Chicago law firms expand in Charlotte

In 1998, Chicago law firm Mayer Brown established an office in Charlotte to be close to that city's bankers. A decade later, its local rivals are trying to muscle in on what has become a lucrative financial-services center. Winston & Strawn became the latest to jump into the heated Charlotte legal market, announcing Wednesday that it hired away six partners from one of the city's leading firms, Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman. The Chicago-based law firm anticipates that it will add up to a dozen more lawyers from Kennedy Covington, said Thomas Fitzgerald, Winston & Strawn's managing partner.

Chicago law firms expand in Charlotte chicagotribune.com Fri, Jan 11, 2008