Twenty-two partners have jumped ship en masse from Bingham McCutchen's marquee restructuring practice, raising questions about the fate of the law firm's closely watched merger talks with the larger Morgan Lewis & Bockius. Boston-based Bingham, a 750-lawyer firm known for representing big banks like UBS , Bank of America Corp and Morgan Stanley, has experienced financial pressures after a tough 2013 caused by the settling of litigation and a downturn in legal work that had been fueled by the financial crisis.The departing group led by James Roome in London spans across its Hong Kong and Frankfurt offices. They are joining Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, the law firm said on Wednesday. Start dates have not yet been determined."This will be transformative in enhancing our brand as a leading global firm," said Kim Koopersmith, chair of Texas-founded Akin Gump.The exodus marks the largest group of lawyers who have left the 123-year-old Bingham in recent history and comes after the firm has been in merger negotiations with larger Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis. Its talks with Morgan Lewis extend back at least to July.
Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) is a bank holding company, and a financial holding company. Shares of BAC traded higher by 0.24% or $0.04/share to $16.75. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $13.60 and as high as $18.03. On average, 69447800 shares of BAC exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 6680894.
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services company that, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, provides its products and services to a range of clients and customers, including corporations, governments, financial institutions and individuals. Shares of MS traded higher by 0.68% or $0.24/share to $35.35. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $26.41 and as high as $35.23. On average, 8367480 shares of MS exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 725511.
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