Wake Up Call: DLA Hits Dentons for 30-Lawyer West Coast IP Team

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• DLA Piper poached a 30-lawyer, six partner, global intellectual property team from Dentons on the West Coast, led by partner Peter Yim and includes partners Christopher Eide, Brian Ho, Randy Omid, Michael Swett, and Parker Kuhl. The team has around 50 people overall, including patent agents and technical advisers, and is based in the firm’s San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Seattle offices with staff in other cities. (DLAPiper.com)
• The now collapsed Silicon Valley Bank lost its chief risk officer, Laura Izurieta, in April 2022 and did not replace her until it hired Kim Olson, former CRO at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., for the job in January, according to a report citing the bank’s proxy statement. (Legal Dive) The bank also lacked a communications professional on its leadership team. (Axios)
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Monday named former Fannie Mae CEO and top lawyer Tim Mayopoulos to lead the bridge bank that is supposed to protect the failed lender’s depositors. (HousingWire.com) According to his LinkedIn profile, Mayopoulos, current president of mortgage software startup Blend Labs Inc., has among other things been executive vice president and general counsel of Bank of America and was in-house leader at Deutsche Bank Americas. (LinkedIn)
• Paul Hastings, Hogan Lovells, Ashurst, Clifford Chance, and Slaughter and May were among firms advising on HSBC’s acquisition of SVB’s UK arm for a reported 1 pound sterling ($1.22). (Law.com International) (Global Legal Post)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• Paul Hastings is advising Symphony Technology Group on a Symphony-led consortium’s $1.5 billion acquisition of Momentive Global, maker of SurveyMonkey. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is counseling Momentive. (Momentive.ai)
• Former Federal Communications Commission attorney adviser Keith Buell, a “robocall policy expert,” joined entity identity management company Numeracle as its first ever general counsel and head of public policy. A former Arnold & Porter attorney, Buell has been in-house at telecom companies including Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and India’s Tata Communications. (Numeracle.com)
• Frost Brown Todd had a mixed 2022 with revenues rising 7.1% to $278.5 million, while its average profits per equity partner ticked down 1.9% to $566,000. (American Lawyer)
• Alston & Bird’s independent probe on behalf of the US Soccer Federation into domestic violence and other allegations against former US Men’s National Team head coach Gregg Berhalter concluded “there is no legal impediment to employing him” again as head coach. (USSoccer.com) (New York Times)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Quinn Emanuel grabbed longtime Kirkland & Ellis litigation partner Richard Godfrey, who among other things defended General Motors in litigation over defective ignition switches. Godfrey joined Kirkland in 1979 and served 16 years on its global management executive committee. He joins Quinn as partner in Chicago and chair of its complex multidistrict litigation practice group. (Quinnemanuel.com)
• Goodwin Procter hired asset management transactions lawyer Ranan Well as partner in Washington in its private equity group. He arrives from Stradley Ronon, where, according to his LinkedIn profile, he was partner and chair of investment management M&A. (GoodwinLaw.com)
• Reed Smith brought in former Florida and New York federal prosecutor Lara Treinis Gatz as partner in its global regulatory enforcement group. She was recently assistant US attorney of the Southern District of Florida. (Reed Smith)
• French firm Jeausserand Audouard hired Latham & Watkins M&A and private equity attorney Antoine Dufrane as a partner in Paris. (Jeausserand-Audouard.com)
• Day Pitney LLP hired law firm marketing pro Amanda Loesch as its new chief marketing officer. (DayPitney.com)
• Texas-based Legacy Housing Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed mobile home manufacturer, said it hired King & Spalding complex commercial litigation attorney Max Africk as general counsel. He was at Weil Gotshal earlier. (Global Newswire)

Technology

• Legal tech company TransPerfect Legal Solutions acquired JetExport’s e-discovery tools. (Businesswire)