New York Boutique Pallas Partners Poaches Kasowitz Benson Team

Pallas Partners is hiring a three-lawyer team from Kasowitz Benson Torres, the New York litigation boutique announced Tuesday.

The additions include partners Michael Hanin and Jill Forster, who will deepen the firm’s commercial and financial litigation practices for clients who have both US and UK ties.

“We look for those who know how to build business,” said firm founder Natasha Harrison. “It’s not about going out and buying a case or a book.”

The move comes as the boutique enters its third year of existence in New York. It was founded in London in 2022. The firm is looking to continue to grow its New York presence, and is planning to move into larger digs in three months.

Hanin’s past client list includes Wall Street investor Carl Icahn, investment firm Waterfall Asset Management and crypto-trading firm GSR Markets. He’s taking his current clients in the move, Hanin said. He says many of them have Europe-based needs.

“We’ve been getting half their work for a number of years and so this is an opportunity to fill that gap,” Hanin.

Hanin expects more calls from clients on issues relating to complex asset-backed securities and disputes, a multitrillion-dollar segment of the economy. He also expects civil litigation to pick up in the wake of priority shifts in the federal regulatory environment.

Forster focuses on complex commercial litigation representing investment funds and commercial real estate owners.

Pallas Partners, which offered its junior lawyers as much as $230,000 in year-end bonuses last year, was launched in 2022 by Bois Schiller partners. Its past client list includes Credit Suisse bondholders and private equity titan Blackstone. Pallas Partners US is a separate entity under the Pallas brand.