Albany, N.Y., law firm O’Connell & Aronowitz has acquired Dorsey Law Firm in Saratoga Springs, adding 300 clients to its business.

The Dorsey firm, which now shares the O’Connell name, focuses on elder law and estate planning. The Dorsey firm has two attorneys. It will continue to be run by Matthew Dorsey, 43, the third generation to head the firm.

The two law firms announced the deal this week.

“We’ll bring a new group of clients to their business, and they’ll bring to our business a new group of specialties,” Dorsey said. “Both sides are very optimistic.

The O’Connell firm has 24 practice areas, such as health care, bankruptcy, personal injury and commercial litigation.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Dorsey said he was motivated to do the deal as a way to expand the range of services he can offer to clients, a difficult task when the firm was on its own, he said.

In a statement, Jeff Sherrin, president of the O’Connell firm, said the Saratoga location will provide more convenient service for upstate clients. It will also help O’Connell better tap into that market, Sherrin said.

Dorsey said he expects a partner at O’Connell will work out of the Saratoga office a couple of days a week, with other attorneys shuttling back and forth as needed.

“It’s two different geographic areas, but there’s a lot of commonality here,” Dorsey said.

O’Connell now has 37 attorneys, including 30 at its Albany headquarters. The firm also has an office in Plattsburgh, with five attorneys.

The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Monday. To inform us of other job changes, send an email to moves@thomsonreuters.com.

CONSTELLATION WEALTH ADVISORS

The independent multi-family investment company said it hired Christopher Smith as a principal. Smith was a director of the corporate client group at RBC Capital Markets.

LEGAL & GENERAL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Chicago-based investment manager Legal & General Investment Management America said it hired Aaron Meder in a new role as head of U.S. pension solutions. Meder was a managing director and head of asset-liability investment solutions at UBS Global Asset Management.

MAYER BROWN

The law firm said it hired Dallas Parker from Thompson & Knight as a partner in its corporate and securities practice in Houston.

FRANKLIN TEMPLETON INVESTMENTS

The investment company named Adam Gorlyn vice president of its sovereign funds and supranationals group. Gorlyn worked as a portfolio specialist with the Franklin Templeton Fixed Income group.

KNIGHT CAPITAL GROUP INC (NITE.O)

The firm named Didier Bankole vice president of sales for its electronic trading group (ETG) in Europe. Bankole joins Knight from NYSE Euronext (NYX.N) where he was in charge of global account management.

LASALLE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

LaSalle Investment Management appointed Andy Watson to the newly created role of head of core funds and separate accounts, continental Europe. Watson previously worked as international director in the company's Paris office.

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP (TROW.O)

The investment management firm named Michael Joehr as a client service executive focused on southern Europe and Switzerland. Most recently Joehr was senior relationship manager with Allianz Global Investors Europe GmbH.

Founded in 1982, Bryan A Lowe & Associates is a law firm based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The firm provides a wide range of services, primarily in the areas of estate planning, probate, bankruptcy, general business (corporate, partnership, and proprietorship), taxation, real estate, asset protection, and elder care.

The firm was founded on a philosophy of service that not only emphasizes quality representation in terms of experience and expertise - but places a high value on initiating appropriate actions to meet the client's legal needs and objectives. Particular stress is also placed on providing individualized service and achieving the desired results while working in a cost-effective manner.

At Bryan A Lowe & Associates, we handle a wide variety of legal cases, including the areas listed below. If you need an elder law, estate planning, corporate, tax, or probate lawyer, see the information below or contact an attorney.

    Elder Law
    Estate Planning

    Corporate and Tax Law

    Probate and Estate Administration

    Bankruptcy


http://www.bryanalowe.com/practice_areas.html

• Drunk Driving (DUII, DUI, DWI) - including underage drinking and driving, refusing a breathalyzer test, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and other drug or alcohol related driving offenses
• Criminal Driving Offenses - including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, assault, hit & run, attempting to elude police, reckless driving and licensure issues
• Drug Crimes - including possession, delivery, and manufacturing of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, designer drugs and prescription drugs
• Property Crimes - including theft, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, computer crimes and burglary
• Violent Crimes - including menacing, stalking and assault
• Stalking - including criminal offenses and civil actions

The Washington law firm Arent Fox said Monday that it has named longtime partner Mark M. Katz as its new chairman, a leadership change that comes as the legal sector copes with an economic downturn that has curtailed business and prompted layoffs.

Katz, 52, succeeds Marc L. Fleischaker, who served as chairman of the firm's executive committee for 14 years. Fleischaker will remain at the firm, concentrating on antitrust and civil rights cases.

Like many of its counterparts, Arent Fox has faced declining revenue as corporate clients cut back on legal work, particularly in commercial real estate and finance, Katz said Monday in an interview. Although the firm cut 13 associates and 15 staff members and is in the early stages of restructuring how it bills clients, Katz said Arent Fox wasn't hurt as deeply by the recession because it decided to grow more cautiously during the boom.

"Some of the firms that grew very rapidly and worked on a mega-international platform seem to be running into difficulties," he said. "We've grown on a patient pace, and that's helped us."

As of 2008, the latest year for which statistics from the economic development group Greater Washington Initiative are available, more than 40,000 lawyers worked in the Washington region, second only to the New York area. Nearly 64,000 people work in the legal profession in the Washington region, which employs more people in that sector on a per-capita basis than any U.S. metropolitan area.

The D.C. office of law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP has relocated its headquarters to larger space downtown.

The firm said that its new location, on the top floor of 1717 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, more than doubles the size of its offices and will allow for continued expansion of its practice.

"This relocation marks an important step in Curtis’ ongoing expansion in Washington,” said D.C. Managing Partner Daniel Lenihan.

The firm said that it has added four senior lawyers to its D.C. office since December 2008.

According to its Web site, Curtis has three U.S. offices with 16 professionals working in Washington, five working in Houston and more than 100 based in New York. In addition, Curtis has 10 international offices.

K&L Gates LLP, Pittsburgh’s largest law firm, said Monday it has established an office in Warsaw, marking its 36th location and third new site so far this year. It is the first Pittsburgh-based firm to open an office in the Polish city.

The office is expected to open March 15. K&L Gates hired a team of lawyers from Hogan & Hartson Jamka, the Warsaw office of Washington, D.C.-based Hogan & Hartson LLP, to staff it. Maciej Jamka will serve as administrative partner of K&L Gates’ Warsaw office which K&L Gates Chairman and Global Managing Partner Peter Kalis said via e-mail will include “approximately 30 lawyers.”

Kalis said Warsaw is a strategic location. “Poland is a Top 20 global economy and one that has withstood the challenges of the global financial crisis,” Kalis said in a prepared statement.

In January, K&L Gates opened offices in Tokyo and Moscow. It employs roughly 2,000 lawyers, including 237 in Pittsburgh, and topped $1 billion in 2009 revenue.

K&L Gates expects to move into new offices in Downtown Pittsburgh in One Oliver Plaza, a few blocks from its present home in the Henry W. Oliver Building, later this month. The date has not been disclosed publicly.