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Philadelphia law firm partners have continued to play musical chairs in the early weeks of 2019.

On the heels of hiring a litigator from Duane Morris this week, Ballard Spahr has seen a longtime partner in its labor and employment group, Daniel Johns, leave for Cozen O'Connor.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., two lawyers from Ballard Spahr's project finance practice, including practice co-leader Tom Hoffmann, made a move to Foley & Lardner. Hoffmann and Darin Lowder are now both partners in Foley's finance practice group and energy industry team as of Thursday.

Johns, in Philadelphia, joined Cozen O'Connor's labor and employment practice Thursday. One of his longtime clients is the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA. While he declined to discuss specific clients, he said his practice has more recently been focused on private sector labor law.

“I've known some of the lawyers at Cozen for many years through mutual clients,” Johns said. “It is a great group of labor and employment lawyers where the practice is growing and has a really good bunch of people who do traditional labor law.”

According to his new firm, Johns will also be involved in expanding Cozen O'Connor's higher education industry team, as he handles cases involving faculty and undergraduate student issues.

“Educational institutions face many of the same business and legal challenges as other corporate entities and, like corporations, they rely on full-service law firms with deep transactional, corporate, and regulatory capabilities,” labor and employment co-chair Thomas Giotto said in a statement about Johns joining the firm. “But these institutions are very different from other corporations in terms of culture, mission, priorities and structure. Schools need legal counsel who understand that too.”

Johns said he had a good experience at Ballard Spahr, where he has practiced law since 1995, but it seemed like the right time to make a change. And “Cozen has made a great investment in labor and employment,” he said.

Cozen O'Connor bulked up its labor and employment practice significantly throughout 2017 and 2018, largely through groups it hired from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. The most recent of those was a group of four in Pittsburgh who joined Cozen O'Connor in August.

Hoffmann and Lowder each spent well over a decade at Ballard Spahr as well, and Hoffmann was a co-leader of the firm's energy and project finance practice along with Patrick Gillard, who remains leading that practice according to Ballard Spahr's website. In their practice, they represent energy project lenders and sponsors, as well as some investors, according to their new firm.

Lowder said he and Hoffmann got to know the lawyers at Foley by sitting across the table from them in a few past deals. “We bring additional project finance background to their existing focal points,” Hoffmann said.

Having lawyers on both the investor and lender sides in their practice, Lowder said conflicts are “something we're always mindful of.” However, he added “it's a great problem to have, to be [that deep] into the space.”

Before joining Ballard Spahr in 2003, Hoffmann was president of development and investment company International Energy Partners LP.

“Darin and Tom's combination of in-house and institutional knowledge enables them to offer clients advice grounded in real-world understanding,” Scott Fredericksen, managing partner of Foley's Washington, D.C., office, said in a statement.

But Ballard Spahr has made some additions of its own recently. Earlier this week, it brought on commercial and intellectual property litigator Aliza Karetnick from Duane Morris as a partner in Philadelphia. And last month, the firm added another IP lawyer, John Zurawski, from McCarter & English.

In a statement Thursday, Ballard Spahr chairman Mark Stewart wished the departed lawyers well, and noted that the firm has added 10 lawyers, including six partners, since December. “Our new colleagues expand the firm's capabilities in several key practice areas in Washington, D.C., New York, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Salt Lake City,” Stewart said.

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