The American Lawyer featured Manatt for its expansion on the East Coast—including the recent arrival of New York-based real estate Partner Ted Hunter—and how the firm’s hybridized model is attracting new talent.
The publication reported that in the first half of 2021, the firm welcomed lateral hires from a variety of Am Law 100 firms looking to capitalize on its interdisciplinary model that offers both consulting and legal services to clients. “More and more, the lawyers that are coming to us, that is how they want to provide their service offerings to clients,” said CEO and Managing Partner Donna Wilson.
Hunter noted that Manatt’s innovative approach to delivering client services attracted him to the firm, saying, “Manatt is today what law firms will become.”
Beyond New York, the firm has also grown in Washington, D.C., where it has attracted professionals working with emerging companies, health care companies and corporate transactions. “We’re always looking for ways to converge our various practices because in a digital world all these things are combining,” said venture capital and emerging companies Partner Rustin Brown, who joined Manatt in April. He also highlighted that previous firms weren’t conducive to his goal of finding alternate models of financing that support emerging companies owned by “new majority founders”—women, LGBT and minority entrepreneurs—who have been historically underserved by the investment community.
Also in D.C., the firm added Manatt Health Partner Blair Cantfil and Managing Director Linda Elam, a former Medicaid health plan executive, who joined in April and May, respectively. “The idea of the policy and regulatory piece being put into practice is really important and that’s why I think this sort of model is so impactful,” Elam said. “I think there’s a whole other level when you’re actually helping clients not just win on those discreet issues but actually develop their vision for the future,” Cantfil added. “That is what I enjoy and it is what I felt like at Manatt there would be a lot of resources and a unique structure that would enable that.”
The American Lawyer also spoke with Manatt Counsel and Director Matthew Reece, former Boston Bruins assistant general counsel, who noted a disruptive force that has arisen out of the COVID-19 pandemic is the development of online engagement for sports fans and how he is helping clients navigate a digital world. “We’re looking at opportunities that help sports clients deal with reams of data they’re taking in and the opportunity for not only how to use that data for their business but also how to protect it,” Reece said.
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