Following the recent hires of David Sewell and Damian Ridealgh to its New York office, Freshfields has announced six new partner hires across the US.
Heather Lamberg and Tina Sessions have joined the firm’s antitrust team in Washington DC and Silicon Valley. Lamberg, who previously worked at Winston & Strawn and Shearman & Sterling, advises on a range of antitrust cases, from class actions to criminal cartel investigations. Sessions, meanwhile, moves from Wilson Sonsini and advises on business-critical disputes with competitors and enforcement authorities, focusing on the technology sector.
Speaking to Legal Business about the hires, Freshfields’s global managing partner Alan Mason said: ‘With US regulatory agencies continuing to increase enforcement, it’s hard to think of a substantive area of law that is of greater focus among clients than antitrust – Heather and Tina bring extensive expertise in this area. They join the premier antitrust litigation practice we’ve built out over the last several years, which is already deeply enmeshed in some of the largest antitrust litigation matters occurring in the United States.’
The firm has also hired a team of four strategic risk and crisis management lawyers: Beth George, Megan Kayo, Janet Kim and Andrew Dockham. George and Kayo have joined the Silicon Valley office. George has worked previously as the acting general counsel to the US Department of Defense for the Biden-Harris administration, as well as working in the White House Counsel’s Office and the DOJ. Kayo is a cybersecurity and privacy expert, advising clients on breach mitigation, risk management, business continuity and governance around data security.
Janet Kim and Andrew Dockham have joined the firm in Washington DC. Kim has worked previously as a congressional investigator and lawyer for the executive branch, including in the White House Counsel’s Office. Dockham specialises in internal corporate investigations and representing clients in congressional investigations. He has worked as staff director and chief counsel for the senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations.
Discussing the strategic risk and crisis management team’s strategy, US managing partner Sarah Solum said: ‘As companies face an evolving landscape of crisis, this team brings extensive experience and deep understanding of how to navigate crises and manage risk in a global market. Combined with the firm’s existing expertise, this team will provide clients with the counsel they need on strategic boardroom matters that cut across internal investigations, cybersecurity breaches and other areas of crisis management.’
Commenting on how these hires sit within Freshfields wider US expansion plans, Solum commented: ‘Our US strategy is targeted and curated, and 100% client-centric. We have built — and will continue to add to — a multi-generational bench of elite lawyers delivering business solutions for our clients.’
Mason added: ‘Our sole focus is on assuring that clients have everything they need related to corporate transactions, regulatory matters, and litigation challenges. We’ve already built an amazing team to respond to those client needs, but we always keep an open-mind and an eye on the best talent in the market.’