August 3, 2010
THE RECORDER
By Amy Miller
SAN FRANCISCO – Cynthia Cwik and Craig Mordock have joined Jones Day to help the global firm expand its product liability litigation and corporate law practices in California.
Cwik comes to Jones Day’s San Diego office after 22 years as a litigator with expertise in mass tort and product liability cases in Latham & Watkins’ San Diego office. She will join Jones Day’s product liability and tort litigation practice.
Cwik, who’d been a Latham partner since 1996, wasn’t looking to leave the firm, she said. But the strength of the attorneys in Jones Day’s product liability and torts practice convinced her the time was right to make the switch. She also spoke with several attorneys from Latham who had also left recently to join Jones Day.
“I was really impressed with their enthusiasm,” Cwik said. “This was just a great opportunity to grow as an attorney and to grow my practice.”
Craig Mordock is now a partner in Jones Day’s Irvine office and a member of the firm’s M&A practice, with emphasis on securities offerings and corporate governance. He had been a partner in Bingham McCutchen’s corporate and securities practice in Orange County, and before that was a partner with a general corporate and securities practice at Morrison & Foerster’s Irvine office, which closed in 2008.
Like Cwik, Mordock said the firm’s future plans and the excitement of attorneys at Jones Day, some of whom he’s worked with before, were a big part of why he decided to make the move. “The firm came to me with what I thought was a pretty compelling growth strategy for California,” he said.
He said M&A work in the technology sector will continue to drive his practice, although the availability of credit for larger transactions can still be an issue. “I still see the M&A market thriving and driving a lot of activity on the legal front,” Mordock said. “There’s a lot of capital out there that’s been on the sidelines, and the owners are anxious to deploy it and put it to work.”