[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Dewey & LeBoeuf continues to lose its troops in one of the New York law firm's largest one-day defections earlier this week.  Twenty-seven partners left on Wednesday, including 2 firm leaders who were member of the recently formed Chairman's Office - Jeffrey Kessler, the prominent sports and antitrust attorney, and Richard Shutran, chair of Dewey's corporate department.  Both are taking their lawyer teams with them. Leadership Sans Leaders. Mr. Kessler, who has represented the NFL and NBA players' unions, is moving with this legal team to Chicago-based Winston & Strawn.  He'll be joined at that firm by former Dewey colleagues, litigator Harvey Kurzweil and white-collar criminal defense specialists Seth Farber and Suzanne Jaffe Bloom, among others. Mr. Shutran, whose work has included representing energy companies in various financial transactions, is moving to O'Melveny & Myers LLP, alongside Junaid Chida, co-chair of Dewey's renewable and clean energy practice, and tax partner Arthur Hazlitt.  He said, "We saw a great opportunity at O'Melveny." It's Over!  Unfortunately. For further details, go to [WSJ, 5/9/12].