Bernstein Renews Corporate Governance Bench Post-Exodus (1)

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman is rebuilding its corporate governance practice group following a rowdy exit by ex-partner Jeroen van Kwawegen, who took a group of partners with him.

The top-ranked securities litigation firm hired partner Anthony Calvano and associate Tayler Bolton, according to an announcement Thursday.

Calvano specializes in litigating complex fiduciary duty, merger related and stockholder disputes. He came from corporate defense firm Ross Aronstam & Moritz and clerked for J. Travis Laster of the Delaware Chancery Court. Bolton comes from BLB&G rival Robbins Geller.

BLB&G brought back Mark Lebovitch last month to lead the corporate governance group alongside partner Greg Varallo, who leads the firm’s Delaware office. Lebovitch founded the firm’s corporate governance group in 2006.

Lebovitch said the firm was looking for attorneys with expertise in corporate governance and creative approaches to the law.

Lebovitch wants to focus on novel or high-impact cases in the corporate governance space. He expects business-to-business cases, including earnout disputes and investor-rights claims.

“I hope what you’re going to see is Bernstein Litowitz continue to do the best stockholder litigation but hopefully be open to develop its reputation in other areas that are fundamentally investor rights,” Lebovitch said.

BLB&G also shuffled associates from other groups to the depleted corporate governance group, which now consists of five full-time partners and four associates, plus senior counsel who handle settlements and a handful of staff attorneys.

Bernstein Litowitz’s corporate governance group is scheduled for at least two trials. The firm will continue to recruit opportunistically, Lebovitch said.

The reorganization comes after ex-partner Jeroen van Kwawegen left with over a dozen attorneys, staff and partners to launch JVK Law. Van Kwawegen, who led Bernstein Litowitz’s corporate governance practice, said he bolted over differences with other partners about the firm’s direction. The firm said van Kwawegen was fired, a claim that he denied.

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn on Friday dropped BLB&G and turned to JVK Law for a case targeting Silver Lake’s buyout of entertainment conglomerate Endeavor Group Holdings.

The firm handles mostly contingency-fee model work. Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann is known for leading massive shareholder cases involving companies such as Walmart Inc., Paramount Global, and Coinbase Global Inc. Its lawyers successfully challenged Elon Musk’s $55.8 billion dollar Tesla Inc. pay package, a ruling that fueled efforts to overhaul Delaware’s corporate laws. The firm’s $345 million fee for its work on the case is currently tied up in an appeal.