Four tax lawyers from Thelen, Reid & Priest have joined McDermott, Will & Emery's New York office. The group, headed by partner and former chair of Thelen Reid's tax practice, David Hardy, includes partner Laurie Marsh, and associates Philip Francis O'Reilly and Laura Brandt. Their practice will continue to focus specifically on the energy and utility industries.
The group will form part of McDermott's growing US tax practice, which the firm claims is the largest of its kind in the country, with more than 160 lawyers. The New York tax practice is headed by Peter Faber, a former chair of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation and the New York State Bar Association Tax Section. According to Faber, the firm was attracted to Hardy and his team due to their expertise in energy and international taxation. "And for their general corporate tax capability. After they had only been here a week, I had already worked with them on international matters and one of them helped me out on a domestic corporate acquisition. In addition to their specialized expertise in energy and international taxation, they give us further ?heft' in the general corporate tax area," he says.
Faber says that the team will bring some significant clients to McDermotts. However, he added that "this is still being worked out and I don't want to discuss specifics yet". McDermott's New York tax practice now numbers six partners and seven associates. "We expect to continue to expand the size of the group because of our expanding tax referral practice and our expanding corporate practice, which obviously creates a need for more tax lawyers," Faber adds. "There is no particular timetable for this, but I would be surprised if we did not have 20 tax lawyers in New York by the end of 2001."
According to Faber, McDermott's tax department is unusual in that it is not merely a service department to other parts of the firm, but it has developed a substantial referral practice. Tax referral clients in New York include American Express, Eastman Kodak, Pfizer, General Electric, Merrill Lynch and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The expansion of the New York tax practice is reflected around the firm and is expected to continue in all offices.
The tax practice in London, under the guidance of Peter Nias, recently welcomed two new associates into its fold, one from the UK Inland Revenue and another from Herbert Smith (see ITR Jul/Aug 00).
