Mass Defection of Top Financial Services Attorneys at K&L Gates. A total of 26 top attorneys – including Laurence Platt, Phillip Schulman, Steven Kaplan, Melanie Brody and Jonathan Jaffe – have jumped ship from the K&L Gates law firm in Washington, DC, to the rival Beltway law shop of Mayer Brown. Their new Consumer Financial Services Group will advise leading financial services companies – including banks, investment banks, private equity funds, hedge funds, mortgage companies, marketplace lenders, emerging payment companies and start-ups –as well as various types of participants in the consumer credit and real estate finance arenas. Their specialized focus will include counseling clients on federal and state laws governing the making, servicing, purchase and sale of residential mortgage loans and the ...