© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(May 23) – Reed Smith has significantly expanded its footprint in Texas through a group of life sciences-focused lawyers it lured from Norton Rose Fulbright, Reed Smith officials announced on Wednesday.
Two of the Norton Rose partners joining, Jeff Layne and Ben Koplin, will launch Reed Smith’s Austin office, which is the Pittsburgh-founded firm’s second office in Texas and 28th worldwide. A group of attorneys led by partner Sara Brinkmann will join Reed Smith’s Houston office, which opened in early 2013.
The Texas lawyers are part of a 15-person group that are leaving NRF to join four of Reed Smith’s U.S. offices. All of the lawyers will join Reed Smith’s life sciences health industry practice group, including former NRF Global Head of Life Sciences and Healthcare Rick Robinson, who is joining Reed Smith’s Washington, D.C. office.
Reed Smith counsel Craig Tanner will relocate from Houston to help the new Austin office integrate in the firm’s global, 28-office platform. Also joining the Austin office is NRF associate Sarah Cummings. Associate Caitlin Chambers is joining Reed Smith’s Houston office. Legal management consultant Grant Hewlett is also joining Reed Smith’s Austin office as a project manager.
Ken Broughton, Reed Smith’s Houston office managing partner, said the lateral hires were instrumental to the firm’s expansion plans in Texas since until now the firm did not have any healthcare practitioners in the Lone Star State. He said Reed Smith had been talking to the group of lawyers for a few months.
“Clearly Houston and the state of Texas has a tremendous healthcare market,” Broughton said. “It’s something we’ve been striving to add since we started the Houston office five years ago. We’re excited to have this group join.”
Broughton said in Houston particularly, the firm is in expansion mode, pointing out that Reed Smith expects to announce the addition of another lateral partner next week. Currently at 71 lawyers with this week’s addition of Brinkmann and Chambers, Broughton said he thinks Reed Smith’s Houston office will have more than 80 lawyers “in short order.” He said six more newly-minted lawyers who clerked with the firm last summer are planning to start in September.
Asked how big Reed Smith hopes to grow its new Austin office, Broughton said the firm doesn’t currently have a vision for the number of lawyers it would like since its primary focus at the moment is integration.
“I think we’ll formulate more of a plan for that going forward,” he said.
The team brings broad legal expertise with an emphasis on government investigations and complex regulatory compliance issues impacting healthcare and life sciences companies. The attorneys’ experience includes criminal investigations, regulatory counseling and compliance work, False Claims Act defense, administrative litigation, consumer class actions and internal investigations.
“We are combining two of the leading health care and life sciences practices in the world,” Reed Smith Global Managing Partner Sandy Thomas said in a statement. “At Reed Smith, the life sciences health industry group is among the firm’s five core industry sectors, and this group adds an incredible depth of experience to an already power-packed team.”
In a written statement, NRF US Managing Partner Daryl Lansdale said of the departures: “Norton Rose Fulbright’s litigation group consistently ranks among the elite, with approximately 350 disputes lawyers in the US and more than 1,000 globally. Our healthcare regulatory and litigation teams are strong as a result of our considerable depth, and we stand committed to these important practice areas.”
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