Atlanta law firms shake up practice groups

03/09/07

Atlanta law firms shake up practice groups

Atlanta law firms, either based in or with offices in the area, have fortified their respective practice areas with the addition of experienced attorneys. In another move, the attempt to woo associates continues. Law firm Lord, Bissell & Brook, following the salary-rise trend, bumped up its Atlanta office starting salary to $130,000 from $115,000. The firm has also increased starting salaries in its New York, Washington, Chicago, and Los Angeles offices from $135,000 to $145,000.

Duane Morris hired Kimberly S. Bunting as a partner in the firm's corporate practice group. Along with her, three other lawyers and one paralegal joined Duane Morris from Bunting's legal firm Bunting Legal Group. The others are Mona P. Maerz and Dale A. Bandy who join as special counsel, Daniel C. McClendon who joins as an associate and Kathleen Reed as a paralegal. With the addition of Bunting's group, Duane Morris now has 34 lawyers in Atlanta.

Holland & Knight's Atlanta office hired Alfred B. Adams III as its local managing partner. A litigator and member of the firm's Directors Committee, Adams replaces Robert L. Rhodes Jr., as partner in the firm's environmental practice. Meanwhile, the firm also named Susan W. Housen as the leader of its Atlanta litigation practice group.

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz hired employment litigators David E. Gevertz as a partner and Erica V. Garey as an associate to its practice group in the Atlanta office. The duo comes from Ashe Rafuse & Hill.

Troutman Sanders hired Stacy G. Freeman in its Public Affairs Group as a principal. Earlier Freeman served McKenna Long & Aldridge as Of Counsel in its public law practice. In Troutman too he will serve as Of Counsel concentrating on insurance regulation, legislative affairs, and government relations.

Parker, Hudson, Rainer & Dobbs appointed Rebeccah L. Bower as an associate in its business litigation. G. Wayne Hillis Jr. was named the firm's assistant managing partner in its Litigation group. Bower comes to the firm from the U.S. Department of Justice where she served in the tax division.

Fisher & Phillips, a labor and employment firm, hired Jessica T. Cook in its immigration practice as an associate. She earlier practiced at the Roanoke, VA, firm Woods Rogers.

Janet Angstadt joins Katten Muchin Rosenman in Chicago
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP hired Janet Angstadt as a partner in its Financial Services Practice in the firm's Chicago office. Prior to this she served NYSE Arca Inc. as the General Counsel.

Angstadt has experience in market structure and regulatory compliance issues, and managed the company's membership and registrations department. The firm's more than 60 attorneys at the financial services practice at Katten's serve big names among the world's premier hedge funds and financial sector managers such as commercial banks, insurance companies, and international exchanges. Angstadt's vast practical regulatory experience as well as extensive market structure issues and initiatives will be an asset for the group, said Arthur W. Hahn, Katten's Financial Services Practice national chair.

FUN NEWS

Women teachers kept from giving private tuitions in practical sex
The weather is getting hot down there in Laurens District in Columbia. Women teachers are developing a passion for all round development of students, while the law and press is crying foul play about illegal sex. It started last year with Wendie A. Schweikert, 36, teaching at E.B. Morse Elementary School, when an unwilling parent reported that her 11-year-old son received elementary lessons in sex from willing Wendie. The police arrested Wendie for criminal sexual conduct with a minor and she resigned from the school. Last week, Allenna Williams Ward, 23, a language arts teacher of Bell Street Middle School was caught teaching sexual arts to at least five teenage boys. According to reports, she used all possible locations, in the school, at a motel, behind a restaurant, and inside a park for such private educational purposes. The police arrested Ward for criminal sexual conduct and lewd acts upon children. The police never understood teaching anyway.