Six lawyers leave Lathrop GPM to join Taft Stettinius & Hollister

Six lawyers, three partners and three Associates, have joined Taft Stettinius & Hollister since the end of April. This is one of the largest lateral moves made in the Minneapolis legal market in recent years.

The attorneys will concentrate on a wide range of legal services including corporate, mergers, acquisitions, venture capital, commercial financing, technology licensing and trademarks, global branding management, copyright, and intellectual property litigation.

Four paralegals, one legal assistant and four attorneys from Lathrop joined Taft.

This is part of our strategy to build a firm with highly-skilled lawyers who are dedicated to offering the best legal services. In a press statement announcing this movement, Taft Minneapolis partner in charge Justin Weinberg said: 'This validates Taft as the market leader, where great lawyers wish to practice.

After the death of Robert Hamilton, Taft’s former chief operating officer, Ann Rainhart, joined Fredrikson & Byron in January as its new COO.

Taft, with 145 lawyers and 84 partners, was ranked fourth on the Business Journal 2022 list for the largest law firms of the Twin Cities. Lathrop GPM was ranked eight with 107 lawyers and 55 partners. Scroll down to view the complete list.

Taft's firm has over 800 attorneys practicing, compared with Lathrop’s 325.

Chris Carlisle is a corporate mergers and acquisitions and emerging company/venture financing attorney who joined Taft on April 28, 2019 after spending more than 20 years at Lathrop. (Lathrop was formerly Gray Plant Mooty, but the firm merged in 2019 with Lathrop Gage from Kansas City.

Our team's goal was to join an M&A firm that offered a broader range of services, including finance, while also focusing on our core clients, which included entrepreneurs, investors, and founders. Taft was everything we wanted and more', Carlisle stated in a press release.

Jennifer Debrow is a partner who specializes in intellectual property. She joined Taft after working for Lathrop for three years. She regularly advises her clients about intellectual property issues in business transactions such as licensing, mergers and acquisitions, and manages global trademarks.

Debrow stated in the press release that Taft had the resources and platform to expand its IP practice around the globe.

Ashley Bennett Ewald joined Taft Monday after nearly a decade with Lathrop. She is a partner who specializes in intellectual property. According to the press release, she is an intellectual property litigator with experience in trademark and copyright prosecution. She has also been recognized as a leader by World Trademark Review.

Joining Taft will be a fantastic opportunity for the entire team. She said, "We are excited to provide our clients with the depth and breadth that comes from a firm of 800+ lawyers while maintaining our focus on customer service."

Brian Dillon (partner-in-charge of Lathrop Minneapolis) acknowledged the departures with a press release.

The departing attorneys will be remembered as valued colleagues, lawyers and friends by many at Lathrop GPM. He said that the firm has a strong M&A group and a trademark practice with an experienced bench. We are committed to growing and developing both practices.

He also said that the firm has recently hired four new IP lawyers, including one in the Minneapolis office.

He said: 'These departures don't affect our firm's strength, our ability to serve clients or our commitment to attorneys and staff.'