Weil, Gotshal & Manges Loses Eight Lawyers to Sidley Austin

09/18/13

Weil, Gotshal & Manges Loses Eight Lawyers to Sidley Austin

Global law firm, Sidley Austin LLP announced that eight lawyers are joining as partners at the Dallas office. All eight are leaving the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Six of the new partners will be joining Sidley's complex commercial litigation practice, while two will join its private equity practice.

The lawyers leaving Weil Gotshal include the Co-Heads of two practice groups. Yvette Ostolaza was the Co-Head of Weil's Complex Commercial Litigation practice and also a member of the law firm's management committee. Angela Fontana was the Co-Head of Weil's U.S. Banking and Finance practice, and focused primarily on financing transactions and debt restructurings.

Besides Ostolaza and Fontana, the other partners moving from Weil to Sidley include Penny Reid, Vance Beagles, Angela Zambrano, Yolanda Cornejo Garcia and Michelle Hartman. Most of them belonged to Weil's complex commercial litigation practice.

Speaking on recruiting the group, Larry Barden, Vice Chair of Sidley's Management Committee said, "This group has a long track record of achieving outstanding results on behalf of their clients and we look forward to having them as part of the Sidley team."

Speaking on the recruitment of Ostoloza, Barden said, "Given that Yvette held a senior leadership role at her prior firm, she is a natural fit to succeed Jim in leading the Dallas office and to assume a leadership role in our national complex commercial litigation practice. We thank Jim for his service and welcome this top-notch group of lawyers to Sidley."

Carter Philips, Chair of Sidley's Executive Committee said, "This expansion is a continuation of our growth strategy and follows our recent acquisition of an SEC enforcement and regulatory group, a team of international arbitration lawyers, and the addition of several other high-profile partners across our global platform, particularly in Europe and Asia."

Yvette Ostolaza is a lawyer with 21 years of high-profile practice. She made it this year to the "Rainmakers" category of Diversity & The Bar. She is also recognized by Chambers USA in the field of Commercial Litigation in Texas among America's Leading Lawyers for Business. She will succeed Sidley Partner James Bradley as the Dallas Office Managing Partner from January 2014, while Bradley transitions to Senior Counsel.

Fontana is recognized in Chambers USA - America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the field of Banking and Finance. She was also named a Texas Super Lawyer in 2003 - 2012 and a "Best Lawyer" in Dallas for bank lending by D Magazine. Moreover, she has been recognized as one of the "20 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Texas" by the Texas Diversity Counsel. Fontana will be assuming the role of Global Coordinator of Sidley's Private Equity practice and be a member of the firm's Global Finance practice.