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Lawyers Draw on Experience to Guide Clients in Challenging Times
As business leaders come to terms with the operational effects of recent developments in the international financial markets, new regulations that are beginning to take hold, and a vastly different market for their products and services, they are looking to outside counsel for help. Thanks to its 130 lawyer-strong Securities Area, Bingham is ideally positioned to serve clients across the industry. One of several key partners in Bingham’s Securities Area with in-house experience, San Francisco partner Hardy Callcott has had the benefit of being on both sides of the equation as a former senior vice president and general counsel for Charles Schwab before joining Bingham in January 2004. Formerly with the Office of the General Counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Callcott recently took some time to discuss the securities industry and what clients need to know during today’s challenging times.
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In October, Bingham won a historic victory in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., securing the release of nine Uighur Chinese nationals held at Guantanamo Bay after the government conceded that none were enemy combatants. As the plane arrived at the naval base to transport the men to Washington, the Justice Department obtained a stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals. The firm honored the team of Bingham lawyers with the John J. Curtin Jr. Public Service Award for its pro bono efforts.
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Three new partners in the Antitrust & Trade Regulation Practice Group joined Bingham’s Washington office, continuing a pattern of strategic growth that has included several recent lateral hires. Former Clifford Chance lawyers Leiv Blad, Jon Roellke and Boyd Cloern add significant antitrust and intellectual property experience to Bingham’s already-strong team of more than 70 antitrust lawyers across the globe, providing competition law proficiency to complement the firm’s recognized securities, corporate, intellectual property, telecommunications and litigation practices.
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Bingham has added three lawyers to its Japanese finance practice in Tokyo, further enhancing its capabilities in one of the world’s leading financial centers. Joining Bingham as of counsel are Kenji Hirooka and Ryota Sekine, both formerly of O’Melveny & Myers’ Tokyo office, and Toshikazu Sakai, formerly of Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu. “The arrival of Kenji, Ryota and Toshikazu underscores Bingham’s commitment to growing and diversifying the Tokyo office,” said Hideyuki Sakai, managing partner of the Tokyo office. “Our combined experience in financial restructuring, real estate securitization, and cross-border M&A and finance transactions helps us demonstrate our distinguished competitiveness in the current economic situation.”
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Diversification. Integration. Investment. Global relevance. Flexibility. These hallmarks of Bingham’s strategy are essential — now, more than ever — given the last few weeks on Wall Street and in Washington.
“No one could have anticipated the scale of our current fiscal crisis,” said Bingham Chairman Jay Zimmerman in an Oct. 6 internal email to lawyers and staff. “But as a firm, we have been spending a great deal of time preparing for some upheaval in the markets. And that preparation has left us extremely well-positioned.”.
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Building upon its market-leading global Financial Restructuring Group, Bingham has added well-known restructuring lawyer Jeffrey S. Sabin, formerly of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, as a partner in its New York office. “Bingham’s financial restructuring practice is recognized as an innovative leader in representing creditors in restructurings and insolvencies globally, and Jeff’s arrival is simply a perfect fit both in the New York market and internationally, as we continue to build upon our strengths in key capital markets,” said Bingham Chairman Jay S. Zimmerman.
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Following the arrival of four key lawyers in Washington in August, Bingham continued the expansion of its international securities practice with the addition of two former Bear Stearns lawyers in New York and two former Foley & Lardner partners in Washington. Kenneth A. Kopelman (pictured at left), former head of Bear Stearns Fixed Income and Derivatives Legal Groups, and Gerald Russello, a former managing director of Bear Stearns Legal Department, joined Bingham’s New York office. Kopelman joins as a partner, and Russello as of counsel. In Washington, Michael D. Wolk and Amy N. Kroll joined as partners.
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