Comings and Goings
Akerman: Two new partners are joining the firm in its corporate practice group, continuing expansion in its DC and New York offices. The new hires, Peter Eccles and Karyn Koiffman, are two of nine to be brought on to the practice group since January. “Peter and Karyn are consummate corporate lawyers with decades of combined experience handling highly complex transactions,” Jonathan Awner, practice group co-chair, said in a press release. “With them, we continue to expand our robust New York presence while adding significant bench strength to our national team of M&A and private equity lawyers, who represent clients in all facets of their transactions across markets sectors and jurisdictions.”
King & Spalding: Jonathan Melmed, Enrico Granata, and Ted Markson will join the firm as partners in its New York office. According to a release on the subject, Melmed will focus on power and infrastructure sectors. He will co-chair the global private equity practice group, and will also head the U.S. power & infrastructure group. King & Spalding’s depth, breadth, brand, and talent in the energy sector present a tremendous opportunity for our team and our clients to build on an integrated energy platform supporting transactions around the globe,” Melmed said in the August 1 release.
Reed Smith: The firm’s middle east expansion includes three new hires: Sachin Kerur, Michelle Nelson, and Shourav Lahiri. Kerur will become the office managing partner for Dubai and Abu Dhabi. “Sachin and Michelle are highly regarded in the region, and we are thrilled to have them join us,” Tamara Box, the managing partner of Reed Smith’s Europe and Middle East offices, said in a press release. “They have worked closely with Shourav for many years and together, this team will be a real boost to our Middle East offering and represents a game-changer in the local legal market. Under Sachin’s leadership, we are looking forward to growing our platform to increase our services to both local and global clients active in the region.”
Awards and Honors
Greenberg Traurig: Nicole M. Goodwin, the firm’s managing shareholder, was highlighted by Arizona Business Magazine as one of 2018’s Most Influential Women in Arizona. Goodwin was named along with Cathy Carlat, mayor of Peoria, and Misty Hyman, an Olympic gold medalist. Her practice focuses on corporate governance disputes, financial services litigation, real estate litigation, post-acquisition disputes, and health care litigation, as outlined in a press release.
Industry News
Cahill Gordon & Reindel: Floyd Abrams, a First Amendment attorney and three-time “Lawyer of the Year” award-winner in his New York practice, spoke with the Washington Post about ongoing issues with Mark Zuckerberg and free speech.
“They say ‘we don’t do editing’ but they do make choices,” Abrams told columnist Margaret Sullivan, about Facebook’s most recent blunder—when the social media giant appeared to give Holocaust deniers a voice on the platform. Despite the backlash Zuckerberg continues to face, Abrams sided with the right to open opinion and discussion. He said that, while overt racism should not be allowed, “the public is served best when they lean heavily toward allowing speech.”
