Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP Expands Business Transactions And Litigation Practices, As Well As Boosts Already Deep Diversity, With 11 New Hires

CHICAGO, July 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP (RSHC) today announced the hiring of 11 new attorneys, including Joseph Q. McCoy, the former managing partner of the Chicago office of Bryan Cave LLP, and seven other Bryan Cave attorneys who bring significant business and transactional experience to RSHC's core strength in litigation. The hiring marks the largest-single expansion of RSHC since it was established in early 2016 and increases its already strong diversity ranks far in excess of national averages.

Along with McCoy, who is leading RSHC's business transactions practice, joining the firm from Bryan Cave are partners Rodney Perry and Mariangela Seale, four associates, and one of counsel. RSHC also announced that new partner Gregory L. Curtner, formerly head of the antitrust and trade regulation and sports practices at Schiff Hardin LLP, together with a former Schiff Hardin associate, are joining the rapidly growing firm. At RSHC, Curtner is leading the antitrust, competition, and distribution practice.

"This is a transformational moment for RSHC, and it speaks volumes about the power of a pretty simple idea. We practice at the top of our respective fields, but we are also committed to providing real value, as our clients define value," said RSHC Partner Robert H. Riley. "This diverse group of new lawyers came here to share that commitment and will bring enormous talent, experience, and energy to our firm."

McCoy, who was named to Savoy Magazine's 2015 Most Influential Black Lawyers, focuses primarily on representing secured lenders in a variety of transactions, managing corporate real estate transactions, and representing airport concession operators. He also provides counsel on mergers and acquisitions, fund formation, general corporate matters, and commercial contracts.

"RSHC is a bold young firm whose relentless client focus and diverse client teams are second to none. Together with my colleagues, we are privileged to help make RSHC's bright future even better," McCoy said. An additional business transactions associate joined RSHC from Chicago's Horwood Marcus & Berk, Chartered.

With two additional hires in the pipeline and the departure next month of Robert S. Rivkin, of counsel, to be Deputy Mayor of the City of Chicago, RSHC will have 66 attorneys firm-wide by mid-August. Of those, 53 percent are men, 47 percent women, and 30 percent diverse. Among partners, 38 percent are women and 32 percent are minority, far exceeding the national averages of 18.1 percent women and 5.8 percent racial/ethnic minorities in 2016, according to the National Association for Law Placement.

Among the 13 total new hires, seven are women (54 percent) and eight are diverse (62 percent).

"Clients have recognized for years that diverse teams are better teams, period. Companies are growing increasingly impatient with law firms who remain tone deaf to that message. We not only hear the message, but are committed to providing real diversity at every level of the firm," said co-administrative partner Patricia Brown Holmes.

Holmes cited a Diversity Lab study showing that women and minority percentages among large law firm equity partners has been stagnating, while increasing diversity is not only the right thing to do, but a business imperative among corporate legal departments. Scores of large corporate legal departments have agreed to support law firms that meet or exceed Diversity Lab's Mansfield Rule, which requires firms to consider 30 percent female and minority candidates when making leadership and governance, equity promotion, and senior-level hiring decisions.

Curtner and associate Matthew P. Kennison are bringing their expertise in sports, antitrust, business/commercial, defamation, intellectual property, and securities law litigation to RSHC's offices in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco from their base in Michigan. Curtner has represented the National Collegiate Athletic Association for many years, including recently in litigation involving the NCAA's transfer rule.

"I'm enthusiastically joining, in many cases rejoining, my colleagues at RSHC, along with my new colleague, Joseph McCoy. Matt and I are honored to merge our national antitrust and commercial litigation practice with such distinguished and principled lawyers," Curtner said.

McCoy shares RSHC's culture of commitment to public, civic, and professional service. He holds leadership positions with Urban Prep Academies (Board Chairman), Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms, the Partnership for College Completion, and the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University Law School, where he received his J.D. in 1998.

Perry, another new partner, is a commercial litigator who focuses on real estate, financial services, and consumer protection litigation. He is a past board member of the Legal Aid Society of Chicago and a 2015 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, and currently serves on the Leadership Council of Chicago United. He received his J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1998.

Also a new partner, Seale, has a diverse general business and commercial litigation practice. She has represented companies in cases involving breach of contract, tortious interference, trade secret misappropriation, product liability claims, and employment disputes. She is a 2017 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, a participant in the Chicago Bar Association Leadership Institute, and serves on the Black Women Lawyers' Association 2017-2018 Scholarship Fund Board. She received her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 2007.

About Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP

RSHC is a national law firm with offices in Chicago, New York and San Francisco that opened its doors March 1, 2016. The partnership team features leaders in many fields of business transactions and litigation, including class actions, white collar, product liability, intellectual property, secured lending, real estate, finance, employment, and airport concessions. Diversity begins with the names on the door and extends through the partnership and associates ranks. RSHC is home to more than 65 lawyers, seven of whom are former Assistant United States Attorneys.

SOURCE Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP (RSHC)

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