Recently, Venable announced the opening of an office in Wilmington, Delaware and the addition of partner Jamie Edmonson to lead the new office. With more than 16 years of experience handling commercial bankruptcies, restructurings, insolvencies, and liquidations, Edmonson has regularly served as Delaware counsel in large Chapter 11 filings. She has represented lenders, debtors, creditors, statutory committees (creditor and equity), asset purchasers, landlords and lessees in a wide range of industry sectors, including information technology, retail, food, energy, construction, real estate, telecommunications and manufacturing. Edmonson was interviewed by Delaware Law Weekly for a March 13 article on her move and the firm’s new office.
Edmonson said Venable had been seeking a foothold in Delaware for a while to capitalize on the state’s corporate law reputation. “The Wilmington office helps to raise the firm’s profile in Delaware,” she said. “It will also enable the firm to leverage our deep bench of bankruptcy, litigation, and transaction attorneys, giving the firm’s clients a strong role in major corporate matters in Delaware.” For now, the office will focus on litigation bankruptcy and creditors’ rights but could expand in the future. “Bankruptcy is our main focus right now,” Edmonson explained. “The firm realizes that having a Chancery Court practice would be beneficial, but that would be someday down the road.”
For now, Edmonson is the only attorney in the new office but she said she expects it to expand over the coming year adding that attorneys from Venable’s other offices are working from there on a regular basis. “Having an office here enables attorneys from our other offices to bring their practices to Wilmington, without the need to hire local Delaware counsel,” she added. “I am already getting requests for assistance from attorneys in our New York and Washington, DC offices, and I work regularly with our Los Angeles bankruptcy attorneys.”
Commenting on her move to Venable, Edmonson, who is bringing a mix of new and old clients with her, said “My billing rate remained the same, which was important to many of my existing clients.”
Edmonson said Venable had been seeking a foothold in Delaware for a while to capitalize on the state’s corporate law reputation. “The Wilmington office helps to raise the firm’s profile in Delaware,” she said. “It will also enable the firm to leverage our deep bench of bankruptcy, litigation, and transaction attorneys, giving the firm’s clients a strong role in major corporate matters in Delaware.” For now, the office will focus on litigation bankruptcy and creditors’ rights but could expand in the future. “Bankruptcy is our main focus right now,” Edmonson explained. “The firm realizes that having a Chancery Court practice would be beneficial, but that would be someday down the road.”
For now, Edmonson is the only attorney in the new office but she said she expects it to expand over the coming year adding that attorneys from Venable’s other offices are working from there on a regular basis. “Having an office here enables attorneys from our other offices to bring their practices to Wilmington, without the need to hire local Delaware counsel,” she added. “I am already getting requests for assistance from attorneys in our New York and Washington, DC offices, and I work regularly with our Los Angeles bankruptcy attorneys.”
Commenting on her move to Venable, Edmonson, who is bringing a mix of new and old clients with her, said “My billing rate remained the same, which was important to many of my existing clients.”