Seyfarth Shaw’s class action practice group leader Gerald Maatman, Jr., the former outside counsel to Harvey Weinstein’s now-bankrupt film company, has relocated his practice to the employment department of Duane Morris, bringing along seven additional attorneys.

Maatman has been tasked with developing Duane Morris’ newly created workplace class action group out of its Chicago office, serving as chair. Leaders at the Philadelphia-based firm targeted him due to his go-to status as a defender of multistate companies against large-scale EEOC, wage and discrimination lawsuits.

His most prominent representations include defending the sexual harassment suits brought in 2018 against The Weinstein Co., the namesake film company of disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Maatman has also defended Sterling Jewelers against discrimination claims made by female employees who claimed to be paid less than their male counterparts.

Aside from the additional partners, associates and special counsel who made the move to Duane Morris with him, Maatman said a team of paralegals joining brings the lateral group to more than 20 professionals, and he expects more to join from Seyfarth in the coming weeks.

“I thought Duane Morris would allow me to take things to the next level,” Maatman said in an interview Wednesday, noting that he was grateful for his nearly 20-year tenure at Seyfarth.

Maatman said the courting campaign by leadership at Duane Morris began roughly a year ago. Firm CEO Matt Taylor “gave me so much of his time,” he noted, pitching to him the prospect of building Duane Morris’ employment class action practice from the litigation “epicenter” of Chicago.

“I’ve always wanted to be on the shortlist and the rolodex for corporations when the toughest cases are brought against them,” Maatman said. “Being on the Duane Morris platform keeps me, gets me and allows me to be on that rolodex and to be at the table talking to corporations, talking to employers, talking to boards when those toughest and biggest cases get filed.”

Maatman, who said his first day at the firm was last week, is joined by partner Jennifer Riley, who will serve as co-chair of the workplace class action group, and a group of defense attorneys from Seyfarth Shaw that includes partner Michael DeMarino, associates Aaron A. Bauer, Alex W. Karasik, Gregory Tsonis and Tyler Z. Zmick. Special counsel Rebecca S. Bjork has joined the firm in Washington, D.C.

Rounding out the recent adds is Brandon Spurlock, formerly a legal consultant who joins the firm’s office in Chicago as special counsel.

The Seyfarth Shaw crew join a group of legacy Duane Morris attorneys in the new practice, bringing the current total number of lawyers in the group to around 50, Maatman said.

In a statement, leaders at Seyfarth Shaw wished their former colleagues well and maintained that despite the loss, Seyfarth maintains a deep bench in labor and employment law.

“Jerry Maatman and his colleagues have been a respected member of Seyfarth’s employment department for many years, and we wish them the very best in their next chapter,” firm leaders said in a prepared statement Tuesday.

Although Seyfarth Shaw leaders declined to comment on who would succeed Maatman as chair of the class action practice group, they said Seyfarth’s “employment class action team remains extremely robust, with one of the deepest benches of any law firm.”

The team from Seyfarth joins as the stakes rise for parties involved in multidistrict employment lawsuits. Maatman echoed fellow members of the defense bar in saying that plaintiffs lawyers are getting more creative with how they bring suits, targeting corporate clients’ “vulnerabilities.”

He cited complying with the “patchwork quilt” of wage and overtime laws throughout the U.S. as an area that has proven to be difficult for corporate compliance, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Firm leaders at Duane Morris noted in Wednesday’s announcement that Maatman pioneered a process of conducting audits for clients that are designed to minimize the incidence of employment-related class action suits and to maximize management discretion and workplace productivity.

The group joins at a time when employment defense is a focal point of expansion for the firm.

Earlier this month, The Legal Intelligencer reported Duane Morris was merging with a bicoastal employment boutique which adds 18 lawyers to that practice. And in February, the firm added a group of employment lawyers from McCusker, Anselmi, Rosen & Carvelli to its New Jersey office.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Brandon Spurlock’s location as Washington D.C. The story has been updated to reflect he is based in Chicago.

Reprinted with permission from The American Lawyer, © ALM Media Properties LLC. All rights reserved.