Buc & Beardsley, a small Washington firm that specializes in food and drug law, is planning to close its doors this month, as one partner retires and two others join Zuckerman Spaeder.
Name partner Nancy Buc, who helped found the firm in 1994, said today that she’s planning to retire on March 31, capping a career that included a year as chief counsel at the Food and Drug Administration. “My plan is to retire,” Buc, 66, said in an interview. “It’s time.”
The firm announced the closing on its Web site. Its two other partners, Kate Beardsley and Carmen Shepard, are joining the Washington office of Zuckerman.
Shepard said she and Beardsley considered a variety of options after Buc’s expected retirement, including keeping the small firm going. But, she said, “It just didn’t seem right with Nancy leaving.”
Zuckerman’s food and drug practice is similar to the work that Buc & Beardsley handled, including a strong practice on behalf of generic drug manufacturers, Shepard said. “We’re able to step in, continuing doing the work we’ve done before, with even more resources,” she said.
Shepard, a former deputy attorney general of Maryland, started at Zuckerman March 15, and Beardsley is starting April 1. Associate James Knowles is going with them.
“Kate and Carmen’s extensive experience strengthens Zuckerman Spaeder’s food and drug practice, and significantly expands the firm’s capacity to represent clients in court, and before Congress and federal agencies,” Zuckerman chairman Graeme Bush said in a news release.
William Schultz recently left Zuckerman's food and drug practice to become acting general counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Nancy Buc
Buc & Beardsley launched in 1994 after its founders split from Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Buc was managing partner of Weil’s Washington office in the 1980s and served as FDA chief counsel at the end of the Carter administration.
She’s planning to focus on some hobbies in retirement. “I’m going to read all the books I haven’t had time to read and cook all the recipes I haven’t had time to cook,” Buc said.
In 2005, Legal Times reported that Buc & Beardsley’s eight lawyers were largely focused on helping clients get government approval for their products. Buc worked with the Population Council, an international nonprofit, in winning FDA approval in 2000 of mifepristone, also known as RU-486, which induces abortion early in a pregnancy.
This post was updated at 2:56 p.m. with additional reporting. National Law Journal photo by Roberto Westbrook.
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