July 17, 2006

THE DAILY JOURNAL

By William-Arthur Haynes

PALO ALTO – Gidon M. Caine attended a Jones Day partnership retreat at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel last month while the World Cup’s elimination rounds were in full swing.

His counterparts from Spain, England and elsewhere explained the nuances of various international soccer styles. Caine, in turn, offered enlightenment on baseball’s infield fly rule. The exchange proved to him that his choice to join a firm he long had held in high esteem was the right one.

“That was really interesting and exciting to be a part of,” said Caine, who made the lateral move to the firm’s Menlo Park securities and shareholder litigation and Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement group on July 5 from Dechert’s Palo Alto office.

“When you find an environment where everyone is happy and an opportunity to join in presents itself, you take it,” he said.

Caine, who has 18 years experience defending SEC enforcement cases, and John W. Edwards are the Silicon Valley team of the nationwide 75-attorney group.

Jones Day has 2,200 attorneys with 30 offices worldwide, including California locations in San Francisco, Menlo Park, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Caine cited the group’s experience in securities and derivative class action matters, as well as Jones Day’s strong presence in Silicon Valley, San Francisco and Southern California, as the main reasons for joining the firm. But, he said, the firm’s culture was a “huge piece of the issue.”

“Those are really nice guys and really good people,” he said. “The partners are really focused on working together in a big firm.”

Caine said Dechert was a fine firm but Jones Day offered a broader range of litigation, corporate, venture and private equity capabilities. Dechert spokeswoman Nancy Lasersohn said the firm wished Caine well but declined to comment further on his departure, citing firm policy.

Dechert has more than 900 lawyers in 12 U.S. offices, including Newport Beach, Palo Alto and San Francisco, and six overseas outposts.

Robert T. Clarkson, a Jones Day corporate attorney serving as partner-in-charge of the firm’s Menlo Park office, said Caine was a significant asset to the firm’s securities, governance and SEC enforcement capabilities.

“He’s got good experience in terms of governance litigation and investigations of various kinds,” Clarkson said. “I like his approach to his practice. It’s a collaborative approach with corporate people.”

Clarkson said that although Caine has “a reasonable plate of cases” he’s brought with him from Dechert, he looks forward to the opportunity to work with Caine in the future.

Caine declined to name any clients he would bring but said he’s preparing for an upcoming securities trial in Santa Clara County Superior Court and another criminal trial.

Caine began his legal career clerking for Michael B. Mukasey, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.

He spent six years at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as an associate beginning in 1996. In 2002, Caine joined Minneapolis-based Oppenheimer, Wolf and Donnelly in the firm’s then-3-year-old Palo Alto office where he made partner. Oppenheimer closed that office the following year, and Caine was among 28 attorneys and 50 staff absorbed by Dechert.