Good morning,

Last week recorded 39 firms welcoming over 65 partner-level lateral hires, with Brown Rudnick announcing its largest-ever group hire (34 attorneys including 7 partners). Holland & Knight was not far behind in partner count additions with five new hires across government affairs, tax, and corporate. King & Spalding brought on four partners across healthcare, IP transactions, and international disputes.

Reed Smith suffered the largest outflows losing a 21-lawyer real estate and structured finance team to Benesch and four trademark and brands partners to ArentFox Schiff.

Energy and infrastructure hiring remained active with Akin, Morgan Lewis, and McGuireWoods all making moves in the space.

On the executive front, ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance announced his retirement after 14 years, handing the reins to CFO Andy O'Brien. Morgan Stanley's global co-head of energy Michael O'Dwyer is departing for ADNOC as chief investment officer, a signal of how sovereign wealth funds continue to pull top Wall Street talent.

Hormel Foods appointed John Ghingo as its new President and CEO, while Owens Corning and VF Corporation rotated their CFO chairs. A wave of CTO promotions at Coinbase, Crexendo, and Camden National Bank reflected the continued priority on technology leadership.

Now, on to what matters for your practice today.

BigLaw Moves Sentiment

Energy and infrastructure hiring continued at pace this week, reflecting sustained demand from the IRA, infrastructure spending, and energy transition deal flow.

Real estate and structured finance showed significant movement anchored by Reed Smith's 21-lawyer departure to Benesch, suggesting regional platform-building remains a viable lateral strategy.

Litigation, particularly complex commercial, government investigations, and IP drove the largest share of individual moves.

The Hogan Lovells Cadwalader merger is already reshaping the lateral market on both sides: the combined firm is attracting new laterals while losing teams to competitors, a dynamic worth watching as other recent megamergers play out.

BigLaw Moves

A few quick patterns worth noting: This week saw 38 firms welcoming over 60 new partners and lateral hires. Brown Rudnick announced the most joiners this week: 7 partners and a total of 34 attorneys. Holland & Knight followed with 5 joiners, followed by King & Spalding (4). Reed Smith saw the most net departures, losing 25+ lawyers to Benesch and ArentFox Schiff combined, while also gaining antitrust partner Paul Johnson from Morgan Lewis in London. Hogan Lovells Cadwalader also saw significant outflows, losing an 11-lawyer finance team to Sidley Austin just weeks after its merger closed. Litigation led all practice areas, followed by energy and infrastructure, real estate, and IP.

Firms Welcoming Multiple Joiners

-Brown Rudnick

The firm hired a 34-lawyer intellectual property litigation team from HSFK in its largest-ever group hire.The group includes partners Paul Andre, Lisa Kobialka, James Hannah, Kristopher Kastens, Michael Lee, Jonathan Caplan and Aaron Frankel. Kobialka will join Brown Rudnick's management ​committee and serve as co-chair of its IP litigation group.

-Holland & Knight

Sydney Bopp, Kevin Curley, and Caitlin Keliher joined from Boundary Stone Partners for the federal government affairs practice, focusing on government funding and financing for energy clients. Tax partner Megan Jones joined from Vedder for the global wealth and family office practice in Century City. Corporate partner David Jargiello joined from VLP Law Group in San Francisco.

-King & Spalding

Healthcare regulatory partner Troy Barsky joined from Crowell & Moring in Washington, DC and Denver. Technology and IP transactions partner Adam Petravicius joined from Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago. International disputes partners Steven Finizio and Jonathan Lim joined from WilmerHale in London.

-Morrison Foerster

Complex litigation partners Dennis Ellis, Katherine Murray, and Serli Polatoglu joined from Ellis George in Los Angeles.

-ArentFox Schiff

Trademark and brands partners Jason Garcia, Justine Lee, and Kat Kershner joined from Reed Smith to open the firm's new Silicon Valley office, its third California location.

-Linklaters

Litigation and sports partner César Rivière joined from Paul Weiss in New York as part of a partner-led trio, the second group hire from Paul Weiss in under a month as Linklaters continues its New York litigation buildout.

-Benesch

Jodi Schwimmer (former Reed Smith financial industry group global co-chair) and Randy Eckers led a 21-lawyer real estate and structured finance team from Reed Smith to both open a new Miami office and strengthen Benesch's New York presence.

-Sidley Austin

Partners Brian Foster and Patrick Calves led an 11-lawyer finance team from Hogan Lovells Cadwalader in New York, continuing Sidley's funds buildout.

-Cleary Gottlieb

Civil litigation partners Anna Naydonov (from White & Case, Washington, DC) and Alex Talarides (from Orrick, California) joined the firm.

-Hogan Lovells Cadwalader

Antitrust partner David Emanuelson joined in San Francisco. Litigation partner Meshach Rhoades joined from Crowell & Moring in Denver, the firm's first US-based litigation hire since the merger.

-Willkie

Litigation partners Grant Schmidt and Andrew Bean joined from Hilgers in Dallas.

-Akin

Energy and infrastructure partners Mitch Holzrichter and Nick Vallorano joined in Chicago.

-Husch Blackwell

Data privacy and cybersecurity partners Benjamin Perry (Nashville) and Lauren Watson (Raleigh) joined from Ogletree Deakins.

-K&L Gates

IP partners Christian Wende and Markus Eustermann joined from WENDE IP in Munich.

-Jones Day

Tax partner Jennifer Breen joined from Morgan Lewis in Washington, DC. Kevin Wakefield joined as of counsel in real estate in Dallas.

Firms Adding Single Joiners

-A&O Shearman: M&A and private equity partner Germaine Gurr joined from Sidley in Los Angeles. She will also serve as managing partner for the LA office and join the firm's AI steering committee.

-Arnall Golden Gregory: Employment partner John Bennett joined from Freeman Mathis & Gary in Atlanta.

-Arnold & Porter: Life sciences and technology transactions partner Ken Miller joined from the Gates Foundation in Seattle.

-Cole Schotz: IP litigation lawyer David Higer joined from Winstead in Dallas.

-DLA Piper: Corporate partner Risa Salins joined from Kirkland & Ellis in New York.

-Foley & Lardner: International arbitration partner Christina Beharry joined from Foley Hoag in Washington, DC.

-Fox Rothschild: Construction partner Adam Richards joined from Dickinson Wright in Miami.

-Fried Frank: Fund finance partner Corinne Musa joined from Akin in New York.

-Goodwin: Ian Stearns rejoined as a government investigations, securities litigation, and complex litigation partner in Boston from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

-Latham & Watkins: M&A and private equity partner Samantha McGonigle, formerly general counsel at Hg, joined in London.

-Loeb & Loeb: Entertainment partner Liza Montesano joined from Schreck Rose in New York.

-McGuireWoods: Energy regulatory partner Mustafa Ostrander joined from Rock Creek Energy Group in DC.

-Mintz: Michael Leib, former attorney-advisor at the U.S. International Trade Commission, joined in DC.

-Morgan Lewis: Energy and infrastructure partner Jude Leblanc joined from McGuireWoods in Houston.

-Neal Gerber Eisenberg: Real estate partner Tal Izraeli joined from Levenfeld Pearlstein in Chicago.

-Nelson Mullins: Real estate finance partner Peter McKee joined from Alston & Bird in Dallas.

-Orrick: IP litigation partner Jordan Coyle returned from White & Case in DC.

-Pillsbury: Tech litigation partner Katie Sluss joined from TikTok in Washington, DC to lead the firm's tech litigation practice.

-Proskauer: Jeffrey Pash, former NFL general counsel, joined the sports group in New York.

-Quarles & Brady: Litigation partner Dan Quigley joined from Cohen Dowd Quigley in Phoenix.

-Reed Smith: Antitrust partner Paul Johnson joined from Morgan Lewis in London.

-Seyfarth Shaw: Labor and employment partner Meg Burnham joined from Davis Wright Tremaine in Seattle.

-Vinson & Elkins: Corporate partner Enrique Dancausa joined from Freshfields in New York.

Corporate Moves Sentiment

The ConocoPhillips CEO succession and Morgan Stanley-to-ADNOC departure point to continued boardroom turnover in the energy sector, a space generating substantial transactional, regulatory, and project finance work for law firms.

The wave of CTO appointments across Coinbase, Freshworks, and mid-market firms reflects how deeply technology leadership is being prioritized, a driver of tech transactions, cybersecurity, and data governance advisory work.

The CFO rotations at Owens Corning and VF Corporation signal operational restructuring at Fortune 500 companies, which typically creates demand for corporate governance, executive compensation, and M&A advisory services.

Corporate Moves

Investment Banking

Bank of America: Simbah Mutasa will now oversee deal-making across Africa. Sjoerd van Hooijdonk was promoted to lead the Benelux franchise.

Evercore: Dylan Tornay joined from Citi as a senior managing director of equity capital markets.

Greenhill: Matthew Welsford joined from Deutsche Bank as a managing director to lead its chemicals franchise in North America.

Lazard is hiring veteran Barclays banker Jessel Sheth to boost its technology advisory team, as more of the firm’s software clients grapple with AI disruption

Royal Bank of Canada: Rob Brass joined from Barclays as head of global semiconductors and electronics in technology investment banking.

Wells Fargo: Anthony Giuliano was hired from Perella Weinberg Partners as a managing director in consumer and retail investment banking.

Asset Managers

Ares Management: Blair Jacobson, co-president, joined the Williams College board of trustees.

Blue Owl Capital: Takeo Ikemori joined from Barclays as co-head of Japanese business.

Blueprint Equity: Kaila Russell joined as director of talent. Paul Koch joined as head of AI.

Left Lane Capital: Arjun Kapur and Paddy Dillon were promoted to investing principals. Alex Wu was promoted to partner of talent, Erica Amatori to partner of platform.

Lightspeed Venture Partners: Alex LaPolice joined from Summit Partners as a partner in NYC.

Paceline Equity Partners: Jonathan Rosen was promoted to partner.

SVB: Alexander Addario departed, where he was a senior managing director focused on fintech.

Corporates

ADNOC: Michael O'Dwyer is stepping down as Morgan Stanley's global co-head of energy to join ADNOC as chief investment officer.

Camden National Bank: Josh Nash was promoted to CTO, succeeding Bill Martel, who is retiring.

Coinbase: Rob Witoff was promoted to CTO after joining as head of platform in 2024. He previously co-founded Unit 410 and served as CTO at Polychain Capital.

ConocoPhillips: CEO Ryan Lance is retiring next month after 14 years. CFO Andy O'Brien will succeed him as the new CEO.

Crexendo: Chris Aaker was promoted to CTO, effective August 1. He joined predecessor company NetSapiens nearly two decades ago.

Diversified: Pete Emminger was appointed CTO from NEP Group.

Felicis: Graham Littlehale joined from Point72 Ventures as a partner.

Freshworks: Ryan Manning was named chief product and technology officer, from BMC Helix.

Hormel Foods: John Ghingo was appointed President and CEO, effective October 26, succeeding interim CEO Jeff Ettinger. Ghingo has served as Hormel's President since July 2025 and previously held leadership roles at Mondelēz International.

Keller Logistics: Mel Hudson-Nowak was appointed CTO from GM Financial. She previously spent 12+ years in leadership roles at US Foods.

Masco: Brad Hiranaga was appointed to the newly created role of CMO, from Marriott International. He previously served as Chief Brand Officer at Cotopaxi and CMO of General Mills.

Norwest: Allison Toman joined from Medtronic as a principal.

Owens Corning: Jonathan Collins was appointed CFO, effective August 10, from Clarivate. Outgoing CFO Todd Fister will become President and COO.

Qu: Paul Rubin was appointed chief product and technology officer from ParTech, where he spent 12 years.

TA Associates: Marie Suesse joined from Värde Partners as chief human capital officer.

VF Corporation: Abhishek Dalmia was appointed CFO, retaining his role as COO. He succeeds Paul Vogel, who moves to an advisory role. Dalmia previously held roles at BCG, Lululemon, Dell Technologies, and Citigroup.

Heard on the Street

The ABA Journal reported this week that Big Law firms are rolling out increasingly aggressive financial incentives to land lateral candidates, including bigger signing bonuses, higher starting equity shares, and compensation guarantees now stretching to four years at some firms. "If you're a partner making $15 million a year, another firm paying you $17 million a year doesn't necessarily move the dial for you," said Scott Yaccarino, co-founder of Empire Search Group. Firms are instead competing on equity participation and accelerated retirement vesting to close deals.

Above the Law reported that Brown Rudnick completed the largest group hire in its history, bringing aboard a 34-lawyer intellectual property litigation team from HSF Kramer and simultaneously establishing a new Silicon Valley office, the latest in a string of large-scale lateral team acquisitions that have defined the 2026 market.

Pirical's Q2 2026 data showed that litigation led all AM Law 200 lateral partner hires with 286 moves, followed by corporate (172) and real estate (83).

On the executive side, Forbes profiled 16 C-suite trends for 2026, noting the biggest shift is toward leaders who sit at the intersection of growth, product, and trust. AI literacy is now table stakes at the C-suite level, and functional depth alone no longer differentiates.

That’s the rundown. See you next where law meets the markets.

-The BigLaw Markets Team

*DISCLAIMER: BigLaw Markets analyzes publicly available information, filings, press releases, and news stories published by reputable media sources to deliver newsletters that highlight the drivers of demand for legal services.