Law notes: Womble,   Young Conaway , Gawthrop Greenwood, Whitford Taylor

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Womble opens new office  in Hercules Plaza

Womble Bond Dickinson’s Wilmington office is celebrating a new location and a new managing partner this week. The firm has moved into Hercules Plaza in the heart of downtown Wilmington. The firm also announced this week veteran bankruptcy attorney, Matthew Ward, will serve as the office managing partner at the new locale.

[Not a valid template]Ward is one of  eight attorneys in the State of Delaware certified by the American Board of Certification as a Business Bankruptcy Specialist, has consistently been listed in Chambers USA for bankruptcy matters, and currently heads up the firm’s bankruptcy group.

“I’m honored and excited to work with my colleagues and our clients in this new role,” Ward said. “Our firm has been in Wilmington for more than 12 years, and this move assures that we will remain a valued resource for our clients and a great downtown neighbor.”

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The 16,000+ square-foot office is located on the top floor of Hercules Plaza  The new office gives the firm space for its existing team of 20 attorneys and staff, with room to expand. The Wilmington office services a diverse range of business sectors including the life science and financial sectors. Notable practice areas include intellectual property litigation and bankruptcy.

Ward also noted that both the office move and the firm’s recent UK combination are part of a larger firm initiative of growth and client service.

“We see Wilmington as an important venue for both our US and UK clients,” he said. “This office move is a small, but important, step in a much larger strategy of continued improvement.”

Herron, Hughes join Young Conaway management committee

Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP, Wilmington, announced that partners Edwin J. Harron and James P. Hughes, Jr. have joined the firm’s Management Committee.  

Harron and Hughes succeed partners Barry M. Willoughby, who served on the Management Committee for 11 years, and James L. Patton, Jr., who recently was appointed Chairman Emeritus.  The firm’s Management Committee will be comprised of seven members:  Chairman, Robert S. Brady, Vice Chair, Michael R. Nestor, and partners C. Barr Flinn, Pauline K. Morgan, and Rolin P. Bissell, along with Harron and Hughes.  

“Ed and Jim are well prepared to join Young Conaway’s Management Committee having previously served in numerous leadership positions at the firm,” noted Bob Brady.  “I thank Barry Willoughby and Jim Patton for their many years of dedicated service to the firm.  They are directly responsible for the strategic decisions that have guided our firm’s growth while maintaining its commitment to client service and the community.” 

Harron is a partner in Young Conaway’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring section.  He specializes in mass tort insolvencies and settlement trusts, routinely advising debtors, mass tort future claimants’ representatives, and other parties in out-of-court workouts, complex foreign and domestic restructurings, pre-planned bankruptcies and chapter 11 cases.  Harron is admitted to practice in Delaware, New York and New Jersey.

Hughes is a partner in Young Conaway’s Business and Tax section.  He counsels parties involved in corporate and commercial transactions, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, fiduciary duty issues, corporate dissolutions, and alternative entities including limited liability companies and limited partnerships.  He also renders legal opinions on corporate matters, such as sales of substantially all assets, as well as opinions concerning enforceability of transactions under Delaware corporate, LLC and LP law.  Hughes is admitted to practice in Delaware.

deBruin joins Gawthrop Greenwood

Trial lawyer and litigator David W. deBruin has joined the law firm Gawthrop Greenwood, PC, practicing in complex tort, commercial litigation, commercial bankruptcy, business law and intellectual property.

“David is well-known and well-respected for his extensive knowledge of Delaware’s rules of civil procedure, courtroom procedures, best practices and esteemed judiciary. He frequently acts as co-counsel or local counsel for some of the nation’s leading law firms, and will be of great benefit to clients in our Greater Wilmington office,” says Sandra L. Knapp, chair of the Gawthrop Greenwood Management Committee.

Licensed to practice in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, deBruin handles a full array of civil litigation cases.

Before joining Gawthrop Greenwood, PC, deBruin was founder of The deBruin Firm in Wilmington, where Delaware’s Superior Court appointed DeBruin as the first ever Plaintiffs’ Coordinating Counsel for asbestos litigation in the state.

He also handled creditors’ rights enforcement and committee work in the United States Bankruptcy Court District of Delaware.

A graduate of the University of Maryland where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Criminal Justice, deBruin went on to earn his Juris Doctor at Widener University School of Law.

Abrams joins Whiteford Taylor & Preston

Whiteford Taylor & Preston announced that Marc Abrams has joined the firm.

“Marc is a true statesman of the bankruptcy bar,” said Managing Partner Martin Fletcher. “His decision to join us is a tremendous endorsement of our bankruptcy platform, and a signal moment for the firm.”

Abrams is experienced in complex chapter 11 cases and non-judicial restructurings, principally on behalf of debtors. He also has experience representing creditors’ committees and groups, opportunistic investors and lenders, as well a having experience with restructurings involving foreign insolvency regimes and related cases under the Bankruptcy Code..

Paul Nussbaum, Chair of the firm’s Bankruptcy Group, said, “Marc and I were young lawyers together in New York in the early days of the modern bankruptcy practice. Since then, businesses of every size and description have relied on bankruptcy restructurings, and Whiteford has evolved into a leading bankruptcy practice. Having Marc in our New York and Delaware offices significantly enhances and deepens our profile, nationally and internationally.”

 “This is an opportunity for me to work with an exceptional bankruptcy team,” said  Abrams, “and, in a very real sense, return to my roots. My legal career began in Delaware, and Wilmington, in the years since, has become an important center of bankruptcy activity.”

With over 170 attorneys, Whiteford, Taylor & Preston business law and litigation services to clients ranging from innovative start-ups to middle market companies to global enterprises. The firm has 16 offices in Delaware, D.C., Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

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