Waiting For Partners, Part 569 — Goodwin Procter Opens in Paris

Today, David Hashmall, the chair of Goodwin Procter, called Big Law Business from Orlando, Florida, where he and his partners broke bread together at their annual retreat to kick around ideas about the future of the firm.

Missing from the retreat? Four private equity partners who plan to join the firm in June from King & Wood Mallesons, but in the meantime are waiting for a mandatory 90-day holding period to expire.

“They have a three-month notice period, so, unless their current firm agrees to release them, they will join at the end of June,” said Hashmall, of the four private equity partners joining in Paris.

The additions of Maxence Bloch, Christophe Digoy, Jérôme Jouhanneaud and Thomas Maitrejean will mark the firm’s 10th office worldwide and its first in France. It will start out focused on private equity and M&A work, but could expand into other areas, including real estate, life sciences and technology.

Last year, we reported about how Squire Patton Boggs required white collar defense partner Bob Luskin to wait 60 days before joining Paul Hastings, so he booked a trip to St. Barths ,where he sipped champagne on the beach and basked in his Billy Ray moment . In recent years, law firms have begun enforcing such holding periods on exiting partners, putting them in an awkward, limbo state, working out of the same office with colleagues who they’ve told they don’t want to work with anymore.

[caption id="attachment_10846" align="aligncenter” width="387"][Image “David Hashmall, chair of Goodwin Procter” (src=https://bol.bna.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hashmall.jpg)]David Hashmall, chair of Goodwin Procter[/caption]

The reason? As we’ve previously reported: to mitigate the loss of a departure. Or, if you speak with firm leaders who enforce the provisions: to ensure the seamless transition of client work.

“I can’t comment on other firms, but it’s not the practice of Goodwin,” Hashmall said. “Because look, I think partners move firms and it’s the nature of our business. I think we should be professional about it.”

It should also be noted where the partners are coming from. King & Wood Mallesons has been discussing some structural and strategic changes in recent months, although Hashmall said he didn’t believe the moves had anything to do with changes at KWM.

“I don’t think there is any connection whatsoever,” he said.

Once the partners do join, they will reunite with their long lost brethren. Last year, Goodwin Procter hired two from King & Wood Mallesons in London: corporate leader Richard Lever , and partner Simon Fulbrook .

The Goodwinpress release has more details on the background of the move.

Goodwin’s private equity platform first expanded outside of the U.S. with the opening in 2008 of a Hong Kong office under the leadership of office chair Yash Rana . In 2015, partners Richard Lever and Simon Fulbrook launched Goodwin’s European private equity offering in the firm’s London office. Led by chair David Evans , Goodwin London has grown to nearly 40 lawyers and recently signed a lease to double its space when it moves to a new location at 100 Cheapside, EC2 next year. Last January, the Private Equity Practice established an initial foothold in Germany when partner Lars Jessen joined the firm’s Frankfurt office.

Let us know what you think of the development by writing to us at BigLawBusiness@bna.com.