Washington-based Covington & Burling recently made two lateral partner hires, expanding its litigation team. David Bayless, joining the San Francisco office, is a securities litigation partner from Morrison & Foerster. In D.C., Michael Schlanger rejoins the firm from Sonnenschein after a 30-year absence. Covington has just under 500 attorneys and actually rarely does lateral hiring; last year only six new partners joined the firm.

Source: www.thelawyer.com

David Bayless has joined Covington & Burling’s San Francisco office from Morrison & Foerster. Bayless comes to the Washington-based firm as a partner after more than seven years with MoFo’s securities litigation practice. Sources from MoFo’s San Francisco office speculate that in moving, Bayless is seeking to pursue his regulatory practice. Covington’s securities and enforcement practice is based mainly in Washington and New York, and is known for its former government lawyers.

Source: www.law.com

Four litigators have joined the New York and Los Angeles offices of Winston & Strawn. Jeffrey P. Rosenstein, Robert J. Saville and Kenneth D. O’Reilly have joined its New York office, and Rebecca L. Calkins joins the firm’s Los Angeles office. All four attorneys were formerly with Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP; they follow a group of eight lawyers that moved to Winson in February. Joining as partner, Rosenstein focuses on construction, infrastructure, and engineering matters. Saville will be of counsel, dealing with a variety of commercial litigation and abitration issues. The other two attorneys join the firm as associates.

Source: www.lawfuel.com

Four transactional lawyers from Epstein Becker & Green have joined the Atlanta office of Chicago-based Schiff Hardin. The group specializes in the design and implementation of Employee Stock Ownership Plans and leveraged ESOP transactions. Preston C. Delashmit and Robert E. Lesser join as partners, and Randolph R. Smith Jr. and Danielle R. Doerhoff join as associates. Schiff Hardin’s Atlanta office opened in 2003; the firm also has offices in Washington, New York, and San Francisco.

Source: www.law.com

Jones Day’s San Diego office announced the addition of two new lateral hires. Nicola Pisano joins as an IP partner from Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps; Lin Yu, Ph.D., joins the firm as a patent agent from Gordon Rees. The firm’s San Diego office relocated last month to a space three times as large as its previous location; it has 22 lawyers. Jones Day has 30 locations worldwide and over 2,200 attorneys.

Source: www.home.businesswire.com

Dallas-based firm Jenkens & Gilchrist has shrunk from 600 lawyers in 2001 to less than 200. Over the past few years the firm was sued by former clients over improper tax shelter advice and has been strategically downsizing in response. Its most recent move was the handing over of its entire 19-lawyer L.A. office to Baker Hostetler. Jenkens also moved most of its Chicago office, about 15 IP lawyers, to Nixon Peabody this week. It is also rumored that some of Jenkens’ Dallas lawyers might join Hunton & Williams.

Source: www.law.com

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. recently gained a new Member to its Real Estate practice. Scott Biel joins the firm’s San Diego office from Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP. His work deals with the representation of owners, developers, tenants and lenders in a variety of real estate transactions; he specializes in the financing, development and leasing of offices, research and manufacturing facilities for corporate users in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and telecommunication industries. Mintz Levin is a 480-attorney AmLaw 100 firm with offices in the U.S. and U.K. The firm is especially known for its expertise in industry.

Source: www.lawfuel.com

Perkins Coie announced that David Frazee joined the firm’s Menlo Park, CA office. As a partner in the firm’s Business group, Frazee will focus on helping companies develop comprehensive corporate, business, and intellectual property strategies. Perkins Coie has over 600 attorneys in 15 offices in the U.S. and China. In 2007 it was named by Fortune Magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For”.

Source: www.home.businesswire.com

San Francisco bankruptcy boutique McNutt & Litteneker has been hit hard by the downturn in bankruptcy business over the past couple years. Around the same time the firm started to lose its lawyers; it shrank from 10 full-time lawyers to only two – the two name partners. Three of the former associates moved to the San Francisco office of Philadelphia-based Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. The associates cited various reasons for their departures, from little opportunity for professional development to being underchallenged. Others saw a lack of mentoring as a problem.

Source: www.nylawyer.com