Last month, The Deal Magazine put out a list of eight up-and-coming lawyers.
It’s always nice to get the business-side’s perspective on counsel, so we’re taking a deeper dive on the five who are at AmLaw 100 firms.
Read on for profiles of a douchebag, the “Closer” and more.
First up (going alphabetically) is Andrews Kurth’s (we double checked, they sneak in at #95) David Buck (Princeton BA ‘90, Vanderbilt JD ‘94), an M&A partner in Houston. He pulled off a nice coup – he was previously an associate at crosstown rival Vinson & Elkins, where he worked on the IPO of National Oilwell Varco, then lured the client away to Andrews Kurth.
Hogan & Hartson’s William J. Curtin III (Duke AB ‘92, Virginia JD ‘96) is probably a nice guy, but there’s just too much of a hint of douchebaggery in the profile. Not only is he “the third but call me Bill,” but Curtin pere is the former head of Morgan Lewis & Bockius. And there are three siblings who have also graduated from law school. In true rebellious WASP form, he really acted out by choosing to take French in high school, over the more-popular Spanish and German offerings. Then, he decided to spend a summer as an intern at Euro Disney looking at contracts, an experience he has the audacity to describe as “pretty gutsy.” Actually, what would have been really gutsy is if he had worked in Paris after merely studying Spanish with the plebes. To make matters worse, he’s described as a “contrarian and a team player,” which seems to be embodied by his beating opposing counsel at tennis then bragging about it in negotiations the next day. How charming!
Kirkland & Ellis’s Jonathan Henes (Union BA ‘91, Cardozo JD ‘96) on the other hand, has the kind of upbringing we can appreciate. He spent four years at Weil Gotshal then left to start a legal and financial software company. He was lured back into practicing law in 2001 by Jamie Sprayregen, then and now the head of Kirkland’s reorg practice – although Sprayregen strayed from the firm for a short stint on the investment banking side at Goldman from 2006 through 2008. We’re not quite ready to add him to the pantheon of bankruptcy celebrities who have trained under Harvey Miller, but Henes is now on the watch list.
We’re ashamed to admit we didn’t know Quinn Emanuel had a significant bankruptcy practice, but thanks to Susheel Kirpalani (Queens College, Fordham JD ‘94) they seem to be on the rise. He spent four years at Stroock then became the youngest partner ever at Milbank – which would be impressive in its own right, but all the more so for a lateral. He joined Quinn Emanuel in 2007.
Finally, we have Minh (the “Closer”) Van Ngo (Duke BA ‘98, Yale JD ‘01), who in 1976 was almost left in Saigon with relatives but ultimately went with them on a harrowing escape from Vietnam and sanctuary in California. His acceptance at Yale helped shed his father of cynicism about the American dream:
“He used to say, ‘We’re second-class citizens,’” the younger Van Ngo says. “My father didn’t trust the system. He was flabbergasted that his son could be accepted into a school that has graduated presidents. When he passed away, my father truly loved this country,” he recalls.
We can’t help nitpicking, even when it’s a quaint story – but Nixon went to Duke.
OK, we were going to limit ourselves to the AmLaw 100, but we have to make an exception for Ben Burman (Oxford AB ‘89, Yale JD ‘99) of Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier. Oui, Darrois Villey is a great firm (if you’re going to know any top-flight French boutiques, this is one of the few you have to remember, btw), but we make the exception for Burman because he only became associated with the firm on a secondment from Wachtell. He spent his fifth year there and returned to New York at the end of his term, but couldn’t resist the lure of Paris and returned a year later. France is actually closer to his native England – Burman’s got a fully international background. After Oxford, he worked at Bain in London, but then was shipped off to San Francisco and Moscow, before going to Yale for law school.
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