[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

Richards Kibbe & Orbe and Reed Smith lost out to the independent entrepreneurial spirit of some of their partners.  This month, Richard Kibbe partner Neil Binder and Reed Smith partner Wendy Schwartz are taking their clients to their newly-opened litigation and investigation boutique firm, Binder & Schwartz, which is located in Midtown Manhattan.  The practice will focus on financial services litigation, regulatory matters and internal investigations and international litigation.

Mr. Binder had been with Richards Kibbe since 2003, while Ms. Schwartz had been with Reed Smith, in the regulatory enforcement group as a partner since 2006.  Their business relationship dates back to the when they served together as Southern District assistant U.S. attorneys.  At the outset, they anticipate hiring 2 new associates. They leave on good terms.

"You do need a certain level of experience and it did make sense for us to do this when we felt we had" that experience.  With technology readily available for e-discovery and document repositories, "we can basically run cases of any size, from big to small, with the intellectual team that clients want, and you don't need the infrastructure" of a large firm. -- Ms. Schwartz.

For further details, go to [New York Law Journal, 4/18/13].

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