Orrick settles unpaid rent claim with Huntsman

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, which in December sued the Jon Huntsman presidential campaign over an alleged $42,000 in unpaid rent, has reached a settlement, according to a motion filed by the campaign’s attorney in D.C. Superior Court late last month.

The complaint, reported earlier by the Washington City Paper, said the Huntsman campaign signed a one-year lease in May to rent space in the law firm’s Washington office at 15th and M NW, but had stopped paying the $8,356-a-month rent by August. The campaign had vacated the space by mid-September, according to the complaint, and the suit sought to recover $41,784 in rent accumulated between August and December.

The motion, which does not specify an amount for the settlement, asks the court for a stay until April 24.

Five lawyers leave Troutman Sanders for Morris Manning

Morris Manning & Martin, an Atlanta-based firm with a small Washington office, has nearly doubled the size of its District practice with the addition of five international trade attorneys from Troutman Sanders.

Partners Donald B. Cameron Jr., Julie C. Mendoza, R. Will Planert and Brady Mills, associate Mary Hodgins and trade analyst Paul J. McGarr started last week, starting the firm’s first international trade litigation practice. The group advises governments, businesses and foreign trade associations in anti-dumping issues and government investigations.

K&L Gates absorbs Milan firm

K&L Gates has combined with nine-lawyer Italian firm Marini Salsi Picciau Studio Legale and opened its 41st office, in Milan, the firm announced last week.

The Italian outpost is the eighth new office K&L Gates has opened in the past two years, underscoring a focus on international growth. In the Milan office, the firm plans to focus on mergers and acquisitions, infrastructure projects, restructuring and bankruptcy, and litigation and arbitration.

Howrey dissolution spurred lateral partner hiring in ’11

Last year brought a 22 percent boom in lateral partner moves at law firms, according to The American Lawyer.

In the 12 months ending in September 2011, 2,460 partners left or joined top 200 firms — up from 2,014 in 2010. The March dissolution of Howrey, the once-venerable Washington firm, helped spur that movement, with 208 attorneys who scattered to Baker Hostetler, Baker Botts, Greenberg Traurig and other firms.