opened a Philadelphia office for the Florida-based Am Law 100 firm.

Another dozen Philadelphia lawyers followed them in late July, along with Los Angeles partner Thomas Yoo and New York partner Daniel Winters. And in August, Holland & Knight took on partner Carolyn Short, who had been a co-leader of the business and corporate disputes group at Reed Smith, along with three other lawyers.

“They had big plans—I did not consider myself to be a part of it,” Begley said.

But over time, she decided to become part of the exodus.

“I joined the firm on a Wednesday, and by the close of business on that same day, virtually all of my clients enthusiastically agreed to join me,” said Begley, noting that many of those relationships continue to be shared with Reed Smith.

Melodia said he had been looking to make a move after almost 30 years at Reed Smith when client conflicts started becoming a hindrance to growing his cybersecurity business. In particular, Melodia said, he and Bond had the opportunity to defend 10 class actions around a cyber incident late last year, but they lost it because of a conflict.

Holland & Knight, Melodia said, does not have an insurance recovery practice like Reed Smith does, but has relationships with insurance carriers that will be beneficial to a cyber practice.

Melodia said he was already in talks with a couple of other firms when he learned of his colleagues in Philadelphia heading to Holland & Knight. But he was interested in being able to continue working “with at least some of my other colleagues,” Melodia said, and as part of Holland & Knight's existing cybersecurity and data privacy bench.

Melodia and Bond have both defended clients in class actions related to technology and data security. Melodia has defended more than 80 putative class actions arising out of alleged consumer privacy violations, according to his new firm. And Bond also works with clients on implementation of new technologies, particularly in automation and artificial intelligence.

Melodia said he will continue to work with some of Reed Smith's lawyers on global matters.

“Reed Smith is global, whereas Holland & Knight is working with clients on global issues, but really has very little footprint outside the U.S.,” he said.

Reed Smith, which last month hired Sidley Austin's former corporate and finance head in Los Angeles, said in a statement that it remains on track to have a strong year and that the departures for Holland & Knight would not have a material impact on its business, its commitment to the Philadelphia market or its ability to continue serving clients.

“Client or business conflicts within a firm can create stress on an individual's practice, as we believe happened in the case of some of the departures,” said a statement from Reed Smith's global head of legal personnel Casey Ryan, who is based in Pittsburgh. “As a firm that actively recruits, we recognize that lawyers occasionally move to better align their practices with certain business realities.”

Ryan noted that Reed Smith partner Anthony Diana in New York will now co-lead its intellectual property, technology and data group along with partner James Hultquist in Chicago. Reed Smith partner Christina Shea in San Francisco will assume leadership of the Women's Initiative Network, Ryan said.

READ MORE: