Law firm Moore & Van Allen has hired former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Willis Whichard, the firm said Friday.

Whichard, the only person in North Carolina history to serve in both houses of the state legislature and on both of the state's appellate courts, will practice litigation, with an emphasis on appellate litigation, at Moore & Van Allen.

Whichard practiced for 14 years with Powe Porter Alphin and Whitchard, which later merged with Moore & Van Allen. He served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1970 to 1974 and in the North Carolina Senate from 1974 to 1980. In 1980, he was appointed by Gov. Jim Hunt to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, and in 1986 he became a justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

Whichard retired from the bench in 1998 and served as dean of the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University from 1999 through 2006.

Charlotte-based Moore & Van Allen has 265 attorneys in offices in Charlotte and Durham and in Charleston, S.C. The firm has 40 Triangle attorneys.

http://www.mvalaw.com

San Francisco-based law firm Gordon & Rees has opened a Denver office.

The office will be overseen by co-managing partners Scott Cook and Miles Scully, both litigators, and will focus primarily on commercial litigation initially, though there are plans to add health care and employment law, among other practice areas, within the first year.

The office also will include Amy Darby, a senior associate with experience in complex business disputes, class action matters and other general business litigation. Darby specializes in franchisee/franchisor disputes. She also has experience in trademark litigation, product liability and negligence claims.

The firm said the expansion into Denver was driven largely by clients.

"The firm has enjoyed strong relationships with a number of clients either domiciled in Colorado or with legal and business needs in the area so this was a natural extension for us," Dion Cominos, managing partner for Gordon & Rees, said in a press release. "We also see many viable possibilities for new business in Colorado and expect to grow our ranks there significantly over the near term.

Gordon & Reese has offices in 14 cities, including several in California, as well as in Portland, Oregon; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Dallas; Houston; New York; Uniondale, N.Y.; and Newark, N.J.

Two of Coastal Georgia's most prestigious law firms have recently merged. The merger of Gilbert, Harrell, Sumerford & Martin, P.C., and Smith & Floyd, P.A., expands each of their respective practices. The combined firm now consists of 20 attorneys with offices in Brunswick, St. Marys, and St. Simons Island.

Founded in Brunswick in 1871 by Charles P. Goodyear, Gilbert Harrell has served clients in Southeast Georgia for more than 130 years. The firm engages in all aspects of civil and commercial law and has specific practice groups dedicated to litigation, trusts and estates, corporate matters, and real estate.

The Smith & Floyd law firm was founded in 1985 by Charlie Smith Jr. and Terry Floyd. Jan Mallory joined the firm following Floyd's death in 2005. Smith has practiced law in St. Marys since 1976, with a primary focus in real estate. Formerly State Representative for District 175, Smith was legislative floor leader for Gov. Roy Barnes. Smith and Mallory are both graduates of the University of Georgia School of Law.

"We look forward to working together with Charlie and Jan to better serve our clients," said Gilbert Harrell Managing Partner Rees Sumerford. "I've known Charlie for more than 35 years. He's an outstanding attorney and person, and I cannot overstate how pleased I am to become professionally associated with him."

Smith added, "Joining forces with the Gilbert Harrell firm makes a lot of sense for us. It will enable us to better serve our clients in Camden County and to greatly expand the types of legal services we offer, to include estate planning, civil litigation, and other areas."

The firm will continue to be known as Gilbert, Harrell, Sumerford & Martin, P.C. 

http://www.gilbertharrelllaw.com

The KIPCO Group is one of the biggest diversified holding companies in the Middle East and North Africa, with assets worth more than US$18 billion under management or control. The Group has substantial ownerships interests in a portfolio of 54 companies operating across 17 countries. The company's main business sectors are financial services and media & telecommunications. We were retained by KIPCO on this transaction following our work as issuer's counsel on the proposed IPO of one of its subsidiaries, to whom we were introduced by another client of the firm.

The Weil Gotshal team was led by corporate partners Jeremy Dickens and Ian Hamilton, assisted by Simon Lyell and Simon Burrows. Partner Michael Nicklin provided finance advice.

About Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an international law firm of over 1,100 lawyers, including approximately 300 partners. Weil, Gotshal is headquartered in New York, with offices in Austin, Boston, Brussels, Budapest, Dallas, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Miami, Munich, Paris, Prague, Providence, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Warsaw, Washington, DC and Wilmington.

Andrews Kurth LLP has named Elizabeth A. Campbell as its Chief Diversity Officer. Ms. Campbell is a partner at the firm and will devote her efforts full time to overseeing the firm’s diversity strategy. Leaders of the 400-attorney firm say that Ms. Campbell’s hiring is a key component in building an inclusive culture that embraces and leverages a diverse workforce and raises diversity awareness for the firm and its clients.

“Andrews Kurth is committed to being a leader in diversity, both because it’s the right thing to do and it makes business sense,” says Managing Partner Howard Ayers. “It’s important that our firm mirror the composition of the communities we serve, and we want to set an example of how to bring diversity home and make it operate. We undertook a nationwide search and found the right person for the job, someone with broad and high-level experience in the diversity arena, as well as solid legal credentials.”

Ms. Campbell has more than 25 years of experience in administrative and employment litigation both in law firm and in-house counsel settings and has led human resources, employment relations and diversity strategies at large corporations. Most recently Ms. Campbell served as Vice President of Employment Relations and Corporate Diversity Officer for the ARAMARK Corporation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

She received her J.D. in 1978 from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and her B.A. in 1975 from The American University in Washington, DC.

“It is an honor to join a firm that clearly values diversity and inclusion as a way to enhance the delivery of high quality client services,” says Ms. Campbell. “I am excited to make the move to Houston and to continue and expand the work already begun by Andrews Kurth.”

Ms. Campbell will report directly to Mr. Ayers and will work closely with Gene Locke, who chairs the firm’s Diversity Committee. She will also serve as a member of a steering committee overseeing all of the firm’s work in the areas of diversity, recruiting, professional development and marketing.
Mr. Locke says it is critical that Ms. Campbell be a full partner in the firm with her focus solely on the firm’s diversity strategy.

“The firm views these measures with such importance that we want Ms. Campbell to devote her full attention to diversity without the pressures of practicing law, even on a part-time basis,” he says. “To distract her from that mission would diminish our imperative.”

The hiring of Ms. Campbell is a continuation of Andrews Kurth’s leadership in the area of diversity. The firm has a Women’s Initiatives Committee to develop and retain the talents of its female attorneys and was one of the first law firms in the nation to host a retreat exclusively for its female attorneys and clients.

Most recently, International Law Partner Doris Rodriguez was named to the 17-member board of the Texas Diversity Council, an organization that is committed to promoting diversity in the workplace and the community.

For more than a century, Andrews Kurth LLP has built its practice on the belief that “straight talk is good business.” Real answers, clear vision and mutual respect define the firm’s relationships with clients, colleagues, communities and employees. With more than 400 lawyers and offices in Austin, Beijing, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, The Woodlands and Washington, DC, Andrews Kurth represents a wide array of clients in all areas of business law.

www.andrewskurth.com

"Lisa's experience will allow us to build upon our success in Japan," said Philip Werner, Managing Partner for Morgan Lewis's international and transactional practices. "She further enhances our abilities to serve clients globally by bringing her strong reputation to our Tokyo office, and to our Morgan Lewis–TMI joint venture," he continued.

Ms. Yano observes that, "Few foreign firms in Japan have the depth and breadth of Morgan Lewis's expertise across such a wide range of practice areas. This, combined with the tremendous resources of TMI Associates through the Morgan Lewis–TMI joint venture, creates a unique and very exciting platform for handling cross-border transactions involving Japan."

Ms. Yano also serves as a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo School of Law, teaching courses on U.S. contract and intellectual property law. She graduated from Yale Law School (J.D., 1985) and from Kean College of New Jersey (B.A., summa cum laude, 1980). Ms. Yano was most recently managing partner of the Tokyo office of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

About Morgan Lewis-TMI
Morgan Lewis-TMI is a unique joint venture in Japan formed by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and TMI Associates. Morgan Lewis-TMI brings together one of the largest U.S. law firms with the resources to advise Japanese clients on nearly any issue of U.S. or international law, and one of the largest and most diversified Japanese law firms. Morgan Lewis-TMI's lawyers can advise clients on a broad range of legal issues, including corporate, securities, employment, pension, intellectual property and environmental issues.

About Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Morgan Lewis is a global law firm with more than 1,300 lawyers in 22 offices located in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, Harrisburg, Houston, Irvine, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Princeton, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information about Morgan Lewis, please visit www.morganlewis.com.