An Albany law firm will be adding offices in Washington, D.C. early next year, buoyed by a recent contract with the largest union of federal employees in the country.

Tully Rinckey & Associates PLLC plans to open a Washington office with three attorneys in the spring, while later adding a branch office in Utica, N.Y., firm partner Greg Rinckey said today. Before those sites open, the firm is scheduled to move its main office to 441 New Karner Road in Albany, a quarter-mile from its current site.

Rinckey said the firm hopes the Washington office will be "a springboard" for landing future contracts with federal agencies. Recently, the firm agreed to take on a backlog of 3,000 cases for the American Federation of Government Employees, Rinckey said. The union represents about 600,000 workers holding jobs with the federal government and the District of Columbia.

Steven Herrick, the firm's senior counsel, will move to Washington to head that office. Associate attorney Tracy Dam-Chieco will run the Utica office.

Continuing its global merger march, Reed Smith LLP is uniting with a large Chinese firm to gain entree to legal work in that country's growing legal market. Reed Smith, which has about 150 attorneys in the Bay Area, merged with Richards Butler Hong Kong. The 110 attorneys in Hong Kong specialize in corporate transactions and litigation. The deal marks Reed Smith's entry into Asia and instantly makes the firm one of the five largest law firms in China. Reed Smith said it will apply to the Chinese government to open an office in Shanghai as well.

With this combination, Reed Smith will have more than 1,500 lawyers worldwide and it expects revenue in 2007 just shy of $1 billion.

"This merger gives us a leading presence in Hong Kong, an entree into mainland China and the ability to provide the high quality services our clients need," said Greg Jordan, firmwide managing partner at Reed Smith.

The Hong Kong merger is the third significant union executed by Reed Smith in the past 12 months. Last January, Reed Smith merged with Richard Butler London, which operated as a separate business entity from its Hong Kong counterpart. Three months later, Reed Smith merged with Chicago law firm Sachnoff & Weaver Ltd.

Including the Hong Kong merger, Reed Smith will have added 500 lawyers in the past year.

Reed Smith pushed into California in 2003 by its merger with Crosby Heafey Roach & May, the largest Oakland-based law firm.

After more than a year of negotiations, Reed Smith LLP has completed the final piece of last year's merger with London law firm Richards Butler. Richards Butler Hong Kong will merge into the firm, effective Jan. 1.

The deal gives Reed Smith 110 lawyers in Hong Kong, plus an operation in Beijing. It will also seek a license to practice in Shanghai. Once the transaction is completed, Reed Smith will have 23 offices, more than 1,500 lawyers and revenue of more than $1 billion.

Reed Smith is Pittsburgh's eighth-largest private company and second-largest law firm. It is the second Pittsburgh-based law firm to enter China following Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP, which via a merger completed this past January, has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Taipei

Richards Butler Hong Kong is among that city's five largest firms.

Reed Smith firmwide Managing Partner Gregory Jordan said in a statement that the firm's strategic plan has been to develop a leading presence in commercial business centers most important to its clients.

"Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing are clearly among those key markets," Jordan said.

Mr. Pitt has devoted his entire professional career, a period of more than 40 years, to the field of public finance. During his career, Mr. Pitt has worked extensively in virtually every area of public finance as either a bond lawyer or an investment banker in over 45 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, involving several thousand financings.

He was initially associated with the Chicago law firm of Chapman and Cutler for five years, after which he was one of the founding partners of the Chicago law firm of Borge and Pitt. The firm operated as a public finance boutique for nearly 20 years with offices in Chicago and New York before merging with the national law firm of Katten Muchin & Zavis, now known as Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP.

After ten years with KMZ, rounding out 34 years as a practicing public finance lawyer, principally as bond counsel or underwriters' counsel, Mr. Pitt broadened the scope of his experience and began nearly ten years of public finance investment banking by joining First Chicago Capital Markets, Inc., which in 1998 merged with Banc One Capital Markets, Inc., where Mr. Pitt was a Managing Director and headed up municipal and investment grade corporate securities origination. In August 2000, he joined the Municipal Securities Group of PaineWebber Incorporated, now known as UBS Securities LLC, and was a Managing Director in the MSG's Healthcare Finance Group until June 2004, when he joined Morgan Keegan's Fixed Income Banking Group in its newly established Chicago Public Finance Investment Banking Office as a Managing Director. He remained there for three years and joined Greenberg Traurig in August 2007.

"It isn't everyday that you can add an industry legend. George has been a trendsetter and model of success in the public finance world for decades. His presence has already created excitement within our Chicago public finance practice and among our clients." said Keith J. Shapiro, Co-Managing Shareholder of the Chicago office.

Mr. Pitt earned his B.A. from Northwestern University and his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, full-service law firm with more than 1,700 attorneys and governmental affairs professionals in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The firm is ranked seventh on The American Lawyer's Am Law 100 listing of the largest law firms in the U.S., based on number of lawyers.

Greenberg Traurig serves clients from offices in: Albany, NY; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Atlanta, GA; Boca Raton, FL; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Morristown, NJ; New York, NY; Orange County, CA; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Sacramento, CA; Silicon Valley, CA; Tallahassee, FL; Tampa Bay, FL; Tokyo, Japan; Tysons Corner, VA; Washington, D.C.; West Palm Beach, FL; Wilmington, DE; and Zurich, Switzerland. Additionally, the firm has strategic alliances with the following independent law firms: Olswang, London and Brussels; Studio Santa Maria, Milan and Rome; and Hayabusa Asuka Law Offices in Tokyo.

For additional information, please visit the firm's Web site at www.gtlaw.com.

Bingham McCutchen LLP, a 1,000-lawyer U.S. firm with offices in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong, and New Tokyo International Law Office, a premier insolvency, corporate and litigation firm with 22 lawyers, have officially combined operations in Tokyo and moved into expanded office space, creating a significant presence in Japan for Bingham.

The combination increases the number of lawyers in Bingham’s Tokyo office to more than 50 Japanese lawyers (bengoshi) and six foreign lawyers. The addition of New Tokyo, founded by Mitsue Aizawa and Yutaka Kimura, expands Bingham’s on-the-ground capacity in Asia and further bolsters its renowned cross-border restructuring and insolvency practice. The New Tokyo deal is Bingham’s second in Japan for 2007. Earlier this year, Bingham combined with another leading restructuring firm, Sakai & Mimura, founded by Hideyuki Sakai, with approximately 20 Japanese lawyers.

"Our strategy has always been to focus on where our clients need -- or will need -- top-notch legal talent," said Bingham Chairman Jay Zimmerman. "By building upon our key practices of insolvency, securities and financial services in Japan, we are positioning ourselves to be the ‘go-to law firm’ for financial institutions investing in Japan and in major economic markets worldwide." Bingham also opened a Hong Kong office in 2007 and has offices in key financial centers around the globe, including London and New York.

The addition of the New Tokyo firm will also expand and build upon Bingham’s finance and corporate practice, representing major corporations, insurance companies and investment banks.

The deal also benefits clients of the legacy New Tokyo firm. Aizawa noted that these clients are increasingly thinking of overseas strategies. "The fit with Bingham is complementary in every sense," she said. "We wanted to be able to provide our clients the global backup they need while Bingham wanted to build in Tokyo for their clientele. Together, we are increasing our ability to provide one-stop services in the corporate and compliance areas. Moreover, our depth of practice in insolvency and the insurance area, combined with Bingham’s insolvency proficiency, gives us tremendous strength."

The addition of the New Tokyo firm, with its 22 Japanese lawyers, and the pending arrival of 10 new Japanese lawyers to Bingham’s Tokyo office later this year, will bring Bingham’s number of bengoshi to nearly 60, among the highest for foreign law firms in Japan. In addition, Bingham’s Japanese Practice, with its 50 lawyers outside of Japan, focuses on large-scale, cross-border financial restructurings, corporate/M&A and finance matters, and has significant intellectual property, antitrust and litigation strengths.

http://www.bingham.com