Lynne Wakefield (from left), Jim Earle and Emily Zimmer of Troutman Sanders. (Courtesy photos)

Troutman Sanders has recruited a trio of employee benefits partners from K&L Gates in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The partners from K&L Gates—Jim Earle, Lynne Wakefield and Emily Zimmer—have known many of their new Troutman partners in Charlotte for years. Troutman entered the city in 2014 by hiring a five-partner team from K&L Gates focused on commercial real estate.

K&L Gates arrived in Charlotte in 2008 by acquiring Kennedy Covington, one of the city's oldest and most established firms. The global firm, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, still has 66 lawyers in Charlotte, according to its website, out of 1,800 lawyers in 44 offices worldwide.

The trio from K&L Gates “broaden our offerings in a very significant way here and establishes us—even more than we already were—as a true player in the Carolinas,” said Walter Fisher, managing partner of Troutman Sanders' Charlotte office.

The additions expand the Atlanta-based firm's office there to about 30 lawyers.

Earle said he and his partners, Wakefield and Zimmer, have developed an employee benefits and executive compensation practice that is “fairly unique” because it is a free-standing team that advises large public companies, universities, hospital systems and other clients in day-to-day compliance matters, rather than supporting M&A deals.

“Our team stands on its own but benefits from being part of a larger firm and employee benefit practice,” Earle said, adding that he expects some associates to join them at Troutman.

He declined to name clients, since they are still in transition.

Earle, Wakefield and Zimmer add benefits and compensation capabilities to Troutman's Charlotte office, Fisher said, where 12 of its 30 resident lawyers practice commercial real estate.

“They're really best in class attorneys with a national reputation and practice,” said Fisher, a real estate practitioner, who started the Troutman office with three other real estate partners and a corporate partner from K&L Gates.

Troutman has about 650 lawyers in 12 offices, including one in Raleigh, North Carolina. The firm reported $521.5 million in revenue last year.

Earle said making the move to Troutman was a big decision for him as he'd spent his 28-year career at K&L Gates and its predecessor firm, Kennedy Covington. Wakefield similarly had spent her 13-year career there, while Wakefield had been at K&L Gates a decade.

“We're not a team that just picks up and marches around,” Earle said. “We had a lot of familiarity with the Charlotte group at Troutman, as we'd practiced with them for decades, and in their five years here they've had a very successful track record.”

He added that his team was impressed with Troutman's managing partner, Steve Lewis, its senior leadership and the firm's strategic direction. “They're focused, dedicated and able to articulate where the firm is going and how to get there,” he said, adding that his team liked the “collaborative management style.”

Regarding the strategic direction, Earle said that Troutman is “not trying to be all things to all people” but is instead focusing on serving the “upper middle market” across its practices.

“Troutman, like Kennedy Covington, has a working partnership, but it's not a 'last-dollar' place,” he added. “They respect people who have priorities like family—who have a life in addition to practicing law.”

Earle said his team's practice aligns with that of Troutman, which also handles day-to-day compliance in addition to M&A work. “And we like each other,” he said.

His team, unlike those at most firms, Earle said, does the daily compliance work for a fixed fee based on what it would cost the client to hire people to handle the work internally. That way, he said, clients get an entire team of subject matter experts for the same expense.

Earle focuses on executive compensation, while Wakefield and Zimmer handle employee health and welfare plans. All three advise on the practice's third prong—qualified retirement plans.

Companies need a team of lawyers to handle those three areas, because they've grown increasingly complex over the years, Earle said. For instance HIPPA, the Affordable Care Act and other laws have made health and welfare plans more complex, while new tax and disclosure rules have done the same for executive compensation, he explained.

Troutman's Charlotte managing partner, Fisher, said the trio from K&L Gates could augur more growth for Troutman in Charlotte by raising the firm's local profile. “This really gives us a springboard to continue to grow. It's a very significant move in this market,” he said.

He added that Troutman, which has two floors of space in One Wells Fargo Center, will take back a half-floor it's been subletting to accommodate the new and future hires.