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by Baz Hiralal
Freddie Mac is preparing to name former E*Trade Financial Corp. chief executive Donald Layton as its CEO, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. A Freddie Mac spokesman declined comment. Layton would replace Charles Haldeman Jr., who announced his departure in October.
Layton, 62, was formerly co-chairman of NewOak Capital LLC's investment committee and a board member of American International Group Inc. He became chairman of E* E*Trade in 2007 and CEO in 2008. He previously spent 29 years at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., where he was most recently vice chairman. He retired from the bank in 2004.
Liberum Capital Ltd. hired Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc's Lawrence Sugarman as a telecoms analyst. He was head of RBS' European telecoms research team since March 2011. Before that, Sugarman was a director and head of telecom research at ING Groep NV. He previously spent 15 years at Dresdner Kleinwort.
Citi Private Bank brought in Michael Sak as vice president, law firm group, in Chicago. Sak was a vice president in the wealth management group of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which he joined in 2001.
Vinson & Elkins LLP energy transactions partner Cliff Vrielink has joined Sidley Austin LLP's office in Houston, which opened in February. He joins another V&E defector, Glenn Pinkerton, as well as J. Mark Metts from Jones Day; Sergio Pozzerle from McDermott Will & Emery LLP; Jim Rice from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP; Kenneth Anderson from Locke Lord LLP; Mark Glasser from Baker Botts LLP and Steven Selsberg from Mayer Brown LLP. Vrielink works mostly on energy deals and projects but also focuses on private equity. Earlier this month he represented CapStreet Group on the merger of portfolio company Thorpe Products Co. with Audax Group-backed Distribution International. He also represented GSO Capital Partners LP on its sale of portfolio company United Holdings LLC to Kirby Corp. for $320 million. -- Claire Poole
Venable LLP recruited real estate lawyers from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP in New York, including partners Peter Britell, Gordon Davis and Suzanne St. Pierre , counsel Susan Golden and associates Michael Phillipou and Ashley Dunn.
Britell, a former chairman of Dewey's global real estate and construction practice, has counseled on projects including Lincoln Center, The New York Public Library, Cooper Union and Lower Manhattan Development Corp. (rebuilding the World Trade Center). St. Pierre is advising New York City Economic Development Corp. on the proposed Willets Point redevelopment project in Queens.
Separately, the firm added former Office of Thrift Supervision acting director John Bowman to its Washington and Los Angeles offices as a partner.
Bowman joined the OTS in 1999. He also spent 14 years at the U.S. Treasury Department and had been assistant general counsel for banking and finance.
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP added five partners from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, including John Klauberg and Frederick Lark in New York, Catherine McCarthy and David Poe in Washington and Charles Vandenburgh in Connecticut.
Klauberg is Dewey's former co-head of the utilities, power and pipelines global industry sector group. McCarthy was a co-head of the energy regulatory department. Associates are expected to follow in the move.
DLA Piper said Paul Chen has joined its corporate and securities practice as a partner in Silicon Valley. He will also work from New York. Previously a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, Chen focuses on cross-border transactions in the U.S. and Asia.
In Washington, Geoffrey Coll joined Schiff Hardin LLP as a litigation partner from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, where he had worked since 1998. He covers civil, criminal and regulatory matters.
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP announced that N. Richard Janis joined the firm's Washington office as a partner in the corporate investigations and white-collar defense practice. Prior to Manatt, Janis was a founding partner of and, for more than 30 years, managed Janis, Schuelke & Wechsler.
And in the next column:
-- Berenson & Co. will make Lazard's former co-head of media, Jeffrey Sechrest, its president in June.
-- Winston & Strawn LLP hires 23 partners and about 35 other lawyers from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, including litigator Jeffrey Kessler and Seth Farber, A. Paul Victor and Harvey Kurzweil.
-- PrinceRidge Group LLC taps Morgan Keegan & Co.'s Mike Grady and Ryan Fischer as managing directors, investment banking.
-- Richard Shutran, co-chair of Dewey's corporate finance practice and chairman of its finance group, will join O'Melveny & Myers LLP. So will Junaid Chida, Arthur Hazlitt, Mark Caterini and Dev Sen.
-- Manulife Asset Management brings in Axa Rosenberg Investment Management Asia Pacific's Sarah Lu as head of asset allocation in Asia.
-- AvalonBay Communities' Philip Wharton joins Brookfield Office Properties Inc. as a senior vice president, development, U.S. commercial operations.
Venable LLP recruited real estate lawyers from Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP in New York, including partner Peter Britell.
