Six years after entering the Texas legal market with an office in Houston and a year after opening in Austin, Reed Smith today announced that it has opened an office in Dallas with the arrival of eight partners and eight other lawyers from three major law firms. The new group of partners has a broad range of transactional and litigation practices across an array of industries. Reed Smith now has 29 offices worldwide. Joining Reed Smith’s Global Corporate practice are I. Bobby Majumder, Ryan J. Preston and Lynwood E. (Lyn) Reinhardt, all from Perkins Coie. The Global Commercial Disputes practice has added Mark L. Johansen from Perkins Coie and Brian C. Mitchell from Bracewell. Keith M. Aurzada and Michael P. Cooley of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner have joined the firm’s Financial Industry Group. Also arriving is Alfred G. (Al) Kyle, who has joined the firm’s Real Estate practice from Bracewell.
Majumder and Mitchell will serve as co-managing partners of the Dallas office, and Majumder will co-lead the firm’s India Business Team along with London-based arbitration and litigation partner Gautam Bhattacharyya. Accompanying this partner group are two counsel, Jay L. Krystinik and Bradley J. Purcell (both from Bryan Cave), and six associates: Brooke C. Dorris (Perkins Coie), Katherine E. Geddes (Perkins Coie), Lindsey L. Robin (Bryan Cave), E. Steve Smith (Perkins Coie), Austin C. Whitmore (Bracewell) and Jared M. Wood (Perkins Coie). A wider team of lawyers and staff will join in Dallas in the coming weeks.
“We want to be present in markets that are important to our clients and within our five core industry groups: financial services, life sciences and health care, energy and natural resources, entertainment and media, and transportation,” said Sandy Thomas, Reed Smith’s global managing partner. “We have long had our eye on the Dallas market, given how many of our clients have a presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Because we are opening in Dallas with such a large and capable group of partners, we can provide considerable service to clients in the region as well as to our international clients needing services in this global business hub.”
The Dallas team brings to Reed Smith a broad range of practices and sector experience from a global perspective, while maintaining deep roots in the local business community. Collectively, this team has advised clients in hundreds of disputes, and on transactions worth several billion dollars, in the finance, health care, transportation, real estate, retail, energy and natural resources, and technology sectors – all sectors within the firm’s five key industry groups.
“While this group joins from three law firms, they all embrace Reed Smith’s culture of collegiality, its commitment to the use of technology and innovation, the firm’s client-first approach and the breadth and quality of the firm’s global client base,” said Michael Pollack, Reed Smith’s managing partner – Americas. “We look forward to establishing this team and continuing to focus on the growth of this important office.”
“What attracted me to Reed Smith can be summed up in four simple words: local roots, global reach,” Majumder said. “Inasmuch as I was impressed by Reed Smith’s global platform and potential for me to serve our clients in and beyond Dallas and Texas, I was equally impressed with the firm’s insistence that the office is launched by lawyers who are from Texas, have roots in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and have longstanding ties in the community. For Dallas- and Texas-based clients, that local connection is highly valued.”
“Our clients, many of whom are based in Texas, are increasingly expanding their businesses on a national and global scale; therefore, the ability to serve them across geographies is paramount,” Mitchell said. “As a litigator, it was important to me that I join a firm with a deep bench of trial lawyers that has a proven track record of representations in complex commercial disputes, as well as significant victories on behalf of clients in a number of different industries. Reed Smith not only met those criteria; it exceeded them at every level. I also look forward to introducing my existing clients, as well as prospective clients, to the full scope and breadth of transactional experience that Reed Smith has to offer, which I know will be well-received.”
Reed Smith has built a record of accomplishment for seamlessly integrating large lateral groups into the firm’s wider network. In addition to the cross-practice team that launched the Houston office in 2013, the firm brought in a 15-person life sciences and health care team from Norton Rose Fulbright in 2018; a 50-plus-lawyer pan-European team from KWM in 2017; and the seven-lawyer international arbitration and litigation practice from Astigarraga Davis in 2017, which resulted in the opening of the firm’s Miami office.
David Thompson, office head of Reed Smith’s San Francisco office and senior counsel in the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Group and Real Estate practice, is leading the integration effort in Dallas. Thompson led the integration effort in connection with the opening of the Houston office and was critical to its successful launch.
Reed Smith’s Dallas partners
Keith M. Aurzada (Financial Industry Group) works with his clients to solve complex business problems. He advises public and private corporations, boards of directors, and management teams regarding matters most important to their business. He achieves solutions through negotiation and, where necessary, litigation. His industry experience includes representing companies involved in the technology, health care, real estate, retail, manufacturing, and oil and gas sectors.
Michael P. Cooley (Financial Industry Group) has a comprehensive practice centered on matters of federal bankruptcy law, business reorganization and liquidation, and creditors’ rights in bankruptcy cases and in out-of-court restructurings ranging in size from a few million dollars to several billion dollars. With a focus on helping small- and middle-market companies to execute their strategies for reorganization, he also regularly serves as counsel to official committees, pre-petition and post-petition lenders, and acquirers of distressed assets, and has taken a leading role in nearly all aspects of case administration; litigation strategy; and the structure, formulation and confirmation of complex (and sometimes unique) plans of reorganization. He is also the author of 26 original chapters on procedural rules governing bankruptcy litigation for Bloomberg Law: Bankruptcy Treatise.
Mark L. Johansen (Global Commercial Disputes practice) is a veteran trial lawyer who has handled high-stakes litigation in state and federal courts. He also regularly represents clients in arbitration proceedings before the American Arbitration Association and the Financial Industry Regulatory Association. Johansen has extensive experience in a wide variety of commercial litigation matters involving multimillion-dollar contract disputes, mergers and acquisitions, business torts, securities and shareholder litigation, broker-dealer litigation, labor and employment, trade secrets, and professional liability. He has also represented clients in SEC enforcement actions and internal investigations.
Alfred G. Kyle (Real Estate practice) has handled billions of dollars in loan transactions across the United States. Kyle has more than 21 years of experience representing financial institutions (including U.S., regional and local banks, as well as life insurance companies and capital market lenders), non-traditional lenders, real estate developers and investors in real estate, finance and business transactions. His practice focuses primarily on real estate, commercial lending (including first-lien, subordinate and mezzanine lending), intercreditor agreements, preferred equity investments, workouts, foreclosures, receiverships, assumptions and consents.
I. Bobby Majumder (Global Corporate practice) focuses his practice on corporate and securities transactions, primarily in the following industry verticals: energy (oil and gas, and coal), mining, health care and information technology. He represents underwriters, placement agents and issuers in public and private offerings of securities; public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions (cross-border and domestic); private equity funds, hedge funds and venture capital funds in connection with both their formation and their investments; and companies receiving venture capital and private equity funding. Majumder served as Perkins Coie’s Dallas office managing partner and as firmwide chair of the firm’s India practice.
Brian C. Mitchell (Global Commercial Disputes practice) is a recognized first-chair trial lawyer who represents both plaintiffs and defendants in connection with disputes in a wide variety of industries and areas, including banking and financial services, real estate, construction, energy (including oil and gas), mortgage lending, health care, insurance, franchisor/franchisee disputes, intellectual property, consumer finance, landlord/tenant disputes, securities litigation, workouts and employment. He has also represented both creditors and debtors in Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and has significant experience in bankruptcy-related litigation. Mitchell regularly practices in both state and federal courts in Texas and across the United States. He has tried numerous matters to final judgment or verdict and has handled appeals in multiple courts of appeals, including before the Texas Supreme Court.
Ryan J. Preston (Global Corporate practice) negotiates, structures, and drafts strategic commercial arrangements and agreements for clients, with an emphasis on outsourcing and other complex services arrangements, fintech, technology licensing, information technology services, and manufacturing and distribution for large multinational corporations, middle-market businesses, and emerging companies. He also represents public and private companies in matters involving domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital, private offerings, and other capital formation activities.
Lynwood E. Reinhardt (Global Corporate practice) focuses his practice on corporate governance and transactions. He has experience advising and representing clients in mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, joint ventures, investment fund formation, initial public offerings and large private placements, in both Rule 506 transactions and Rule 144A transactions. His practice also features significant representative experience in the energy, health care and technology spaces.
Source: www.reedsmith.com
