Pillsbury poaches three from Squire Patton Boggs

Davis Polk hires TPG’s general counsel; DLA Piper adds a former Skadden bankruptcy veteran; and more private fund lawyer moves.

• Pillsbury appointed three lawyers from Squire Patton Boggs to form a new litigation and corporate team. Partners Tom Liu and Stacie Yee join the litigation practice in the firm’s Los Angeles office, and partner Jenny Liu joins the corporate and securities practice in San Francisco. The team is led by Tom Lui, who is an employment lawyer with more than 25 years of experience advising companies on labor and employment litigation and counseling. Jenny Liu represents private and public companies, investment banks and other financial institutions, in addition to private equity and venture capital firms.

Davis Polk & Wardwell added Ronald Cami as partner in the firm’s Menlo Park office. Polk joins the firm’s corporate practice from private equity firm TPG Global where he was partner and general counsel for over five years. During his tenure he led the firm through deals such as the $450 million investment in alternative lodging service Airbnb in 2014. Prior to this he worked as a partner in corporate department of Cravath, Swaine & Moore where he focused on private equity, mergers and acquisitions and securities offerings.

DLA Piper hired John Lyons as a partner in the firm’s restructuring practice group. He will be based in its Chicago office. Lyons joins the firm from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom where he practiced for more than 20 years. He has represented a number of private equity and distressed investors and has also represented several clients in connection with fraud investigations and asset recovery efforts. In addition, he served as counsel for the official committee of unsecured creditors in the Chapter 11 reorganization of American Airlines.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe added a team of five French practitioners to its Paris office. Hervé Touraine, Emmanuel Ringeval, Emmanuel Bénard, Patrick Tardivy and Olivier Bernard all join the firm from Freshfields and will work across its different practices. Tardivy focuses on private equity transactions, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. He advises on aerospace and defense, energy and infrastructure and real estate investments.

Debevoise & Plimpton promoted seven partners across its white collar and regulatory defense, dispute resolution, mergers and acquisitions and private equity practices in both New York and London. Sarah Coyne, Uri Herzberg, Ina Popova, David Portilla, David Sarratt, Thomas Smith and Patrick Taylor all become partners of the firm, effective July 1, 2016. Coyne previously served as a federal prosecutor for 14 years. Before joining the firm she worked as assistant US attorney in the Eastern district of New York, where she was chief of the business and securities fraud section.

• M&A lawyer Jackie Hodes joined Jones Day as a partner in the firm’s Miami office. Hodes formerly worked as a partner at DLA Piper for nearly five years and specializes in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, with a strong focus on deals being done in the US, Latin America and the Caribbean. She also advises private equity firms and early stage companies in corporate transactions, corporate governance, equity compensation, and general day-to-day legal matters.

Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson hired Brian Miner as partner in the firm’s mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice. He will be based in its in Washington DC office. Miner previously worked as a partner in Reed Smith’s corporate and securities practice for six years. His practice focuses on cross-border and domestic mergers and acquisitions involving public and private companies. His private equity practice focuses on acquisitions and dispositions, majority and minority investments, joint ventures and co-investment transactions. 

Know of any private fund lawyer moves we missed? Submit the news to nicole.m@peimedia.com.