In 'Red-Hot' Lateral Market, Mayer Brown Continues Partner Hiring Surge

Recruiting again from Sheppard Mullin, Mayer Brown hired two life sciences partners and several associates.

Mayer Brown continued its raid of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton this week, adding two life sciences partners from the firm as well as several associates.

by Andrew Maloney

A couple days after adding Joseph Jay from Sheppard Mullin to co-chair its global investigations & white-collar practice, the Chicago-founded firm said on Thursday it's also hiring Scott Liebman in New York and Dominick DiSabatino in Washington, D.C.

Liebman is joining as co-leader of Mayer Brown's life sciences practice and leader of the FDA regulatory and enforcement practice. He led similar groups at Sheppard Mullin. He and DiSabatino have worked together for about 10 years, they said in an interview. Prior to their nearly five-year stint at Sheppard Mullin, they were at Loeb & Loeb.

They expect “several members” of their team to ultimately tag along, Liebman said, with Mayer Brown confirming they are associates.

The latest hires are part of Mayer Brown's surge in lateral recruitment in recent years.

Mayer Brown's leaders have said they’ve tried to be “very deliberate” about growing through lateral hiring lately. So far in 2026, the firm said it has made 46 partner hires. Last year, it made 56 lateral hires, up from 26 the previous year, focusing on six particular areas: leveraged finance and private credit, insurance, energy, infrastructure, capital markets, and white collar and enforcement practices.

Firm chair Jon Van Gorp said in a recent interview that the lateral market is “red-hot,” and “we’re not planning for it to slow down.”

Client overlap, as other firms' leaders have noted, is one of Mayer Brown’s lateral strategies, said Fred Fisher, a partner and management committee member who heads Mayer Brown’s leveraged finance and private credit group.

“You can approach a lateral, or in many cases, we have our clients approaching attorneys at other firms, and sending them our way, which we love,” he said.

For their part, Liebman and DiSabatino specialize in FDA rules and regulations and said their clients — which include pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device makers, as well as cosmetics and consumer products companies, ranging from small start-ups to global manufacturers — will benefit from additional M&A, capital markets, IP, investigations and employment expertise on the platform.

“You go down the list of every need a life sciences company has — and there are many — Mayer Brown is top of the list in all or most of those categories,” Liebman said in an interview.

He added that he could list “half-a-dozen or maybe even more clients” who have said they already work with the firm in another area, and now they “can put it all under one roof.”

“We see this as a fantastic opportunity to fit into the existing platform,” added DiSabatino.

Mayer Brown noted in a statement about Liebman and DiSabatino’s arrival that its investment in life sciences is driven by rapid innovation, evolving regulations, deal velocity as well as increased government scrutiny.

Liebman said there’s an “enormous amount” going on in life sciences right now, from deregulation to price controls and enforcement.

“The velocity of change in news out of HHS, the FDA, and the administration in this area — it’s just sparked an incredible amount of questions,” added DiSabatino.

Sheppard Mullin said in a statement that they “thank Scott and Dom for their contributions to the firm and wish them well.”

Reprinted with permission from the October 15th edition of The American Lawyer © 2026 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited.