Moore & Van Allen (MVA) is set to open an office in Washington DC with hires from Seyfarth Shaw and Haynes & Boone, expanding its government contracts and national security capabilities as it continues to grow beyond its Carolinas base.
The office – set to open at the beginning of October – will be the firm’s fifth and second outside the Carolinas after its launch in Atlanta earlier this year.
Its founding team will include new arrival Erica Bakies, previously a partner at Seyfarth Shaw, and Tara Hopkins, who joined in April as head of government contracts having been a counsel at Haynes & Boone, alongside an associate. In line with the firm’s other locations, it will not have an office managing partner.
MVA said the DC team would be expected to work closely with lawyers across the firm to provide “seamless, interdisciplinary guidance to clients doing business with the government”.
With more than 400 lawyers MVA is one of the largest law firms in the Southeast and ranks among its elite. The firm counsels 68 the Fortune 500, among them major corporations based in its hometown of Charlotte such as Bank of America.
Rob Rust, co-head of MVA’s corporate group, said government contracts considerations were often implicated across transactions, disputes and day-to-day operations for its clients.
“With Tara and Erica joining the MVA platform and establishing a permanent physical presence in the DC market, our clients have access to a team that can directly service government contracting matters alongside our broader corporate, transactional and regulatory capabilities,” Rust added.
Bakies advises clients in transactions involving review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and foreign ownership or control mitigation enforced by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. She also advises on complex compliance matters and conducts internal investigations in the areas of government contracts, export controls and economic sanctions.
Meanwhile Hopkins advises companies doing business with the federal government on procurement matters including pre-award planning, drafting and negotiation of transaction documents, compliance and operational risk, investigations and disputes.
Thomas Mitchell, MVA’s chair and managing partner, noted the firm had served clients in DC for a number of years.
“Establishing a dedicated office allows us to be closer to our clients, the agencies and stakeholders they interact with, and the opportunities emerging in this market,” he added.
Other law firms making moves in DC recently include King & Spalding, which brought on arbitration partners Rachael Kent and Danielle Morris in the city in June as part of a five-partner hire across the US and UK from WilmerHale.
The same month Davis Polk hired legacy Hogan Lovells’ global head of M&A, Bill Curtin, in DC just before its merger with Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
