Ice Miller loses eight attorneys, staff members to East Coast firm’s new office

More than a dozen employees—including eight attorneys—have left law firm Ice Miller to start a Midwest office for Newark, New Jersey-based law firm McCarter & English in Carmel, the East Coast firm announced Monday.

The departures from Ice Miller—the second largest law firm in Indianapolis—include partners Katherine Althoff, Amy Fisher, and Kim Metzger, who have become parters at McCarter & English. Althoff has been with Ice Miller for 25 years, while Fisher and Metzger have been there for about two decades.

Also leaving were special counsel John Camp and associate attorneys Sandra Carr, Angela Della Rocco, Allyson Emley and Anne Roebel, according to an online story by The American Lawyer.

Five professional staff members from Ice Miller and two additional nurse paralegals “will form the foundation of McCarter’s new office and help serve its national client base,” McCarter said.

“This move was a result of the consolidation of a client’s legal team in one of its mass tort cases,” Ice Miller said in an email to IBJ. “While we are sad to see them leave, we wish them all the best. The firm is continuing to expand in key practice areas and markets.”

McCarter said its new team “will focus primarily on complex product liability litigation, cybersecurity and health care compliance, and brings a wealth of experience representing pharmaceutical, chemical, device and other manufacturers in federal and state courts in Indiana and nationwide.”

Founded in 1845, McCarter & English is the oldest law firm in New Jersey and one of the oldest in the United States. The firm has more than 400 attorneys at 10 offices on the East Coast and one in Florida. The Carmel office will be its 12th overall and first in the Midwest.

“Our firm is continuously exploring opportunities for growth to broaden and enhance our ability to serve our clients, and we could not have found a better fit than our new colleagues in Indianapolis,” McCarter Chairman Joseph Lubertazzi said in written remarks “We have been fortunate enough to work as co-counsel alongside Amy, Katherine, Kim and their teams for many years and observed firsthand their unique expertise and excellent reputation in the areas of drug and device litigation, data security and privacy. They are a tremendous addition to our firm and our litigation practice, in particular, and will lead our growth efforts in this region.”

McCarter & English is currently operating the new office from co-working space at 880 West Monon Green Blvd. while it looks for a new office.

Ice Miller has about 345 attorneys in seven offices, primarily in the Midwest. In Indianapolis, the firm has roughly 180 lawyers.