Debevoise pulls a Ropes & Gray finance partner, and Robins Kaplan grabs four ex-DOJ lawyers

Debevoise is bringing in a Ropes and Gray finance partner in New York to build out its finance bench. Robins Kaplan added four former DOJ attorneys in Minnesota for fraud, investigations, and recovery work, and Paul Hastings brought on a veteran M&A executive comp and benefits partner in New York. On the merger side, Harris Beach Murtha is combining with the Boston firm Peabody and Arnold, and the Ashurst Perkins Coie merger is now live, a global combination of more than 3,000 lawyers across 52 offices with combined revenue over $2.7 billion, led by co-CEOs Bill Malley and Paul Jenkins. Yale also hired McGuireWoods to try to reach a deal with the government over its admissions probe. Worth watching: the DOJ is shedding talent, and firms are already scooping up former government lawyers.