Clyde & Co is welcoming a massive group of partners in the US from Sedgwick, which is getting ready to close its doors.
The global firm is hiring 15 partners to bolster its core areas of practice in the US. The partners have a particular focus on insurance lines and trial and litigation, with a wide array of clients including domestic and international insurance carriers, corporations, and public-sector organisations.
Sedgwick announced to its lawyers in November that the firm is ceasing operations after the end of the year. The firm, which is among the 200 largest firms in the US and had an income of
US$170m in 2016, lost about 35% of its staff by the end of October.
Midway through the year, the firm had already
lost more than 30 partners. Clyde & Co was said to have been in merger talks with the Sedgwick, but partner departures shelved the plan.
The massive group moving to Clyde & Co also includes more than 65 other attorneys and staff. The partners are predominantly based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Orange County in California, and in Chicago, New York, and Miami. The group also includes a shared services team based in Kansas City, Missouri, which includes finance, business acceptance, IT, and other business staff.
The new Clyde & Co partners, who commence with the firm on 1 January, are:
Orange County
- Ralph A. Guirgis
- Margaret M. Holm
- Curtis D. Parvin
- Sean R. Simpson
Los Angeles
- Craig S. Barnes
- Alison K. Beanum
- James J.S. Holmes
- Susan Koehler Sullivan
San Francisco
- Bruce D. Celebrezze
- Brian D. Harrison
- Martin J. O’Leary
- Alexander E. Potente
Chicago
New York
Miami
Simon Konsta, Clyde & Co senior partner, said that the firm’s global strategy has always been focused on the firm’s core sectors and its ability to attract top talent to those sectors in locations where clients need the firm’s services.
“We have been growing in the United States for nearly 12 years, and the addition of these 15 partners complements our existing West Coast and national business. These partners are all focused on core areas of practice that complement our own and our objectives in North America, as well as our strategic ambition of being pre-eminent in our chosen sectors in any market in which we operate,” Konsta said.
Bill Casey, Clyde & Co San Francisco managing partner and chair of the firm’s US board, said that the former Sedgwick lawyers are a close-knit team that the firm has known for some time.
“They will help us build our insurance, trial and litigation capabilities, particularly in northern and southern California, and further (enhance) our ability to provide our US and international clients with nationwide services,” he said.
Clyde & Co first launched in the US in 2006. This year, it opened offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington DC. More than 350 staff members, including more than 60 partners, work out of the firm’s 10 offices in the US.
