Gordon Rees Snags Nine-Lawyer Sedgwick Team
The pending demise of Sedgwick has resulted in a maritime group that the firm recruited nearly two years ago decamping for Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani.
December 13, 2017 at 06:55 PM
3 minute read
The pending demise of Sedgwick has resulted in a maritime group recruited nearly two years ago by the San Francisco-based Am Law 200 firm leaving for Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, which last month also brought on civil litigation partner Kendra Canape.
Gordon Rees announced Wednesday that it had brought on Andrew Port, the head of Sedgwick's maritime practice, and its Southern California maritime group leader James Marissen as partners in San Francisco, Orange County and Los Angeles. Other Sedgwick lawyers making the move include partners James Tamulski and Cheryl Morris, partner-turned-counsel Eric Danoff and senior counsel Christopher Farnsworth and James Kuhne.
The group was not immediately available to discuss their decision to leave Sedgwick, which is poised to shutter its operations in early January, for Gordon Rees. Sedgwick hired Port, Tamulski, Morris and Danoff in early 2016 from Emard Danoff Port Tamulski & Walovich, a San Francisco-based boutique that saw veteran maritime lawyer and former name partner Wayne Emard be killed in a motorcycle accident in 2005.
The seven-lawyer maritime group led by Port, who will now serve as co-chair of the practice at Gordon Rees, moves to the firm a few weeks after it brought on commercial litigator Canape in Irvine, California, where she now serves as co-chair of Gordon Rees' securities litigation group. Canape has been joined at the firm by former Sedgwick associate Rachel Weitzman, who now also works out of Gordon Rees' Orange County office.
Gordon Rees, which adopted a new name in 2014, had $296.5 million in gross revenue last year, making it the top-grossing California firm in the Am Law 200 rankings at No. 110. Gordon Rees made headlines last month after one of its partners in New York appeared in a controversial segment on Fox News. In September, Gordon Rees expanded in New England after absorbing a five-lawyer firm in Providence, Rhode Island.
As for Sedgwick, the departures of Canape and Port mark the latest exits in what has been a busy year for lateral losses at the firm. The American Lawyer reported last week that British firm Clyde & Co is poised to pick up a large group of Sedgwick lawyers throughout the United States. Clyde & Co and Sedgwick had reportedly been in merger talks until those discussions hit the skids in October.
Duane Morris announced in late November that it would absorb a group of Sedgwick labor and employment lawyers in San Francisco, while a trio of U.K.-based firms have in recent weeks reeled in what remains of Sedgwick's London office. A back office operations center opened in mid-2014 by Sedgwick in Kansas City, Missouri, is also poised to close by late January, resulting in the termination of 75 employees.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Freshfields, Paul Hastings, McDermott, Alston Hire in Core Practices, Amid Flurry of Q4 Lateral Moves
5 minute read
Keker Secures Defense Win for EDA Software Company Real Intent in Synopsys Copyright Infringement Case
Trending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Abbott, Mead Johnson Win Defense Verdict Over Preemie Infant Formula
- 3Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
- 4Meet the Lawyers on Kamala Harris' Transition Team
- 5Trump Files $10B Suit Against CBS in Amarillo Federal Court
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
