O'Melveny raids Cleary, and Dallas gets crowded

O'Melveny & Myers poached a Cleary Gottlieb restructuring partner in New York, a creditor side veteran with nearly four decades in the practice who spent 22 years at Akin Gump before Cleary. Davis Polk & Wardwell poached a Ropes & Gray private equity partner in New York, who joins its M&A practice. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner opened its first Texas office in Dallas, led by the former regional director of the US Patent and Trademark Office's southwest office, alongside a trial partner hired from McKool Smith. Dallas litigation boutique Vartabedian Katz Hester & Haynes picked up three McKool Smith principals the same week, launching an IP practice and expanding its commercial litigation bench. Freshfields poached a Cooley white collar partner in DC, a former federal prosecutor. Goodwin Procter added a Cooley life sciences M&A partner in San Diego, focused on public company deals. Holland & Hart added a Kirkland & Ellis tax partner in Salt Lake City. Freshfields also brought in a life sciences partner in Boston, hired from venture firm Flagship Pioneering, where she was head of strategic transactions. Lowenstein Sandler added a retired federal magistrate judge who spent 15 years on the New Jersey bench as a partner in its dispute resolution practice in Roseland. In Miami, three maritime lawyers closed their boutique after 14 years and joined GrayRobinson's admiralty and maritime group. On the litigation side, Willkie Farr & Gallagher and WilmerHale are trading conflict allegations in the litigation against Lafarge, the building materials maker that pleaded guilty in 2022 to funding terrorist groups in Syria. Each firm argues the other should be removed from cases claiming more than $2 billion in damages.