Legal News

Former co-chairman of O'Melveny & Myers joins Venable in L.A.

By Jason Siegel

John "Jack" D. Hardy Jr., the former co-chairman of O'Melveny & Myers's capital markets practice, has joined Venable's Los Angeles office as a partner.

Hardy, whose clients include major investment banks, private equity funds and institutional investors, formally retired from O'Melveny earlier this year. He spent 35 years at O'Melveny, where he was a member of the employment committee, recruiting partners and associates. He also was a member of O'Melveny's partner compensation committee.

Hardy has focused on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity offerings, strategic investments, financing structuring deals, corporate governance and, most recently, securitization of high-yield bank loans. But, in an unusual twist, Hardy will not be doing deals at Washington-based Venable. Instead, he will help grow the firm's Western transactional practice, helping in recruiting and business development.

Hardy could not be reached for comment. But in a statement issued on Thursday, Hardy acknowledged the difficulty of doing deals in the current economic climate.

"Unquestionably, current credit conditions continue to challenge corporate and capital markets activity, but there is still significant opportunity for transactional work among middle-market companies," he said.

Venable launched its Los Angeles office in 2006 after acquiring two Los Angeles boutiques, Gorry Meyer & Rudd and Whitwell Jacoby Emhoff. The office now has 40 attorneys who focus on intellectual property transactions, entertainment, real estate, banking, white-collar defense and other areas.

-- Amanda Bronstad

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on October 20, 2008 (boomark / email).