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Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup

Zuckert, Scoutt & Rasenberger has promoted two associates in its Washington office. David Endersbee and Jonathon Foglia have been promoted to partners in the aviation practice group. They focus their practice on aviation regulatory and commercial matters.

Endersbee, who joined the firm in 2006, primarily advises companies, foreign and domestic airlines, foreign governments, airports and manufacturers. Previously, he was an associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman from 2002 to 2004. Since joining Zuckert  in 2008, Foglia advises U.S. and foreign air carriers, ticket agents and trade associations on compliance with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s economic regulations. From 2007 to 2008, Foglia was an associate at Pillsbury Winthrop. From 2005 to 2006, he was a presidential management fellow in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where he provided advice on national transportation policy.

A former partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton has moved to Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox’s Washington office.

SEC Names Ex-Wilmer Partner as New General Counsel

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that White House attorney Anne Small has been named the agency's next general counsel, the first woman to serve in that role.

Since October 2011, Small has served as both special assistant and associate counsel to President Barack Obama. She also previously worked as the deputy general counsel for litigation and adjudication at the SEC. Geoffrey Aronow, who became SEC general counsel in January, will now serve as senior counsel to Chairman Mary Jo White.

In private practice, Small was a litigation partner in Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr's New York office. She is the latest in a long string of Wilmer alums to land a high-profile job at the SEC. Mark Cahn, who was general counsel from 2011 until the end of 2012, had been a partner at Wilmer.

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup: Kilpatrick Townsend

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton has added a former Federal Trade Commission attorney to its antitrust practice in Washington.

Melanie Sabo, who spent six years as assistant director of the FTC's anticompetitive practices division, joins Kilpatrick as a partner. At the agency, Sabo oversaw a staff of 32 attorneys charged with overseeing the investigation and enforcement of anticompetitive behavior.

From 1993 to 1998, Sabo was a trial attorney in the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, where she worked on matters related to price-fixing, mergers and criminal trials. Sabo was also formerly a partner K&L Gates and counsel at King & Spalding.

Weil Names New D.C. Managing Partner

Weil, Gotshal & Manges has a new leader of its Washington office. Steven Tyrrell is taking over as managing partner after the firm’s former D.C. managing partner, Michael Lyle, and litigation partner Eric Lyttle announced their departure for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

Lyle and Lyttle are the latest partners to defect from Weil to join Quinn. In January 2012, partner William Burck left Weil for Quinn to serve as co-head of the Washington office, alongside Jon Corey. News of the lateral move was first reported by Above the Law on Wednesday. The Am Law Daily also covered the move.

Before joining Weil in February 2010, Tyrrell was chief of the Fraud Section at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he oversaw about 60 attorneys. In an interview, Tyrrell said the firm will accelerate its plan for growth in the D.C. office.

“It is likely we will be adding people in the regulatory area,” Tyrrell said. “This is an important growth area for the firm and when the right opportunities come up, we will make moves.”

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup: Littler Mendelson

Maurice Baskin has joined Littler Mendelson’s Washington office as a shareholder in the legislative and regulatory practice. He was most recently a partner at Venable and a past chair of the firm’s labor and employment practice group.

Baskin represents employers in the areas of labor relations and union organizing, employment discrimination, and wage and hour law. He is general counsel for the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. and represented the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace in a 2012 appeals court dispute with the National Labor Relations Board. Employers criticized the board’s notice poster rule which required employers advise employees of their rights to form unions and engage in collective bargaining. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has temporarily halted the rule from taking effect, pending a legal outcome.

Orrick Bolsters Supreme Court, Appellate Practice

Updated 2:13 p.m.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has added a partner to the firm’s Supreme Court and appellate group in Washington.

Eric Shumsky, previously a Sidley Austin partner, brings experience representing clients in industries like telecommunications, technology, pharmaceutical, financial services, transportation and consumer goods.

During the 2011 Supreme Court term, Shumsky was part of a team that represented Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in a case challenging the California Assembly's efforts to reduce the state's Medicaid payments.  In all, Shumsky is the main author of more than 75 briefs in the Supreme Court.

In the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Shumsky recently urged a panel to uphold a trial judge’s ruling that blocked the U.S. import of a drug used in carrying out the death penalty. Shumsky argued in 2011 in the D.C. Circuit on behalf of an investment company in a dispute over the scope of a federal trial judge to impose sanctions on a foreign country.

Five Former Finnegan Lawyers Form Trademark Boutique

Five attorneys from Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner are leaving the firm to start an intellectual property boutique in Washington focused on trademark issues.

Finnegan confirmed on Friday the departure of partners Stephanie Bald, David Kelly, Robert Litowitz, and Linda McLeod, and of counsel Lynn Jordan.

Litowitz was a member of the firm's management committee. In 2012, the IP-focused Finnegan had gross revenues of $348 million with profits per partner of $1.16 million.

Twenty-One Lawyers Apply for Superior Court Vacancy

Magistrate and administrative law judges dominated the pool of Washington lawyers who applied to fill an upcoming vacancy on the District of Columbia Superior Court.

Of the 21 applicants hoping to fill Judge A. Franklin Burgess Jr.'s seat after he retires, seven are Superior Court magistrate judges and five are local administrative law judges. The other nine attorneys come from private practice, civil legal services groups, and government agencies.

Burgess is set to step down August 3 after serving 30 years on the bench; he has said he plans to ask for appointment as a senior judge. The District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Commission, the local body that recommends applicants to the White House for consideration, is accepting comments on the applicants by April 29.

Daily D.C. Lateral Roundup: Covington & Burling; Jones Day; Barnes & Thornburg

Covington & Burling has added an intellectual property specialist from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to its Washington office. Gina Vetere has joined as special counsel in the firm’s international trade practice and public policy and government affairs practices. Previously, she served as executive director of international intellectual property at the U.S. Chamber’s Global Intellectual Property Center, where she promoted the protection and enforcement of IP rights overseas.

Prior to that, Vetere served first as senior policy advisor to the deputy U.S. Trade Representative and subsequently as director for intellectual property and innovation at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. She has experience working on a range of trade and IP issues in North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Africa.

Colleen Heisey has moved from Hunton & Williams to Jones Day’s Washington office. She joins as partner in the health care practice. She focuses on food and drug law with a particular emphasis on advertising, promotion and compliance counseling. Previously, she was a partner at Hunton & Williams.

New Brownstein Practice Focuses on Energy, Natural Resources Clients

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck has started a new Washington-based practice focused on legal, lobbying and strategy services for energy and natural resources clients, the firm announced Wednesday.

The new practice will explore "complex infrastructure and policy matters that require a multi-disciplined approach," the firm said. Brownstein shareholder David Bernhardt, a former U.S. Interior Department solicitor, will lead the group, which has more than two dozen members located in the firm's Washington office and outposts in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

Bernhardt will receive assistance in D.C. from Brownstein shareholder Lawrence Jensen and of counsel Ryan Smith, as well as policy directors Luke Johnson, Elizabeth Gore and Jon Hrobsky, all of whom have experience working in the federal government on environmental issues. Jensen and Johnson are new hires whom the firm picked up within the past two months.