Wake Up Call: Latham, on London Hiring Spree, Aims to ‘Dominate’

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

• While Latham & Watkins has been hiring “aggressively” from London’s “elite” firms for years, the recent poach of a Freshfields capital markets lawyer “was a demonstration of how far Latham had come in its effort to dominate in the City.” Over the last three years, Latham has recruited at least 15 partners from rivals—equaling more than 10 per cent of its total partnership in London—making it the biggest US heritage firm by headcount in the UK. (Financial Times)
• Litigation funder Burford Capital is expected to join the broad-market Russell 3000 and small-cap Russell 2000 indexes at after the US market opens on July 1. The inclusion of Burford and its “multi-billion dollar portfolio” would mark “the first entry of legal finance—an emerging asset class—to the Indexes.” (Burford Capital)
• Madison, Wisconsin solo practitioner Michelle Behnke is “positioned” to become the next president-elect of the American Bar Association, if she’s confirmed to the post during the ABA’s annual meeting in August. When asked what spurred her interest in becoming a lawyer, she said that in high school, “I asked questions and pressed, debated. As I got to law school and learned how many ways lawyers help people, that’s what I fell in love with.” (Wisconsin State Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Chris Evans has joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as a partner with the firm’s fund transactions team in New York.
• Michael Holston will join Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner.
• Kristi Wolff has joined Davis Wright Tremaine as a partner with the firm’s advertising practice in Washington. Wolff joins from Kelley Drye & Warren.
• Isaac Maron has rejoined Mayer Brown as a partner in the firm’s tax practice and as a member of the global projects and infrastructure team in Washington. He joins from Latham & Watkins.
• David Ehrlich has joined Holland & Knight’s corporate, mergers and acquisitions and securities practice group in New York as a partner. He joins from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.
• Sophie Allen has joined Greenberg Traurig as a shareholder with the firm’s tax practice in London. She joins from Morrison & Foerster.
• Alicia M. Chiu has joined Greenberg Traurig‘s Orlando office as a labor and employment shareholder.
• Kelly Cardin has joined Littler Mendelson’s New York office as a shareholder in the firm’s employment litigation and wage and hour practices. She joins the firm from Ogletree Deakins.
• Briana Swift has joined Littler Mendelson as a shareholder in the firm’s employee benefits and executive compensation practices in its Seattle office. Swift joins the firm from K&L Gates.