K&L Gates’ Financial Services Practice Decimated, Partners Bolt for Mayer Brown. K&L Gates’ profitable consumer financial services practice took a major hit after a group of partners and associates joined rival Mayer Brown late last month.Laurence Platt, Phillip Schulman, Steven Kaplan, Melanie Brody and Jonathan Jaffe led the group. Ten other partners from their former firm joined them later. They are Costas Avrakotos, David Beam, Holly Spence Bunting, Krista Cooley, Eric Edwardson, Kristie Kully, Ori Lev, Lauren Bergen Pryor, Stephanie Robinson and David Tallman. The group will be based primarily in Mayer Brown’s Washington, DC, office. Kaplan will join Tom Delaney as a co-leader of Mayer Brown’s Financial Services Regulatory & Enforcement practice. “The decision to move from our previous firm has been ...