Lewis Brisbois Transportation Head Decamps for Husch Blackwell

Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith lost a transportation practice leader to Husch Blackwell, extending a period of flux at Lewis Brisbois that began last year.

Julie Maurer, a Phoenix-based attorney who led the transportation and cargo and logistics groups, joined Husch along with four other attorneys from Lewis Brisbois, the Kansas City, Missouri-based Husch confirmed Tuesday.

Maurer, who had been with Lewis Brisbois for eight years, specializes in advising motor carriers, energy firms and companies working on autonomous vehicle technology, among other industries, according to her Husch Blackwell bio. She was not immediately available for comment.

Lewis Brisbois said in a statement it wishes Maurer and her team the best, adding that “2023 was our best year yet and we are excited for 2024 to be even better.”

The Los Angeles-founded law firm has seen a string of departures since last year. Nearly 140 labor and employment attorneys, led by practice leaders John Barber and Jeff Ranen, in May departed to form their own legal operation. The firm’s leader, Bob Lewis, who had served as chair since its 1979 founding, then stepped down.

A group of six partners in Portland and Seattle later left in October to join rival insurance firm Wilson Elser. Eleven attorneys in Miami, including six partners, joined Dinsmore to launch that firm’s regional office a month later.

Lewis Brisbois has more than 1,500 lawyers focusing largely on insurance defense matters, with major clients including Chubb and American International Group Inc. Lawyers that have joined the firm in recent months include Daron Watts, a former Sidley Austin partner who now heads the government affairs practice.

The firm in May tapped Gregory Katz, who is a co-chair of the transportation group, to take the reins from Lewis. Katz took over amid a chaotic stretch at the firm, which included the firm releasing a tranche of racist and sexist emails Barber and Ranen sent during their tenures at Lewis Brisbois.

Ranen and Barber resigned from their new firm and the operation dissolved just months later. Many of the attorneys who joined Barber and Ranen at the new firm have since joined O’Hagan Meyer, a Chicago-based law boutique.