The Vocke Law Group, an insurance and financial services boutique founded late last year by Damon Vocke, a former president and general counsel of reinsurer General Re Corp., has made its first new additions by bringing on two lawyers for its office in Stamford, Connecticut.
VLG announced Monday that it had hired Mark Holton, a former partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, as well as Erin Kelly Regan, a former associate general counsel at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and a one-time clerk to the late Richard Casey, a former federal judge with the Southern District of New York. Regan has joined her VLG as an associate, while Holton is coming aboard as of counsel.
We re definitely looking to grow our core litigation team with two very capable and highly experiences lawyers, particularly in our east coast office, said Vocke of VLG, which has offices in Chicago, New York and Stamford.
Vocke founded the firm last October with four other partners Cynthia Bordelon, Ronald Lepinskas, Scott Ostericher and Tomas Thompson and VLG is currently focused on providing specialized support and a cost-effective alternative for financial services and reinsurance companies. Vocke said his boutique has since picked up roles advising various publicly traded companies and their subsidiaries in complex litigation matters, high-stakes arbitrations and regulatory matters.
We think we have a position in the marketplace as a very nimble, resilient, efficient and responsive law firm with highly experienced lawyers as an alternative [for] assignments that might be considered for very large firms in New York City, Vocke said, adding that the boutique model decreases the amount of overhead and bureaucracy that his clients have to deal with from their outside advisers.
After being introduced by a mutual client, Holton decided to make the move to VLG from Grais & Ellsworth, a New York-based litigation boutique he joined in 2010 from Gibson Dunn, an Am Law 100 firm where he had worked since 1998 and made partner four years later. Holton represents clients in commercial litigation in state and federal courts, as well as securities and reinsurance law matters. He said that working at a boutique like VLG permits him to be more efficient in advising his clients.
There s no client concern about featherbedding that sometimes may be a problem with bigger firms [and] there s more personal attention for clients, Holton said. I was looking for an opportunity in Connecticut for the chance to continue to work on the same kind of highly complex matters that I ve been working on for last 20 years in New York. It was clear that the firm s goals were entirely consistent with what I was looking for so it was a perfect match.