Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Thursday, January 26, 2006

 

Page 3

 

Reed Smith Adds Financial Services Lawyers to Local Office

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Reed Smith LLP said yesterday it has added two Los Angeles-based partners and three associates to its financial services group.

Abe Colman and Scott Jacobs, both former shareholders at Buchalter Nemer, join their long-time Buchalter colleague, Felicia Yu, who preceded them to Reed Smith a few weeks ago. The three represent a number of financial institutions throughout the Unites States.

“Abe and Scott are among the West Coast’s top financial service litigators,” Mary Hackett, head of Reed Smith’s Financial Services Litigation Group said in a release. “Their arrival gives us a much stronger foothold in the Los Angeles financial services litigation market, which we will leverage in the months and years ahead to expand our reach and visibility in this region. We are happy to welcome this team of exceptional litigators and are pleased that they have decided to join us.”

Also coming to Reed Smith are Buchalter associates Deborah Yim, Vanessa Lam, and David Reidy.

Colman is a New York native and 1988 graduate of Fordham Law School. Since beginning his career as a general commercial litigator, Colman has handled a wide range of cases including those arising in the labor and employment and real estate areas, the firm said.

“We are delighted to bring together the incredibly successful team we built with Felicia Yu,” Colman said in a statement. “We know the broader platform that Reed Smith provides for advancing our financial services litigation practice will be a tremendous benefit that allows us to go beyond anything we’ve previously accomplished. The three of us work exceptionally well together and we anticipate being able to establish an even stronger presence in financial services litigation partnering with Reed Smith. The firm already enjoys a solid national reputation for supporting and advancing the business interests of its financial services clients.”

Jacobs is a 1978 graduate of Southwestern University School of Law. In addition to his practice focus on consumer finance litigation for banks and consumer finance companies at Buchalter, his practice included bankruptcy representation.

Yim is a 2001 graduate of UCLA School of Law with an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley.

Lam is a 2002 graduate of UCLA School of Law, where she was an Articles Editor for the Asian Pacific American Law Journal. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of Oregon.

Reidy is a 2002 graduate of Hastings College of the Law, with an undergraduate degree from California State University, Sonoma. He clerked during and after law school for several San Francisco Superior Court judges and for First District Court of Appeal Justice James Lambden.

Pittsburgh-based Reed Smith has grown to more than 1,000 lawyers, largely through mergers with other U.S. and European firms, and is believed to be among the 25 largest law firms in the world.

The firm acquired a California presence three years ago through a merger with the Los Angeles/Oakland firm of Crosby Heafey Roach & May.

 

Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company