The Legal Intelligencer
Each year, we at The Legal take a look back at all the lateral moves in Pennsylvania in an effort to determine the 10 most important lateral hires of the previous year. Profiles of the top laterals and details about each move will be included in our Top Lateral Hires of 2014 supplement, scheduled to be published in The Legal on Feb. 24.
To come up with the Top 10 moves, we take into account the effect the departure had on the former firm, the impact the lateral addition represented for the new firm and the buzz around the market when the move took place. This list is compiled with the help and insight of those in the industry and the historical background from our own archives of all members involved.
In the end, all lateral moves from the past year are narrowed down to the 10 lateral moves that made the biggest waves. Following are the names of the 10 Pennsylvania attorneys or groups of attorneys who have been selected to that list:
The Top Laterals of 2014
- Ajay Raju and team from Reed Smith to Dilworth Paxson
- Joan N. Stern, Marc S. Stein, Robert I. Tuteur, Dacia A. Haddad and William T. Benzing III from Blank Rome to Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott
- John Mullen, John Salvucci, Christopher DiIenno, Lawrence D. Jackson, James E. Prendergast, Claudia D. McCarron, Sian Schafle, Kevin Dolan, Laura Rieben, Ryan Loughlin, Kathryn Mellinger, Paulyne A. Gardner-Smith, Thomas Harrington and Samuel Reich from Nelson Levine de Luca & Hamilton to Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith
- Joseph R. Fowler, Gregory S. Hirtzel, Joseph F. McNulty, Andrew J. Spaulding, Christine G. Benedum, Marni S. Berger, Francis M. Flatch, Faye M. Hellman, Daniel E. Oberdick Jr., Francis J. O’Neill Jr., Michael F. Socha and Julie S. Mellett from Post & Schell to Fowler Hirtzel McNulty & Spaulding
- Daniel J. de Luca, Kenneth T. Levine and team to de Luca Levine
- Carl Hittinger from DLA Piper to Baker & Hostetler
- Brian J. McCormick Jr. and Mark A. Hoffman from Sheller P.C. and Kline & Specter to Ross Feller Casey
- Tom Sager from DuPont Co. to Ballard Spahr
- William J. Ricci, Francis J. Grey Jr., Francis P. Burns III and Monica V. Pennisi Marsico from Lavin, O’Neill, Ricci, Cedrone & DiSipio to Ricci Tyrrell Johnson & Grey
- Adrian R. King Jr. from Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office to Ballard Spahr
The Runners-Up
- James D. Garraux from U.S. Steel to Fox Rothschild
- James D. Schultz from Pennsylvania Office of General Counsel to Cozen O’Connor
- R. Christopher Raphaely from Jefferson Health System to Cozen O’Connor
- Laura McAllister Cox from Gaming Partners International to Greenberg Traurig
- Rob Andrews from U.S. Congress to Dilworth Paxson
- Stephen S. Stallings from Burns White to his own firm
- Carl Singley to Tucker Law Group
- Gary D. McConnell from Bayer Corp. to Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott