McDermott adds 3 tax partners from Arnold & Porter

by Neil Adler
September 05, 2007

The growing tax department at McDermott Will & Emery LLP has hired three lawyers from Arnold & Porter LLP.

Blake Rubin, former head of Arnold & Porter's tax practice, Andrea Whiteway and Jon Finkelstein have moved to McDermott's D.C. office as partners.

Rubin worked at Arnold & Porter in D.C. for seven years, and before that he was at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in D.C. for 13 years. Whiteway also worked at Steptoe & Johnson with Rubin. Finkelstein joined the two of them at Arnold & Porter in 2002.

Rubin said he's known people at McDermott for more than 20 years. The opportunity to work for an expanding, and larger, tax group appealed to him, Rubin said. McDermott "is going in the right direction," he said, adding that the tax department is "very strong substantively already."

Thomas Milch, chair and a partner with Arnold & Porter, said the move to McDermott is a "great opportunity" for Rubin, Whiteway and Finkelstein. Milch said his firm had been looking for people to add to its tax department, which currently has about 25 lawyers, even before Rubin, Whiteway and Finkelstein left for McDermott.

Milch said that from the end of 2002 until the end of 2006, the number of lawyers at Arnold & Porter decreased from 710 to slightly more than 600. However, Milch said that from July through the end of 2007, Arnold & Porter will hire about 80 lawyers, including some that already have come aboard.

Rubin said that Arnold & Porter's lawyer base has been shrinking, while McDermott's is expanding. That was a factor in his decision to head to McDermott.

Rubin specializes in federal taxation, with a particular emphasis on matters relating to partnerships and other pass-through entities, as well as real estate taxation. His clients include real estate mogul Sam Zell, who is buying the Chicago-based Tribune Co., as well as Bethesda-based Host Hotels & Resorts Inc.

Whiteway focuses on partnership and real estate taxation. She regularly advises clients on, among other things, issues involving tax advantaged dispositions, acquisitions of real estate, structuring of private real estate investment trusts and corporate mergers and acquisitions.

According to McDermott, Rubin is founder and president of the Washington, D.C., Center for Public Interest Tax Law, a nonprofit corporation that provides pro bono representation to low-income taxpayers before the U.S. Tax Court. Whiteway is executive director of this organization.

Finkelstein practices primarily in the area of federal taxation, with an emphasis on tax matters related to partnership and corporate transactions. He has experience advising clients on issues such as joint venture and fund formations, acquisitions, dispositions, recapitalizations and reorganizations.

McDermott's tax department has more than 100 lawyers, including close to 40 in the District. The law firm's D.C. office has added 13 lateral partners since January, said Bobby Burchfield, co-head of McDermott's District office. The firm's lateral partners include several tax and benefits lawyers beyond the three latest hires from Arnold & Porter.

Rubin said "it's possible" that other lawyers from Arnold & Porter could come to McDermott. He said that his new employer treats its homegrown lawyers and lateral partners equally, and that's enticing to him.

Overall, McDermott has more than 225 lawyers in D.C., where it opened an office in 1978 with two lawyers. Burchfield said that 40-plus lateral partners have come to McDermott firm-wide since the beginning of the year. McDermott has about 1,200 total lawyers at numerous offices in the U.S. and abroad.