Winston & Strawn’s Addition of 60 Dewey Attorneys Featured in Various Media Outlets

Winston & Strawn’s recent announcement that the firm is being joined by over 60 attorneys from failing firm Dewey & LeBoeuf was featured in various media outlets, including the New York Times, American Lawyer, Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, and Bloomberg, among others. The team will join the Chicago, London, Los Angeles, and New York offices.
 
“We've really wanted to build up our national litigation profile, and you can't do that without expanding on the East Coast," said Winston & Strawn chairman Dan Webb, noting that the firm had been in intense negotiations for the past week. This is the second major group of lawyers that Winston & Strawn has added from another firm recently. In 2011, Winston & Strawn was joined by more than 40 attorneys from now defunct Washington, D.C.-based firm Howrey. “We successfully integrated the Howrey lawyers into our firm and that gave us confidence that we could do the same here. This is just an enormous opportunity for us,” Mr. Webb told the New York Times. 
 
The group of Dewey & LeBoeuf attorneys is led by Jeffrey L. Kessler, a lawyer who has represented almost every players' association in major league sports, such as the NFL Players Association, the National Basketball Player's Association, the National Hockey League Players' Association, the Major League Baseball Players Association and the Arena Football League Players Association. Legal experts say this is a “huge win” for Winston & Strawn.

“We wanted to shoot for the sky. We wanted their entire global litigation department,” said Mr. Webb.